Wereball Series - Along Came A Mate

Chapter 7

I was swimming in the almost freezing coolness of the lake. My arms rotated backwards as my front faced upwards. My body was almost obscured by the murky waters.

I had to admit that spending time with my mate was refreshing. A balm for the soul. A caress for my heart.

I chuckled again thinking of how Lucien had swum around the lake before letting me go in. Probably scaring the fish to death and searching for imaginary dangers.

Then he went who knows where to hunt who knows what.

I relaxed and swam with an exceptionally low effort. My mind wandered far away, focusing on nothing but the rhythm of my stroke and the peace surrounding me.

After some time, I had had enough and decided to dry quickly with my sweater and got dressed in the rest of yesterday's clothes. Years of camping in the woods made me resilient, especially knowing that that day I would go back to the pack.

Just when I was trying to untangle my hair from knots and a twig that somehow managed to creep into my hair, I felt movements from the bushes. A large shadow with two red rubies for eyes appeared. A fat, bloodied wild pig with its tongue hanging out was dragged out of the trees.

"Mate" Lucien hugged me and licked my cheek. "Breakfast is here."

He sat down, dragging me to sit on his lap. I accommodated on his knees with a grin and a rumbling stomach.

I admired how he methodically removed the fur with his claws, with surgical precision. Then he started pulling out and discarding parts of the animal.

Lucien seemed to select the best parts and he set them aside. Then he picked them and started chewing them without offering.

'He must be hungry,' I thought, stroking the side of his face absently. I did not take it personally that he didn't feed me first, nor offering any. After all, he had gone to hunt the boar. He deserved to feed himself first ....

Oh, if I knew!!!!

In fact, Lucien had other ideas in that mind of his... some horrifying ideas ...

.....

"Lucien! Don't be disgusting!"

I burst out after a while, my cheeks red and my hands shielding my face.

I wrinkled my nose at his plan, and I turned my head to the side. Like a naughty and ungrateful child, after he had gone to get me food.

I would have challenged anyone to accept the meat he had selected and had chewed in his mouth. Apparently, Lucien had already devoured two sheep on his way out hunting. And this boar was meant for me. All of it.

When I heard a low whine, I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I'm not a little bird that needs to be fed! I can do it myself!"

Lucien widened his eyes and lowered his head, sulking, looking down with that heartbroken grimace.

Great. Just great.

Now I have also offended him.

Uuurgh!

"Listen, Lucien." Every time I uttered his name, it seemed to excite him a little.

In the end, he was just an overgrown puppy dressed in real beastly flesh and fur.

"I don't eat raw meat in my human form. I cannot. The bacteria in it are not good for my stomach." I placed my hand on his arm.

"But I'm so glad you have provided this meal for me." I tried to hold on to his primal male instinct to take care of his mate.

"I can cook this amazing meat on the fire, ok?" I smiled sweetly at him as he studied me sideways, unconvinced.

"Ok..."

I let out a sigh of relief. I did not want to hurt him and explain that accepting food already chewed by him was revolting.

Mate or not.

I was born with a healthy set of teeth and was perfectly capable of chewing my own food.

After gathering some non-wet wood, and lit a crackling fire, I skewered some pieces of meat (those not chewed) and roasted them over the heat. I saw Lucy watching the meat brown with ravenous interest. So, I offered him some portions as I could not possibly eat the whole animal, nor did I want to waste it.

"Good, huh?" I nudged him on the side, and he blushed and nodded adorably before eating three quarter of the boar by himself.

"Yes, thank you, mate."

It was strangely relaxing to be standing there in the middle of nowhere with my mate in lycan form, eating fresh meat and watching a herd of deer grazing nearby. It reminded of my time at Black Devil or my excursions in the nature with granny.

I noticed two big deer who were eyeing Lucien, who ignored them... at least for now.

"Lucien doesn't like deer." He admitted when I asked him about his food preferences and why he did not care about such convenient prey at hand. "Lucien likes pigs and sheep". He said licking his muzzle to reinforce his affirmation, before going back to doing what he seemed to enjoy the most: staring.

He would stare at me for several minutes, without blinking.

I felt a little conscious under that gaze. It was hard not to picture Logan behind those eyes when his delicious scent enveloped me all over...

Without warning, Lucien stuffed the entire leg of the pig he was munching into his mouth, whirled around and knocked me to the ground with his tail. Then he leapt into the nearby rocks.

A rogue was pulled out and Lucien's roar of indignation stopped only to have him destroy the smelly wolf.

Meanwhile I stood there, gaping, watching the lycan brutality.

My mate was something else.

Without a shadow of doubt.