Beatrix
I was awakened by someone whispering in my ear and shaking my shoulder. I opened up my eyes and was surprised to see Jean grinning at me. I hadn't seen her in forever and I've missed her chubby cheeks.
"Good morning," I said but she quickly shushed me, putting her pointy finger to her pouty lips. Her bangs were now covering all of her forehead and she had her two ponytails by the sides.
"Today is Calvin's birthday," she whispered, pointing to a sleeping Calvin on the couch. "Let's go surprise him."
I stared at Jean, surprised. I didn't know it was his birthday - which means he turned 18 today. What date was it? 20 August. I definitely need to know Calvin better but I wasn't sure what exactly we were especially since the meeting that evening, two days ago.
A few things happened like Carlos had finally vow to be loyal and trustworthy to the pack and should he go against the pack, execution will take place without any say - it might sound mean but I think it was alright especially he used to be a professional rogue.
Brody and his pack also moved back to their pack house. We hugged for a long time like I was gonna lose him before he left. I knew I was gonna miss him. Brody had been like a brother to me. Even Eddie didn't have time to look after me and talk to me the way Brody did. They were both Alphas except that Brody haven't found his mate yet. I bet, if he did, he wouldn't be allowing him near me anymore.
Most of the pack members also started going back to their nearby houses and cottages after the Alpha announced that our territory were once again, safe and at peace.
Sally also talked to me last night. She said, our little argument the other day made her realize and when she hugged Carlos for the first time, she didn't want to let him go. She could almost feel the pain of torture that Carlos went through and she wanted nothing more than make Carlos feel better. She finally understood the meaning of the word 'mate'.
Everything was falling back into its place except for my relationship with Calvin. I could really feel that we were getting a little far even though Calvin was still taking care of me - sometimes carrying me around and bringing my milk in every night before sleep.
Maybe I should make the move, the move to ask him what was wrong. But today was his birthday and I shouldn't be the one to ruin the mood.
Jean got down from my bed and ushered me out as well. She walked over to my dressing table and brought a plate. It was a few pieces of pancakes with bananas and strawberries messily chopped and a candle poked in the middle of the top piece.
Jean took my hand and we walked over to where Calvin was still sleeping. Jean made me hold the plate of pancakes before she jumped onto Calvin and sang the birthday song very loudly. I was singing as well but I couldn't clap along like Jean was. But I started laughing when Calvin woke up, startled by the sudden noise.
"Happy Birthday Calvin," Jean wished and stayed on top of Calvin, hugging him by the neck.
"Thank you Jean," Calvin said and stroke her head, "But you're holding my neck too tight, I cannot breathe."
"Ops, sorry sorry," Jean said and then jumped off him, allowing Calvin to sit up. Jean pulled me to sit next to Calvin and showed him the plate I was holding. "Oh no, I forgot to take the matches from Lana to light up the candles," Jean complained and ran out of the room, leaving me and Calvin alone.
"Happy Birthday," I spoke first, wishing him.
"Thank you," he replied, smiling, "Did you make this?"
He was referring to the plate of pancakes and I shook my head. "I'm not sure who but we can ask Jean later. She just woke me up too, actually."
Calvin nodded several times and then we fell into silence, again. We hardly talk anymore and it wouldn't be fair for me to keep on trying while he just remained silence. Was it because he didn't want to be with me anymore - that's why he stopped trying? Maybe he was trying to hint to me that he still wanted to be with Valerie? Maybe...... maybe I should try harder to make this relationship works? Maybe I should try for the last time...
"Your birthday is exactly 5 months after mine," I stated and after a while, I realized, it's been 5 months since I found out that Calvin was my mate. It's been that long I survived without him and I was still here.
"Yeah," he answered, looking down on the floor.
"I don't have any birthday present prepared," I continued, making an effort to have a conversation with him.
"It's okay," he said again and then looked up when Jean came galloping into the room.
"Beatrix, help me light this up," Jean requested and I did. The rest of the morning was me watching Jean and Calvin getting bonded. Jean was still as loud as before whenever she was happy. She couldn't stop rambling about how Lana watched her make the pancakes and then she had cut the fruits beautifully. Calvin happily entertained her and I knew that he appreciated Jean's effort. They laughed and sometimes I would laugh with them even though I didn't know what they were laughing about. It's just that Calvin's laughter was funny.
