Blueberry Scones (MxM)

Chapter 15 - Mates?

"You're my mate, Wren."

Joshua's words seemed to echo in the silence of our tent, ringing in my ears. The atmosphere that had been buzzing before suddenly dropped, and I felt so cold I shivered slightly.

"What?" I asked in a whisper, utterly shocked.

"You're my mate, Wren. Not Aaron, not anyone else. You," Joshua repeated, solidifying the truth.

My body froze, my entire being seemingly stuck in one place. Joshua was my mate? I was his mate? All this time and he decided to tell me now? Things finally began to make sense. The constant looks, the awkwardness, the conversations that always seemed to lead into my emotions or the topic of mates.

"Wren, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Joshua spoke up.

"You should be," I whispered, a sudden spike of anger going through me. "How could you keep this from me? What made you think I would want to be lied to like this for weeks on end?! We're mates! I... I hurt you and I didn't even know it. Why? Why would you keep this from me?"

He had so many chances to tell me and he didn't. Instead, he watched me suffer and wonder if I could ever be happy. He gave me hope in finding my mate. I felt like I had been blindsided. My wolf didn't make things any better. He was feeling immense joy over finally finding his other half. He didn't even care that Joshua had lied to us for weeks on end. The happiness mixed with my own emotions and it served to make me even more frustrated. Of course, I was also happy that I'd found my mate and kissed him too, but the circumstances that it happened were less than pleasant.

"I'm sorry," Joshua repeated, his voice sounding defeated. "I was scared. I was scared you'd reject me, then I was scared you'd be too hurt over it all. I kept pushing off telling you because I was terrified of what would happen," he explained slowly.

"When were you going to tell me, then?"

"Soon, very soon," Joshua answered with a weak and very awkward chuckle. "I had planned to tell you when I got to the tent but decided against it because of the whole... Erin thing."

We went silent after that, but it wasn't nice. It felt like it was pressing down on me, suffocating me. I wrapped my arms around myself to fight off the sudden cold, refusing to look at Joshua even if I couldn't see him fully in the dark. "I wish you told me sooner. It would've saved us both a lot of pain," I finally mumbled.

Joshua laughed again, but it sounded a lot sadder this time. "I know. I was being a coward. I really am sorry," he said seriously, and I heard the sound of the tent material scratching as he scooted closer.

It didn't feel real, sitting there with my mate after we'd kissed. It still felt like I'd stolen a kiss from a taken man. But he wasn't taken... well, he was taken by me now, apparently. Was I crazy? I felt crazy. Maybe I was dreaming. It all happened so quickly. One moment, I'm crying over Erin and a kiss I didn't want, and the next, I'm realizing Joshua is really attractive and I'm kissing him. Had that attraction always been there and I was just too focused on my issues with Erin to realize it?

"Wren?"

I found myself looking up now, my eyes straining to look at Joshua's face. "So... we're really mates?"

"Yeah, we are."

.

.

.

After that, we talked for a very long time. We talked about as much as we could: Joshua's sickness, my disability, both of our feelings. It was extremely draining, especially after the day I'd already had, but it was necessary. We needed to talk, to explain ourselves.