Chapter Four Xeraphina

XERAPHINA

I’m in the middle of sharing the news with my mother and father about my first place win in calf roping, when dad’s attention drifts away as he receives a mind link. He rises from his seat and exits the room, forgetting about me. Mom shoots me a sympathetic look before rushing off to find out what’s happening. I should be used to this by now, but every time it happens, I can’t help but feel upset.

Getting to my feet from the couch in the spacious lounge area of the pack house, I make my way towards the kitchen. Now is the ideal moment to indulge in some comfort-food. It’s remarkable that I haven’t morphed into a whale yet. Thank the moon goddess for these werewolf genes that course through my system. Or I wouldn’t keep my toned figure. As I pry open the freezer, I retrieve a gallon of rocky road ice cream and embark on a quest to find a spoon.

As I’m making my way back to the lounge area, grateful it’s late and everyone else in the massive mansion is asleep. The door bursts open and in walks Cassius with several suitcases and a massive duffle bag hanging from his shoulder.

He takes one look at what I’m holding, and the sadness stretching my features and says, “I’m sorry. It was me that linked your father.”

“Don’t be. I’m used to it by now,” I say, shrugging my shoulders as I plop myself back down in the seat. Observing his luggage, I furrow my brows in confusion. “What’s going on?”

He drops the suitcases and shrugs the duffel bag off, walks over and sits next to me. “Charity found her fated mate while we were away and kicked me out of the house. I…uh…barged in on them mating.”

He continues to voice all that happened and all I see is red. Anger consumes me to where words cannot convey its intensity. I have always hated Charity. My hatred towards her magnified after she and Cassius got married. All I want to do right now is punch something. Charity’s face comes to mind, and I can’t help but scowl and growl under my breath.

Cassius flinches from the anger rolling off of me in waves. “Oh, hell no! That wench better get the heck off of our land! She is no longer a part of this pack, if she has found her fated mate and he’s a part of another pack! That house is yours! You built it with your own two hands!” I screech, gripping the spoon in my hand so tight my knuckles turn white.

It’s no surprise to me this is happening. Cassius told me about his and Charity’s deal with seeking their fated mates yesterday after my roping lessons. It was nice to have my best friend back for a while. But Charity is going about this all wrong and Cassius doesn’t deserve this treatment she’s giving him. I’ve always harbored a deep resentment for her. Is it hate? Or jealousy I’ve always felt? I’m thinking, both. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I hope dad sends her and her mate packing. Neither one of them should be on our land anymore. They need to go to the pack affiliated with her mate.

Cassius snatches the spoon and ice cream from me, laying the items on the coffee table. Then grasps my hands in his and a tingling sensation shoots up my arms as he chuckles. “Don’t worry.”

He scrunches up his face like something stung him and releases my hands, causing them to fall into my lap. Then looks away from me and shakes his head. “They won’t last a month staying in that house. The cost-of-living expenses and upkeep on that place is beyond what Omega’s can afford. I plan on selling the house, anyway. It’s better to start fresh. I’ll stay here in the pack house until I find my fated mate. It’s what I should have done from the beginning, instead of marrying Charity.”

This is fantastic. I can’t wrap my head around what I’m hearing. But I’m excited. With Cassius here, I won’t be so lonely all the time anymore. I wish he weren’t such a ladies’ man. I would date him otherwise. It’s hard for me to trust his claim of being a virgin. There is no freaking way that’s true. Even if he hasn’t completed the entire act, he has engaged in sexual activity in other ways. Any form of foreplay with two consenting adults is a sexual behavior. No, I need to stick to my guns and not have anything to do with him, other than being his friend.

I reach for his hand to console him and feel that weird tingling sensation once again. “I’m sorry that this has happened to you, Cassius. Are you…um…gonna stop sleeping around now as well? Maybe get yourself together and be true for your fated mate.” He flinches and retracts his hand from mine, then stands from the couch.

He leaves me gawking at him as he walks over and retrieves his belongings. “Of course. I'm finished with all of those other women. My apologies for leaving you like this, Xeraphina. But I need to get all my things upstairs and head back over to the house to retrieve all my boxes off the lawn.”

“I’ll take my truck over and help,” I say, standing from the couch and plucking the spoon and ice cream from the coffee table. “I’m not in the mood to sit here by myself.”

He grins and shrugs his shoulders, the best he can with so many suitcases and bags in his hands. “Sounds like a good plan to me. I’ll run these up and be back in a minute.”

“Sure. I’ll be right here waiting for ya.”

