𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀✔️

THIRTYTHREE|MATE

Sirus had been dismissed. Only Greyson and I remained in the office.

He stat their with his elbows propped on the desk and his head in his hands. I sat there as silence blanketed the room, until I broke it. "What are we going to do?"

He sat up with a begrudging sigh, "There is no 'we'.. I'll sort it."

Why did he have to be so infuriating, after all it was my life on the line. I should at least be able to try to save it, rather than pushing the burden into someone with stronger shoulders.

"Don't do that." I mumbled.

"Do what?" He said with a fraction of hostility.

"Shut me out." I whispered. Remembering who I once was. It was exactly what Daniel used to do. "It's my burden, not yours after all."

He scoffed, it was slightly more than a burden, my life was on the line. "Fine."

"Can you tell me what Sirus meant by a 'fake mate'" I felt like I was walking on eggshells, like Greyson could explode at any given moment. I had to tread carefully.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes like he had a headache. Maybe I was the headache.

"A mate... a mate is.." he struggled to find the words, I fiddled with the hem of my shirt with bated breath, his shockingly grey eyes stole the air from my lungs whenever they made contact.  My chest aches for his scent, pine and sandalwood and something distinctly male. It was like a drug to me, I had never done drugs before, but this was what I imagined it to be like. Euphoria's scent settling my unease. I should've be panicking, I should've been screaming. I should've been crying.
I was dying.

But I just couldn't bring myself to worry, a deep settling relaxation numbing my bones from the anxiety that bit, clawed and tore at every inch of my body.

"It's like a soul mate. Every Lycanthrope has one, someone gifted to you from the goddess... a fake mate is when someone claims another despite the moons wishes." He was curt and scanty and left me begging for more.

"You worship the moon?" I let out a small, cry chuckle. "Only fitting I guess, being a wolf and all."

"Something like that."

"So.. how do you claim a mate?" My eyes dragged along his strong jaw, peppered stubble was beginning to grow through.

"A bite."

"Oh." The pieces were slowly coming together, forming a picture. But that picture wasn't a pretty one, it held wolves and bites, blood and death. A picture nonetheless.

Silence stretched out again, barren and bare. A wasteland of toxic thoughts, nightmare fuel. Silence had always scared me.

I guess I got so used to the sounds of shouting and screaming that when there was nothing it felt wrong, empty. After my mother's death it was silent. My father never stirred m, always passed out silent on the couch. It echoed off every wall, ricochet screams like bullets. Careful or you'd get hit.

"Greyson." I shoved the thoughts down. "Can I ask you something?"

Every step was taken with caution, approach a wild dog with caution. Never look it in the eye.
One by one I broke every rule, maybe I shouldn't have asked, but I couldn't help myself.

He grunted, and I continued on gently. "Where is your mate?"

I watched him carefully, I saw how his muscles softened slightly, everything within him relaxing. Though it was only slight. His eyes were still ice cold when they stared into my own, however the edge that was there before had dulled, his lips even held the faintest trace of a smile.

"She's safe. For now."

I breathed a sigh of relief, glad he didn't try to bite my head off or feed me to the dogs.

"So let me get this straight, a Lycan tried to make me his mate by attacking me in the woods and biting me?" I furrowed my brow. "And now that bite is killing me because?.."

"It's killing you because you already had a mate before,"

Daniels face crept its way into my mind, and it scared me how easily it made its way through. I had tried to block him out, but he kept coming back.

"Why do I have a mate? I'm human?"

Greyson seemed almost defensive at this. "I don't know. Lycans aren't usually mated to humans, however it's not impossible..."

I scoffed, "Clearly." I scanned over the fine bookshelf that held fast against the wall. Books bound with old fashioned leather, their spines worn but not tattered. Books that had truly lived, not just for show. "So how I know who my mate is? How do I find him?"

He bit his lip, sending a burning taste to my core that scorched my belly and lit my chest slight. "You don't need to. You've already found him."

***
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