The Unmarked Mate

Chapter 25

James

After I left Elestren's house I went back to my guest room in the packhouse. I took off the clothes she had given me and put on some clean boxers. I went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. After a while I went in the shower to relax. I enjoyed the warmth, and the sound of the running water reminded me of the river earlier this evening. I closed my eyes and remembered the clearing, the outline of her body in the night, the smell of her hair in the wind. And then I recalled the taste of her lips. I was hard thinking about that. I wished she had asked me to stay, I wished I could have explored every inch of her body with my mouth. I turned the water to cold to cool off. I hadn't had sex in quite some time, not since Madison, a few months ago, and thinking about all the things that could have happened would not help me sleep. Madison was sure I'd commit to her somehow. She wasn't my mate so I wouldn't, least of all to her; it was just about sex. She was never my girlfriend, and I had been clear on that part. Then she found her mate and was disappointed to see he wasn't high ranking or anything, but still he was her mate. She joined the delegation who came with us at Yew Tree, she came along with her mate, trying to prove a point to me or something. But that night, after following Elestren to the willow tree, I had a thought, maybe I don't need a mate if I can have something this strong with someone else. I was twenty-eight, maybe I'd never find my mate, but this idea was not so sad anymore.

Once I was cooled off, I left the shower and took a towel to dry myself. I put on some boxers and grabbed her shirt to go to bed. Her smell on it helped me go to sleep. She was safe, for now.

In the morning, I went downstairs to eat in the dinning hall. I was disappointed to see she wasn't there, but she didn't eat in the packhouse every day.

"She's not here!" I heard Malcolm's voice in my head.

"And who would that be?" I asked falsely innocent.

"Don't play dumb! Come and sit with me!" I joined him at the table. We ate breakfast and then I asked him if we could go somewhere quiet to speak. We went to his room, which was way bigger than my own and had its own office. I told him about what happened yesterday. He was my big brother, and I wanted him to like her.

"Malcolm, I need to be honest with you! You never bothered me about my relationships, I know you wanted to let me do things my own way and allow me to find my mate, I truly am thankful for that. But maybe I'll never find her, and maybe it's okay. I know it's only been a few days, but I could picture a life with Elestren..."

I didn't dare to look at him, I was nearly blushing like a twelve-year-old boy confessing to doing something wrong. Once I gazed back at him, he was smiling warmly, like our father did sometimes.

"And if one day you find your mate?" he wasn't being insensitive, he was just concerned about me.

"I doubt it. But if I do, I don't think there will be room for her by then. If I commit to anyone, I'll never break a vow that I made. I think I'm falling in love with her."

"And it's not just post sex craze?" he smirked.

"I didn't sleep with her. Yesterday after we went back from the forest and back to her home, she gave me clothes, we ate and we spoke for a long time. I kissed her when I left, she kissed me back for maybe two seconds and that was it. Then I went back here."

"You're telling me you were naked in her house and you didn't have sex with her? That's new! What did you talk about?" he smiled, he was both making fun of me and being supportive, big brother talk, I hated when he did that.

"It's not like I didn't want to, but it wasn't the moment to. I wouldn't take advantage of her at a moment she learnt terrible things. If you wanna know we talked about literature." I was annoyed first but then I laughed, all that seemed ridiculous to say.

"You're a good man James" he said with a fatherly tone to his voice. "If you believe she is the one for you, I'll support you! I like her! She'd make a fantastic Queen, and any women whose wolf is as big and scary as yours, who's not afraid to speak her mind, who would do anything to protect the ones under her authority, who you can speak with about literature, and who made you feel special not for your title but for who you really are, is a better partner than any fated mate." He knew me. He gave me a short and manly side hug. After we sat down, someone banged on the door.

"Come in!" yelled Malcolm. Elliott, my brother's Beta entered the room, in a rush, he had clearly been running to come here.

"Malcolm, there was another rogue attack!" he said out of breath.

"What? Where?"

"Blue Stream Pack, early this morning. Three wounded but no dead."

"Okay, we need to go and see what's happening. Elliott, tell the others we're leaving in one hour to Blue Stream Pack. We'll drive there it will be easier than to take the plane. I'll go tell Alpha Matthew. James go, and tell Arthur I want him to stay here, to be our contact here in case something happens." Elliott left, before I could leave too, Malcolm grabbed me by the arm.

"We'll be back here in a few days, but I need you there with me!"

"Of course! Don't worry about that! Besides, I've talked to you about it, but I didn't say a word to her." On that we both went on our ways to do what we had to before leaving. I found Arthur and told him everything, before I left, I asked him where she was, he said she was maybe in the packhouse to see the Luna.

"Elestren, where are you?" I mindlinked her.

"In the packhouse with Matthew and Ori. I heard there was another attack on Blue Stream Pack. Beta Olivia is from there, she and Beta Oliver would like to go with you, can they?" she answered right away.

"Yes, good idea. Tell them to meet us at once at the cars. You should all have more patrols, just in case. And Elestren?"

"Yes?"

"Be careful when you go on patrol!"

"You too, James! Come back to me!" On that she closed the link. She said "Come back to me", maybe there was a chance. But I couldn't think about that now. We needed to go. I joined Malcolm at our cars. And we all left to the Blue Stream Pack. Fifteen cars full of lycans went there. There were no dead and only three really wounded but if things got more serious, we may need backups soon.