Military Mate

Chapter 30: So, You're Telling Me...

     Please don't hurt me, I'm wholesome and busy but I do love y'all. I had to really force this out and I know it's not the best but it's just a bit to get me started again.♥️

      "Look here bud, I don't know what the word means to you but I'm pretty positive you're not thinking pal or chum." Jet looks at him with a kind of concerned look, his time resembling a caregiver when speaking to an upset child. There are murmurs of agreement at the table by my comrades. " Y-Yeah, I mean we just got here and it took a lot of work tracking and planning to even find this place." James agrees with him, his slightly fidgety self gone- replaced with a more determined and inquisitive man.
       Dalton's face suddenly changes, his eyebrows moving together and his jaw tightening. "How is it exactly that you all managed to find your way through this territory?" His whole body is tense, and his eyes are glazed over slightly, like his mind is elsewhere. For the first time I realized that did pose a very accurate question. From what I had seen on this whole joy ride, outside of this estate there was almost nothing but woods and nature.
      Of course, I have no idea how big the total area is but from what I've been able to take note of it's an insane amount of land. At least three acres from the van to the estate, and as far as the forest goes- well I have no idea how far it spans. Dave chips in this time, his huge arms folded under his pectorals.
     "Why don't you answer our questions first suino-." His body tips backwards in his chair ever so slightly."-we got to hear the story, we're all here listening to this crazy shit. Now I'd like to know who the hell you think you are thinking that after allllll of this she's staying here. Unless, all of us here are missing some information?"
        My eyes track over to Dalton's figure, he looks for a moment like he's going to press on with his question, but when he looks up at his mother and holds her eyes for a moment- he relents. Both of their eyes shifting into that strange glaze. What the hell is that? Maybe it's just some kind of mother son telepathy... Honestly after becoming a fucking wolf, nothing would surprise me at this point. His legs stretch out for a moment and then he pushes the large oriental wooden chair backwards and stands to face the group.
      " Look, you have to understand, my people and yours are very different. Not just in our DNA, in our way of life, culture-" Kayan snorts, interrupting but not speaking a word. His teeth grit together but he holds himself back. Dalton just stands a bit straighter, and puffs out his chest the way a wolf does. He doesn't acknowledge the interruption and rebounds quickly, "Wolves are pack animals, and as I'm sure you know they are some of the very few species of animals on the planet that mate for life." 
        "Woah woah woah, what does mating have to do with any of this?" Jet's hot temper seethes over a bit, but I can see his confusion and slight outrage in the faces of my other comrades around the table who might also be putting together pieces of a puzzle. A very strange, strange puzzle.
          "Just like our ancestors we also mate for life, and we are bestowed our life partners by the goddess Selene. We are given triggers to recognize our mates, such as an amplified touch, immediate attraction, and finally smell." He rests his corded arms on the back of his chair and looks directly at me. Something about his gaze makes the hair on my arms stand up, perhaps it's remembering the way he roguishly claimed my lips in front of my dearest friends and his family alike.
I take a deep breath and blink my eyes steady before looking away from him. The group looks disgruntled to say the least, and Kayan's face is one filled with emotions I can't decipher.
"So what you're saying is, Gem is your soul mate? That's why she can't leave with us and go back to her life?" It's the first time I've heard Goan speak in this conversation, he had been sitting with his arms folded on top of redwood with a concentrated expression on his face. Now when he talks his voice is clear, and his eyes are pointed sharply at Dalton like two icy brown daggers.
"It might displease you to hear so, but yes. I first caught her scent outside of a coffee shop, not knowing what it was I went inside where I found her there- beautiful and definitely a dormant wolf-" I catch his passionate side glance.
"I knew our meeting would trigger something in her wolf, and as much as I hated starting off the way I had to with her, I realized that if and when she shifted she would cause our very secrecy as a species to be revealed. So I did what I had to do, and took her pack to this estate. To my pack house."
When he finishes he strides over to my chair and places his hand on my lower back, his long digits spread across my spine. My lungs expand as I suddenly take in air, it's unbelievable how warm his hands are- and how that warmth radiates through my whole body when he touches me. No, not unbelievable, downright terrifying.
" Wait a minute, so Gem is a dormant wolf? You said she's not human but then what exactly is she, and are you certain?" This time it's Jet, but it seems like he has begun to cool down a bit. His fiery temper has been replaced with cold and calculating stillness.
For the first time in a while I think about it, what am I? If the ritual didn't work on me because I'm not a wolf, then what the hell could I be? I saw myself turn into a big ass wolf! What other mythical creature does that! I ponder the question in my head so much that it starts vibrating against my skull. I've spent my whole life thinking I knew exactly who I am, but what if I'm wrong. What if every decision I've made with certainty of myself is based off of falsehood.
The idea leaves a deep pit in my stomach, and I can feel my throat close up. Genieva coughs in a very cinematic manner to break the silence, and draw everyone's attention to her. Her small body shifts in the chair before she clasps her hands on the table and opens her mouth.

" Well, after sitting here for a while after getting blown up by a couple of numbskulls with their heads up their butts, I've had some time to think about that very question. I think I have an idea of just what exactly Gem is."