***

We both left our trucks running so we could have the headlights aiding us as we retreated and made our way to a tall pile of boxes littered on his lawn. When I take a brief look towards his house, I notice a man attempting to repair the front door. I roll my eyes and chuckle. It’s hot that Cassius busted the door down. Charity’s so stupid. Thinking of her gets me all pissed off once again. And punching her lights out comes to mind.

“That little cunt!” I screech. “I should rip her limb for limb.”

“Nah,” he says, handing me a box. “She’s not worth it.”

“This is true,” I say, taking the box from him. “Are you certain she packed all of your stuff? I can load boxes into our trucks while you go do a walkthrough.”

“That’s a good idea. I checked my room, but had little a chance to check anywhere else.” He walks with me towards my truck, deposits his box and takes mine and pushes it up against his in the truck’s bed. “Are you sure it doesn’t bother you?”

“Of course I don’t mind. We’re family, aren’t we? I would do anything for you, Cassius. That’s not a major issue. It’s just a bunch of boxes.”

He glances at me with a weird look I can’t decipher and nods his head. “Yes, we are family. In more ways than one,” he says, as we make our way back towards the boxes. “Thanks, Xeraphina. The fact that you are helping me, means a lot. I’m sorry for not being there for you much over the last two years.”

“It’s water under the bridge. We can’t live life stuck in the past, can we? Go do what you’ve gotta do. It’s late and we’ve got a lot to do.”

“Alright. I’ll be back,” he says, then runs off.

Today, he’s sporting a casual combo of blue jeans and a fitted black t-shirt. I can’t help but notice how amazing his plump, muscular ass looks in them. As I load another box into my truck, I can’t help but ponder about the tingling sensation that ran up my arm earlier. Have I ever experienced this before? Isn’t that supposed to be a sign of fated mates? But how is that probable if I haven’t even connected with my wolf yet? Would I want him as my mate? I love him to death, but…

I kept contemplating the sensations as I busied myself and concluded the tingles were because of my excessive excitement at winning first place in cattle roping today. Also, being excited that Cassius is free again and not marked or mated. At this rate, I could have a chance of being his fated mate. I couldn’t keep the disgust from my face when all the females he’s been with came to mind. If he is my mate, can I trust him? He’ll have to prove himself to me before I’ll accept him. There’s no way I’m going to just fall into his arms. Arms that have held so many other women. But what right do I have to be so judgemental?

This is my life at stake, though. If we were to mark each other and he were to cheat on me; I would die from excruciating pain. A mate cheating on their predestined partner is fatal to the other. Intense agony, similar to being scorched alive. I’ve seen that happen first hand a couple of months ago, when my best friend died, because her soulmate had an affair with his old girlfriend. One minute we were shopping and the next she was screaming and writhing on the ground, scratching at her skin and clutching her heart. I have alpha blood, so I could live through something like that. But I would prefer to be without a significant other than worry about being betrayed and dying from it. It’s rare that a mate cheats, but with Cassius’s past. I just don’t think I can risk it.

“That was fast.”

I jump in fright and drop the box in my hands at Cassius’s words from behind me. Whirling around to face him, I glare as I spin and pick the box back up. “What are you talking about? Some warning would be nice before sneaking up on someone like that, Cassius.”

He chuckles as he takes the box from me and takes it to his truck. “You’ve already finished loading all the boxes.”

“What are you even talking about?”

He walks up to me and turns me to where all the boxes once were and I see that the lawn is now bare. “Oh…Uh…I’ve had a lot on my mind, I guess. And haven’t been paying attention to what I’ve been doing.” It’s the truth, though. I’ve been mindlessly carting all these boxes around, worrying about fated mate bonds.

“Anything you would want to talk to me about?” he asks, opening my truck door for me.

“Uh…not really. I’ll be fine,” I say, hopping into my truck and rolling the window down. I grin as he slams the door once I’ve gotten comfortable in my seat.

“In that case. Be careful and I’ll see you back at the pack house soon. I’ve got to retrieve a few more boxes from the house, and then I’ll be on my way.”

“I’ll start unloading boxes once I’ve arrived. See you soon,” I say, then drive away. Taking a quick look in the rearview mirror, I notice him gazing as I drive away.

Would it be so awful? If we’re meant to be together, is it such a bad outcome? Can I trust him? Am I able to see past his womanizer reputation and accept him for who he is? If he should ever dare to betray me, I promise I’ll come back from the grave and make him pay. But what if he isn’t even my destined soulmate? Will I ever be able to move on from this silly crush that has consumed me for seven long years? That’s where those tingles come from - my foolish infatuation that has lasted for far too long. Now I’m overthinking everything. As an alpha female, I know I’ll end up with an alpha male. I need to snap out of this dreamy state and focus on reality.