Accept me, Please?

Chapter 6

Topaz was stunned. So, as a wolf, he would have died along with his mate, if it hadn't been for his son? Wow. Now that was some serious love.

Rubbing her hand up and down his arm Topaz waited for Raul to compose himself. Then, not sure how to put what she wanted to know she asked, "So, you're all right now? I mean, since it's been so long since she died, I'm guessing you'll live a regular life now?"

He took a deep breath. "Not exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"My son began to feel his soulmate a few days after his eighteenth birthday. I, and my wolf, knew it was only a matter of time before he found her. Once he had her, we felt we would no longer be needed as much. Already, he has friends, school, sports, a job," Raul began.

"Leaving very little time for his dad, huh?"

"Something like that. My wolf and I knew we would be missed, but we also knew he would be all right now without us. So, my wolf began to long for his mate once more. He longed to be reunited with her."

"Oh. So, what happens now? Will you die or will just your wolf die?" Topaz asked, confused.

"Both, because we're one. Although I think my wolf would have gone first," Raul murmured thoughtfully.

"Oh, why do you say that?"

"A couple of months before Carlito's birthday, I began to struggle when it came to changing into my wolf form. It became hard enough that I stopped trying. I was becoming tired more easily, I had extraordinarily little appetite, and my extra senses began to deteriorate. This is a sure sign that something is wrong with the animal side of a shapeshifter," he answered.

"Extra senses?"

"Like a wolf, I have better hearing, sense of smell, eyesight," Raul explained.

"Ah, okay."

"A few days before I met you, Carlito had told me how he felt his mate close. Honestly, by that point, I could barely feel my wolf at all. I think he was just waiting and conserving his energy for one last shift from man to beast," Raul told her. "I was sitting in that café, basically wasting my lunch hour when you went by me."

Topaz laughed. "I remember you telling me I smelled good."

Raul smiled at her. "You did, you do, like peppermint."

Topaz frowned. "Peppermint? I didn't have anything on that would smell like peppermint, then or now."

Raul chuckled. "You wouldn't need to. As a werewolf, some people have a special scent to us and yours happens to be peppermint. The strange thing is the fact that I even smelled it because by that point my wolf was almost comatose in the back of my mind. But smell it he did, and he came to attention. He's the one who insisted I follow you."

"Good thing you listened to me, or we wouldn't be with our second mate now," his wolf said smartly.

Raul shook his head at his wolf's thoughts but had to agree. Now if he could just make her understand.

"So, why would your wolf want to follow me? Just because I smelled good to him?" Topaz asked in a confused tone.

Cupping her cheek in his hand, Raul gazed into her eyes. "No. It awakened him and he had me follow you because you are our second mate. Understand, this is something that doesn't happen in the shifter world, but for some reason, fate has given us a second chance at love and life."

"Excuse me, what do you mean by mate?" Topaz asked as she pulled away from him.

Raul let his hand drop. He'd know it had been too easy. She'd taken everything up until now in stride, now she would run. Standing up, he went to the window and stared out at the tree in his front yard.