~Damien~
I ran away.
Before my mind could process what I was doing I'd already had the shirt in my mouth. I was frantic, unsure of what I was supposed to do next and since I couldn't do much else, I did what came to me naturally.
I bolted. Running away from him and ran as fast as my four legs could carry me. My heart was racing, my mind was spinning, but my wolf was howling in joy. Even though it hadn't been my original intention to do what I had done in the end, in the grand scheme of things, I think it went pretty well. Sure my mate was more afraid of me than anything else, but at least he hadn't tried to run away, which is usually a big step when it comes to werewolf human pairings and the human meeting there mates wolf for the first time. I'd heard a lot of stories of mates running away in terror at the mere sight of their mates wolf counterpart, so I think we were making good progress. Even if we hadn't actually made any progress to begin with.
My wolf had managed to coerce me into getting close to my mate as a wolf, and at first I had thought it was going to be the biggest mistake I could have made for the day. I was still worried that he might tell Leo about meeting me again but there wasn't any photo evidence to prove it so I could always deny it with every shred of my being. Sure the chances of me being able to lie to the alpha might be practically zero, but in the end it would definitely be worth it. Probably.
He'd told us we were beautiful!
I'd been stunned when he said it, but my wolf had been over joyed. Before I even processed what was happening our tail had started wagging like a dogs, a truly embarrassing situation for any respecting werewolf to find themselves in, but that seemed to have eased my mates worry a little so I guess it wasn't all that bad. Even now my wolf was still rolling around and howling in joy at being acknowledged my his mate...even if it wasn't intentionally done. I wasn't going to spoil it for him though, he'd be a lot easier to handle the happier he was.
Of course the nauseatingly sweet sent that was wafting from the shirt in our mouth may have also been the reason for his euphoria, but who was I to judge him? It had been a spur of the moment decision. After being called beautiful, we'd wanted to get closer to our mate but every time we got closer he kept trying to get farther away. After growling in agitation at him we'd managed to get what we wanted. We'd gotten right up next to him, felt the warmth of his body, seen the beads of sweat as they trickled down his brow, stared into his mesmerising eyes. For a while the urge to lick his face had been wriggled its way into the front of my mind, yet the scent of his fear was ever present, preventing me from truly doing anything that might cause him anymore stress.
I'd wanted to pull him to the ground and claim him right there on the forest floor. Roll all over him till he was covered in my scent and myself in his. To touch him, lick him, nuzzle him, and just drown in his scent. I wanted to make sure that everyone in our pack would know who he belonged to, and the war in my mind had been waging back and forth between leaving immediately before I did anything I'd later grow to regret or whether to just give in and claim him, consequences be damned.
I'd managed to hold myself back though. The fear that was washing off my mate in waves was enough to let me know that he might have had a heart attack if I pushed him any further. Besides if I did mix our scents there would be no way to hide what I'd been up to from the other wolves, and I really didn't need another beating today.
Yet to just leave him without leaving my scent all over him made me feel irritated. So I did the next best thing. I took his shirt and ran before he could do anything about it. If I couldn't claim him as mine right now, at least I could claim his shirt. The more I thought about it the more I realized how pathetic I was becoming. Having his shirt wouldn't change anything and at the end of the day just having his scent around me without being able to claim him would only make the coming week that much harder.
Some small part of me was afraid of what was happening to me. A few days ago if anyone asked me what I'd thought of Jackson I wouldn't have taken them seriously. Sure I used to know him and we used to quite close, but it's not like I cared about him much anymore. He would have barely manage to register on my radar, just another insignificant human from school, another face among the many others that I passed from day to day; yet now I couldn't get him out of my mind.
In just a few hours he'd managed to make me experience so many emotions that I wasn't sure If I'd be able to handle much more. He'd gone from being just another face in the crowd, to being the most important one to me. I was frightened at how quickly I'd warmed up to the idea of him as my mate. Frustrated that our relationship had been so rocky before and that now it would be that much harder to get him to accept me. Sadden at the fact that I'd been neglecting my mate all these years, even it was impossible for me to have known beforehand.
