Katie’s POV
My smile immediately drops when I notice Jackson making his way towards us.
“Alpha!” Jessie happily greets.
It takes only a few strides before he’s in front of us. “Jessie,” his voice makes sends an involuntary shudder through my body, “it’s good to see you again.”
Must be because I haven’t heard it in a while.
A part me knows I’m lying, but I ignore that part when he finally regards me.
“Katie,” he says softly and my insides squirm from how he easily says it. “It’s good to see you too.”
“Yeah,” I say in a low voice. “You too.”
I pull out my phone to avoid his stare and my eyes widen at the time. “Oh, I need to take Jessie home.”
Which is not a total lie, but more of an escape from Jackson.
I’m happy I can feel his presence and I feel more relax now that I can smell him, but I shouldn’t be.
“Oh, I can walk you two.” Jackson offers.
I smile at him and he smiles back.
Damnit.
“Okay!” Jessie jumps off the bench and I follow after.
The three of us make our way back to Jessie’s house.
“Am I allowed to know how things went with Tony? He said he was going to find you, did he?” I break the silence.
Jackson sighs. “What he found is luck. He still has three months leave, but he’s using the time to train and prepare for the hell training with the elders.”
“I see,” but then I ask, “Is it really a punishment, training under the elders’ guidance?”
When Jackson grimaces I raise an eyebrow questioningly.
“Believe me, you don’t even want to know.” He simply says.
I nod in understanding despite how curious I am. Though, it was curiosity that killed the cat.
“I haven’t seen you since, you know.” I say awkwardly. I didn’t want to ask but it was bothering me how he didn’t even come say hi or something, even though that’s how I wanted it.
God my feelings are so complicated. Stupid mate bond!
“Oh right,” he chuckles in his deep tone, “I had Alpha duties. I kind of own an online business which helps supports the pack. Then, there’s taking turns communicating with other pack members spread throughout the east.”
“Seems tough.” I say carelessly.
His forced chuckle makes me remember that Alphas usually don’t take care of the pack themselves and when they usually stress out, the Luna is always there for them.
I send him an apologetic look which he shakes his head dismissively.
“Here we are!” Jessie’s voice catches our attention.
I hug her and smile. “It was fun hanging out with you Jessie. And Tony.”
“Mhm! Let’s do it again sometime! See you tomorrow Katie!” And she’s gone inside her house.
I hear another voice and recognize it as Tony’s and smile when I hear Jessie blabbering about today.
“Glad to know you’re having fun and getting along with others,” Jackson says when we’re walking back to the pack house.
“I’m still getting used to it.” I reply. Really I am.
We fall silent again.
“Katie,” Jackson suddenly speaks up, “do you want to…I mean you don’t have to…”
I don’t let him finish, “I’m sorry," I tell him, "but I should go check on Rose.”
I feel terrible when I see his shoulders slump and at how his eyes flashes hurt for a moment before he’s smiling at me. “I guess it can’t be helped then, go.”
I remain there for a few seconds because I can feel the pull of the mate bond. I want to hug him, hell I even want to kiss him, but instead I send him a small smile and leave him.
I also don’t want to do any of those. It’ll only make it much harder when it comes time to actually leave him.
When I’m back in me and Rose’s room, I’m not surprised when I see Nick and Sally sitting on the chair talking to Rose.
Rose smiles at me.
“I’m tired.” I tell her. I really am. Too much things happened today I’m surprised I was able to keep up.
Nick smiles at me and stands up pulling Sally with him to the door. “I guess we should go then. I heard you’ve been exploring with some interesting company today.”
“Yeah,” I say to them at the door. “Good night.”
“Make sure you eat something before you sleep,” Sally chides, “I heard you’ve been barely eating.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I reassure her but she doesn’t look reassured at all.
I close the door and turn back to a very amused Rose.
“I’ll tell you all about it after a quick shower.” I say.
I shower and quickly get dress, throwing on my undergarments and donning black short shorts and a black tank top.
I snuggle next to Rose and inhale her calming scent.
“So,” Rose taps me on my head, “tell me.”
“I went for a walk…” I start and close my eyes.
***
I wake up and yawn
I look to my side and smile at my red friend. I don’t understand how she can look like a goddess when she’s sleeping. Samuel is one lucky bastard I’ll give him that.
I stealthily get off the bed and stretch my sleeping limbs before heading to the bathroom to freshen up and do what I gotta do.
Once I’m done I sit in the couch and stare at Rose as she sleeps. She really is a heavy sleeper.
Eventually, I have to get up and head to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast.
Trish and Sally are already there preparing breakfast.
