Mystery Mate

Chapter 23

I admit I had no idea what happened shortly afterwards. All I could see was red. I felt no pain or no fear. I just...reacted.

Once we dragged the beaten, restrained, and screaming rogue to our prison, I tightly grasped Frankie's hand and began to drag him into the house.

"Don't let them take me, no!" she begged, clawing at the ground as the guards ushered her away. "I just wanted to get away from them! Please, it wasn't my fault, I had no idea!"

"Nic will deal with her as soon as possible," my dad said, and I knew my brother would handle the situation more effectively than I ever could. I was awful at doing interrogations, because as Nic liked to remind me, I tended to get too emotional.

"Mark, I think it's time for bed," dad nodded towards the wolf, whose eyes were drooping. The wolf nodded, jumped out of Frankie's arms, and padded inside the house.

"Bennett, stay at the pack house to keep the others safe. I'll see you two later." And my dad left the two of us alone.

Meanwhile, Frankie had watched the whole situation with a grim expression, looking conflicted. "You know, Ben, maybe you didn't have to get that violent with her. She wasn't attacking me or anything."

"She broke into our pack and was eavesdropping right in front of our home."

"Maybe she was lonely."

My head snapped over to Frankie. "Since when were you a rogue sympathizer?"

His gaze skirted downwards. "I'm...not. I'm just saying, maybe we were misunderstanding the situation."

"She's a rogue, Frankie," I gestured in the air. "Remember? She's from the same group of people who attacked you, and the same group of people who is threatening the pack."

"That's a massive overgeneralization. Not all rogues are bad. Not all of them are monsters."

"No, but enough of them are. And unfortunately, in situations like these, I have to assume everyone is a part of that minority. It's not an easy or fair decision to make, but someone has to make it."

"Situations like these?" He ripped his hand out of my grip. "So if I wasn't your mate, you would've just left me to die? Or you would've killed me? Or did what you did to her?"

Guilt overcame me, and I snapped my mouth shut. "I...didn't mean it like that, Frankie."

"Yes, you did."

I sighed. Tonight had been a myriad of emotions, and there was a part of me that nearly lost control. "Look, Frankie, I'm not going to apologize for protecting you. I'm sorry if I scared you, but I did what I believed was right. And I believe that woman is dangerous."

"Some people just want a home," he said, staring up at me with big, doe eyes. "Not everyone gets to have one of their own, you know. There's no crime in that."

"I know, Hedgehog. But even if she was innocent, and just looking for company, I'm not taking that risk right now. Especially not if the lives of my pack are on the line. She could've been a spy, she could've led someone right to us."

He pursed his lips tightly, and I could tell he wasn't entirely happy with my response, but he seemed too tired to argue further. "Let's just go inside, then."

Wordlessly, we headed inside and began to settle in for the night. Frankie headed straight up to the room he had stayed in for the first week. I headed to the kitchen and downed a few cartons of orange juice, before picking up some cheese and sausage to bring back up to Frankie. I knew he hadn't eaten in hours, and he only had a light, early dinner, so he must have been starving. But when I brought the snack to him, he only shook his head and turned away from me.

I threw the food back into my mini fridge, before deciding I needed to rinse off from my long, 3-hour sprint. "Are you going to take a shower, Frankie?"

"I'll do it in the communal area," he said dismissively, grabbing our towels and brushing past me.

I finished my shower long before he did. Straining my ears, I was able to hear him sobbing for several minutes downstairs. My heart broke inside, and when my inner wolf whined at me to go and comfort him, I screamed right back at myself. My loss of control was what resulted in this situation in the first place. I refused to give into my emotional, wolf-ly urges, no matter how much my biology insisted I do.

He came back to our room — soaking wet, shivering, wrapped in towels, and looking completely done with life. I jumped to my feet and tried to warm him, but he only shook his head. Inside of me, my wolf roared.

NO! You're a bad mate, Bennett! Get your ass over to your mate right now and cuddle with him! Kiss him until he's smiley and happy!

He doesn't want me right now, I shot back.

You're a coward!

He sunk into the far side of the bed, his back turned towards me. Likewise, I collapsed on my own side of the bed, hesitant to inch any closer. We lay there in silence, not saying a word to each other.

"I don't want to go to bed angry, Frankie," I said after laying in bed for what seemed like forever, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

"We just did."

"Well, we're still awake, so we have time. Can we talk? Please?"

Frankie clutched the blankets more tightly around himself.

"I know I scared you, Frankie. That was a side of me that only comes out when I get really, really angry. Knowing she was a rogue, and that her presence was threatening our pack, I just went into overdrive. I'm usually not like this, I swear."

"You promised me," he snarled, looking at me. "You said you would never hurt anybody, but you did!"

"I know. And I'm sorry for breaking that promise."

He looked over at me. "Be honest with me, Ben. Were you considering doing that to me, the day we met?"

I wanted so desperately to lie. But there was no denying it — I had approached him with the intention to seriously hurt him. I ended up sparing him because I felt something between the two of us. He felt it, too. Had I not felt anything, though, nothing would've stopped me from lashing out, like I did in most other situations.

"Yes."

Frankie's face fell. "So, you just thought I was some monster who doesn't deserve to live? But because my body holds the other half of your soul, all of the sudden, I'm worth something?"

His words hit me deep, and I couldn't respond. There was nothing to say. 

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I know I said I wouldn't apologize, but I am, because I was wrong. I was acting out of character that night."

I was acting like Nic, I thought to myself. And that wasn't always a good thing. 

"I'm usually never so violent, and I'm not so black and white, either. I made a stupid generalization about rogues, Frankie. I know not all of them are bad."

He swallowed. "You know, I think part of you was right, honestly. When you told me that you were just trying to do what was right for the pack, I hadn't really thought about that. Maybe she was some evil spy or something. And if that were the case, that makes me wrong. I should be the one to say I'm sorry."

"No. You have every right to call me out for what I did, even though I'm an Alpha wolf. I have no right to abuse my position of authority."

I was unable to read the expression on his face, so I continued. "Hedgehog, I promise I won't scare you like that ever again, okay? And this time, I mean it. In the impossible case that I do, tell me, and then punch me in the throat. My brother did that to me once, and it was a pretty painful lesson to be learned."

"Bennett," he murmured, inching closer to me so that his face was directly positioned in front of mine. "You don't always need to use violence to get your point through. Sometimes, words are enough."

We didn't kiss. Instead, we just looked into each other's eyes, appreciating having each other by our sides, even though I could tell the dust hadn't completely settled. Eventually, our exhaustion lulled us into a deep, dreamless sleep.