4. Buttons

‘You know when the world is against you and you don-’

The voice of my wolf is cut off immediately and I look down at Summer’s inquisitive eyes as she does her thing.

“Is it gone now?” I nod slowly with a little expectation of my wolf saying something odd but I am faced with silence.

“I believe so. I have a feeling that she will be back soon though.”

“Yes, I have also have that feeling too.” She says and her eyes moves to the door beside us. “What do you think they are talking about in there?”

I turn back to stare at the door restricting me from seeing the stranger or the royals which are my uncle and aunt.

“Probably my wedding. I don’t want to think about that and you shouldn’t too. You should be in bed right now, you have training tomorrow.”

Her eyes immediately sparks up at my statement. She lightens up in excitement as her mouth forms out words.

“Really? I am going to train with you?”

“No, your dad is going to train you.”

He face falls in an instant, her lower lip pulled into a pout. “But he is going to go easy on me. I won’t even learn a thing.”

“Then cast a spell on him to go harder on you, Summer. You know that you can do that.” I cast my eyes on the door, trying to listen in but all I hear are hushed whispers.

“Mother put a spell in there. You can’t hear a word they say.” Summer points out and I scoff.

“That was expected.” I turn back to her. “Now, go to bed, kiddo. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“How sure are you that you will be here tomorrow.” When I look down at her glazed eyes, I also think it through. Tonight might be my last night here.

My last night staring down at my little cousin.

‘Do not draft a plan on how you will run away from this because I will drag you down and take control over your body.’

I ignore the annoying voice in my head, she didn’t waste a lot of time to break through the barrier.

‘Why would I? since we found our mate I have been set free and that nitwit isn’t allowed to put spells on me again. She is wasting her energy because it won’t work.’

I don’t know what compels me to respond and when I do, my eyes narrows in the next second. ‘That nitwit is my cousin.’

‘Oh really. I don’t know her that much because I have been stuck at the back of your mind for the past two years!!’

I wince, holding my head as I hear her yells. I hurry to my room, ignoring Summer’s eyes.

“I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow, Summer.” I say before I leave.

When I get into my room, I close the door behind me and fall on my bed, the need to sleep carrying me to wonder land immediately. It is crazy how a little small world can be turned upside down when a mate is found.

I do not expect him in my room. I don’t even know how he found out this is my room but when I wake up, I see him beside my bed, seated and watching me with his dark eyes. I can’t find it in myself to stand up from the bed and for once in my life, I am anxious of how I look.

“What are you doing in here?” I ask, my voice sounding hoarse from sleep.

The way he seems relaxed annoys me. He is in my room, in another realm and he is relaxed? I doubt that he even knows where he is… okay, I don’t doubt that.

But a human wouldn’t be so comfortable here. I am not fully sure that he is human, the way he carries himself in confidence is almost blinding. No human would be so confident in a place full of wild werewolves but then again, the king of those wild werewolves knows him now and has welcome him into his home. He has protection.

“What are you?” I ask. “How did you get in here and how the hell did you find out that this was my room?”

“So many questions to answer.” A smile appears on his face, playing on his soft lips.

‘I bet they are softer than you can tell. I can’t wait to taste them. Yummy!’

Again, I blame myself for my wolf’s thoughts.

“You request so much for me that I don’t know where to start.”

His charming smile or handsomeness is not enough to convince me. It does convince my wolf though.

“You don’t have to answer. I can just rip out your voice box to make it official.”

A wounded look appears on his face and he places his hand on his chest, with a gasp in mockery to my words. “No, you can’t do that. How am I supposed to shout out your name when we are doing the deed?”

I am on my feet, searching for my toothbrush when he says this. I pause and turn to him in mild astonishment. “I knew that you aren’t as innocent as you look.”

“Oh, so I do look innocent. Is this a joke I hear or it’s the real deal.”

He is just teasing. He is just teasing. Don’t punch his face.

I repeat to myself a few times before I breathe out in a scoff.

