Chapter 7

My eyes open up slowly, and they immediately meet with a pair of green ones, very much unlike his siblings’ eyes. I was expecting brown, but I guess he got his mother’s eyes. My breath has stopped, that’s safe to say, and I don’t really know what to do except stare into his eyes. They’re so beautiful, like two bright, shiny emeralds. One corner of his mouth quirks up into a half-smile as he looks back at me.

After what feels like an eternity, I finally move my eyes to look at him, and not just his eyes. His skin is pale, just a little darker than mine, and he has a beard. My so-called soulmate has a beard, and I’m not repelled by it. It’s more like the opposite is happening, judging by the tickling feeling everywhere, even between my legs. I really want to wrap my arms around his neck and be even closer to him, but I can’t do that to myself. I need to leave soon.

His short beard is dark brown, just like his hair that moves a little in the breeze that’s surrounding us. We’re so close, it’s hard not to notice that he’s actually shirtless.

“Are you trying to impress me or something?” I ask, and I just hope that my voice sounds much more confident than it did in my own ears.

His eyes travels down my body with a raised eyebrow before he looks into my own black orbs again.

“What do you mean?” he asks, and I take one of my hands out of my crossed position, and put my index finger on one of his protruding pecks to let him know what I meant. I regret it instantly, though, with the sparks that shoot through me. “Oh, no. I just like training without a shirt on. Is that gonna be an issue?”

I shake my head, and despite how badly I want to say “yes, it’ll be a huge problem”, I don’t. I could use some eye candy if I get all sweaty and panting with this training-stuff.

“Does this ever stop?” I ask him, gesturing down to my finger that’s still lingering on his chest.

“I don’t know. You’re my mate, and we haven’t met before, so how could I possibly know that?”

“You know more than me already,” I mutter, and let my hand fall down.

He catches it in his, and brings it up to his lips. A soft peck is placed on my very visible knuckles, and he looks down at my hand, using his thumb to stroke over the bones. I try to pull my hand away, but I can’t. He’s holding onto it.

“What have you been through, mate?” he asks, and still his eyes are on my boney hand.

“Nothing,” I answer him, and it’s not technically a lie.

I haven’t really done anything noteworthy in my life, and I haven’t been through anything rough, either, I just ran away. So everything I’ve experienced since that, both good and bad, is my own doing. Which makes it even harder to tell this stranger who seem to care for me about it.

“And stop calling me your mate,” I tell him, suddenly having the courage to move his hand away from my face. “I won’t be staying.”

His eyes narrows a little, but he doesn’t move. The hand I moved away is suddenly around my waist with his other arm, and I feel even more trapped.

“We’ll see about that, mate,” he says, and leans down to kiss my forehead.

When his lips meet with my wrinkled-in-confusion forehead, the same, now familiar, feeling of sparks and mild euphoria is bubbling under the surface of my skin. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, just to steady myself and get some more courage back. I don’t know how I’ll be able to spend a whole day with this man, not when he’s acting like this all the time.

“Are you ready for some training, then?” he asks, not even waiting for me to protest on his earlier statement.

“What kind of training is this, exactly?” I ask back, as I remember I still don’t know anything about this.

He arches an eyebrow at me.

“Your wolf-training,” he answers, matter-of-factly.

“Which entails?” I arch an eyebrow back at him, and cross my arms again. Both because I want to regain some confidence and fire, and because I want some distance between us.

“What do you mean?” he asks, narrowing his eyes once again, before they look down towards my arms. I think. Or hope. He might be looking at something else, unfortunately. “When did you first shift?”

His eyes meet with mine again, and I’m not sure why that’s relevant. I shrug.

“When I turned fifteen,” I tell him. “And I mean that I don’t know what this training is going to be. Soraya just told me to meet you out here. If it’s self-defense I would like to get started so I know some tricks before I leave again.”

His eyes are basically slits now, from him narrowing them so much, but I try to make it look like I’m not affected. I am, though. My heart aches and I find myself wanting to please him, in stead of making him frustrated.

“You aren’t leaving me, mate,” he says flatly, before letting me go and taking a few steps back. “How old are you now?”

“I am leaving,” I tell him sharply, much sharper than I intended, but I’m not regretting it. “I’m twenty.”

“And you’re still in training?” he asks with disbelief, ignoring all my other words. “Why?”

“I don’t know what you mean when you say I’m ‘in training’!” I exclaim, letting my arms raise up into the air, and I don’t really think I can do this with him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I’ll just go pack my stuff.”

I turn around on my heel, and start walking back towards the entrance of the house. I don’t get far, though, before his big hand grabs my arm, and he pulls me back, so I’m so close to him. My nose is basically touching his chest, and I’m pretty sure I let out a shriek of surprise or something when he pulled me back like that. I don’t look at him. He leans down so that his nose is touching my hair, and he inhales deeply, like he wants to smell me. I don’t blame him, if I smell even half as good as he does.

“Don’t go,” he begs. “I finally found you.”

“What?” I whisper.

There’s so much I don’t know, and so much I don’t feel like I should know, for some reason. This whole “mate”-thing is the worst. He acts like he knows me, like he is allowed to touch me and hold me like this. Like I’m his, but I’m not. His arms are around me, holding me tightly against his chest, while his face is buried in my hair on the top of my head. It feels so strange, yet so… calming.