I watch her as she walks along the clearing's edge. Her green cape blows in the warm wind and there is still some dirt in her hair from when Jordi pushed her down. The simple thought of it stirs my rage again. I like Rio's Beta, but he touched my mate and it took me a lot of self-control not to tear his limbs off.
I was already full of anger, because of everything I did and did not tell Ayn last night. I tried to discharge some of it during training, but after fighting my first three contenders, the Alpha reminded me that this was a human-form training session and not a raid. He then dismissed me with orders to do a patrol shift.
Which I interrupted because I smelled Ayn heading into Rio's territory.
"Ask her if she accepts us," Storm snickers.
"I cannot ask her... she just called me shifter. She probably didn't intend it as a reminder, but it is a good one. What would I tell my parents...the pack...that I am settling for one who is not even of our kind?"
"For the last time, she is your mate. The subspecies doesn't matter, her core does, you puny human...", Storm snarls in my head, making it hurt. "And you are not settling - you are accepting the blessing the Goddess sent to you, in the form of this female of great powers, as your second chance."
I chase him away from my consciousness, watching how the female of great powers is speaking to a bug or an ant some feet in front of us, having apparently forgotten about the two minutes deadline I gave her.
"Got it!" she suddenly says waving a small bouquet of leaves. She then sits down some feet away from me and continues: „Thank you for waiting. And...for saving me...you know...before." The last words come out so faintly that I can barely hear them.
I want to hug her tight, hide her in my arms, and tell her that I will wait for her as long as she wants me to and save her as many times as she needs. Possibly kiss her again. But I am naked and the fantasy of touching her has brought onto me a painful hard-on and so I stay where I am, crossing my legs a bit tighter.
"Ayn...about last night..." I start in what I hope is a kinder tone than the one I used before, but she interrupts me with a rushed hand wave.
"It's fine, Kari. I got carried away. I thought we could have a spring fling while I am here, so I didn't think so deeply about our... differences."
"You thought we could have a what?" My instant rage makes her crawl backwards and scared birds leave their branches, flapping their wings fearfully above us.
I did not expect that my mate would think of me as a one-night - or one-season - stand. A random stop between many males to whom she can offer a magical good time if I am to rely on Finn's experience with witches.
"Ayn, we cannot have a fling. You're..." I stand up and take a step towards her, only to see her blushing again to a beet red before she covers her eyes and pushes her chin to her chest.
"Penis and wolf away, please," she asks quietly.
My hands instantly lower and cross themselves in front of me, while I run my tongue over canines I have not realized had descended. Storm got them ready to sink in her shoulder and effectively eliminate the notion of spring flings from her mind.
I beg my beast to chill, because I am not convinced a witch can carry a shifter's mark and, if I bring this female home hemorrhaging from my bite, I might survive the Alpha's punishment but not my mother's wrath.
She turns around with her eyes closed and starts walking slowly uphill.
"....my mate." I sigh when her tiny frame disappears between the pines. I shift and follow her from a distance until, after several wrong turns, she finally finds the way up to the packhouse.
I wait until she gets in and I want to head back into the forest, to my border patrol, but my path is suddenly blocked by our off-roader.
My father's voice, as he steps out of the car overlaps with the sound of him unbuckling his belt.
„I thought you were supposed to be on patrol, Beta? It seems you will not calm down until we have that challenge...You may start running now."