Yet, as long I could make him mine I didn't care. As long as I could make him mine I'd have all the time in the world to understand these feelings. As long as I could make him mine It wouldn't matter how poorly I'd treated him in the past, I'd more than make up for it in our future. As long as I could make him mine, the same way I couldn't stop thinking about him, I'd make sure he wouldn't ever be able to forget me. It was a promise I'd make before the Moon goddess herself and it would be one I would I keep with every fibre of my being.
Once I was a good ways away from the clearing, I settled into a comfortable jog thinking about what my next steps should be. I couldn't go back home with his shirt on me, the others would notice the foreign scent immediately, but I also couldn't just leave it laying around in the woods either. The chances of it being dug up by some animal and ruined were very high. Not to mention that if I didn't precure it in a safe place his scent would fade quickly, lowering the value of my treasure immensely. It didn't take long for me to decide on my next course of action though and I quickly sped off once again.
I made my way back through the grass and mud I had trampled through to avoid anyone until I was once again surrounded by the scent of my pack mates. Once in familiar territory I made my way to a relatively quiet area, were not many of the other wolves would pass through on their regular patrol rounds. I had stumbled upon it a few years back when I was chasing some game when me and a few of the other guys had been on our weekly hunt. I was the only one who had managed to keep up with the buck as it was running through the woods, dashing over roots, and twisting though the trees with relative ease. By the time I had managed to bring it down, I was alone in an unfamiliar part of the forest. I had wondered around for a bit trying to find my way back when I came across a small opening among a few boulders in the side of a hill. I hadn't realized it was the opening for a cave because of the ivy that had grown all over the rocks, effectively covering the opening like a natural curtain.
Out of curiosity, I had forced my way in only to realize it had been an entrance to a pretty big cave system. I hadn't told anyone else about it and had made it into my own little den where I'd come to hide out when I wanted to avoid things for a while. I'd managed sneak in a few things like a few blankets and furs that the other wolves were going to throw away. I'd managed to get my hands on some that where still of a good quality and had brought them into the cave to make it more comfortable. As time went on I slowly managed to build it into my own little home away from home. The only issue was that when it rained the water would flow through my cave before filtering down into the cave system. Thankfully it wasn't that big of an issue. As long as I was careful none of my things would be washed away and in a way the rain water flowing through the cave helped in getting rid of my scent from around the entrance, making it that much more secure. It was the perfect little hidey-hole for me to both hide my new treasure and enjoy it at the same time.
I squeezed through the small opening in the rocks, wiggling my way through the small tunnel that opening up into my cave. Pacing around I ensured that no new scents had found their way into my abode before settling into the furs and blankets that I had arranged into a little bed. I plopped down letting my tense muscles that were screaming in protest of their recent treatment relax while I laid my head on my paws.
I lay panting, letting my body rest while my mind was going into over drive. I let the events of the day play over and over again. There were a lot of things that I wished I could change, situations that I wish I had responded to differently.
In the end, the Alpha had been right. Everything that happened today was the result of the decision and choices that I'd made. Things could have gone a lot better if I'd made better decisions. Even if I was angry at the fact that I felt embarrassed about the pit incident, there was no need for me to take out my anger on Jackson, especially in the way that I did. There was no way he could have possibly known that the wolf was me and chances are he wouldn't have even posted the pictures he would have taken to begin with.
Even the pit incident was my own fault. If I hadn't tried to scare him, just minded my business, and carried on with my day, then none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have been trapped in the pit, wouldn't have tried to get even with him, wouldn't have embarrassed him in front of practically everyone and I definitely wouldn't have made a fool out of myself in chemistry class. If I'd just focused on getting to school...chances are even if I wouldn't have been able to claim him immediately, I would have been in a much better position than the one that I was finding myself in right now.
As time went on and my mind settled, I came to realize that there was nothing I could do about what had already transpired. At the end of the day It was my decisions and choices that had led me here and all that I could do was live with the consequences. Rome wasn't built in a day and I couldn't expect for Jackson to fall for me in a day either. The only thing I could do now was do my best to be better from now on and hopefully Jackson would see me the same way I now saw him. It wasn't going to be easy but at least I knew it was going to be worth it if at the end of it all I could have my mate.
