Mate? Mate.

Chapter 16

Jasmine's POV

An hour or so later, Blake was finally calm enough to be approached, by anyone other than me that is. As soon as the rogues were gone, Blake had me in his arms and refused to let go of me. My scent calms him down apparently.

"Blake, who was that?" I asked him after he was calm enough to answer a few questions.

"Daniel is the Alpha of The Black Blood pack, a rogue pack that resides two states away from us. Let's just say we've had bad history. Generations ago, his great grandfather and mine were in a war. It was resolved eventually but it left an impact on both our packs. The elders came up with a solution; a truce. Neither of both packs has the right to step into the other's territory without permission or show signs of war. He just barged in and disrespected me and that only means one thing. This means war,"

His tone frightened me and I gulped before carefully speaking my next words, "Blake, I know this situation doesn't concern me, or it maybe does but that's not my point. What I'm trying to say is, don't you think a war is a bit overdoing it?"

Blake's head snaps towards me and he growls. He literally growls, at me. I take a step back and my eyes widened in shock. Blake sighs and buries his face in his hands before getting up and walking towards me but I flinched back. He stops instantly and hurt flashes in his eyes. My heart tugged at me but I ignored it. I had to.

"Jazzy, I'm sorry," he apologized. I sighed and listened to him, "I know this doesn't make much sense to you right now, but in the werewolf world that is how it is. Hunt or be hunted, kill or be killed. And I'd die before I let any harm come to you or our pack."

If Blake is correct that war will end this conflict then so be it. I'm still not a hundred percent convinced that this is the way to go but I hope I'll understand it in the future.

"If you say so. Anyway, I hate that I haven't asked this yet, but was anyone hurt in this ambush?" I ask and felt bad that I hadn't asked sooner.

"Nothing major. The ones that were patrolling the borders were injured but it's nothing life threatening."

"Good," I sighed in relief. I wouldn't want any of our pack members hurt.

"Come on, back to bed. It's barely 5 and you look like you're about to pass out." Blake chuckled and I grinned at him and followed him back to bed.

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I was walking alone in the woods. My clothes were ripped, I was barefoot, and my body was covered in blood. I didn't recognize the place I was in. The trees were tall and their leaves blocked the sunlight from passing through.

I checked my body to see where I was bleeding from and frowned in confusion when I noticed that it wasn't coming from me; I didn't have a single scratch on me.

I continued walking to see if there was anyone around who was injured but it seemed as if it was only me. Or so I thought. A sound came from behind me and I twirled around and a scream got caught in my throat.

There on the ground covered in their own blood was my parents. They were still alive, barely, and were crawling their way toward me. "What did we do? Why Jazzy?" Mom croaked and the scream escaped my throat as my parents dropped dead right in front of my eyes.

I woke up with a scream and gasped as the air didn't pass into my lungs. I knew what I was experiencing was a panic attack; I was familiar with those. I used to get them a lot a few years back but I got better at containing my anxiety.

I felt Blake wake up and look around frantically. I tried to speak but all that came out was a sob and he quickly pulled me into his arms and rubbed my back gently. "I need you to breathe, Jazzy. Focus on my voice, on my touch," he said as his fingers ran through my hair softly. "Breathe, in and out," he said and I copied his actions until finally a breath of air flowed into my lungs. My head began pounding making me shut my eyes tightly and take deep breaths.

Blake's hand didn't stop rubbing my back until he was completely sure I was okay. He then embraced me tightly and I choked on my tears as I buried my face in his chest. "Talk to me, baby, I'm right here. Please talk to me," he said and I sniffled and shook my head before looking up at him.

"They were dead, I-I killed them!" I sobbed and he went back to rubbing my back and calming me down. "Who was dead, Jaz?" he asked softly and a few more tears fell from my eyes. "My parents. I don't know where I was. I was in the woods, alone and covered in blood. It was dark, so, so dark. I was walking and then they just appeared behind me. They were on the ground and they looked up at me and my mom said, 'why did we do? Why Jazzy?' and I just screamed. They say I killed them b-but I couldn't have! They're my parents, I could never lay a hand on them!" I sobbed and he shushed me and pulled me into his chest.

"Jazzy, baby girl, it was just a dream. You're not covered in blood, you're not in the woods alone, and you certainly did not kill your parents."

After that we just sat there and he managed to calm me down. "I'm sorry I woke you up..." I trailed off embarrassed. He chuckled and kissed my forehead, "What are mates for? You can wake me up anytime, love."

___________

Next time I woke up it was 12 and I felt much much better. Blake was getting dressed in front of the mirror and it looked like he had been awake for some time.

He smiled when he saw I was awake and walked over towards me. "How are you feeling?" he said and say next to me. I smiled and got up wrapping my arms around him and felt his arms wrap themselves around my waist. "Much better, thank you," I smiled and kissed his jaw quickly before pulling away.

He smiled brightly at me which had me involuntarily grinning. "Okay, get dressed, there are people here to see you," he said and quickly kissed me before heading outside. I got up and proceeded to quickly wash up and get dressed before heading downstairs to his office.

I knocked gently and opened the door. I froze when I saw who was sitting on his couch and my eyes welled with tears.

"Mom? Dad?"

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Edited