Suddenly, Calvin started sniffing dramatically, "Why do I smell something so stinky? Jean, have you showered?"
Jean gasped and covered her mouth then shook her head. Calvin scrunched his nose up playfully and got Jean to leave the room to have her shower.
"I'll just go and have a shower too," Calvin said, getting up to leave the room. He doesn't shower in mine. I still had my privacy in my own room because Calvin would only be in it to sleep.
"Okay," I said quietly, looking down at my hands. I didn't hear anything else until Calvin left. Maybe he was gonna meet Valerie? Maybe she had something prepared for him?
"Err Beatrix," Calvin called shortly after, coming back into the room.
"Yes?" I asked, looking up but make sure I blinked back whatever tears that was about to flow.
"You said you don't have any present prepared for me," Calvin stated and I sighed.
"I don't," I confirmed.
"Well, I want one. Can we have a walk in the woods later?" He asked and I looked at him, hesitant. Should we go? I'd be reminded of all the times when we had in the woods even though back then it wasn't a pleasant one.
But he was trying, wasn't he? Wasn't that what I wanted? He wanted us; just the two of us to have a walk, to spend the time together. Maybe we could let our wolves out to play as well.
"Please, Beatrix? It's all I'm asking for," Calvin said and he sounded like he was begging.
"Okay," I said, soon after.
"Really? Alright. We'll go after lunch," Calvin said enthusiastically and left the room, waving at me.
I smiled, widely and got up, ready to shower and have my lunch and then have Calvin all to myself.
Calvin
I had nothing in mind but I knew I needed to talk to Beatrix about us, in private or whatever, I don't mind. But then I remembered that during her birthday, I had helped with her shifting and then our wolves played for a while.
I could do the same thing. We could talk first and then play to lose the tension a bit.
I rushed into my room and picked up something casual and then quickly hopped into the shower, already getting excited about going to the woods later.
It's gonna be my bestest birthday ever.
* * *
I waited outside the pack's house impatiently. When I got down the stairs, Beatrix was still in T-shirt and sweatpants and was eating bread with cheese at the dining table. When she saw me, she told me to wait for her outside while she quickly changed her clothes to something better. I did as told and now it's been 10 minutes.
"Hey Calvin," someone called and when I turned, I was expecting Beatrix. But no, it was Valerie.
"Hi," I said, trying to sound normal. I didn't know what to feel about Valerie now. Ever since Matt came back, she treated me like we never happened before which only made me feel a lot dumber for always choosing her over Beatrix.
"Happy birthday," she said.
"You remembered," I stated.
"I do," she said and then we fell into an awkward silence until Beatrix arrived, dressed better with an orange sundress.
"Calvin I'm rea..." her sentence stopped halfway when she saw Valerie was with me. The look on her face wasn't one that I would like to see anymore. I saw her face fell and I could literally see that the shine on her face was being turned off.
"Uhm, we could go next time if..." Beatrix started to say but Valerie interjected.
"I was just getting some air," Valerie said. She smiled and nodded at Beatrix and me before she disappeared back into the house.
"Shall we?" I asked Beatrix and she nodded weakly. Was she still jealous about me and Valerie? Did she think I still have feelings for her? I took Beatrix's hand and started walking.
Beatrix was walking a step behind me even though we were holding hands. Or it was more like I was holding her hand. Beatrix didn't return the grip and all the while that I talked about the green leaves and beautiful butterfly, Beatrix just looked front as though she didn't hear me at all.
"Shall we sit here?" I asked Beatrix when we reached a nearby waterfall. She nodded and she sat on one of the big rocks there. She sat in silence and this time, it was starting to slowly eating me inside.
"It's beautiful here, isn't it?" I asked, referring to the bluish water of the waterfall. Beatrix nodded and then looked at the water but I got a feeling that she was looking away because she didn't want to look at me.
I moved closer next to Beatrix and placed a hand on her waist. It caught her attention and she turned back around, looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.
"Are you alright, Beatrix? You seem upset," I said, my voice softening.
