Resisting My Mate (Book 2 of the Complicated Mates series) Editing

Chapter 15

Dedicated to Veradis for being the extra set of eyes I need and catching many of my character slip ups^.^

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Arianna

It’s been three whole days since Ashtyn’s big announcement and my infamous heat began. I’ve always been a pretty strong she wolf, but this was proving to be too much to bear. I could never go anywhere alone, because I couldn’t be trusted to keep my hands to myself.

Yes, that’s how bad it’s gotten. I couldn’t help that my body cried out to be sated at the oddest times. I am now banned from the coffee shop in town because my craving for an iced coffee turned into my craving for the barista. I shook my head just remembering the way I climbed the service counter and pulled the poor unsuspecting employee toward me, all ready to devour him.

That didn’t sit too well with Ashtyn, myself, or my wolf. She was upset that she was the one driving me to do such things and berated me every second she got, urging me to let him mark us. I had been lucky up until this point that my uncle’s pack members and my own had tried their best to keep their distance. My heat was driving them crazy with lust, but their fear of punishment from their Alpha’s kept them in line. It was a thin line at that, and could snap any day.

Though my heat was uncomfortable, it wasn’t painful. I couldn’t say the same for Ashtyn. Whenever our bodies were in contact of any sort, his would immediately react. The restrain he had to use when around me was starting to put a damper on our budding relationship. We couldn’t be completely comfortable around one another because we were practically walking on egg shells trying not to do something that would provoke the other and cause one or both of us to lose control. It was also a constant battle for me to fight off my urges and for Ashtyn not to rip the heads off of every male in my proximity.

I didn’t know why I was still holding back. We were both clearly suffering here, and two little words from me could fix that. Ashtyn had been the perfect mate thus far. He was always attentive to my every need, didn’t dare to even look at another girl, and continued to respect my wishes to get to know each other first before we took the next step. The only thing standing in my way now was my residual fear. 

That needed to stop today. 

It was Friday, we’d gotten through our very first week of school; and Ashtyn had asked me to his house, per his mother’s orders, to have dinner so she and his father could get to know me. Ashtyn tried to play it off as a simple dinner, but I knew that if his mother was anything like mine, it was a dinner to size me up. I had been a nervous wreck all morning wondering if I’d measure up to the mate she always envisioned for her only son. Being the heir of an Alpha would hold quite a bit of appeal, because it would mean her son would be a future Alpha, but I wanted her to like me for who I was as a person, and not what my birthright could do for her son.

A light kiss on my forehead, followed by a burning through my body brought me out of my thoughts, “Stop worrying, she’s going to love you. Both my parents are.”

I looked into Ashtyn’s dark eyes and fought through the lust taking over me so that I could bask in the affection I found there. He was already starting to read every expression of mine so well. He brushed a hair away from my face and we just sat there looking at one another, oblivious to the lunch room conversations going on around us. How was it that I could feel this safe around someone I had vowed to never accept? I ran my eyes over the face that I was becoming quite addicted to. His chiseled features were softened by his full lips. His mysterious eyes pulled me in, begging me to discover what lay behind them. Had I ever given myself a chance to dream about my future mate, he would be the picture I held close to my heart. It was time and I was ready to take the next step.