“What are you doing here, Nathan?”

“You finally decided that it is time to call my name. Is it Wednesday alright?” His eyes glimmers as he looks at me.

“What do you want?”

“Again with the multiple questions.” He groans out. “I will only endure it because I love the sound of your voice. So talk all you want, Isabella.”

“Are you a human?” I throw another question at him, with zero hope of him answering it but I am surprised when he does.

“Yes, in a way. I am.” His cryptic and confusing answer reminds me of Summer and Trixie but it doesn’t stop me from being pissed off.

“What game are you playing, Nathan?” I drop my toothbrush and turn to him quickly enough to watch him shrug.

“This is not a game, at least that’s what I hope for.” His eyes scans my face, before he continues. “Putting it in simple terms, I just want to know you better enough that we could be taken as best friends.”

I get the hidden message in his words.

Best friends, more than friends… lovers. Mates.

I have a habit of narrowing my eyes a lot. Probably due to the fact that many people say stupid things in front of me.

“That’s not going to happen. You don’t want to tell me anything about you, so why should I tell you anything about me?”

He pushes his lower lip into his mouth and bites on it while thinking about what I said. It’s obvious that my eyes follow the movement without shame.

‘That’s really hot. Why won’t you just jump his bones already, it’s not like you will regret it.’ My wolf speaks.

“I have been asking you questions since we met, Nathan, and frankly, I am not happy with what I have discovered… which is nothing.” I say, holding my toothbrush back in my hands. “If you want to discuss about this, I can rethink strangling you but for now, I would like you to leave my room.”

I say this but my wolf have a different mission as she screams out to him in my head. There is no way he can hear her though, only I can.

‘No, no! Tell him to stay, tell him to pull off his clothes. Tell him, Isabella!’

I find a way to mute her than blocking her out. She can only shout out words but I don’t hear a thing she says. She is probably throwing insults at me.

“Strangle me?” He stands to his feet and his face shows how amused he is. “Why am I looking forward to that.”

I walk him to the door and I am surprised that he lets me. When he is outside, I say. “So many questions to answer that I don’t know where to start from.”

Then I close the door in his face.

‘That was rude.’ My wolf speaks.

“Why am I not surprised that you found a way to release yourself.”

‘Oh, Isabella. You lack a brain that’s why.’

I roll my eyes at her insult and she keeps on talking.

‘I am feeling sleepy.’ She yawns. ‘How about you let me take over your body and I sleep with our mate. It’s a win, win.’

“Not going to happen, wolf.” My tone makes her quiet down a bit.

‘You’re so indecisive sometimes. I can help you make decisions that you will never regret. That is if you let me…’

“Oh,” I walk into the bathroom with my toothbrush firmly in my hand. “I am sure that I will likely regret that but it’s not going to happen because I am not letting you take over my body.”

I stare at the mirror in front of me, watching my reflection till I am done brushing. I feel her slip back into my mind but not without leaving a remark.

‘We’ll see about that!’

Most of the time, my days go fine without the presence of wolf in my head but now that she’s back I won’t be able to concentrate with her snide remarks.

I am surprised when it continues to be quiet in my head, nevertheless, I use my time wisely and I am able to meet up with training. What I don’t imagine is to see him standing in place of where I am supposed to be, his face empty of any emotions and the wolves…

Well, they are looking scared. They have their faces down with a weird air attached to them. It makes me go back to the definition of scared in my head.

They are wolves, they can cut Nathan in half without stress but here they are looking scared over a harmless human. A harmless human who happens to be my mate. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t degrade him for his nature, I just never expected to have a mate and to be fair, I am a bit anxious about how he is going to feel when I tell him that I slept around with a few males.

I want him to hear it from me, not anyone else… not like anyone aside from my family knows and besides, he looks like the kind of male that would sleep around too, right?

My wolf growls at the thought of someone touching him, touching what’s mine. I am shocked at my last thought and my eyes widen.

