Blueberry Scones (MxM)

Chapter 6 - The Run

Joshua

As everyone broke into random chatter again, I think my brain froze. My entire body felt cold, stuck in one place from what I was told. Mark kept glancing over at me before he spoke through our pack link.

Hey, you alright?

His voice in my head helped me to grasp reality again. I sighed, glancing down at my lap. How am I supposed to be alright when Wren has no clue that I'm his mate? And he's already ready to mate with his lover, too.

Joshua, you should talk to him. You're the only one who can.

But what if he chooses Erin anyway? He can't feel our bond, not fully. I'm a complete stranger to him. It wouldn't matter if I talked to him about it. He wouldn't choose me.

Mark sighed softly, patting my back gently. Then maybe you should change that. Don't be a stranger to him.

What do you mean?

I mean that you can get to know him. We'll be here for a few more days and you can visit. You deserve to be happy. Don't give him up just yet.

My eyes moved to look at Wren. He smiled, laughing at something Erin whispered to him. They looked so happy. My chest throbbed painfully, my hand moving up to try and soothe the pain. I didn't want to give him up. Why would I? Wren was my mate. We were destined to be together. But I didn't want to ruin his happiness by telling him I was his mate. At least now I understood that he wasn't rejecting me. It made me feel a bit better but I didn't feel great or anything.

I continued to think about what to do. If I stayed I could get to know Wren and eventually tell him that we're mates. But how long would be enough? How close did we have to be for him to feel any sort of connection to me? How long would I have to torture myself by watching him and Erin together? Would I even be able to last that long without exploding? Every second of watching my mate love someone else made me feel sick. And the worst part was that he had no clue. Wren had no clue that I - his mate, his other half - was sitting right across from him.

Apparently I was quiet for a lot longer than I thought because Mark was suddenly nudging me. I looked up, raising an eyebrow. He motioned with his head, telling me to pay attention. I looked at the rest of the group, listening in.

"It's time to go," Aaron spoke up, already standing up and looking down at us.

Wren stood up, Erin quickly following. We all got up, packing away our set up and putting it aside for now. Glancing up at the sky, I noticed it was darker now, the stars slowly starting to peek out. The glow of the full moon was soothing. Of course, it was a full moon. It was kind of a joke among werewolf packs. The humans always said we transformed under the light of the full moon, so why not do just that? Runs like these were actually quite common but each pack did it differently according to their own traditions.

"Ah, I can't wait to stretch my legs!" Ryder groaned, cracking his back.

His mate grimaced at his behavior, rolling her eyes. We all started to walk over to the rest of the pack. When I glanced over at Wren, I noticed that his hand was held securely in Erin's. A pang of jealousy shot through me at such a simple action, making me rub my chest again. Quickly looking away, I focused on the group gathering. We huddled together as we waited to start while some people went off behind bushes to start shifting. Our wolf forms weren't magic or anything. Our clothes ripped if we shifted with them on so we had to take them off. Some people were just more private about it than others.

The alpha of the pack suddenly called us all to attention. "Before we start, I wanted to say that we are honored to share our run with our guests from the Whitewater pack."