In His Nature

{Dot}

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'Scuse the mistakes

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I took three steps into the kitchen and froze. Standing by himself at the ceramic island, glass of what looked suspiciously like coke in his hand, was Eli. Or, as I'd learned yesterday, my mate. Excuse me if I wasn't jumping with joy.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded accusingly, and I dumped my backpack on the tiled floor.

"Well hello to you too, Dot," Eli replied lazily, and he took a sip from his drink. Eli read my surprised, and somewhat annoyed expression, and added, "I heard your dad call you Dot."

I walked slowly over to the fridge, not once taking my eyes off of Eli. "You didn't answer my question," I said, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh," he drawled, bringing the glass to his lips once more and obviously teasing me. "I live here now."

"What?"

The carton of milk I'd grabbed from the fridge exploded against the ground, and I felt the sprays of the liquid all over my shoes and the bottom of my pants. Instinctively, I swore loudly and grabbed the nearest dish towel. I kicked off my shoes and crouched down to mop up the small lake of milk spreading across the tiles.

"Here, let me help."

Before I could say something or even look up, Eli's hands appeared with wad of paper towel clutched in each of them. The tip of his pinky brushed the top of my hand, and even though it was barely a touch, an intense tingly feeling shot throughout my body. I gasped at the warm feeling it generated in my chest, and my head snapped up to lock gazes with Eli.

His light eyes held steadily with mine, and I found myself getting lost in the green depths. I could hear my wolf howling in happiness, as she wanted very much to be with Eli.

"Stop doing that!" I cried loudly, pulling myself out of my ridiculous trance and falling back on the floor. "Stop!"

"Stop what?" Eli asked softly, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "What's wrong, Dot?" the way he actually looked at me with genuine concern just added to everything.

"This," I replied quickly, gesturing to all of him. "Stop with what you're doing; all this nice stuff. You being my mate doesn't mean anything, okay! Because we both know you're not staying here."

I was getting way too far into the thoughts that had been screaming at me from inside my brain ever since I found out Eli was my mate. That said, I was in too deep to stop myself from continuing.

"You're a rogue, Eli," I said, and I could feel the tears brimming. "Rogues don't keep their mates."

Then, without another word, I scrambled up from the floor and hurried out of the room. I didn't want Eli to see this. I mean, I'd already thought about the situation over and over in my head, and as much as I hated to admit it, I'd cried.

Everybody knew about rogues. For their own reasons, they didn't belong to a pack. Rogues cared about themselves only, which meant no mates. Occasionally, a rogue would accept their mate, but only if that mate left his or her pack. That meant I had absolutely no chance. I was the future alpha, which meant my duty was to my pack first.

Despite it all, though, I really wanted a mate. I wanted someone to look at me the way my mom and dad looked at each other. Why my mate had to be a rogue, I had no idea. I think it was god's sick idea of a joke.

I burst into my bedroom and slammed the door shut behind me. Quiet tears were slipping slowly down my cheeks, and I wiped them away quickly as I shimmied out of my milk-soaked pants. I'd shed enough tears over Eli. Now, I just had to steel myself against the rejection that I knew was coming.