I got up from the bed of furs and made my way out of the cave once I realized that the cave was getting darker. It was getting late and even though I didn't want to go back home, I had to make sure I was back before curfew. I was already in enough trouble as it was, no need to give the Alpha anymore reason to increase my punishment further.
After shifting back on the packhouse porch, I found my clothes on the porch were I had left them, for which I was most grateful. It would have been a little awkward if I had to walk through the pack house in my birthday suite, especially when everyone was most likely getting ready for supper. I walked into the house to the sound of chatter coming from the kitchen and dining area so I made my way towards the stairs, hoping to avoid running into anyone. Sadly I should have figured out from the way my day had been going, lady luck was not on my side.
"Hey Damien, good to see you managed to find your way back. Think you could give me a hand with setting the table?" Andrew who was coming down the stairs bumped into me as I was heading up. Even though I was trying to avoid everyone right now, I was going to have to face them at supper anyway since the Alpha would send for me to make sure everyone ate together.
"Sure thing."
"Awesome I'm not sure were the other guys managed to run off too so I'm glad I at least managed to find you. How was the run?"
"It was good, helped me to clear and settle my head."
"I imagine you really needed it." Andrew stood in front of me running his hands over my sides and chest, poking and prodding at me, most likely trying to see if I had somehow managed to hurt myself even further after the beating I'd received earlier in the evening.
"Well, the good news is that you're doing a lot better than I thought you would have been, especially considering how your dad wiped the floor with your ass." Andrew stood back after his examination, wiping the few drops of blood that managed to cling to his hands into my shirt before continuing.
"The bad news is that your pretty much going to have bruised ribs for a good few days as well as that black eye. You're going to have to ask one of the girls to give you some concealer or something if you want to hide that guy." He reached up to my face and lightly brushed his finger across what I could only assume was a rather large black bruise around my eye.
"Easy with the prodding around the eye, it's still pretty tender." The twinge of pain that shot through me as he pressed against my face made me wince. " Nothing's going to change even if you keep messing around with my injures so maybe we should hurry and get the tables set for dinner?"
"Ah, your right. We better get that sorted quickly." Andrew spun on his heels and quickly made his way towards the dining area with me right on his heels.
***
Dinner was uneventful as everyone sat in silence as they ate their meals. I'd expected for there to be some underlying tension after this afternoon's debacle, yet no one said anything to me. I was relieved at the fact that no one brought it up, yet at the same time confused as to why they didn't. My confusion was resolved when the alpha, at the end of the meal, gave an announcement.
"Before we all retire for the night, I would like to remind everyone of the pack meeting tomorrow evening. We'll be integrating our pack with our new allied pack as they gave word that they would be finished with moving into town by the end of the afternoon. I'd also expect that everyone would have also remembered that our soon to be pack members, have moved accompanied by several other supernatural families as well. As such, we will be having a 'Gathering of the blessed' later in the week so as to introduce them into our community. I expect everyone to be present for this meeting including you young ones as well. As we don't have 'gatherings of the blessed' too often, so it should be an excellent opportunity for all of you to not only familiarize yourselves with such meetings, but it will also give you an opportunity to interact with other supernatural beings around your age. I expect everyone to be on their best behavior, do not embarrass our pack."
The look in the alphas eyes as he turned away from us was chilling. I was certain that anyone who made our pack look lesser in front of the other supernatural's would not be punished lightly. After the Alpha and the Luna retired from the meal, the other mature wolves left, leaving the clean up to us juniors. Thankfully we managed to quickly clear everything away. Normally a couple of us would have spent some time in the yard under the stars, but the Alphas warning of tomorrows important meeting meant we would all be expected to retire to our rooms early so that we'd be well rested for tomorrow.
After a quick shower I reapplied the bandages that had fallen off when I'd shifted and made my way to my bed. Sleep didn't come quickly though as my mind just couldn't seem to settle, leaving me to toss and turn. My mind was consumed with thoughts of Jackson and what I would do tomorrow. Even if the Alpha told me to stay away from him, I knew deep down that I needed to find a way to get close to him.
The only question was...How?