Animkii stared up at the ceiling from his bed in the dormitory, his hands tucked behind his head. His thoughts and emotions swirled within him.
Chloe was his second-chance mate as he had hoped and dreamed since his father's challenge and Madison's death. The shift in her scent at her birthday party confirmed it and it had taken great restraint to hold himself back.
While maintaining a respectful distance from her at the party, he scoped out all the single young males that popped in to check her out as well. He spoke with as many as he could, to see how they were doing, but mainly to get a sense of whether or not any of them were her mate.
It seemed all the young single males in the pack had stopped by at some point just to get a sniff of her—and they all left dejected.
Good. He still stood a chance with her.
But that didn't mean that her mate wasn't still out there somewhere.
He could tell that she was scenting him out too. She seemed a little distracted when he was nearby cutting the cakes with his family while her eyes were darting around everyone in the crowd, trying to pinpoint the wolf that was attracting her attention. She couldn't tell who by the sheer number of wolves present where it was coming from even though Animkii was just a few feet away.
When he was in the kitchen helping to rinse off dishes and run them through the dishwasher while his parents were washing and drying some of the larger dishes guests had brought, Anwaatin came bouncing in with a scowl.
"What is it?" he asked her as she helped herself to a juice box from one of the coolers.
"Chloe's your SCM, right?" The abbreviation for 'second-chance mate' came into effect shortly after Anwaatin discovered him musing about the possibility of Chloe being his second-chance mate. She came up with it so she could talk about it with him as much as possible while keeping it somewhat secret.
He nodded, glancing over at his parents, who were now listening in and knew what was going on as well. They had quickly figured out the abbreviation without any explanation.
"Well, she's got competition now." Anwaatin rolled her eyes.
The corners of Animkii's lips tugged up. "Oh? And who might that be?"
"Her best friend, Kayla, has the hots for you. Has for some time. She might cause some trouble for Chloe when she finds out your intentions."
That wasn't something new. Animkii had been aware of many females in the pack vying for his interest. He was firm and treated them all the same regardless.
"Good to know. I'll modify my approach accordingly."
Anwaatin's face fell. "So, you're not going to tell her later?"
Animkii had been debating over and over all the different angles and ways to broach the truth with Chloe. No matter which way he tried to approach it, he couldn't be sure of the outcome.
By the end of the party, he determined to not push the truth onto Chloe yet. While her mate didn't seem to be within their pack, he was still out there. He promised Cameron that he would give Chloe space and time to find her mate and have the love she was destined to have, but with the shift in her scent confirming to him that there was some kind of undeniable bond between them, made it that much harder for him to maintain distance and to simply wish her a happy birthday when he put the necklace around her neck.
His scent and proximity startled her. It startled him too. The way her scent drew him in and his immediate instinct was to claim her. It wasn't difficult to shake-off that gut reaction, but it was present nonetheless.
Damn, this was going to be difficult.
She still didn't trust him. Still angry with him. Still wanted nothing to do with him, but she seemed more conflicted now, having gotten a whiff of him up close.
He resisted the temptation to touch her, though he yearned to. He wanted to see if there were sparks, the kind that soulmates had.
To honor her, he refused himself that pleasure and left the Hall before he'd do something or say something he'd regret.
He went to his parents first, Chloe still fresh in his mind, but he didn't want to talk about it with his mother and sister. Instead, he and his father went a few miles north to survey some land for development before coming back home. He told his father what happened and asked him if he thought he was doing the right thing.
"It's honorable, but perhaps you should try and soften things with Chloe so that when you do make your intentions known to her, it won't upset her," was his father's advice.
While relaxing on his bed, he thought about his father's words and what he ought to do next as he reflected on everything that had transpired that day.
After ten minutes, he pulled out his leather-bound journal from the bedside table and began to write down his jumbled thoughts. He had barely made a dent in his reflections when a fist pounded on his door.
"Anim!" his sister shouted from the other side. "Open up! Right now!"
