Daltons p.o.v.
I didn't even think before I acted, I threw myself in front of my mate and pushed her behind me. Derek, my beta raised his scarred brow and chuckled in an amused fashion. " Yeah, I realized that when she was beating the shit out of you and you were looking at her like a lost puppy." A low growl slips past my lips, and I narrow my eyes in anger. Protect mate. I can feel her body heat behind me, she's so close that whenever I breath I get a good lungful of her enticing scent. " Stand down beta, not a single hand is to be put on her."
He puts his hands up in mock surrender and backs up slightly, a sheepishly intrigued grin on his face. " Trust me, I'm not the one who initiated our small fight. You can leave that to your feisty little mate standing there behind you. Even if I did, she'd probably have me on my ass in a couple of minutes. " It's then I notice the small trail of blood trickling down Derek's temple. It's deep enough to make me wince slightly in slight pain of my own. That probably hurts like a bitch.
" Like you didn't fucking have have it coming." I hear a pissed grumble from behind me, a sultry satin voice that I know belongs to my mate. It's so exotic that I can't help myself but turn around to face her. Sharp angled brows pushed together, creating a crease in the smooth skin between her brows. Her arms are crossed over her chest in annoyance, a scowl pulling down her flushed lips. I bet she looks so breath taking when she lets out a genuine smile.
The position of her arms brings my eyes unwillingly towards the mature swell of her chest. I can't help but notice the silver slabs of metal that hang over her chest on a simple link chain. Dog tags? Why would she have dog tags around her neck? I can see writing engraved onto the tags, but I can't make out what they say.
"Hey, would you mind redirecting your eyes to some other place , that's not on my body." My eyes widen in slight shock and pleasure at being scolded by my mate for something as simple as cherishing her with my eyes, but at the same time just hearing her sweet voice aimed at me was enough to make me grin. Still, I don't avert my eyes from her godly form. " Stop grinning at me like some crack head!" My grin only spreads to the ends of my cheeks, at the same sound of her voice. " You're all mine love, our bodies belong to each other. There should be no worrying about me admiring your body."
" Like hell my body's yours! Stop talking to me like we're some kind of lovers! " I internally wince at the infuriated tone of her voice, but I keep my steely gaze on her. Her eyes seem to suck me in like a whirlpool, up so close I can see the different shades of blue and slight hues of green hidden in my mates eyes. Beautiful. " We may not be lovers now, but we're destined to be. You can deny it all you want, but I'm never going to let you leave my sight." My words sound gentle but possessive to my own ears, and by her reaction, hers to.
Immediately, her harsh intimidating look is back on. Her muscles visibly tense and bunch together in coils, and honestly I get a little fearful. Knowing that she beat me unconscious the last time I pissed her off. Somehow, my wolf didn't really seem to care. It's wolf nature to enjoy a good chase, and saying my wolf is enjoying our mates feistiness would be an understatement.
Whenever I think of her knocking me out, the only thing my wolf will allow me to feel is pleasure. He reminds me of the fact that her slender fingers were wrapped around our neck, and tingles could still be felt throughout my body. He also likes to mention the fact that she was straddling us in quite the intimate way, so close that I could feel the warmth of her thighs against my abdomen and her warm breath on my face.
But then again, she did knock me out in less than a minute flat. Considering the fact that I'm 6'5 and 240 pounds, that's a little concerning. I mean, I know she's tall for a woman-I'm guessing 6'0- and pretty muscled too, but she knew how to have me on my ass in a second. It didn't seem to take her a lot of effort to get me-a grown wolf alpha male-unconscious. My wolf purrs again from somewhere in my mind, ' She'll make one fine alpha female. '
I hum in agreement but can't help but shiver at the thought of her knocking me out again. Hopefully I don't manage to tick her off to bad in the near future. Seemingly seeing my shiver at the thought of her strength, a small quirk lifts up the ends of my mates lips, and they settle in a small but noticeable smug smirk.
" It seems like you remember how I beat your ass unconscious last time you decided to piss me off, so I wouldn't do it again if I were you. I don't care whatever the hell you are, but as I was telling your bestie here, I want out of this crazy shit." A deep chuckle comes from behind me at her use of the word bestie, and I shoot Derek a glare, as not to encourage her. The fact that my mate is unhappy because of me leaves an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I step closer to her in an attempt to comfort her. At the end of the day, I don't want my mates unhappiness, I just want her safely in my arms.
