Nickolas
I unload the suitcases with Lexi’s help and carry everything to the top floor of the cabin. She settles the cage on the coffee table and lets the birds out to explore the house, placing their pad in a corner.
The entire house is warm and bright, even clean because I sent some wolves over before hand. I enter our bedroom with Lexi following me. I smile, remembering how she fell in love with the room the moment I first showed it to her.
The first thing she does is collapse on top off the bed and snuggle into the pillows; she really does love this place. The room has a lot of natural elements and neutral colors and a fire place in it. The rest of the house has more bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, patio and Lexi’s favorite, a jacuzzi.
I pull the table in the room over to the couches and set the pizza box on top of it. Lexi brings out some bottles of soda. We would unpack later but now we were both starving. She casually grabs three slices of it and begins chewing, flipping the TV on. Lexi had a huge appetite, but she was still petite although she’s grown an inch or two in the last year.
I lean into the couch and prop my legs up to the coffee table letting Lexi prop her own on top of mine. Twenty minutes later, the pizza is gone, the soda is drained, and Lexi is asleep with her head in my lap. I stroke her hair and gaze at her; I don’t know how she does it, but every day she wakes up more beautiful than the day before.
And it kills me knowing something is troubling her, something from her past. I also had an unfortunate moment a few years ago, but I don’t know if I even remember it correctly; all I know is that I hurt someone.
It’s getting late and the birds are already in their cage, hidden in their hanging beds. Turning off the TV I scoop Lexi up and place her on the bed. I lay down beside her and feel her cuddle into my side. Falling asleep next to the girl I love is the perfect ending to any day.
I wake up the next morning, and find that my mate isn’t in my arms. Panicking, I jump out of bed and check every room on the floor. She isn’t in any of them and I continue down each floor. The enriching aromas from the kitchen give her away and I sprint there.
Lexi stands by the stove, still dressed in her pajamas. A plate of scrambled eggs sits on the counter beside her and bacon is sizzling on the pan. I sigh in relief and pull her to my chest.
“Don’t ever scare me like that.” I order, inhaling her scent, which was also mixed with the food.
“I just wanted to make some breakfast.” She mutters.
“You should’ve woken me up.”
“I thought I’d be done before you did so I didn’t bother. I’m sorry.” She gives me a small smile.
“It’s fine, it’s just…I can’t think of a single thing worse than not knowing where you are.” I confessed to her. The very thought of being without Lexi was both sickening and infuriating.
She smiles more, and pecks my lips. Instantly, I deepen it and wrap my arms around her back. She presses her body towards me and lets me in.
“The bacon!” She pulls away and returns her attention to the stove. Screw the bacon.
I wait, very patiently, for the bacon to finish cooking before I lift Lexi up in my arms. She starts laughing as she dangles from my arms. I carry her that way, into the living room. Dropping he rondo the couch I climb on top of her, caging her in.
“Nickolas!” She squeals.
“What?” I smirk at her.
“Let me go!” She laughs.
“No.”
She struggles against me, a huge grin on her face, and fails miserably.
“You’re my mate.” I kiss her jawline. She calms down as I pepper kisses on her neck.
I pause for a moment and stare at her bare neck. My mark will go there. Absolutely, very soon. Or on the other side. Wherever she wants. Then mark her.
I want to. It’s impossible to describe my burning desire to sink my teeth into Lexi’s small neck, to mix her scent with mine, to let everyone know she belongs to me. It’s been a year since I met her, it should be fine to. Right? Of course!
Lexi
I try to push Nickolas off of me and fail.
“Nickolas?”
Nickolas stares at my neck. His eyes are flicking between brown and yellow. He has me locked in place, his body weight preventing me from moving. I knew it. He’s going to mark me unwillingly. His eyes are a solid yellow as he lowers to my neck. Yes! Mark me! My stupid wolf.
I shut my eyes. I’ve heard that the first seconds on the marking process are extremely painful, though the feeling afterwards overcomes the pain. It’s useless to do anything. His wolf is in complete control and he knows his mate’s not going anywhere; she can’t.
His breath brushes against my neck and I let out a small whimper. I wait for it. For the pain. For the mark. But it doesn’t come. Instead, Nickolas presses his soft lips against my neck.
“I’m sorry.” He whispers before getting off of me.
He didn’t mark me. I feel incredibly relieved that he didn’t. But also worried. His wolf must be going insane right now, demanding he do so. Nickolas sits down on a single chair placing his head on his hands.
“It’s okay. Thank you.” I rub his back and sit on the arm of the chair.
“I really want to.” He hangs his head.
“I really want you to, some day.” I smile weakly.
“C’mon, before the food gets cold.” He gets up and walks back to the kitchen. I silently follow him and divide the cooked food on two plates. Nickolas takes out some juice and pours it into glasses for us.
“So, what do you want to do today?”