They greet me and I wave at them already taking some ingredients already laid out on the counter to make something at one of the available cooking areas.
“I’m jealous of Rose, she gets to eat your cooking three times a day,” Trish groans.
Sally huffs in agreement, “Sometimes Sammy too.”
I laugh at that while shaking my head.
Her breakfast is usually light and always healthy so it’s pretty quick and easy to make.
I leave the two and bring the food up for Rose. Of course I have a little for Samuel too.
When I come back to the room, Rose is still asleep and I sigh. Guess I should wake her up now.
Ten minutes later Rose is up and already done eating.
“Delicious as always,” Rose smiles at me, “thanks.”
“No problem, anyways, I’m going for a walk.” I tell her.
“Again? Okay. Glad to know you’re enjoying yourself, just make sure you eat something besides lunch.” She smiles, but her eyes are pleading.
“Okay,” I kiss her forehead and get up to put on some long mismatch socks and my Nike shoes. I’m just too lazy to match the colors. “See ya later.”
I leave the room and make my way to the elevator. My eyes land on Daniel and his eyes light up when he sees me.
“Katie!” He says happily.
I raise an eyebrow.
“Morning,” I send him a little wave.
“Morning, I actually wanted to talk to you but I thought you might be sleeping still so I…” He trails off.
“We can talk now if you want,” I tell him.
“Oh, then we can eat breakfast together.” He goes into the elevator and stares at me. “Come on, let’s go eat the girls’ cooking.”
I stand beside him. When we make it to the first floor we go to the dining room.
I’m surprised there’s not much members there eating.
“Everyone is still waking up,” Daniel answers for me, “plus, since it’s not special like lunch not many really care about breakfast or dinner.”
“Is that so,” I try not to blush. I mean I know I’m a good cook and all but it makes me inwardly happy.
I follow him to make my plate.
A few people stare but it’s more of curious than disdain.
“Words going around that you and Tony hit off yesterday with his little sister and Trish so don’t be surprised if others begin opening up to you,” he grins at me.
I slightly smile back at him.
He tells me to follow him to a table where Trish and Sally eating at.
We’re quick to talk about useless things.
Then, that familiar sweet scent that I love hits me and my head snaps to Jackson who just entered the dining room. His eyes quickly land on me and I can’t help but wonder what I smell like to him.
“Oi Katie,” Daniel waves his spoon in front of my face. “Earth to Katie.”
“What?” I snap my head back to him.
“Shouldn’t you eat some more,” he gestures to my half full plate, “you only took one bite and you only filled your plate halfway.”
“You don’t like my cooking?” Trish glares at me.
“No it’s not that,” and I decide to answer honestly, “I’m just not use to eating three meals a day, let alone just a full one.”
Trish’s eyes soften, but the other two at the table look confused. I guess she hasn’t told them or anybody about what I said yesterday. Hopefully Tony and Jessie don’t either.
“Well, if it doesn’t hurt you, just eat a little bit more,” Trish smiles at me.
I smile back at her but then it drops when Jackson sits beside me. I automatically tense. His scent is making me dizzy and I can feel the warmth radiating off his body. It's been getting stronger recently, his hold on me.
Holy shit, I just realized only now that he’s in a tank top.
Something inside me melts when his arm accidently brushes against mine. Immediately I stand up. All their eyes look to me.
“I’m full actually, so I’m going to go.” I ignore Jackson for the sake of my mind.
It wouldn’t be good if I saw hurt flash in those eyes like yesterday because this time I might actually cave in.
I don’t wait for their reply, but quickly make it over to the trash and dump my waste.
Not long Daniel is by my side and he has an unreadable expression.
I look at him questioningly.
“I asked if we could talk right?” He says simply and I quietly follow him as he heads to sit on one of the couches in the lounge. I sit next to him.
“Katie,” Daniel starts, “you should give him a chance.”
I snap my head to him in shock. Is he really going to talk about this?
Yeah, Daniel seems like a good guy. I don’t know much of his past except that he’s been best friends with Jackson since they were babies. He’s also Trish’s mate and I know for a fact Trish is an amazing person, she’s my favorite person in the entire pack to be honest. Somehow she can relate and understand me better than anyone else, or at least willingly does. I thought she would be the first to tell me this.
“Daniel,” I stop him. I can’t talk about this with him. He’s best friends with Jackson for Moon Goddess’s sake!
But he isn’t haven’t none of it. “What do you think of mates?”
My brows furrow together in confusion. What’s he playing at?
“I wished I never have one is usually the first thought that comes to mind when I hear mate being mentioned.” I reply truthfully.
Daniel raises an eyebrow at that, “If you don’t mind me asking, why? Is there any specific reason?”
