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Chapter 2
It felt like I’d checked the clock on my bedroom wall at least a hundred times already yet I still found myself looking across my room to find the little round shape which was illuminated by the moonlight.
2:00 a.m.
I felt like a worried mother hen or worse yet; a love struck obsessed fool. It wasn’t like he’d never been out this late before. Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if he came in when the sun came out. What bothered me was the reason he was so late; the cheerleader.
He was probably at her place now having the time of his life with the chick, whose name he’d likely forget by morning, while I sat in my dark room and seethed and worried and waited.
I’d actually come in at around midnight just to avoid what I was doing now. I’d stopped off at a friend’s house, we’d gone out and played pool and drank and had a whale of a time, all just so I wouldn’t have to stay up waiting for Grady, yet here I was…waiting for Grady.
I heaved a sigh of frustration before getting up and making my way over to the open window. Outside the night was still. No wind blew, I didn’t hear the scurrying of animals or insects, nor did I experience the cool wisp of wind as it caressed my face. Nothing. just complete stillness which contradicted how I was feeling inside.
Was this pathetic? To sit and hope for more? For better? No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t imagine Grady doing anything but rejecting me if I told him he was my mate. I knew him too well, I would eventually watch him fall in love with someone who wasn’t me, he’d get married and have children, maybe even move off to another country and I’d be stuck here with nothing to do but pine away, thinking about something I couldn’t have.
My fists clenched and I found myself glaring out into the yard. The thought angered me. Why should I have to suffer for something that wasn’t even my choice to begin with? Why were the fates so cruel to hand me someone who could never love me? Was I being punished?
I unclenched my fist and rested my head on the window. This felt like punishment. Grady had no idea how much he hurt me when he did things like this, but then it wouldn’t be fair to cast blame on Grady, he had no idea he was my mate, this wasn’t his fault.
I figured I shouldn’t give up all hope though, this had to have happened for a reason, maybe, just maybe some good could come of this. Maybe I could drop little hints, start dating… -girls of course I didn’t want to shock him right off the bat- I needed to see if he’d get jealous, anything at all to show some indication that he cared for me even a fraction of the way I cared for him, and if it didn’t work I wouldn’t tell him a thing. We’d just go on the way we are now.
People often said that if a person couldn’t love you for who you are then they weren’t worth having in your life but that was bull. Those people were living a fantasy; you didn’t just drop someone because he wasn’t acting the way you wanted him to act. This was real life, even if he couldn’t love me for who I was, he was definitely worth it and nothing would change that.
It was about 3:00am when I heard the lock turning in the door downstairs. It echoed through the silent house and I angled my head towards the sound, listening as he closed the door behind him and stumbled up the stairs.
I held my breath when he paused in front of my locked door then released it when I heard him sigh and make his way over to his own room. Then I listened some more, stalking him with my ears as he flipped on his light switch and fell into bed.
I waited till for ten minutes, guessing he was already asleep when I heard no sounds emanating from his room. Then I pushed off my bed and in no time I found myself in the hall way in front of his open door.
He was sprawled on his back, his head resting on the only pillow in the middle of his bed, but he wasn’t asleep. He was simply staring up at the ceiling, his brows furrowed and his hands resting behind his head.
“Everything okay?” I asked when he’d made no move to acknowledge my presence.
“Yup.” He answered, but still didn’t look at me.
It was then that I realized that I didn’t smell it. I didn’t smell her on him. Usually when he went out on one of these nighttime excursions he’d come back smelling like his latest prize, but no tonight. Strange.
“So how was she?” I asked anyway, wanting to see what he would say.
He chuckled silently then turned his head to look at me. “Turns out she has a boyfriend…A very big boyfriend.” He said with a wince and it was then that I saw the bruise that covered almost half of the left side of his face.
When he turned his head again to look at the ceiling once more it was hidden from sight. I took an involuntary step into his room as my insides clenched at the thought of someone hurting my mate but I had to quash down the desire to go over to him to inspect the damage, he would be annoyed if I treated him like some weakling, so instead I said.
“What? the mighty Grady can’t handle a little competition?” I made sure he heard the teasing in my voice and was able to see the smirk on my face. It worked.
“Pffft, I coulda taken him blindfolded, but when a guy pulls out a gun, your first instinct is usually to get the hell outta there and that’s exactly what I did.” He said seriously then grinned over at me.
I had to consciously snap my mouth shut, after realizing it was hanging open in shock. “He pulled a gun on you? You shittin me right?” I questioned making my way over to the only chair in the room and lowering myself into it.
“Nah, turned up at the house, made the mistake of kissing her as soon as she opened the door and there he was, right behind her.” He told me with a chuckle.
Typical Grady, he saw the fun in everything.