Is that too much to ask? Apparently so, I get my answer when a structured hand reaches out and slaps mine away from touching her. Only a few inches closer and I could've felt the smoothness of her skin against my fingers. I feel dejected, she probably doesn't know it but it's basically rejection to refuse your mates touch in the wolf world. My wolf whimpers. ' Why won't our mate let us touch her?' ' Maybe it's the fact that we kidnapped her? ' I respond mentally.
" Listen mate, I need you to understand that what I did was completely necessary. You don't understand yet because I haven't been given the chance to explain. I didn't cause you to shift, it would've happened anyway. It was just the fact that your emotions triggered your wolf." I breath out my words quickly, so she doesn't get a chance to cut in. I want so badly to grasp her hands in mine and speak close enough to feel her breath fanned out on my face but I refrain.
I don't want to make her anymore uncomfortable than she already is. Her face scrunches up into a mask of confusion, but I can see the blind rage that was controlling her actions dim slightly. Maybe she does feel the bond after all? My wolf growls in satisfaction at the thought. ' Of course she does, there's no way we could be this effected and she could feel nothing. Our mate loves us, she's just confused. You'll see.'
With a proud expression on his muzzle, he fades back into the corners of my mind once again. " Alright then genius, then explain to me what gives you the right to kidnap me right when I finally got home from wa-" She cuts her own sultry voice off, like she realized she was saying too much. What was she going to say? She just got home from what? " Don't tell me you don't know?" A grumbling voice from behind me once again reminds me of my betas presence in our conversation. Does he mind?
" Wait, I don't know what?" Does he know more about my mates past than I do? She must've talked to him while I was unconscious! A hot flash of jealousy goes through me at the thought of Derek knowing more about Gem than her own mate. " War. She just came back from war Delton. She was a military Sargent, like me." No, no way I refuse to believe it. There's no way my little mate could've been in the line of fire. There's no way Gem could've fought and killed before. No way.
" What he's saying is true. " What? My eyes widen and I look at Gem, completely lost and confused. Staring at her beautiful face, I beg her with my eyes to tell me what I've just heard isn't true. " Gem no, please don't tell me you were fighting out there. Please don't tell me a drop of blood came out of that beautiful face of yours. Please don't tell me I wasn't there to protect you when you needed me the most. Please!" I don't care what I sound like right now, all I care about is answers.
My voice cracks pathetically, and I'm seconds away from shedding tears, but I need to hear this. She says nothing. All I'm met with is silence, but I've gotten the answer to my question. Oh god, she could've died out there and I wasn't there for her in her hardest times. She could've gotten shot or stabbed, or hell she might have been multiple times! " Those tags around your neck, those are military tags aren't they? "
By now I'm sure I sound like a sniveling child, but I can't let this go. Once again, she looks at me emotionlessly, the truth shining in her eyes. Yes, they are. Anger shoots out in to my bloodstream like adrenaline, and suddenly I'm not sniveling anymore. My entire eyesight is clouded with red, and the only thing on my mind is bloodlust. I want whoever dared to lay a hand on my mate dead, and in pieces at my feet. Just the thought of someone drawing even a single drop of blood from her makes me sick to the stomach.
"Why, why didn't you tell me! "My voice booms out into the courtyard, and I'm sure everyone in a five mile radius could hear it. My whole body is shaking in contained rage, and I can feel my eyes flickering and changing in color and shape. My own nails dig so hard into my palms I draw small droplets of blood. ' No one hurts mate. ' My wolf scratches and howls inside me, begging and growling at me to set him free.
My mate retaliates in her own anger. " What, am I suppose to spill my life story to some random man that kidnapped me!"
" Random man! I'm no random man, I'm your mate!" There it is, that special word that means a thousand things. I've waited so long to finally have my mate so close, and now that I do I feel so guilty and infuriated. I wasn't there when her comrades were probably dying. I wasn't there when her ears were ringing with the sound of gun fire, I wasn't there when she was bleeding. I wasn't there when she was almost dead. I wasn't there.
" On and on again with that fucking word! I'm not your whatever, I just want to go home!"
That was my breaking point. My wolf tore through my weak barrier and broke free. I no longer had control of myself, he had completely taken over. My eyes were that of my wolf, molten gold spheres with cat like narrowed pupils. He's not just mad, he's completely enraged. " You don't believe me, fine. I'll show you just exactly what the word mate means." And with that, he used my body to spring forward and lunge at our mates neck.