Chapter 6

Jasper Hartford

“Where is Lizzy?” I asked as I walked into the dining room for dinner the following evening. I hadn’t seen Lizzy since her accident and I had done nothing but worry about her for the last 24 hours. My mom had kept her out of school to make sure that she was fully recovered but part of me wondered if that was just a ploy to keep her away from me.

I felt like I was dying without her. She was all I could think about and it felt as though there was a knife in my heart not knowing where she was or how she was feeling. The whole time I was at college she never left my mind once. Now I was sitting at the dining table with the rest of my family but Lizzy was nowhere in sight. That only made me worry more, she never missed a family meal and she was never late to anything.

“She will be here in a moment” My mom replied.

“Good.” I breathed a sigh of relief. I started to fill my plate with the food on the table in front of me only to be distracted a few minutes later when Lizzy walked into the room. She was wearing a dark blue knee-length dress and she looked completely stunning. She froze in the doorway when she saw me, her eyes went wide and her heart rate spiked. It felt like being stabbed in my heart to see her reacting like that to my presence.

I was across the room standing in front of her before I had a chance to think about what I was doing. Lizzy flinched but she didn’t move away from me when I took her hands in mine and looked directly into her eyes.

“I’m so sorry about what happened yesterday, I never wanted you to get hurt.” Lizzy flinched again as I spoke, it looked as though she was fighting the urge to run away. In the end, her bravery won out and she even managed to look into my eyes when she replied to me.

“It is OK, I forgive you.”

I wanted to wrap my arms around her and kiss her but I didn’t think that would go down very well. After my dad’s talk yesterday, I realised I needed to handle things differently. That meant I would have to take things very slowly in our relationship if I was going to prove that I wasn’t the bully she thought I was.

I kept holding onto one of her hands and led her over to the table. I sat her down next to me rather than her usual place next to my mom. She seemed nervous but I was sure she would relax once she realised that I wasn’t going to hurt her. I wanted her to start feeling more comfortable around me, I thought this would be a way to get her used to being close to me.

“Are you nervous about your first shift later?” My dad asked. I would turn nineteen at midnight and shortly after that my wolf would wake up and I would experience my first shift into wolf form. It was meant to be painful the first time you shifted but that didn’t worry me, I was too excited about meeting my wolf and my mate.

“I am looking forward to going for a run,” I told him.

“Are you sure you don’t want me or your mom to come with you?”

“No, I am fine.” The Alpha in me hated the idea of anyone seeing me in such a weakened state.

“I bet you are excited to meet your mate, you should make sure that your room is ready for her to move into.” My mom sounded excited. Lizzy tried to hide her giggle behind her hand, if she knew how much attention I paid to her every moment then she would have known better than to try.

“What?” Why was she laughing at me?

“Nothing.” She mumbled without looking at me.

“Please tell me.” I needed to know what she was thinking.

“Ermm. I was just thinking that you should probably make sure you remove all traces of the other women you brought there.” Those words stung more than I wanted to admit. I didn’t think she knew about my history and now I was worried about what she thought of me. I was looking at her but she wouldn’t meet my gaze and it was making my panic levels rise.

Would she reject me because I had slept with so many women? She wouldn’t do that, would she? She must know that they didn’t mean anything to me, that she was the only one I ever had feelings for.

“Are you excited about finding your mate Liz?” My mom asked, changing the subject.

Lizzy shook her head. She looked down at her plate and started prodding her food with her fork.

“Why not? Don’t you want to find the love of your life?”

“It’s not that.” She started shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

“Is there nobody in the pack you would like as your mate?” My mom didn’t seem to want to drop the subject despite Lizzy’s obvious discomfort. Liz looked at everyone around the table as though she was looking for a way out of this conversation. I felt a surge of jealousy, was there someone else she liked and secretly hoped would be her mate?