“So that’s why you’re here sulking then?”
“Does it look like I’m sulking? Plenty where that came from.” He said with a wink and I had to roll my eyes.
“So if you weren’t with her then where were you, it’s like after three in the morning dude!” I said trying to sound casual but inside I was dying to know.
“Stooped off at a club, drank a few beers, the usual, I’m beat.” He said and I could hear the tiredness in his voice.
“We have school in less than four hours, good luck with getting up in the morning, Casanova.” I joked and stood to leave, then; “You should probably put some ice on that.” I told him when I was at the door.
“Hey where ya going?! I’m the guest here, you’re supposed to take care of me I’m hurt! now be a good host and get me some ice!” he said dramatically and I chuckled.
“Dude you practically live here, get your own ice.” I said then turned to go once more.
“Fine! At least help me with my boots, I’m too tired to move.” He said with a tired sigh and I instantly felt sorry for him.
“Fine you big baby.” I said then went over to where he lay, his long legs spread apart, and proceeded to pull the boots off his feet and throw them to the corner of the room and because I knew he wouldn’t do it himself and end up being uncomfortable throughout the night, I unbuckled his pants and pulled off his jeans so that he was laying on the bed in only his shirt and boxers. Grady didn’t even bat an eye , he just turned onto his side with a groan and drifted off to sleep, just like that with not even a thank you for my efforts.
“Typical Grady.” I said under my breath. I watched him for a moment longer as he slept, my heart warming at the sight of him curled up like a child in sleep, then I turned to go, flipping off the light switch when I got to the door and pulling up the door behind me.
……………………
The next morning I woke up to the sound of cupboard cabinets slamming shut and to Grady grumbling to himself downstairs. With a groan I pushed up out of bed and looked at the time.
6:00 a.m
What the hell was he even doing up already? I was the one who usually had to drag him out of bed after his crazy nights out and better yet, why was he making noise down in my kitchen at this hour, nobody woke up at this hour!.
When I emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later, I could still hear him making noise downstairs and I padded barefoot down the stairs and into the kitchen. There stood Grady in nothing but the boxers from last night, the shirt was gone and I had to swallow hard and try to keep my eyes on the back of his head as he moved about. I’d rather not embarrass the both of us down here this morning if my little friend decided it was time to make an appearance.
“You have any idea what time it is? What’re you doing?” I asked him, the irritation sounding in my voice.
He didn’t turn around but continued to rummage through my cupboards, then slamming them shut when he didn’t find whatever it was that he was looking for.
“Dude, where’s all the food?!” he said after a while, turning to me with a scowl on his handsome face. The bruise wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it was last night but it was still noticeable. His hair was disheveled as it usually was in the morning and his eyes were red, I wasn’t sure if it was from lack of sleep or if he was just really pissed off but in any case I found him adorable and I resisted the urge to reach over and brush away the lock of hair that had fallen onto his forehead.
“Whadya mean? there’s food in the fridge.” I told him with a shake of my head and went over to the kettle to put on some water.
“All you have is beer, a half eaten ham sandwich and some left over Chinese.” He said exasperated.
“Yeah and?”
“That’s not food! I swear you’re trying to starve me!” he threw up his hands in the air like the Drama Queen he was then shook his head and exited the room. When he came back he was holding printing paper and a blue ink pen with the top bitten off.
I watched as he pulled up a stool and sat at the counter with his head bent over the paper as he scribbled. When the water had boiled I made us both a cup of tea and set his down in front of him. He looked up when he saw it, took a sip, made a face and set the cup down again. Then lowered his head once more over his paper and continued his scribbling.
I shook my head and continued sipping my tea. Where Grady was concerned it was best to keep quiet and watch, he’d tell me what he was doing in his own time.
“Why are you up so early anyway?” I asked as I watched the top of his head.
He looked up at me, giving me the look that said I was a complete idiot before he said “I was hungry.” and went back to his scribbling. I chuckled silently to myself, God I loved this kid.
Five minutes later, tea finished and my head propped up in my hands I watched as he walked over to the fridge and stuck the paper under a magnet, then turned to go. I walked over to the fridge and glanced at it. It was a list of things to buy; all his favorite foods.
Big surprise, I thought shaking my head.
“You didn’t put anything I like on the list.” I called over to him.
“There’s food in the fridge.” He told me then made his way up the stairs.
I shook my head with a grin then turned to the sink to wash our cups.
We ended up being late for school because according to Grady there was no way he was going to that prison on an empty stomach so we had to stop off somewhere to feed him. When we entered class, the teacher had already started his lesson and every eye in the room turned on us as we went to find our seats. Every time you walk into a classroom late everybody looked at you as if you’d just committed a crime or something. Jeez.
