Chapter Thirty-Eight

Jasmine’s POV

I woke up alone in bed the next morning.

The space where my mate once occupied was now empty.

I knew for certain that something was wrong.

My mate was keeping something from me.

I looked around at the room I was in.

I had never been in his room before and I took a deep breath to inhale the masculine scent that was all him.

The room was masculine and practical with only the essentials needed.

It would have been completely masculine if it wasn’t for the few of my things that now occupied a space in the room.

I stood up from the bed to further inspect the room.

Noticing the designs and furnitures in the large space.

It was three times the size of my own room.

Or former room rather.

I went to what looked to be the wash room, realizing that I was right when I pushed the door to the space open.

Seeing some of my things already there, I decided to wash up and make my way to the Lena’s room as I did each day.

I knocked once on her door before pushing it open to see her sitting on her bed sewing.

She immediately hid whatever she was sewing from my view and stuffed it under her bed as soon as she caught sight of me.

“Dearest”, she called in surprise as she properly hid her task.

I did not bother asking what she was hiding as I walked in to sit beside her on the bed.

“I’m surprised you are awake at this time”, she said as her eyes inspected me from head to toe. “Should you not still be in bed doing whatever mates do?” She asked innocently and I flushed in embarrassment.

“Oh please Lena”, I said, feeling my eyes start to water. “Don’t remind me”, I said pitifully, even to my own ears.

The teasing glint in her eyes instantly disappeared as I looked up at her and she caught sight of the unshed tears in my eyes.

“Oh dear!” She exclaimed, moving closer immediately to wrap her arms around me in comfort. “What happened?” She asked and that question was the last straw.

That was the same question I asked myself a thousand times over.

What exactly had happened?

What had I done wrong?

I wrapped my arms around her as well as I started to sob, feeling the tears I had been trying my best to hold back all night finally break free.

“What has that stubborn wolf done now?” She asked as she rubbed soothing circles over my back. “Was he rough with you? Did he hurt you?” She asked.

I shook my head, unable to summon words.

“It will all be well dearest”, she tried to console me. “Please stop crying”, she said. “Wipe your tears and tell me what has happened”, she said.

It took me more tears and more comforting from her before I could finally gain control of myself long enough to tell her the reason for my tears.

“He didn’t mate with me last night”, I finally said in a whisper.

“What?” She said in surprise. “Why?” She asked.

I lifted my shoulder and dropped it in defeat.

“I do not know”, I told her . “I was sure we would”, I said, truthfully. “We started to I think”, I said, sounding unsure. “But then he stopped all of a sudden”.

The tears came back.

“I don’t know what I did wrong”, I told her helplessly.

She pulled me back into her arms in a tight hug as I started to cry again.

“Do not hurt yourself like this”, she said. “Why don’t you ask him?” She advised.

I shook my head.

“When I did last night, he said there was nothing wrong”, I said.

I felt her shake her head as she still held me.

“Then leave it to me”, she said confidently. “I will find out what is wrong”, she assured. “And if I cannot, we will ask Nana for help”.

I nodded at her suggestion and pulled away to wipe the tears on my face with the back of my hand.

She cupped my cheeks and helped wipe the tears away.

“Until then”, she said. “Do not speak a word to him until we have found out the reason for his strange behavior”, she advised.

“That would teach him to not treat you badly”, she said.

“You want me to avoid him?” I asked to be sure.

She nodded.

“And ignore him”, she said, her eyes lighting up in mischief. “When he speaks to, do not respond”, she said with an evil smile.

“But he is Alpha”, I reminded her, knowing what she was suggesting could be perceived as a sign of disrespect to him.

“And you are his mate”, she reminded me as well. “He will never punish you”, she said. “And he needs to understand that he will not get away with treating you however he wishes”, she advised.

She took one of my hands in hers.

“If you are scared, I will do it with you”, she suggested before breaking out into a wide smile. “We will act like he does not exist”, she said.

Her excitement was contagious and I soon found myself smiling in return.

“All will be well”, she promised.

I nodded my head at her words. Not for the first time, I counted myself lucky to have Lena on my side.

I knew for certain that I would be completely lost without her.

“Now, after all those tears you’ve shed over my stubborn Alpha”, she said. “It is time I put some food in you. You will need your strength in order to handle your mate”, she said.

I smiled at her words and nodded my head on agreement, allowing her to bring us both to our feet and lead the way out of her room and to the kitchen.