This would be the point where I would have done or said something stupid in the past. Even now that I knew what could be at stake I could feel the urge to lash out strongly within me. I clenched my fists and bit down on my tongue, forcing myself to stay quiet.

“It’s not like that,” Lizzy said, shaking her head.

“Then what is the problem?”

“There isn’t anyone in this pack who would be happy to find out I was their mate and I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.” She was trying to sound strong but I could see the pain behind those words so strongly that I could practically feel it in my chest. She was worried about being rejected and unloved so she didn’t want to meet her mate. Maybe that would mean she wouldn’t reject me as long as I could prove to her how much I cared about her.

“You know that’s not true, you could never be a burden,” I told her. She glanced in my direction, looking at me through her eyelashes. Even that simple look was enough to make my heart skip a beat, it made me wonder what it would feel like to kiss her and hold her in my arms.

“Thank You.” She mumbled but I could tell that it lacked sincerity. She didn’t believe me, I think she might have even thought I was mocking her.

This was going to be harder than I thought. I had never had to try to gain a woman’s affection before, they normally just threw themselves at me in the hope of becoming my Luna. Lizzy wasn’t like any of them and I had no idea how to show her how I felt about her.

I spent the rest of the meal silently eating while keeping one eye on Lizzy. Once the attention was no longer on her she seemed more comfortable, she ate her food and even joined in with some of my family’s conversation.

After dessert, I dismissed myself from the table. I went upstairs to clear one of my closets and some drawers ready for my Luna. Once I was done it was already getting late so I headed into the forest. I walked around for about an hour before finding a quiet spot and stripping off ready for my first shift. The first traces of pain started just after midnight and I was fully shifted only a few minutes later.

I looked down at myself. It was strange, my wolf was a lot smaller than I thought he would be. Alpha wolves are usually much larger than any other rank. I could tell from my line of sight that I wasn’t the right height for an Alpha or even a Beta.

‘That is because I am not an Alpha or a Beta.’ My wolf told me. What the hell did that mean?

‘I am an Omega wolf and my name is Garnet.’

That can’t be true. My wolf can’t be an Omega, that is impossible. I am the son of an Alpha and his fated mate, my wolf had to be an Alpha. This had to be some kind of mistake.

I had only ever heard of two cases where the son of an Alpha didn’t have an Alpha wolf. Both of those were born to Alpha’s who rejected their fated mates and marked someone else. Even then they were only slightly weaker, still strong enough to carry the Beta rank. My parents were fated to be together, so how could I be an Omega?

‘Don’t ask me, I’m just a wolf.’ Garnet replied while laughing at me. Why was he laughing, this was serious.

‘Chill out, there is no need to be so serious all the time. Let’s go for a run.’ Garnet suggested.

That was the first rational thing he had ever said. I let Garnet have complete control over our body and he took off running instantly. He ran through the forest for at least an hour while I thought about how to deal with our problem. I didn’t come to any conclusions but there was one thing I knew for sure, I needed information. I had to find out if anything like this had ever happened before and if there was any way to fix it.

It was also clear that whatever the reason behind this was, I couldn’t let anyone else know that my wolf was an Omega. If anyone found out then it would put me and my family in a difficult position. They would have to choose to either disown me as their son or risk others seeing our pack as weak and attacking us. I had no other option, I had to keep this secret from everybody.

The house was dark and silent when I got back home but I became aware of my mate’s scent the moment I walked into the house. I followed the scent all the way to Lizzy’s room and opened the door ever so quietly. Lizzy was in bed, fast asleep. She looked so beautiful lying there, her hair all messed up from sleep. I wanted to lie in bed next to her and stroke her hair.

‘Do it.’

It was so tempting but I knew if she found me in bed with her then she would freak out, and understandably so. I had to be careful with her. I needed her and if I was going to keep her in my life I had to go about this the right way.

I watched her for a few moments longer before I was able to gather enough strength to drag myself away. I would see her again in a few hours and I would spend the whole day proving myself worthy of being her mate.