As was now the norm, Grady went to the opposite end of the room, while I sat in my usual chair beside Carson who looked over at me when I sat down.
“Remember, pack meeting tonight.” He said, low, so that only I could hear and I nodded before turning to the teacher who was explaining something on the board.
………………………………
“So what you’re saying is that Carson and Laken didn’t have a choice then?”
“Well yeah, but…they were gay anyway and I get the feeling that even if they hadn’t been mated they’d have chosen each other. They’re soul mates.” I told him, watching his face carefully to see how he was taking the news.
He snorted “You actually believe in that shit?”
“Of course I do, it’s real Grady, your mate is your soul mate, she…or he is your perfect half, it’s fate, no one can make you as happy as that person and you’ll never love anyone more than you love your mate. That’s just how it is.” I told him and watched as he bit his lip considering it.
We were sitting outside in the stands, school had ended about two hours before so we’d unconsciously decided to just sit and chat about random things. I was pretty surprised when he’d brought up the whole mating thing. It had been a while since we’d talked about anything related to me being a wolf.
During the first month of finding out about me, he’d practically milked me for every single bit of information about us, so he knew everything I was telling him now.
“So you’re saying it mates you according to your sexual preferences then? Which means it won’t mate a straight person to a gay?” he asked without looking at me.
“I really don’t know a lot about the whole process but…I think…maybe it’s happened before.” I said, thinking of my own situation.
He looked up at me, eyes wide “That’s messed up bro.” he said with a shake of his head.
“You have no idea.”
He seemed to be trying to process it all as he sat there staring out onto the field. It was rare to see Grady looking pensive and serious. He was usually playing around, unable to keep still.
“Why’d you wanna know anyway?” I asked, turning so I could really look at him. I had to know what he was thinking.
“Hey Grady, you coming tonight?”
We both looked down to see Mark and his crew standing at the first bench on the field.
“Nah, got things to do!” Grady shouted back to him.
He gave a nod and they were gone.
I turned to look at him: “Since when are you turning down a night out drinking?”
“Since I don’t want to kill you when I wake up starving.” He said, pushing himself up off the bench.
“You don’t wanna kill me, nice to know you care Grady.” I said with a smirk and a teasing shove.
“Actually I just don’t wanna have to clean up the evidence after… I get the feeling you’d bleed out all over the place and my prints are all over your house.” He said it in such a serious tone that if I hadn’t known better I’d have thought he really was serious.
“Come on, let’s go stock your kitchen.” He said turning to go.
I pushed up off the bench and followed, and then something occurred to me as we were leaving the field; “Hey you never told me why you wanted to know about the whole mating thing.” I said keeping up pace with him.
“I didn’t? I hope you have my list Thomas cause I’m not driving all the way back to your place for it.” He grumbled.
“I have it.” I said patting my jeans pocket to make sure it was there.
It was much later that evening, after we’d packed away all the groceries and he was locked in his room doing who knew what that I realized he still hadn’t answered my question. Grady had a good way of changing the subject and I had to wonder why it was that he couldn’t answer such a simple question. Was it wrong of me to hope it meant something for us? That maybe he was showing interest in all this because he was feeling something and thought maybe I could be his mate?
“Yes it was wrong.” I surmised. He was probably just curious and I was blowing this out of proportion.
……………………………………….
“You have about ten minutes till the meeting starts, so make sure you’re gone by then.” I told him, then turned and walked out the front door but not before I heard him mumbling something like;
“…don’t know why I can’t just watch, it’s not like imma steal your secrets or….” and the rest of his words were lost as I distanced myself from him.
It was a pack rule that no humans were allowed in camp during pack meetings and hunts so as was the usual arrangement, Grady had to go out for a few hours and I’d call him when it was over.
Of course if the pack knew he was my mate he would be able to stay but considering the fact that I had no idea when I’d tell him or if I would tell him, it was in his best interest as well as mine that we adhered to the rules, he knew this, which is why I’m sure anyone could imagine my surprise when we were halfway through the pack meeting and we all looked up to see the pack guard dragging Grady between them.
“Alpha we found this trespasser hiding behind the north tower, he’s human and we think he’s a spy sir.” One of the guards spoke up.
“For the last time dumbass, I’m not a spy! I’m friend’s with your boss!” Grady shouted while trying unsuccessfully to wiggle out of their hold.
“God Dammit.” I cursed to myself and I couldn’t help but think, only Grady would be dumb enough to call a werewolf who had the ability to rip him to pieces, a dumbass.
AUTHOR’S NOTES
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THERE YOU HAVE IT GUYS, CHAPTER TWO, HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!
SHOUTOUT TO: hamzaassaand to all my returning readers!!
-DoUbLe.A
-unedited.
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