Perplexed as to why Anwaatin was here, he closed his journal and set it on the bedside table next to Madison's picture. He threw his legs over the side of the mattress and went to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. He stared down at his little sister in bewilderment as she shoved her way into his room. "What's up, Ann?"
She marched to his bed and sat down while he closed and locked the door. As he made his way to his bed, she huffed.
"You have to talk to her and tell her everything."
Sitting down on the other side of the mattress from her, he shook his head. "It's too soon. I told you, I have to give her space and time to find her mate first."
She shook her head. "No, you don't understand. She hates you. And now she's upset with me too and I don't want to lose her as a friend."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "What did you do?"
She gave him the puppy-dog look and when it didn't work on him, she relented. "She came over after dinner asking if I told you about her vision at the Winter Moon Festival."
Confusion tugged within him. "Why would she ask that?"
"Because you gave her a key that was in her vision and she thinks you're screwing around with her. She's all confused because your scents are affecting each other now."
He shook his head. "What did you do? You know that I have to give her space to find her mate. It's the right thing to do."
"But she's your SCM!"
"I know, but she deserves a chance to find and be with her true mate. I can't give her what she wants in life if I make the first move. I don't want her resenting me later in life."
Anwaatin rolled her eyes. "Well, she already resents you, so hurry up and fix it."
He shook his head. "You'll have to figure out for yourself how to fix your friendship with Chloe because it's too soon for me to explain everything. It will only confuse her if she finds her mate in the next few weeks."
She scowled. "You'll lose her if you wait too long."
He smirked. "You forget that she's my SCM and can't deny the physical pull of our bond, the lure of our scents, and the chemistry we have. Madison tried to fight it and failed. You will fail too if you try to resist the bond when you find your mate."
Anwaatin gave him a bored look. "I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you. Don't forget, she's got competition with her best friend, Kayla."
Animkii's nose scrunched up. "Oh yeah."
His sister gave him a less than impressed smug look. "Yeah. So Chloe's got another thing going against her now. And I bet Kayla's not going to wait to find her mate before she makes a move on you too."
Sighing, Animkii flopped back on his bed and tucked his hands under his head. "Why do you females have to make life so difficult?"
"Hey, you're the one who messed up with Chloe," Anwaatin pointed out. "If you just tried to fix your friendship with her earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"And you know I can't tell her, so there's no point in throwing it in my face whenever you get the chance to."
"Well, how do you plan to fix things with her?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out later."
She rolled her eyes again and mumbled something unintelligible under her breath. Heaving a sigh, she playfully slapped his thigh before flopping back on the bed next to him. "Guess I'll have to apologize to Chloe myself and try to figure how to explain myself without spilling your secrets."
"Yup. Time for you to put your big-girl panties on."
"I hate you. It's your fault, to begin with."
He smirked. "I love you too, Ann."
She lay at his side for a few more minutes before pulling herself up with a sigh and returning to their parents' house. It was getting late and she mumbled something about studying for a test she had coming up.
He stared up at the ceiling for another ten minutes after she let herself out.
Did he even have a chance with Chloe? How was he going to patch things up with her? He had a plan, but what if she wouldn't go along with it? How far would she go to resist him and their bond, weak as it was compared to that of a true soulmate bond?
You'll just have to find a way to convince her, he told himself.
Rolling over onto his side, he looked at the framed picture of Madison on his nightstand, his journal still resting beside it.
"What should I do, Maddie? I can't fuck things up with her. She's my last chance. I don't think my heart will let anyone else in."
Heaving a sigh, he pulled himself up and draped his legs over the side of the bed. He hung his head and took a deep breath in, whispering a little prayer to the Moon Goddess to help him through this trial and if it was Her will that he and Chloe become mates, let it be so.
"Pray that I don't fuck up again with her," he mumbled under his breath as he pulled himself up and headed to the shower.
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Copyright Jo Lee Hunt ( Joflower ) 2020