Nickolas
I tightened my grip on Lexi as I carry her up the stairs. Her hair was still wet from the jacuzzi and is dampened my shirt. I kick the door open with my leg and shut it behind us. I waste no time in tossing Lexi on the bed and climbing over her. I smash my lips down to hers and begin kissing my mate.
“Happy 22nd birthday Nickolas.” Her voice is husky.
Lexi grabs onto the tips of my hair, making me groan. She moans as I start sucking on her neck, on her sweet spot. She sounds heavenly; its killing me. I sit up for a second and straddle her. Her hands pull my shirt over my head and she throws it away. Her warm hands on my exposed chest sends shivers down my spine. I lower myself and begin kissing her.
Her warm fingers run down my back and she bites my lower lip. I smirk at her trying to claim dominance. Surprisingly we fight and she wins, not that I’m complaining. I let her do what she wants with me and enjoy every second of it. My hands inch down to the hem of her shirt.
Mate! No. She wants it! No she doesn’t. Do it! Lexi lets my hand under her shirt, and I lay my hand against her flat stomach. Her skin is impossibly smooth and soft against my fingers. She moans as my hand slips higher to rub her rib cage. Her entire stomach is now exposed to me.
My mate…my gorgeous, wonderful, perfect mate. She’s mine, all mine. Her beautiful stomach, where my children will be carried. Her beautiful lips that only I can kiss. Her shining hair that only I can touch. Her perfect body that is all mine.
Lexi is very small compared to me; I have to be gentle when pleasing her. She’s never done this before so her core would be very tight. I also have to make sure I release inside her, so she can get preg-.
“Stop.”
I was pulled out of my trance and regained control of myself. I was still on the bed, but sitting up with Lexi next to me. It took seconds before I realized that my wolf had taken over.
“Thanks.” I peck her cheek. I really didn’t want my wolf to ruin all the progress I worked so hard to get.
“I realized what you did, so I had to stop it.”
“What did you exactly?” I inquired; it was extremely difficult to stop a wolf from being with his mate.
“I just said ‘stop’.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
Her voice stopped me; her Alpha voice.
Never in my life did I imagine my mate would be able to directly order me around, not even in my wildest dreams. Yet here she was, perfectly capable of ordering my wolf around. It was her Alpha blood that did that, her genes which were starting to come out, indicating her maturing process.
Lexi was showing signs of maturing.
Thank you, Luna.
Lexi
“Do you really want to sleep out here tonight?” Nickolas asks me. I nod and continue laying out a quilt on the balcony floor. It’s pretty warm at night and there’s no chance of rain tonight.
“All right. It’d be great to know why.” He sighed and tossed out some pillows.
“You will. Soon.” He stops what he’s doing and stares at me for a moment.
“Is everything all right?”
“Peachy.”
“Lexi. What’s wrong.” He places a gentle hand on my waist.
“Nothing right now. But later on, there will be.”
“You’re scaring me.” I lightly chuckle at his words.
“It has nothing to do with you. I just think it’s time you knew.”
Nickolas placed a tub of popcorn in between us on our makeshift bed outside. It was actually very comfortable and the warmth with the occasional breeze was pleasant.
I spent several minutes processing everything in my mind, recalling that night four years ago. Nickolas just watched me, with concerned eyes. Only one other person one exactly what happened to me that night and their reaction terrified me. Aaron went insane with rage, punching and kicking everything in site and he was just a 13 year old boy. How would my fully grown, Alpha mate react?
“You don’t have to tell me, I can wait.” He spoke as if reading my thoughts.
“No, it’s time you did. Besides, I want you to know now.”
“Only if you’re sure.”
“I am.” I took a few more minutes thinking before taking a deep breath.
“See you later Mom!” I called out to her, before running outside to join Aaron. She was trying on various dresses, convinced she’d put on a few pounds.
“We’ll be at the party if you need us!” Nickolas is having his going-away party. Dang kid needs a party to leave for three years. Not to mention his 18th birthday was tomorrow, the same day he left. Eh, I can’t really blame him for wanting to party one day.
Aaron and I started running through the woods. Neither of us had our wolves yet since we were only 12 years old, but we would get them soon enough. We had a game of capture the flag scheduled for tonight, and I was eager to win. Aaron gave me a lopsided smile as we ran; he knew how excited I was about the game.
Arriving at the flat field in front of the woods used for the game I saw several other kids standing around; most already had new born wolves. Capture the flag was a human game and shifting wasn’t allowed, so we would all be equals.
“Okay guys! I’m first captain! Aaron, be second captain!” Liam shouted out. Figures he would chose future Betas as captains.
Aaron and Liam ignored the other kids protests as they stood in front of everyone.
“Mikey.” Liam quickly chose the other future Beta, younger by a few weeks.
“Lexi.” Of course Aaron chose me, we’re best friends.
“Sasha.”
“Ricardo.”
The kids were all divided into two teams and each captain took their team to their side. The entire playing area was a large circle, about a mile diameter. The two flags were located at opposing sides with trees, hills and a river in between; it was incredibly fun.
