The Alpha's Howl

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 Delilah's POV

Madden's words hit me like a brick.  I felt dumbfounded as I searched his face, expecting to find an explanation.  The words raced through my head like a herd of elephants pounding through my brain.  We are mates, not just friends, MATES!  You are mine, and I am yours!  The words repeated over and over again.  We're mates?  Madden and I?  Why didn't he tell me before?  Did he not want me to know?  What if he wants to reject me?  What if I want to reject him?!  By the look on his face, he must regret the words that he had spoken just moments before.  I swear, he looked just as shocked as I did.  But why?  Madden's the one who said it.

I was brought out of my extreme thoughts when I felt a warm hand being placed onto my shoulder.  I quickly slapped it away and took a step back from Madden.  He looked so sad by my movements, but I couldn't control myself.  

"W-W… Y-I-you-"  Every time I tried to stared a sentence, I ended up stuttering to no end.  Nothing came to mind.  I had no idea how to express how I was feeling.  The odd emotions trickled through my body, bringing new, and unsolved feelings.  So I just stood there, staring at him like a mad woman with a finger pointed straight at him, barely far enough from touching his nose.  

"L-Lilah,"  Madden tried to take a step closer, but that only caused me to shy away again.  I didn't really know how to react to the situation.  Madden had told me that mates were forever and always.  Meaning, once you have your mate, you never want another.  Mates are content with each other till the end, unless one rejects the other of course.  Rejection was oddly the first thing that came to my mind when I saw Madden.  I like Madden, but that doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life with him.  By the looks of it, I don't think he wants to either.  By just that one thought, it hurt me more than being stabbed in the back, then dragged a hundred miles through rocks, and left for dead.  But mates were supposed to love each other like no other.  And from what I've heard, and Alpha's love for his/her mate is stronger than no other.  But those feelings could easily be turned opposite, causing him to hate me like no other.  I don't even know what I would do if Madden hated me.  Does he hate me?  

I wish I could figure what exactly is going on with my emotions lately, because I can't seem to figure out anything.  It was irritating me to the tip of my nerves.  I wanted to accept Madden right then, but at the same time, my instincts took in, and had to think through all of the possibilities of the situation.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to say that,"  Madden's face shown of regret and a pain filled expression.  He regretted telling me.  He never wanted me in the first place, and he never wanted to tell me.  I understand now.

I finally racked up the nerves in my body, and I stood tall and inhaled a deep breath.  "Madden- I-I understand.  I know now that you do not wish to be with me, so I will gladly take your rejection.  I understand completely, and I know we can't be together and-"  I continued rambling on until Madden let out a loud, non-humerus laugh.  His fake laugh was full of pain, and his eyes looked at my face with the same expression.

"Delilah, you're my mate,"  Madden stated, as if I hadn't processed it the first time.

"I-I know Madden, and I am fully prepared to accept your rejection, and-"  And again, I was cut off by Madden.  This time he closed the space between us and grabbed one of my small hands, swallowing in one of his own.

"Delilah, Lilah, listen to me, hear me out,"  Madden tried to calm me down.  I knew he could hear my loud thudding heartbeat.  He had told me werewolves had better hearing than humans, and I was sure my heartbeat and unsteady breathing hadn't passed right by his ears unnoticed.