The Wolf's Bride (Pause)

Chapter 9

Not an hour after sunrise, the insistent knocking made me drag myself out of bed to get to the door.

To my utter dismay, it was not my husband, and I had to excuse myself to put on some more clothing. Three men, werewolves most likely, laughed when I returned.

"Pardon my indecency, please, come in!"

Each one if them was holding a box of what was most probably food supplies. They walked after me to the kitchen and set them down.

"Would you like tea? Or water? Is there any tee in those boxes?"

My social skills were just as bad as always, but fortunately, the three men didn't seem to mind the way I scrambled through the boxes to find something to make their visit worth.

"We shouldn't stay long, the Alpha only gave us the order to get your supplies!" one of them answered.

I looked at the small box of tea leaves in my hand, then at all of them, then at the stove. I bit my tongue as I contemplated for a second.

"Nonsense! Stay! I am actually quite desperate since I don't have visitors! You wouldn't want your Alpha's wife to be upset, would you now?" I gave them a flashing smile, albeit an awkward one.

The three looked among themselves then nodded. It was the first time I was happy to be alone with three men I didn't know in a room. I made the tea as they sat down and tried to make conversation.

"So... How do you do?"

I had forgotten why I didn't spend time with other people even before my wedding. It was because I, in fact, lacked any conversational skills and the pretty smile to make up for it.

The three men looked at me weirdly, but each of them gave an answer, apparently one of them was just returning from the border after some quarrels among the neighboring pack, another had just returned from the human territories, probably my father's estate, although he made no mention of it, while the third...

"You're having a child? How wonderful? Is the mother alright? I heard birth is quite painful."

The third man, a bright spirit was all proud smiles as he sipped his tea.

"She is due one of these days. The babe showed no signs of illnesses, so the birth should go fine. My mate is a strong female, she won't have any problems."

There was such a smile on his face, the sheer happiness of it, that made my own heart jump and race. A child, what a joyful occasion for a happy couple. Yet he used some words I didn't truly understand.

"Your women are called females here? Does that mean you are males?"

They nodded.

"What is a mate? Is it like a wife?"

The first two looked at the third one, who still had a dumb happy grin plastered on his face.

"It's more than a wife. A mate is so much more. She's the other half of my soul, my one true destined love. She's more important than air and food, and I live to make her days brighter."

His words made my cheeks flush too, only thinking of such a deep connection between two souls made mine yearn for one as well, even if I knew humans didn't have that term, and that I was already married and chained to someone for the rest of my life, it was beautiful to think of meeting someone that would be the other half of me. That would love me unconditionally, with no boundaries, nothing but pure love.

"It must be nice..." I murmured, knowing I had the same dumb smile on my face as the soon-to-be father.

"It's the best." he greed. The other two nodded their heads vehemently.