The Rogues Mate

chapter 10

I am so so sorry. My timing is so bad. I'm having extreme writers block. Enjoy this chapter.

Riley

The car ride back to the back house was painfully silent. I could tell Alina and Olivia were mad about the guard situation, Mel had a blank face, completely void of emotion. I didn't really know what to think, it's not like I was planning on ever going shopping with the girls again. I had enough clothing to last me a lifetime.

Dylan was pissed that we had gone without guards and that surprised me. I had never really had someone fuss over me this much, yes my parents were protective but they trusted me to take care of myself. I had taught myself and max how to fight when they died as well. There was no way I could have taken all three men on my own, but I probably would have been able to protect myself from one of them. I didn't think I needed guards, but it was nice that Dylan was thinking about my safety, not that I expected any less from him.

We pulled up to the pack house soon after and Olivia and Mel got out, followed by Alina who slammed the door shut. "Don't slam my doors lina" Dylan called after her as she stalked away. She continued to walk into the house, but not before she flipped him off over her shoulder.

"Alina!" Mel scolded, storming after her. Olivia left as well, probably to go find her mate, which left me and Dylan, together, alone.

Dylan cleared his throat, "so... are you hungry?" I just nodded, remembering that we hadn't eaten at the mall. He led me inside to the kitchen and I sat in one of the many stools surrounding the island. "What would you like?" he asked, I shrugged "surprise me" I mumbled, resulting in a chuckle from him.

30 minutes later a plate of warm pancakes was placed in front of me. "I didn't know what you liked, and you seemed to like the pancakes this morning so I thought-"

"They're great, thank you" I said, interrupting his rambling. We ate the pancakes in silence, occasionally I would glance up to see him staring at me, when he saw me looking back at him he would smirk, which would make me turn red. 'What was he doing to me' I thought, every time he even looked in my direction, I got butterflies. Surely he knew the effect he had on me, and did I have the same effect on him? My mother used to say that when a wolf met their mate, they couldn't help but have feelings for them. But did I have feelings for Dylan?

No.

Yes. At least I was beginning to. It was the mate bond, that made me feel this way. But even without it, I would probably feel the same way. When I had first asked mom about mates she told me that when I found mine, I would feel a rush of affection. I would want to be close to him as much as possible, and I would love him. I didn't love Dylan, not yet. But I did want to be close to him.

"How about I give you that tour now?" Dylan asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I smiled and nodded jumping off the stool. Dylan led me through the large kitchen door and into the hallway. "So the first floor is where the unmated wolves live, once a wolf has found their mates they move out. We have family houses all over the territory and when a pup turns 16 they move into the pack house. The kitchen and dining room are also on this floor, and so is my office and one of the living rooms. We also have a gym down here." We continued down the hall and into the large living room with a huge sectional couch that Olivia and I had come into, a flat screen tv was mounted on the wall right across from it, and the floor was covered in a soft white carpet. It seemed like the theme of the decoration was mostly minimalistic. As if reading my mind Dylan looked at me and said "my mom did all the decorating, I have no style" he rubbed the back of his neck cheekily. "It's beautiful," I said, looking around more. We went up a set of stairs that I hadn't noticed, and which I assumed led to the second floor.

"The second floor is lewis and Olivia, and their families. There are also a few guest rooms up here." We walked down the hall, the walls were covered in artwork, all pictures that told a story. The different mediums used in some of the paintings were gorgeous, my hand came up to one of the paintings, a black wolf with bright blue eyes was staring back at me.

"This is amazing. Is this oil paint?" I asked turning to Dylan, who was already looking at me.

"I'm not sure. Why, do you paint?" he questioned, I nodded, turning back to the wolf "I used to. I haven't in a while" I whispered.

"Why not?" his warm breath was fanning the back of my neck. "I don't know" I replied. My mother taught me to paint. When she died I couldn't bring myself to paint again, because it reminded me too much of her. But it only brought good memories of her, so why did I refuse to paint if it made me happy?

"Let's finish the tour" I said quietly, deciding to forget about the topic of conversation. He nodded and led me down the rest of the hall, to the stairs that we had come up the first day.

"We have to sets of stairs" Dylan explained, "one in the front by the door and one in the back. The third floor is my room, Alina and Mel's rooms, and a few guest rooms. My parents live in their own house because they're retired, they used to live in the pack house though." I nodded and we continued up the stairs and onto the fourth floor.

"Up here in the game room, movie room, and another living room. There's also a small kitchen. The younger pack members usually hang out up here." we went back down the stairs and back into the kitchen. Dylan led me through a big glass sliding door out into the backyard, which was huge. An Olympic sized pool sat in the ground, and off to the right was a big grass area, with a barbeque and benches under some trees. "This is the backyard, we usually have celebrations here. A stage is set up over there" he pointed to the far end of the large grass area. "And when we have formal events and stuff the dining room is made into a ballroom." I nodded and released a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

"So," he said, sitting down on the grass "tell me about yourself." I sat down across from him, my fingers pulling at the grass beneath me. "What do you want to know" I asked, looking at him from under my lashes.

"Something... something deep that will give me a good sense of your personality." My breath hitched, something deep? "What's your favorite colour?"

What? My favorite colour?

"Oh. Um, I like orange I guess, like the sunset."

"Why," he asked.

"My dad used to tell me that the moon goddess ruled us from the sky, and she made the most beautiful times of day sunrise and sunset, so we would start and end our days with things that remind us of all that she could do." I chuckled "stupid, I know"

"No! I think it's nice." he said "My favorite colour is green, because of the forest." He sighed and looked up at me "if you don't want to talk about it that's ok, but earlier you said you used to paint, and that you didn't anymore. We don't have to talk about it, I'm sorry I shouldn't-"

"No. It's ok." I said "My mom taught me how to paint, she used it as a way to express herself. She had a room in our house that was just for us, we would spend hours together painting. When my parents died, I just stopped painting altogether, I had max to care for. If I could paint again I would, I just guess a haven't really had a chance to."

"How did they die? If you don't mind me asking." Dylan said quietly

"Rouge attack" I replied.

He nodded, shifting so he was sitting closer to me. "I'm sorry" he whispered, taking my hand in his. I tensed, but quickly relaxed realizing I really liked the feeling of his hand in mine. He started to lean in and I did the same. I was ready to accept him, I just wanted to be happy. Dylan moved away suddenly and pulled me to my feet.

"I have to go. I'm sorry" he said "go back inside and don't come out until I say so"

He ran off through the forest behind the yard, shifting into his wolf, leaving me confused, by myself on the lawn.

More of a filler chapter, the next one will be more interesting.