I spend so much time in my head that I don’t notice when I walk to him. He looks down at me when I am before him and then I realize that he is a bit taller than me, more than a bit.

“What are you doing here?”

“Helping you with your training, what else do you think I’d be here for?” His eyes crinkles as he smiles at me and my wolf growls again.

‘I don’t know, how about trying to woo some females! Trying to get into their pants!’

I mute my wolf again, wondering why his smile knocks me off my feet… not literally.

“You don’t need to help. I got this covered and besides, you’re not supposed to be here.” My voice comes out breathless and I find myself crossing my fingers with hope that he doesn’t notice it.

“The king insisted that I help you out and that’s what I intend to you.”

“So you’re following his orders?” I don’t know why the question flows out of my lips.

“Yeah.” His brow furrows in confusion. “He is a king after all and I am in his territory. I have to obey every order he gives with the exception of the bad ones, of course.”

‘Is it me or does our mate just get a mood change, or is it personality change? Wasn’t he sugges-’

A spark of pride erupts from my chest at his words and I unconsciously block out my wolf. The pride comes because of what he said.

‘Of course it’s because of that. You actually didn’t notice his change of character, mood, everything but you are right about him obeying commands, it’s sexy. Makes me wonder how he will obey us in be-’

I understand what she wants to say before she is done. ‘That’s not what I said. Can you just zip your snot for a couple of minutes.’ I say to her, not really surprised that she found a way to slip out in a few seconds.

“Unlike you, I don’t follow orders.” I say to Nathan.

‘Yeah, she’s a bad girl. Ask him if he likes bad girls, Izzy.”

My body moves closer to him immediately. It’s either that I am been influenced by my wolf or that it’s just me who suddenly wants him up close. His eyes flicks behind me for a second before they are back on me.

“I think we are keeping your trainees waiting longer than they expected.”

I feel like my mind snaps into place and I blink. “Oh yeah, training, erm, yeah, yeah.”

I can’t find the right words to say as I look away from his eyes.

“I’ll be on the sidelines watching you then. Good luck.”

Watching me? He will be watching me!

My brain goes into a mild panic and he walks away from me. I don’t show it though, not in front of the wolves, not in front of him.

When I face the wolves, my eyes scan the crowd, looking for a certain human and I am satisfied when I don’t see him.

The human decides to skip training today, how quaint.

I begin to do some push ups and stretching exercises with the wolves. I keep half of my senses on my human mate whose eyes never leave me. Sometimes my steps threatens to falter as I instruct the wolves, even when we begin sparring but I gather myself back. Neither my wolf or I want to make a mistake in front of our mate.

We continue to spar with a female, we push harder with the sole aim of impressing our mate.

In the midst of our training, the human that disrespected me yesterday finally appears and my wolf already expresses her dislike towards the male.

He follows after everyone without any remarks and it does surprise me but as Summer always says. Expect the unexpected. Alright it was a one time motto.

When we are done with training, the wolves are tired and so am I. I dismiss them and they seem overjoyed as they all walk away.

“I have never seen a woman fight as you have.” Nathan is by my side with a small towel in his hand and I take it from him and wipe my face. “You’re more skilled than I imagined.”

“How did you imagine me to be then?” I am eager to know what he thinks about me. I barely had the time to think about having a mate or how he would be like and now, I don’t want to venture into the part that will be hard, leaving home and packing into his…

That will wait, I am still skeptical of this mate thing. Unlike my wolf, I haven’t actually been waiting for this day to come.

“I actually… well, I don’t know.” He answers.

‘Or you don’t want to tell us.’ My wolf comments and I agree with her. The way his eyes doesn’t face me proves me right… I think.

“The castle has various chambers, you can choose a room for yourself.” The change of topic clears out the awkward air and he appreciates it. His body response tell me that.

“I prefer staying in your room. It’s much better with you in it.”

I shake my head at this and I begin to walk away, knowing that he will follow after me and he does. His footsteps echoes behind me.