My mother’s words echo in my mind. How she had told me about what mates should be and what hers was actually like. Involuntarily I shudder.
“I can’t have one.” I simply say. His other eyebrow meets the other and I continue, “It won’t end well for either of us.”
“How would you know?” He asks. “You haven’t even given it a try.”
I stare into his chocolate colored eyes.
“You do know about Alpha’s and their mate right?” His eyes flicker to a couple children running by.
“Yeah,” I say.
I don’t know which is worse, being an Alpha’s mate or an Alpha having a mate.
“Then you know it’s impossible to reject him right? And likewise.” He looks back at me. “But it doesn’t mean you can’t avoid it.”
I want to lash at him for making me think of such a topic, for making think of Jackson and the thought of even considering mating with him. I can’t, so why can’t he just understand that?
Rose is my priority and yet everything keeps coming back to Jackson, even my mind is slowly leaning towards the Alpha of the East. Despite the pull of the mate bond and how I keep ignoring it like Daniel says, my curiosity of the man is beginning to make me want to give him a chance to try.
But I can’t. And though I can’t change that can’t, it doesn’t stop me from wanting.
“What if the Moon Goddess made a mistake?” I can hear the way my voice trembles. He’s fueling that small spark of hope in me and it hurts every time I shoot it down.
His genuine smile confuses me more because aren’t we having a serious talk?
Daniel shakes his head and a chuckle escapes his lips. “Katie, is that how you see this whole mating thing?”
What? What does he mean? Is there any other way?
He notices my confusion and his smile only widens. “How about I tell you my whole outlook on this whole mate thing huh?”
I nod my head, interested of what other way mates can be interpreted as.
My mother told me the Moon Goddess chooses your mate for you. It’s usual for the female mate to move to wherever the male resides, though it’s not enforced. Mates were forever, and to each other under the light of the Moon Goddess.
However, the reality of that actually happening is nothing but bullshit. The truth is that a mate is someone who will either be a blessing or a curse to you.
Is Jackson a blessing or a curse? I think he’d be a blessing after all I’m nothing but a curse. It balances the whole relationship.
“Okay, you say the Moon Goddess made a mistake, right? You’re half right, and the other is either wrong or you’re just way off with whatever the meaning of mates mean to you.” He grins.
“Huh?”
He chuckles again before replying. “I don’t think the Moon Goddess made a mistake Katie. The only time mates are mistakes are the people who make it a mistake.”
“No offense, but that makes no sense.” I flat out say. Really, it doesn’t.
“Look,” Daniel runs a hand though his hair. “To me, I don’t think the Moon Goddess made a mistake. She finds and binds you to the person perfect for you. You’re soulmate.”
I nod my head slwoly. I get it, so what? “I know,” I reply, “but not—“
He cuts me off, “—Doesn’t mean you two are a perfect match. Nothing in this world is perfect so of course mates are anything but perfect.”
“I don’t understand,” I tell him, because I’m even more confused. The perfect person for me, but not my perfect match? And nothing about a mate is perfect? That doesn’t make sense at all.
Daniel studies me for a bit before he continues, “It may sound confusing, but it’s the truth, or more like a possibility. One that many tend to be overlooked. As you’ve experienced like when you first met Jackson, you felt the mate bond right?”
“I didn’t notice it right away, but yeah.” I tilt my head a little.
“You didn’t fall in love right away, right?” He smiles when my mouth drops at what he’s getting at.
“You mean…?”
“It seems you understand what I mean. Good. The mate bond is only there to pull you to your soulmate, a person who was at one time or will be in time the perfect mate for you. However, it is up to you whether or not you want to make the relationship between you two romantic. At least this is how I see it since nobody can communicate with their inner wolf.”
“What do you mean?” The last part confuses me.
He smiles and stands up while looking down at her. “Maybe things would have been different if we were able to communicate with our wolves. Haven’t you heard the legend of the Female Alpha?”
A small smile makes it way to my face and I stand up next to him. “Can I ask you something?”
I follow into step after him before he replies, “Go right ahead.”
“Can you tell me the legend?” I ask in a soft voice. I close my eyes so he doesn’t see the emotions I can’t hide away when my brain automatically thinks back to my time with my mother.
“Oh, I thought you knew.” He sounds surprised and I open my eyes to look at him. “You are a female Alpha yourself you know.”
“I know it, it’s just I want to hear it.” I stare into his eyes and his brows nit together. It’s probably the first time he’s seen me so open with my emotions.
“Alright,” he looks away and I wonder if my eyes can show him what I’m remembering at the moment. “Once Upon A Time…”