Chapter 4

We have been sitting on the floor in my parent’s bar for an hour now. We’ve gone through a bottle of Jameson already and are onto the Jack Daniels. Because we’re wolves and our metabolism is so fast, it’s only just starting to hit us.

Charlotte is a giggling mess beside me while I tell her what happened between my mate and i. She finds it especially funny when I tell her I threw up twice. It’s as if the whole thing is the funniest thing in the world to her. Her laugh makes me laugh as well, which seems to help dissipate my anger.

“What does he smell like? Your mate?” Her question sobers both of us up from our fits of giggles. I look over at her to see her staring at the ceiling, one hand protectively covering her stomach. I sigh before looking back up at the ceiling and taking another swig out of the Jack Daniels bottle.

“Pine trees. With a faint hint of Vanilla bean. What about you? What does your mate smell like?” She sighs before taking the bottle out of my hand and taking a swig herself.

“Raspberries and dark chocolate.” I nod. That sounds nice. I look back over at Char to find a lone tear ravelling from her, across her temple. I sigh again before taking the bottle of jack out of her hand and getting off the floor.

“Come on, let’s dance it out. Laying on the floor isn’t helping us stop thinking.” She smiles and takes my hand. I quickly help her off the floor before connecting my phone to the built-in speakers that are in each corner of the room. I put on a random playlist, only for “Get Stupid” by Bulow to play. We both get a bright smile and immediately start singing and dancing along.

‘Mate’s close.’ Venus says with excitement. I shake my head and take another swig of the Jack as the unwanted hope and excitement begins to course through my body.

‘We don’t care Venus. He has someone else. Let’s just ignore it and have fun.’ And with that I do my best to block her out. I don’t want her putting me in a slump after

I put myself together.

A few more hours have passed, and Charlotte is now passed out on the couch. I’m sitting on top of the pool table in the conjoining room, mindlessly playing around with pool balls and taking swigs out of a now half empty bottle of Bacardi, white rum. The bitterness is welcome as it hits the back of my throat, the feeling of the warm liquid running down my throat helps burn away my sadness.

“I found her!” An unfamiliar voice makes my head snap up to see a man towering over Charlottes sleeping body. He slowly lowers himself to sit on the floor, one hand outstretched and stroking her hair out of her face. “My mate.” I manage to hear him whisper and I sigh before lying back on the pool table.

She’s going to kill me.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” My mate’s soft voice reaches my ear, the sound causes my body to tingle and yearn for him. I sigh before picking up the Bacardi and taking another swig.

“Obviously I didn’t hide well enough.” I slur. The sound surprises me slightly. I didn’t think I had drunk that much, definitely not enough to be slurring my words.

My mate comes closer until he is standing next to the table. I move my head to the side and begin to study his features. His eyes are a bright, vibrant green with small brown flecks. His hair is dark and is styled into a messy kind of look. It definitely suits him. His lips are a bright pink colour, the plumpness of them drawing me in. I can almost taste them just by looking at them. He’s dressed in a pair of black dress pants and a white dress shirt, which is practically see-through and has his muscles on full display.

“What do you want?” I slur as he continues to just watch me. He’s emotions don’t seem to change instead his hand moves to stroke my arm. The electricity that shocks us is evident, and gives me nothing but pleasure. The shocks travel from where his hand is touching me to the top and bottom of my arm.

“You’re so beautiful.” His voice is low, so quiet that I almost miss it. But I don’t and I wish I had. I sit up, roughly yanking my arm away from his touch. I spin myself around so I’m facing him and give him a stern look.

“You don’t get to say that right now.” My words may be slurred but I make sure I put in as much fire as I can. I cross my arms over my chest and watch him expectantly. He looks down for a moment, almost as though he’s thinking.

When he looks back up at me, I can’t help but get lost in his eyes. I definitely got a good-looking mate. His eyes are so enchanting and bore deep into my soul. The bright green orbs show nothing but affection, though they quickly change to something else. Lust?

His hands quickly reach out and pull me closer to him by my thighs. He wraps my legs around his waist before placing one hand on my lower back and the other at the back of my head. The moment is so quick and smooth that it leaves me shocked and breathing heavily. Our faces are so close together, our lips are almost touching. His breathing is heavy like mine.

“Are you going to stop me?” His eyes search mine, looking for my answer before I can speak it. Though I don’t know the answer to that question. Being this close to him, having his minty breath fan my face, having his lips right there makes my body ache for him. All I’ve wanted is for someone to be truly mine and for me to belong to one person.

I’ve never truly belonged to any one person or place. My parents are not truly my parents. My brother is not truly my brother. My pack is not truly my pack. I have no one and nothing. But this amazingly handsome person belongs to me, and yet he doesn’t at the exact same time because he belongs to someone else.

My heart aches for him but also because of him. Venus cries for him and yearns to touch him. And I’m stuck in the middle. I’m stuck in wanting him and wanting to slap him.

But my lips tingle. I just want to taste him. One kiss won’t hurt. Right?

I crash my lips against his and tangle my fingers in his dark hair. He pulls me closer and moans against my lips. That one moan drives me crazy. I manage to somehow press myself closer to him, deepening the kiss in the process. He lifts me off of the pool table and holds me close to him, keeping my legs wrapped tightly around his torso.

His lips cause a burning fire in the pit of stomach. My fingers play with the collar of his dress shirt, my desire to tear it off, growing by the second.

“Noah? Are you down here?” He pulls away from me as soon as he hears her voice. He puts me on my feet before taking several steps away from me. My fingers immediately go straight to my swollen lips as I’m left in a haze. My mate’s rejection leaves my heart aching. Venus wants nothing more than to rip that human’s throat out of her neck.

“I’m sorry.” Is all he says before he turns away from me and leaves the room.