"I'm fine," she said and I knew she was lying. "Why did you bring me here?"
"We need to talk," I answered.
"About what?"
"About us," I whispered.
"There are no us," Beatrix said shortly after and it broke my heart to still hearing those words from her. Hadn't she accepted me in yet?
"You're my mate, Beatrix. I want to be with you. I heard what you said to Sally the other time in her room. Did you not really see how much I want to be with you, how much my heart yearns for you? Did you really not, Beatrix?"
Beatrix shut her eyes and then slowly opened them and looked at me, "I see something else."
"What is it?"
"I see how much of hatred you have for Matt when we walked down the stairs when Matt acknowledged me. I felt how your hands gripped on my wrist because you were trying to control your anger upon seeing Valerie, back with her true mate. I tried to see something else in your eyes, but after I saw Valerie with you just now, I'm starting to feel that you just pity me and it was the Alpha's orders," Beatrix assumed. Once she was finished, she got up from the rock and wanted to walk away.
But I quickly pulled her back by the waist and once she was facing me, I kissed her full on the mouth. She didn't squirm but I could feel her kissing me back. I placed a hand at the back of her neck and deepened the kiss. We kissed until I felt that Beatrix couldn't breathe anymore. Pulling away, I kissed her nose, her eyes, both of her cheeks and then looked into her eyes.
"Did you feel the spark?" I asked her. "The spark that I always feel whenever I touched your hand, carried you or even be in the same room with you. Every night, I had to stop myself from crawling into your bed and hugged you. Every time I see you with Brody, I had to control myself from clawing onto his face for being near my mate. Every moment from the time you were captured was very uneasy for me especially when I also felt the pain you were going through when you were beaten up. We are one, Beatrix. We have always been and I apologized for neglecting you when I just found out that we're mates."
"You felt the pain?" She questioned me, looking at me with worried eyes.
"I did," I told her. "And the hatred that you saw me sending to Matt was not one because Valerie is now happy with him. It was one because he didn't want to tell me where you were captured after he was back and safe in the pack house."
"I don't understand," Beatrix said.
"I knew you released Matt from the capture and when he reached the pack house, he wasn't conscious. When he was afterwards, he wanted to talk to me and said that he knew where you were. I was worried of you, Beatrix so I urged him to tell me but all he started to ramble about was how I was in a relationship with his mate. It was not important at all but he wanted to talk about that first rather than helping the pack out where you were. I was so angry at him," I spilled.
"And when you saw me with Valerie just now, she just approached me to say Happy Birthday and nothing else."
Beatrix nodded as she looked down at our feet. I grabbed her chin with my thumb and forefinger and made her look at me.
"You can ask me anything now, Beatrix. I promise you that I'll answer truthfully. I want to earn your trust and I want you to be able to trust me as well."
"Do you still have feelings for Valerie?" She asked.
"No, not at all. I never really had. When I dated her, it was also because I was lonely. They said we can find our mates at 16 but I guess I was being impatient and when I didn't find you, my mate, I just go with the flow. I knew I liked Valerie but it never went all the way to love and I'm not just saying this for the sake of saying. What I had with Valerie back then was more of a pity than love," I told her.
Beatrix bit her bottom lip and I groaned slightly and pushed aside the thoughts of what I could do to her right now. We fell again into silence, so I spoke again.
"I want you to accept me as your mate, Beatrix. It does not have to be now. It can be whenever you're ready because I'm ready to wait for you forever," I said to her as I held her cheeks in my hand and locked our eyes.
"Hmm..." Beatrix made a sound.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Do you want to let our wolves out and play?" she asked and I smiled, kissing her forehead.
"Sure," I said and we changed. I've missed her her light brown with white streaks fur - it was so beautiful. She made the first move to tackled me on the floor and for the rest of the time; we spent by chasing each other and then tackling each other on the ground.
Beatrix hadn't accepted me yet but at least I knew she didn't hate me. And I couldn't have asked for a better birthday evening with her.
Don’t I get something for an early update? :D
So… it’s Calvin’s birthday and they’re sure getting better. But, I still want to know what you guys think of this chapter – of Calvin – of Valerie – of their relationship :)
Oh, and do you like the new story cover?