My Quiet Mate

Chapter 4: The Pack

(Devon POV)

I woke up at dawn to the birds chirping and a cold breeze on my nose. My eyes slowly fluttered open and I lifted my head up with a big yawn and looked down on my mate. He was still sleeping and he had his head buried into my side and was loosely gripping the soft fur on my side. He looked so content and warm that I didn't dare move. He had a long day yesterday and I was going to make sure that he slept in for as long as he liked.

I laid my head back down to where it was before and closed my eyes in thought. I would have to go to the pack house today before the rest of the pack started to worry and at least tell them about the hunters.

"This would be so much easier with the pack link," I thought grumpily.

"You know we had to cut off the link. It was the safest thing to do at the time," Asher said sleepily, "though when we get back that should be the first thing we should fix. We need to be able to talk to each other instantly, especially with the hunters. I don't want our mate or any of the pack to get hurt."

"I agree."

While I had my head down I drifted into a light sleep. It wasn't really asleep but not quite awake either. After about two hours I felt my mate starting to stir and I pretended to be asleep. He nuzzled further into my side and pressed his hand to my back only to snatch it away and sit up. It took all of my will power to keep pretending I was asleep and not check if he was hurt.

I held my breath for a second and after a moment I felt his hand hesitantly start to scratch the top of my head. I let out a rumble and leaned into his hand slightly. He continued to pet my head and ears and I let my rumble increase in volume. He let out a small giggle that had my heart melting and he kept stroking my head. After a minute I let my eyes flutter open like I was just waking up and looked to my mate.

His head was rested on my side and his eyes were still slightly foggy from sleep. Slowly, I reached out with my head and licked his cheek. He pulled away and giggled again with a big smile. I froze. His smile was the most gorgeous thing that I have ever seen. It totally lit up his face and made his eyes and lips look bigger and just more innocent.

I was still frozen so Asher took control. He leaned forward again and gave our mate another big lick. Our mate laughed once again and playfully tried to push me away. Taking the challenge Asher stood up so our large body hovered over our mate and he attacked our mates neck and face with his tongue.

This went on for maybe five minutes before I took over control again and stopped my attack. Our mate was a ball of giggles and Asher had totally messed up his hair but our mate looked happy. I was rumbling uncontrollably in happiness and lightly laid on top of my mate so I was covering all of him except of his head, but I made sure not to put too much weight on him.

He smiled at me and reached up to wrap his arms around my neck. His hands barely met but when they did he shoved his face into my neck and nuzzled my lovingly. My rumbling became impossibly louder and my tail started to wag without my consent. I relished being with my mate and just let him do what he wanted.

The sound of my beta howling startled him and he hit his head, but once I was sure he was ok I let him stand but I still hat to steady him when he started to sway on his feet. 

He looked down at his watch that I didn't even notice he was wearing. It was old and looked very worn out. The strap was dirty and torn and the clock face was cracked but the actual clock still seemed to work. He checked the time and let out a strangled gasp. My ears immediately pricked up and my eyes were pinned on his face. He had panic written all over his face.