The Liability (2023 - COMPLETE)

VII - His Perspective

 The male can't help but be drawn to the young woman. He knows that it is wrong that he is dragging her along, but he is unsure of how to approach her. 

He has spent so much of his life under the control of his mother that he doesn't know what to do with his own fate. His mother was the one that decided that he was going to be a tracker, she was the one that set him up with Dawn. Not to sound like a sad fuck who had no say in his life, but Percival does not know how to make his own choices.

Looking at her now, the way that she is tightly wrapped in her jacket, he can't seem to think about anything other than his little mate. Not long after his twentieth birthday, his mother had set up a date with Dawn. Juliette had feared that at the rate things were going, he would never find his mate. The truth was that she was just so much younger than he is. Now, he doesn't know how to approach her or let go of Dawn.

Juno looks so small, so frail, and so unsure. He wants to protect her, and give her the life that he knows he can provide her. He doesn't want to see her laying in a hospital bed in severe pain, he doesn't want to hide how hurt he feels when he has to let her go. Even before he had known that she was his mate, he wasn't a fan of how this pack treated her.

If he had just accepted his mate when he had first learned of their bond, Juno wouldn't be sitting across from him, in pain. She would be at home with him, being showered in affection. The humans would have something to say about it because of their age difference; the wolves would have something to say about it because of her runt status. His mother would have something to say because Juno isn't the woman she picked out for Percival.

Normal soulmates would be together for a few years, get married under human tradition, and have a few children. When he thinks of a successful pairing, of course, Percival thinks of his own parents. They had met when they were nineteen, married at twenty-one, and had a total of eight children. Granted, Percival would never want that many children for himself, but he does want a large family one day.

Percival, out of all of his siblings that are of age, is the only one that isn't with his mate. All of his older brothers have spread out across the country and his sister Louise lives in Oregon with her mate and their two children.

He knows what type of life he wants for himself, and knows what type of mate he wants to be for Juno. The trouble is, he is so scared of what his parents are going to say about it. His parents want all of their children to be perfect and have decided the life that each one of them should live. Being twenty-three and not having a relationship with his mate puts a damper on his parent's plans. He couldn't help but think about what problems his parents would find in Juno when he does gain the courage to be a proper mate.

They would fault her for her condition and claim that their son is worthy of someone with a wolf. Say that she is lesser because she is a runt. His parents would be like everyone else in this pack who has turned her away because of a simple medical condition. Percival doesn't think that her condition is a problem, he just doesn't know how to approach a girl. Percival definitely doesn't know how to approach a girl that makes him feel the way that she does simply because of the nature of her existence. Juno is the only girl he has met that he has felt completely comfortable around and that is what makes him so unsure about himself. Their bond makes him feel so contented but so giddy. He feels warm and alive when she is around.

The first step is to get rid of his girlfriend, he knows that. He has started doing that, drawing himself away from Dawn. He was never really interested in her as a significant other but knows that the sex was good. He knows that Dawn is a safe choice that his parents approve of, seeing as though they were the ones to set the two up, but the relationship had never felt right. In the last few months, being with Dawn has felt completely wrong.

At first, Percival had been upset that he had met his mate. He had been so contented with the way that his life was going. He was okay with his relationship with Dawn, open to the idea of being with her for the rest of his life. After seeing Juno last December, all his thoughts changed.

Like a total male, his fantasies were what changed first. He no longer thought of his tall, beautiful, blonde girlfriend as the desirable woman. Very quickly, his tastes shifted to shorter, less athletic, and almost plain jane. Juno is a very pretty young woman, and he recognized that the first time he laid eyes on her. The problem came when he started fantasizing about what she would be like in bed. He knows that it is wrong and he would never force anything on her, but he is still a guy with a vivid imagination.

He has so many thoughts going through his mind that he can't stay in the present. He is sitting in the little clearing, watching as she looks at the stars. He wants to say something to her, to actually have a relationship with his mate but he doesn't know how. He has spent so much of his life being told how to exist that he doesn't know how to function on his own. He wants to pull her close and keep her safe from the world, making sure that no one else is going to bring her harm.

Percival is too hopeful, he is unsure about how girls work. He has no idea how to approach her, how to tell her that life is going to be okay. That the last few months of his nonsense are terrible and he can do better. He wants to call her cute pet names, hold her close at night, to have the ideal mateship with her. The first thing he has to do is get rid of the girlfriend and then stand up to his family. He knows that his parents are going to have problems with him mating a runt, but he doesn't care. He just wants to have a happy life like all of the other wolves.

She looks beautiful tonight in the moonlight, her long dark hair moving with the wind. He looks at her like she is the only woman who has ever existed. He is a dork who is afraid to approach a woman, but he can't help but think about what would happen if he did. He is almost as scared of being turned down by him as he is of what his family is going to say.

Even Alexander, one of Percival's oldest friends, is going to have something negative to say about Juno being his mate. The older male has been in a happy relationship with his Luna for the past five years, and to be honest, Percival is jealous of that.

All he can do for now is hope that one day that he will be able to fix this mess. He is the one that made the mess by being too feeble to actually talk to her. Even now, he doesn't know what words to say to her, it is all a mess in his head. He is just enthralled by her, just seeing the way she watches the sky.

One day, Percival won't be such a little bitch and finally have a relationship with his soulmate. He just actually has to get rid of the girlfriend, which he is working on. Until then, he'll just have to settle for being in the background. 

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1390 words. Published 11.28.2022. Edited 12.10.2023