“You’re not staying with me and if you dare enter my room with my consent, I will make sure you get nightmares by just looking about me next time.” I warn, throwing the towel in his direction, not minding if he catches it or not.

He walks ahead of me and I turn to him in a brief glance. He furrows his brows like he is confused or thinking. I don’t know which one.

“Are you hiding something in your bedroom? Something… kinky?”

‘Oh my!’ My wolf giggles.

The sound is new in my head. I don’t think I have ever heard her giggle, not in a long time. If she hears me, she doesn’t respond to that, she continues saying what she wants to.

‘Maybe he wants to practice with you. I hope that I get my turn.’

I don’t focus much on her words, my eyes are trained on Nathan’s mischievous smile. It’s weird how his character takes a U turn in a matter of minutes and my wolf concurs to this.

‘That’s what I was telling you and it’s not weird. It’s hot, sexy and all the words related to those two.’

“You’re not getting in my room and that’s final. I’ll have my aunt prepare a room for you and when I am ready to talk, I’ll call you.”

When I say this, we are already in front of the castle and I walk in immediately, leaving him glued to the spot.

‘Yeah, leave the poor guy to help himself out. You didn’t even give him a tour, Isabella. I am sure that he doesn’t know any where to go, and he might meet an unmated female to show him this.’

My feet stops and I begin to make sense of what she is trying to say. I don’t have anything to do anyways.

I turn back to call on him but all I see are the closed door. He is gone.

“Nathan?” I call his name and my wolf casts and ‘unbelievable’ look in my direction.

‘You’ve spent so much time without me that you can’t even see prop-’

“You called me?” His voice comes so close and I feel his breath at the back of my neck. I throw a smug look at my wolf, mentally.

‘You were saying?’ I respond to my wolf, mentally.

‘Shut up and tell him to follow you round the castle.’

“Follow me round the castle.” I speak out like I am been controlled and he frowns in confusion, making me shake my head as I glare at the ground.

My wolf laughs loudly in my head. ‘Oh, Izzy. It took a long time for me to get the strength to do that and it was worth it.” She lets out a louder laugh that I feel like my eardrums are about to burst.

I ignore her, giving all my attention to Nathan.

“Sorry about that, I don’t know where that came from.” I let out a nervous laugh and mentally kick my wolf’s butt, making her wine.

‘Ow! What was that for.’

“Why don’t I show you around. We can also use this means to talk about ourselves, get to know each other more.”

‘You sound like a dork.’ My wolf snorts. “But luckily, you have me. You’re super lucky because of that.’

No, I am super unlucky because of that.

“That would be actually nice.” His voice booms beside me and I almost jump. I forgot that he is close to me. My wolf have been causing so much distractions that I am unable to meet up to the real world.

“Good or I might have to strangle you.”

He throws his head back and lets out a loud laugh, sending shivers down my spine. I find myself looking around to see if we’ve caught anyone’s attention but no one is here.

“What is wrong with you and strangling me.” His question throws me off-guard and he notices it. He gives me his full attention.

“I don’t really know. I just say it sometimes. Maybe the worst way to die is through chocking and I’d like people that I kill to die that way because I will only kill them if they deserve it.” I peer up at him, expecting to see him looking down at me with shock, distaste, but it is the opposite. I see curiosity and wonder in his eyes.

“So I deserve to be strangled then?”

I shrug. “That is if you push my buttons and keep me in the dark with who you are. I obviously don’t know a thing about you.”

He cocks an eyebrow with a sly look “And what buttons do you have exactly, I’d like to see them…

The suggestive tone he uses makes my cheeks turn red and I blush under his scurry gaze. “What buttons?”

“That’s exactly what I asked you. You are repeating my words.”

“Because I do not understand your question.” I remark and he smiles coyly.

“Or you just choose not to answer them. I understand, I won’t push it.” He withdraws back with the smile still on his face and I blush even more deeper. He certainly knows what he is doing.

“Do you want a tour or not.”

“I never said no, my princess.” His endeavor makes me blush deeper than I ever have, much more deeper.