My Abused Mate

Chapter 7

April's P.O.V

Yesterday Aiden and I went shopping and it was so much fun! He looked so handsome in the clothes he tried on. When we got home and put all his clothes away, we watched a movie in the living room. Although he fell asleep half-way through, I kind of loved his presence near me.

I don't know, maybe it's a mate thing.

Today I wanted to show him around our territory so that he knows what we will be in charge of soon. I get out of bed and do my usual morning routine. Hair brushed?-check, face washed?-check, comfy yet cute clothes on?- check, mate?- going to wake him up now.

I walk over to his room and open the door, all the while thinking about the day when I get to wake up next to him. I walk over to the side of the bed he is on to find him all curled up in a ball on top of the covers. That's weird, but for some reason, I find it attractive.

I take my time to look at his face, noticing that he has his eyebrows furrowed up and that he is mumbling incoherent things. He was doing the same thing yesterday morning when I woke him up. He must be having a nightmare again.

I rub my thumb between his eyebrows to smoothen up wrinkles that were formed from being furrowed, and then put my hand on his cheek. The tingles that I get from touching him will never get old I swear.

I start whispering in his ear like I did yesterday, telling him to wake up. After two more minutes of trying to wake him up, he finally does. The face he makes when he just wakes up is so cute. First he squeezes his eyes a bit, then he licks his lips, followed soon after with a small sigh, and then finally, he opens his beautiful eyes.

When he stops looking around, he sets his gaze on me, making butterflies erupt in my stomach. 

"What now?" He asks in his raspy morning voice.

"Get up, I want to show you around," I tell him.

He groans a bit before stretching and then getting up. I walk outside of his room to give him some privacy to get ready. About twenty minutes later, he comes out of his room with a dark blue shirt on, black jeans, a pair of blue converse and his hair damp. He must have taken a shower. Damn how I wish I could have seen him in just his towel again.

I turn around before he can see my flushed cheeks and tell him to follow me to the kitchen. I don't even try to grab his hand again because I realized that he doesn't like it. So, no matter how much it kills me not to touch him, I will make sure not to touch him- well when he is awake that is, when he is asleep it won't stop me from playing with his hair or fingers or even caressing his cheek.

When we sit down at the table to eat, I notice how Aiden still did not touch his food, but he was looking at me instead. I have come to learn that Aiden will not touch food that is given to him unless he has permission first. Once I tell him that he is able to eat it, he dives in like a man who has been starved for his whole life.

Once we finished eating, I tell him to follow me. I show him around the pack house first, like the bedrooms, game rooms, movie rooms, indoor pool, etc. 

Then I take him outside to the little village that some of the other pack members who don't live in the pack house have set up. I show him a few of the popular shops, including my all-time personal favourite- the ice-cream parlour. 

Later on, I bring him to the training grounds, where the warriors and some other wolves train. I'm walking towards Robert (the Beta) so that I can properly introduce him to my mate and the future Alpha, when I don't hear his footsteps behind me anymore.

I turn around to find him staring at one of the older warriors training one of the younger ones with fear perfectly noticeable in his dark eyes. I walk over to him forgetting about my rule of no touching him for now, and grab his face so he could look me in the eyes. 

"Aiden? What's the matter?"

He doesn't answer me this time, instead with his breathing rate increasing, he turns around and runs into the forrest. Once my initial shock disappears, I run after him, making sure that he doesn't run over the pack border.

I follow his scent and it leads me to the little lake that he had suddenly 'vanished' from a couple weeks back. I find him hunch over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily and coughing. I walk up to him and gently put my hand on his back, making him jump away in fright at the process.

"Hey it's okay, it's just me," I say to him in my most softest voice I could muster up.

He swallows, before turning away from me and walking closer to the lake. I watch him sit down in front of it, not saying or doing anything, just sitting there.

I walk over and sit down next to him, looking at the lake water too. I don't know how long we have stayed there for but when I looked up at the sky, I saw a whole bunch of stars. It was quiet for a little longer until, "I'm sorry," was heard from Aiden.

It was a small whisper, barely being heard, but with my werewolf hearing, I was able to pick it up.

"What for?" I asked in the same kind of voice, not wanting to disturb the peace we made.

"For running away like that, I would understand if you are mad at me now."

I look at him this time, and although he still has that blank look on his face, his eyes hold regret and guilt. I grab his hand, noticing the small flinch he made and pull our joined hands on my lap.

"It's okay, you have your reasons and I respect them. Just know that you can tell me anything."

We fall into a comfortable silence again, just looking up at the sky full of stars. We sit there for a little while longer until I see something flash in the sky. I gasp and grab Aidens upper arm with my spare one in excitement, "Aiden look! It's a shooting star, make a wish and it will come true."

I close my eyes and make my wish. When I open them again, I notice that Aiden just has a blank look on his face and this time I can't tell what he is feeling because there are no emotions in his eyes. That's the only way that I can get a small glimpse into his thoughts- his eyes.

"What's the matter? Did you make a wish? What was it?" I fire off my questions, hoping-no praying, that he would open up to me.

"No I didn't make a wish," he told me, no emotion in his voice either.

"Well why not?" I ask.

He turns to look at me before saying, " I hate to be the one to break this to you but according to astronomy, when you wish upon a star, you're actually a few million years late. That star is already dead. Just like your dreams, so there is no point making a wish on a dead star when it won't come true anyway."

Wow, that really hurt.

"What makes you say that?" I ask him, wanting to know why my mate is so cynical.

"Trust me, I know. The amount of times I believed that a shooting star can grant me the thing I desired most is unbelievable. And every time I made that same wish, it never came true."

"Well what did you wish for, maybe it will happen soon."

He looks away from me. 

"I wished for a life without pain, and if it didn't come true in that past ten years, then it never will," he tells me.

What in the moon goddess happened to my mate?