Claribelle's Mate

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Damien's POV

Telling my dad about my mate wasn't a pleasant experience. He hated vampires, possibly more than I did. On the flip side, mates were sacred to him. He loved my mother with all his heart and couldn't believe the way I'd treated my mate. Clari. She had a beautiful name. I wondered if that was her full name or if it was a nickname.

I scolded myself for thinking about her.

My wolf hadn't spoken to me since we'd left her in the wood with the other wolf. He didn't even come forward when I shifted or try to take over. He was angry with me, and I couldn't really blame him. I'd left our mate in the woods with another wolf and she was crying, no less.

I wanted her, badly. The problem was that I couldn't have her. I was an only child, the only one able to take over the pack. Even if I had siblings, I'd never give up the responsibility of leading my pack. They needed me.

If I thought that I could get them to accept Clari as their Luna, I would go back for her. I knew it was impossible though. Werewolves would never be able to get along with vampires. I don't know why the wolf in the woods was with Clari, or why he seemed to care about her, but I knew that I'd never get an entire pack to get along with vampires. It went against both of our natures.

I pushed those thoughts away, shaking my head. I needed to stop thinking about her. I couldn't have her and thinking about her all the time wouldn't change that. I needed a run.

I walked out the back door of the house and immediately shifted when I stepped off of the porch, not caring about the clothes that I had been wearing. I left them shredded behind me as I ran off into the woods. I ran laps around our borders and the guards left me alone, sensing the turmoil inside of me.

A vampire could not be my mate. I decided to remind myself of all the reasons that I couldn't have a vampire as a mate. We're mortal enemies. They're evil. They feed and survive on the blood of others. They attack people for no reason other than their blood. They kill people in their need for blood. Vampires hurt so many people in my pack. They couldn't be trusted.

I continued to list the reasons why I couldn't accept my mate. It just wasn't possible. As I did this, I came across a scent that stopped me in my tracks. Clari's scent. I started to turn around and go in the other direction, but before I knew what was happening, Jake had shoved me to the back of our minds and taken over. He ran in the direction of our mate, yipping excitedly to me in our minds.

Damn it, Jake, give me control back! I yelled at him.

No! he growled back. She's our mate and even if you don't want her, I do!

I fought him like crazy to get control back, but he'd never been this determined to keep it from me like this. He'd always given me control back and when he didn't want to, it only took a nudge to have him in the back of my mind again. He'd never put up this much of a fight.

I decided to wait for the right moment. If I could get him while he was distracted, I could force control back, but I couldn't waste my energy trying to get it back right now. Jake found Clari running zig-zags along our border. She spun around to face us, probably catching our scent.

Jake immediately walked up to her and nuzzled her hand. I saw the indecision in her eyes, and the want. She wanted this time with Jake, but she knew that it wouldn't last. She couldn't fight the puppy dog eyes that Jake gave her and I growled at him.

As she and Jake played together, I continued poking around, trying to find ways to shove him into the background again so that I could take control. I couldn't believe how carefree and happy they were being together. I also couldn't believe that Jake had pulled on my knowledge to spell his name for her. I didn't even know that he could do that!

I watched the way they interacted with fascination. I couldn't help but want this. I wanted to be able to play with my mate, be carefree and happy with the love of my life. I just couldn't do that with a vampire. I'd already listed all the reasons I could think of off the top of my head.

I sat there in shock when Clari told Jake that she was going to miss him. We both saw the tears lingering in her eyes when she said that she knew he couldn't keep control for long and Jake whimpered, crawling even closer to her so that he could bury his muzzle in her hair for comfort. I had found my chance to regain control and I pulled him back, slowly, as he fought me. He growled angrily into Clari's hair, trying to keep me from taking control, but this time I won.

I shifted back and glared down at Clari, waiting for her to look up at me. I forced myself to spit the words, "This doesn't mean anything! I won't be mates with a vampire, no matter what my wolf has to say about it!"

As soon as the first tear rolled down her cheek, I turned and ran for it. I couldn't stand the sight of her tears, not when I knew that I was the cause of them. Suddenly, all my reasons for rejecting her didn't seem good enough. They didn't seem important enough to cause my mate this much pain.

Cole, I thought to myself. Cole would be able to list some more reasons for me. Together we should be able to come up with enough reasons for me to keep away from her. We were best friends and I knew he'd have no problem listing more reasons for me to hate her. A vampire had killed his father after all. That's one, add that to the list.

~~~*~~~Author's Note~~~*~~~

Early update because today was the last day of my first semester of college!! Woohoo!!

What did you guys think?

I'll probably update again soon since this is just the last chapter in Damien's POV :) betcha that will make you guys happy ;)

Thanks for reading!

~Haley~