“Lexi, stealth mission: capture their flag; the rest of us are playing defense.” Aaron ordered.
It does sound insane to only put one person in offense, but I was just that fast. A little twist from the human game, wolves who cross into opponent territory could actually be attacked and taken hostage. They’d have to wait for the entire game to end in the dugout.
If the entire team are hostages, my job gets that much easier. We wait for the whistle, marking the start of the game and begin. I stay around the edge of the field and sprint towards the opposite end a mile away. No one comes near me, no one sees me.
I’m out of breath by the time I reach the flag pole. Two boys stand guard at either side; this is new. There’s no way I can fight them, and they’d catch me as I unhooked the flag. Quickly thinking, I grab a rock and throw it as far as I can. It lands in the bushes and the sound distracts the boys.
Seeing my chance, I run and take the flag. I turn around to and start to relocate myself to determine the way back when I hear the voices of the two boys. I immediately run away before they see me. I keep running, desperate to escape the boys.
It took me a while before I realized I ran out of the arena. The sun was already down, but my vision was still working perfectly. I turned around again and ran in the direction I thought was the right way.
I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was lost.
I kept running, with the flag in my hand, trying to find something familiar. I don’t know how long I spent running, how long I was lost. I didn’t have a whistle or even a phone on me.
“Aaron!” I shouted into the night. It was my last resort. Nothing.
A twig snaps. Aaron? I turn towards the direction of the sound and see a tall man standing. He wears dark jeans, and some sort of leather jacket. But he’s in this territory, he’s a wolf then. In my defense this pack was already huge and still growing; I didn’t recognize him.
“Can you help me back to the village?” He just stood there. Facing me. Not responding.
“Sir?” He stepped closer to me, but I still couldn’t see his face.
“Are you alright?” He was walking stiffly, as if we were wounded.
“Hello.” He voice was hoarse and sounded sick.
“Do you know how to get back to the village?”
“You’re a cute little girl.” He stepped even closer.
I froze at that statement. Time seemed to stand still as the air thickened with tension. I turned and ran.
He quickly caught up to me and knocked me down. The flag was still wound around my wrist and I used it as a boxing glove to punch him.
He chuckled and held my arms and legs down. I couldn’t make out his face, but his breath was heavy with alcohol. He was drunk. And wolves are always blocked out when we’re drunk so he couldn’t shift, but his wolf also couldn’t calm him down. I struggled against his grip, but he merely slapped me.
Then he used my flag to gag me.
“Stop.” He hiccuped. “This’ll be quick.” His breath made me want to vomit.
With that he stuck his cold hand under my shirt. He felt around, squeezing me painfully. His fingers slipped under my training bra and pinched me. Hot tears fell from my eyes. My fingers were digging into the earth as a relief from the pain. That was when I felt the cold metal against my fingertips.
I franticly began to dig into the dirt and pulled out a long, cold piece of metal. A knife. The man didn’t notice it, but my arm was still held down. His hands left my shirt. I thought he had seen it, but instead he turned his attention to my jeans.
He unzipped them and pulled them down my hips. I bit my lip, terrified of what was about to happen. My chance was coming. Just as I predicted, he sat up to pull his own pants down, leaving my arm free. I didn’t think before jamming the blade into his exposed hip.
He fell over, crouched in pain and began cursing furiously. I didn’t hesitate to jump up and run as far and as fast as I could. The knife was still in his hip, and wouldn’t offer me protection should I need it again.
I ran for hours until I found the pole of capture the flag. The entire arena was abandoned.
“Lexi? There you are! We were looking all over! Well…until Mikey said everyone had to get home and…what happened?”
I took one look at his face before I started sobbing. My burning tears soothed my swelling face. I suddenly realized the significance of what happened: I was almost raped. By a drunk man in the forest. At 12 years old, I am scarred for life.
I cried louder and Aaron wrapped his arms around me. I kept crying, staining his shirt. Not knowing what to do, he simply picked me up and carried me to his house.
“My parents are still at the party and I’m sure Liam won’t mind if you sleep over tonight.” I nodded. We slept over a lot so it wouldn’t be suspicious.
He gently placed me on his bed and handed me some warm milk.
“I’m sorry Lexi. For whatever happened to you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He nodded and wiped my face with a moist towel. He rubbed some cream onto my swelling cheek.
He asked for other injuries; I asked he leave me something to clean cuts with and that he leave the room. Alone, I pulled up my shirt, and saw scratches from the man. More tears escaped as I wiped them all clean before wrapping them up. Aaron re-entered the room.
“Thank you.” I smiled weakly at him.
“Your welcome.” And he climbed into the bed beside me. We usually slept so that our backs or legs barely touched, but this time Aaron embraced me. He was warm and his scent was both familiar and comforting to me.
“I love you, Lexi. Don’t ever forget it.” My best friend kissed my forehead.
“I love you to, Aaron.”
A year later, my best friend became my boyfriend.