One of Runts

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Mates?

        I flick my ears about as I rise to the world of the living. I lift my head and look around me, noticing the obvious lack of warmth next to me. I'm still next to the cliff, though I'm a few feet away from it. We must have moved after we fell asleep.

        My maw opens in a yawn, a whine escaping my throat. I stand up, noticing that the pain in my leg has decreased drastically. I bow down in a stretch, my limbs that became stiff from the cold warming up in a pleasant heat.

        My fur fluffs up as I shake it out, happy that my winter fur hasn't thinned out yet. I cock my head to the side as I hear a walk walking towards me and I can easily tell it's Azrael. I don't know how I know this, but I just do.

        Just as I suspected, Azrael comes trotting towards me with a large deer leg. By the scent of it, it isn't the type of deer I'm familiar with. I sit down and curl my tail around my paws, my head tilted to the side.

        Azrael, having most likely heard me waking up, isn't surprised at my sitting figure. He slows his trot to a swift walk as he comes towards me. He places the leg on the ground and sits in front of me, looking somewhat proud.

        "I had hoped to bring you breakfast before you woke up, but as you can see..." Azrael tells me in his low voice, looking at me pointedly. He bows his head down slightly to my level as his ears press against his skull. "I was also hoping that we could share?"

        I look away slightly, my cold ears beginning to burn. "I wouldn't mind." Azrael's fluffy tail wags as I wait for him to take the first bite. Not only is it respectful towards him, but it also shows that I am allowing him the first bite as he provided the food for me.

        However, Azrael doesn't lean his head down to take some of the deer. He's just watching me, with his head tilted to the side. He licks his chops, an odd glint in his eyes as he waits for me to take a bite. I hesitantly move my head towards the deer, and when he doesn't protest, I tear a piece of flesh before swiftly retreating. He watches as I eat it, his tail wagging.

        My ears continue to burn as I am for some reason embarrassed by his watching. He then leans his head down and takes a bite out of the leg, and I freeze.

        I had seen this exact moment happen with numerous wolves back at my pack. And it was usually those wolves who were courting one another and those who are already mated. My ears raise slightly as I suddenly sit up tall.

        Usually, if a male wolf intends on courting a female, he'll provide something that they like, it usually being food. And if the female excepts it by taking it, that means that she accepts the wolf's interest. And if it is for meals where both are eating, usually the male would cook it and allows the female to take the first bite.

        I look down at the leg of the deer and realize it is actually one of the hind legs, my favorite part of the mammal. I stare at Azrael, who was already watching me. He lifts his head and stares into my eyes.

        "Are you...?" I trail off, not knowing what to say. I take a glance at the deer leg before looking back at him. He looks down at the leg, too, before looking back into my eyes.

        "Asking for your permission to court you?" he finishes, his voice deep and slightly hopeful. "Yes, I am." My breath catches in my throat, though I don't know why I'm so surprised. We both have been skirting around the fact about us being interested in one another, though I never thought he'd actually just straight out show it with a courting gesture.

        His ears slowly lower as I stay quiet. We're both standing by know and he lowers his head down, taking a hesitant step forwards. "Do you accept?" he asks me, his voice small, even though I practically already accepted his proposal.

        I step towards him and nuzzle under his chin and throat, and I lick his ear. "I accept," I tell him, my voice soft. My heart stops as emotions rush into me and I'm sure Azrael can feel them, too.

        The emotions are overwhelming with interest, like, and attraction. I blink at the aftereffects at the sudden rush of emotions. Azrael looks into my eyes intensely, an unknown emotion in them.

        "Mate." His voice is low as he whispers into my mind, almost afraid of the thought of it. My ears stand on end at the word, and I know that my eyes have widened considerably. He steps towards me, though I'm still in shock.

        Mate? I think into my mind, and my body betrays me as I begin to purr at the word. How are we mates?

        Azrael nuzzles into me slightly and I return the motion. And by the pleasurable tingling running through my body, I can tell that it's the truth. We are mates.

        When mates connect a bond, whether or not they were destined like Alphas and other high-ranking wolves, or they courted the old-fashioned way, they'd feel tingles. My parents aren't destined mates, despite my father's high rank. I remember that they used to tell me how that whenever they touched, they'd feel tingling.

        They said it only happened after they connected their bond (destined mates only have to accept the bond to feel the effects of their bond). And to connect a bond both wolves must either mark one another with a bite in human form or scent mark each other in wolf form. There's also the blood mark where the nearly mated couple would put a drop of the other's blood into a wine glass of water and have the other drink it, but it's rarely used.

        It only happens between the king and his queen, and those closely related to the royal blooded family. My ears stand tall as I realize that both of us will have to perform the bonding ceremony in front of both of our packs.

        "Mate," I finally tell him through the bond, making his tail wag, and I only know this because it's currently hitting my side.

         We finally stop nuzzling with one another and I realize that our scents will now change. Whenever two mates complete their bond, their scents would change over the course of a week. Their scent would always smell somewhat of their mate to show other wolves who are mated and who to.

        I pin my ears back and turn away slightly, suddenly feeling awkward. "We should probably finish eating and get to the rest of the squadron," I tell Azrael, walking towards the forgotten deer led and taking a chunk of the flesh off it.

        Azrael nods and we both take turns eating the deer leg. I gnaw on one of the bones as I wait for Azrael to finish the rest of the leg. By the time he finishes eating it, the bone is half its size and my teeth feel considerably sharper.

        I stand up beside Azrael and we begin walking in the direction of the squadron. My ears flick slightly as I can hear them putting stuff away. "How's your leg, by the way?" Azrael asks me, seeing the slight limp I have.

        "Not too bad, actually," I tell him, surprised at how much better my leg feels this morning. "It feels much better than it did yesterday." He nods his head, though I can tell he already knew this.

        I narrow my eyes in suspicion. "What did you do?" I ask him looking down at my leg.

        "Nothing, really," he tells me, his voice casual. "I just cleaned it while you were sleeping and changed the bandages." I look at him, knowing that there's more.

        Despite knowing Azrael for around a week, I already know much about him, And right now, I know he's hiding something.

        "Okay, fine," he tells me, giving into my stare. "I may have added some of my blood to it to make it heal quicker." I flick my ear at the unexpected statement. A royal's blood provides a healing ability to wolves who are not royal.

       "Oh," I blink. "Thank you." He nods at me as we come upon the torn down camp. We step through the trees and everyone immediately looks at us.

Author's Note:

So... how many are you are screaming in joy right now?  :3