Wild

Chapter 3 - Aris

Storm

Hopeless, that's what I am.

I know I have no right to be upset or hurt, but I can't help myself.

I'm hopelessly in love with Makai Stone, and keeping it from him is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do.

For someone who craves human contact, it's a punishment not to be able to touch the one person with whom I want to connect the most. I had to fight myself to accept that I couldn't touch him right now, hoping that one day he'd let me.

Of course, I'd like to do more than just touch him, but small steps. Let's start from there.

I get excited just looking at him, with his wild hair and piercing gaze from brown eyes that turned golden when he was happy. Kai was so sexy, and he would be shocked if he knew the kind of delicious dreams I had of us.

When he locks his golden gaze on me, my mind becomes jumbled and I feel hot all over. Today all I wanted to do was jump on him and kiss those sensual lips of his senseless.

I never show him any of the naughty feelings I have when I'm with him because I know it would scare him away, and I don't want to lose his friendship over my unrequited attraction.

There are times when I could feel him staring at me, such as when we were watching the movie today, that I feel a glimmer of hope in my heart that maybe he is attracted to me at least a little and sees me the same way I see him.

But before the glimmer can grow he'd always say something that would instantly kill any hope that had taken root. I mean, the man was happy that I was going to meet my mate. He can't express his disinterest any clearer.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he had asked.

He hadn't even seemed disappointed or concerned that my mating might alter our friendship in some way.

It was frustrating sometimes, but there was nothing I could do about it. It wasn't his fault that I was hopelessly in love with him.

I don't even know for sure if Kai is gay. I had tried to bring up the topic a few times, but he always cut such discussions short. I wasn't certain if he was just a prude or if he didn't want to have the conversation with me.

But then, who else would he have such a conversation with? I was his only friend, as far as I know. He interacts with the pack better now than before, but he only speaks to people when he has to, and generally avoids people before they can avoid him.

I despise the pack for making him feel that way. He was such an important member of the pack but nobody seems to realize it, not even my dad, and I don't understand why. After all, Makai was the reason our pack hasn't been attacked or challenged in five years.

Not only has his famous fights in the Pit given the Hakhan Pack a terrifying reputation as a strong, unbeatable pack, but he was also the one who taught our elite warriors how to better master their wolves for battle. Those warriors were the only ones who were decent to him.

Makai was smarter and more talented than anyone gives him credit for, and it would even come as a shock to the Pack to learn that he was wealthier than all of them.

Each of his paintings fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he has been painting professionally for years. However, Kai was such a simple man, as was his mother, that it didn't appear on the outside that he had so much money. When his first collection sold, he had looked at me, somewhat horrified, and asked me what he was going to do with all that money.

I doubt he even knows how much money he has at the moment. I manage his finances and only send him a meagre monthly stipend for his and his mother's upkeep like he had told me to do.