“It will be just the two of us”, she said. “Everyone else had to leave earlier”, she informed me.

I frowned in concern. “Is everything alright?” I asked.

She nodded her head. “Warrior matters”, she said. “Nana simply went to the healing house early to fetch fresh herbs from her garden”, she told me.

I sighed in relief and nodded.

“Sit down”, she urged, gently pushing me towards an empty chair. “I will make you something to eat”, she said and turned to begin preparations.

As she cooked, she sang and danced around, making me laugh.

I soon forgot the reason for my earlier tears and soon joined her.

Our meal was ready before long and we sat and ate together.

We talked as we ate and Lena filled me in on all that had happened during the ceremony after we had left.

I laughed at her stories and her amusing demonstrations of the night’s events.

“Oh Lena”, I gasped, holding my aching stomach and breathless from my fit of laughter.

“Come”, she said, recovering from her own fit of laughter. “Let us hurry and join Nana at the healing house”, she said. “I am sure many of the pack members will be eager to see their Luna and congratulate you”, she said and stood to begin clearing the table where we had eaten.

I helped her clear the table and clean the kitchen before we made our way out of the house.

It reminded me of something I had noticed earlier when I had walked in her room.

“Lena”, I called as we walked arm in arm towards the healing house. “Why did it look as if your bed was still made when I came into your room earlier?” I asked.

“Oh that”, she said glancing briefly at me before turning away.

“I did not sleep in my room last night”, she said casually.

My eyes widened in surprise, my mind immediately jumping to conclusions.

At my silence, she turned to look at me and must have understood the look on my face because she suddenly bursted out laughing.

“Stop looking at me like that”, she said. “It is not as you think”, she laughed a little more before recovering from her laughter and turning back to me with a smile. “It is customary for the Alpha and his mate to have the whole house to themselves on the night of their mating ceremony”, she told me. “We only came back to the house early this morning”.

“I see”, I murmured, nodding my head in understanding.

“But really dearest”, she went on, gently nudging my shoulder with hers. “What you must think of me”, she scoffed. “I will have you know that I intend to be intimate with no one other than my mate”, she told me.

I grabbed hold of her with an apologetic smile.

“Forgive me, my dear Lena”, I apologized. “I did not mean to think badly about you”, I pleaded. “Do not be angry with me”.

She feigned anger for a moment longer before it dissolved into a smile.

“You know I cannot be angry at you for long”, she said pulling me closer by our linked arms. “Of course I forgive you”, she said as we made our way past the pack house and towards the healing house.

When we arrived there, we were told that Nana had gone to make a call on an injured wolf in one of the pack houses.

Seeing that we were not really needed until lunch time, we made our way towards the training grounds to watch as the warriors trained the new recruits.

As we walked past, several werewolves called out their congratulations to me, bowing and calling me Luna.

Some even came up to congress me in person and I was touched at the amount of acceptance I was receiving.

I shyly responded to their readings and even received the gifts some of them presented to me. I thanked each of them as Lena received the gifts on my behalf when there was no longer room in my arms to hold them.

Afterwards, she called on some young werewolves who had come to pay their respect and handed the gifts over to them, instructing them to take the gifts up to the house.

As we arrived at the training grounds, I immediately caught the scent of my mate and wondered how I could smell him from the distance between us.

Pushing aside the thought to ponder on later, I moved to seat beside Lena on a fallen tree trunk and watched the shirtless warriors as they trained, purposely refusing to spare so much as a glance towards where my mate trained with his Beta.

Lena suddenly leaned in.

“You remember what we talked about?” She asked and I nodded, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

“Pay no attention to him”, she whispered. “And pretend we are discussing something an amusing topic”, she added before leaning away.

I feigned a laugh at that and she joined, our laughter soon turning into a genuine one as we locked eyes.

She pointed out at the training warriors and pretended to say something amusing that would make us laugh.

Soon, she began to mumble words without making a sound and I found that truly amusing.

I started to laugh and she joined in, well aware of the cause of my laughter.

We laughed so hard and fell into each other in the fit of our laughter, holding onto each other as we struggled to catch our breath.

As soon as we did, Lena took one look over our shoulder and began to pull me to stand.

“We should go”, she said, glancing over my shoulder and shooting me a meaningful look.

I knew what she meant.

He had noticed and had started to approach us.

I grabbed a hold of her hand and we both hurried away trying not to laugh as we did so.

I threw a last look over my shoulder and locked eyes with him.

He did not look happy.

Good.