The Alpha and his Mate

Chapter four

I looked back down at her sleeping form again, intent on looking at her beautiful face all night but when I looked back at her the smile slipped from my face as I stared into a pair of bright blue eyes, filled with fear.

 

Jax's POV

"Little mate, you're awake" I stuttered, not really knowing what else to say to her as I took in her fearful expression as she lay still next to me. "Are you thirsty?" I suddenly asked as I remembered the pint glass of water I had on my bedside table. "Here I got you a glass of water in case you were", why was I all of a sudden nervous as I handed the glass of water over to her?

I expected her to take it from my outstretched hand straight away, needing the glass of water to quench her dry throat, but she just shrunk away from me as I held the glass out further for her. I frowned as I took in her fearful reaction, why would she shy away from her mate? Mates are something we're told about and look forward to finding our whole lives, someone who completes us, someone who understands us and we them completely. I held the glass out further to her, hoping she would understand that I wouldn't hurt her and that she didn't need to fear me. "Please little mate, you need to drink to help keep your strength up. You have quite a lot of injuries on you and I'm sure you're thirsty after what you have gone through."

Ever so slowly, like she expected me to pull the glass away from her at the last second, she reached her arm out to take the glass, her eyes cautiously staring just below mine the whole time. I just gave her a nod of encouragement and a small smile in hopes that it would ease her nerves a little bit. She was shaking slightly from fright and it killed me to see her like this, but I stayed as still as possible, making sure not to startle her. As she took the glass from my hand our fingers brushed together ever so slightly, causing the magical sparks to erupt again throughout my hand. At the shock of the physical contact she yanked her hand away, spilling the water all over both herself and the bed she was lying in.

I heard her heart rate suddenly skyrocket and I looked into her eyes to see them on high alert, wide with fear at the realisation of what she had just done.

My mate whimpered slightly as she started to anxiously clean up the mess, using her own t-shirt to try and absorb some of the water that had been absorbed by the sheets and mattress.

"Hey...hey it's okay little mate, it was an accident" I soothed, trying to calm her heart rate down before she had a panic attack. "The sheets needed to be changed and cleaned anyway so don't worry about it" I said in the most calming tone of voice I could muster, remembering everything the doctor had told me before she left.

My mate froze in her frantic actions of mopping up the water and looked at me through her lashes with her head down, showing the typical submissive pose everyone showed to their Alpha. Usually it pleased me when people looked at me like this, it shows me that they respect me and trusted me to look after them, but that look on her just felt wrong. She was my mate, my equal and the only person in the world I would hate to feel like they had to submit to me. I reached my hand out and tilted her chin up so she was looking at me, trying desperately to ignore the slight flinch she had when she saw my hand coming towards her.

"No little mate, when you look at me I want to see those pretty blue eyes of yours, please don't shy away from me". I smiled at her, hoping they were the right words to say but when she didn't react to them I frowned slightly. She was still sitting in front of me in that submissive pose of hers and even with my hand holding her head up her eyes were still cast down, making it difficult for me to gauge her reaction.

"Would you like a shower before we go to the hospital?" I asked as I released her, accepting that I wasn't going to be getting much out of her. At my words she frowned slightly before looking down at her appearance, apparently just realising that she was covered in blood and mud and with twigs accessorising her hair. She looked back up at me again, still never quite reaching my eyes, but when I just carried on staring at her expectantly she gave in with a slight nod.