My Love but Not My Mate

Chapter 11

‘...’ – speech in wolf form

“...” – speech in human form

Chapter 11

   All twenty or so of us panting hard and sprawled out near the river, we hoped that we were now safe once again from any human threats. Blake did not leave my side, or rather refused to leave my side, and he asked me about thirty times if I was alright and wasn’t hurt.

   ‘Blake, I’m fine. Please stop asking!’ I finally snapped at him which put him in a mood. ‘Sorry,’ I apologised soon after when he wouldn’t even look at me. ‘I didn’t mean to snap like that.’ I put my head under his chin and hoped he would forgive me.

   Sighing deeply, he stepped back a bit to look into my eyes. ‘No, you’re right. I was pushing you. Let’s forget what happened and start again.’ Stepping back to me, he put his head over my neck and touched his leg to mine; it was a wolf equivalent of a human embrace. ‘Why did you go off alone though? Didn’t you want to be seen going off with me again?’ He said it as softly as he could.

   ‘It wasn’t that. I just wanted to think and some free time to myself. And it turned out to be a little adventure.’

   We both chuckled and went to get a drink of water to refill our dehydrated bodies. Watching how the parent wolves busied themselves with calming down their offspring who were still frantic with terror.

   SPLASH. Someone had jumped clean into the river from behind us and drenched us in cold water.

   ‘Samson! Come back here!’ shouted Blake from beside me, and he launched himself into the water, soaking me again and chased after his young nephew through the brook.

   They were now wading about in the shallower water, while the rest of us sat down and listened to Kai’s plan which was to head south-east for awhile. The only problem I had with that was it was getting very close to my old pack’s territory. Ten minutes later, Lexi approached me and reassured me that if it came down to it, I had a free choice of who I would part with; as she spoke, my vision focused on Blake and I had already made my choice.

   Soon enough, we were now embarking on our journey in the said direction and taking our time as we were all still very tired from our hasty retreat over two hours ago. Finding myself among the main body of the pack for once, I started to realise I had now become a true member of the pack and was now very ecstatic about this new recognition.

   Feeling the various muscles around my body stretch and contract with every stride, I howled with enjoyment and was accompanied in my vocal expressiveness by many of the wolves around me, including Lexi and Kai.

   After a very exciting and adrenaline filled day, I was overwhelmed when we stopped for camp near a small orchard of wild fruit trees as it still meant we could have a fire. Sat between Blake’s legs, I listened more intently to one of the elder’s stories as I let all the excitement wash out of my mind and the warmth from the flames seep into my bones.

   Blake yawned behind me and I reached behind to try and find one of his hands but accidentally touched his thigh; blushing extremely quickly, I folded my arms in front of my chest and remained still for the rest of the story.

   Leaning closer behind me, Blake whispered in my ear. “What was that about?”

   Twitching my ears, something I could sort of still do as a human, I babbled a bit. “I... I...” His arms shot around me and I let out a little scream. “Blake!”