The Mate Search

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The door to the bathroom opened before I could hide that I was looking at the photo of his family. I tried to place it back in the place where I found it, but it was already too late. He had seen me looking at the photo.

I looked him up and down. He had a pair of his sweatpants on, they were full of stains and holes. He had on one of Thomas' shirts, which fit him pretty well. He walked to his side of the bed and grabbed the pen and notebook that was sitting on the nightstand.

What do you want to know?

I was surprised that he wanted to talk and that I wasn't the one starting the conversation. It felt amazing, he maybe wanted to talk to me.

I saw you looking at the photo, and I saw your confusion. What do you want to know?

"Who are the people?" I knew it was kind of a stupid question because I already knew who they were. I just felt I needed confirmation.

My parents.

I was right. "What happened to them?"

They were killed in a rogue attack.

"How did that happen?"

The room filled with the sound of pen on paper as Xavier scribbled for a long time before he turned the notebook over and showed me.

My father was the Gamma of the Twilight Moon pack before the current one. He was good friends with Alpha Greg. One day Greg took in 35 rogues who were begging for refuge. My father didn't agree with the idea and wanted to find out why they were here. He had talked to Alpha Greg about his suspicion but, because Greg was the Alpha, he got shut down by Greg. They stopped being friends.

After my father had been doing the research privately, he found out that the rogues were getting information from the pack and giving it to rogues outside of the pack so they could attack. My father was found snooping the day they decided to attack. He was killed and my mother was too depressed and lonely so she committed suicide.

I had to hold back tears. How could someone go through this? "When did this happen?"

I was eight when my parents died. Greg blamed me for everything. He hated my father, so naturally just went for the son. He made me the official pack punching bag and made me do ridiculous chores all by myself, like the dishes. I stopped talking when I was 10 because of the abuse and lashings. It only got worse as time went on. They did go easy on me that week of the Mate Search because I could be seen by other people.

I was crying now and I didn't care. I leaned over to where he sat on the edge of the bed and hugged him. I knew it would probably scare him, make him freak out, or something along those lines, but I didn't care.

"No one will ever hurt you like that again, I promise. And if they do, they won't live to tell the tale."

Surprisingly, he hugged me back. He started shaking violently and sobbing. I stroked his hair and told him everything was going to be alright.

I eventually laid down with him laying on my chest. His head was right underneath my chin and he was breathing into my neck. We stayed like that the whole night, I was running my hand through his hair.

When I awoke the next morning Xavier was still on top of me. His eyes were red and puffy from crying. He also had tear streaks down his face. But even with his post-crying face, he looked gorgeous.

His hair was ruffled from me running my fingers through it so many times. His pink lips slightly parted and his breath hitting my neck. I could lay here for hours watching him. It's not creepy! We're mates!

But apparently, I don't get to do that. Xavier stirs and opens his mesmerizing green eyes. I smile.

"Good morning, Xavier. Are you feeling better?"

He stares up at me and nods his head while smiling a little. He sits up, me following soon after. He grabs the discarded pen and notepad and begins writing.

Can I take a shower?

"Of course you can. You don't have to ask."

He gets off the bed and walks into the bathroom, after grabbing clothes. I wait for him to get done.

I don't know what to do today. I would just stay with him and help him feel more comfortable but then Thomas has to do all of my Alpha work again and I can't let him do that.

He could train. But, that might scare him even more. And he would be around people he doesn't know.

I could also show him around the pack. We would get closer and he might feel safer here. But then there would be too many people and that might scare him.

Or, I could bring him to my office to teach him how the pack works! Then he could get a feel for it and he might meet some people, but not a lot.

Before I can fully decide on something, Xavier walks out with his clothes on and looks at me expectantly.

"Today you'll be with me in the office!"