10
This is getting ridiculous! He wants me then he doesn't! I don't know what to do any more! I shouldn't have to convince my mate to be with me! I just wish I knew what was going on in his head.
"Mark him." My wolf says. I sit up on my bed.
"I can't. Not without his permission and not without a ceremony." I respond.
"His wolf wants us to. I can feel it. He thinks it will help his human." She argues.
"No." I state firmly.
"I want mate!" She yells.
"Me too but not like that!" I respond. "I'm gonna convince him to spend time with me. The mate bond should help if we are in close proximity."
"And if that doesn't work we mark him." She says.
"No, we wait." I argue.
I decided to go to every training offered at training he has no choice but to talk to me. I just want to make sure he is okay. My wolf is worried about him but doesn't know why. If he rejects me I'll back off but until he does I'm going to try to figure him out.
°•°•°•°•°
"Rapid shift training." His beautiful voice calls out gaining everyone's attention for our mid day training. "You should be able to shift in 5 seconds. This timer will go off every 60 seconds for ten minutes then decrease by one second every other cycle. When the timer rings you shift. If you don't shift, well... I have excellent aim." He says tossing a baseball in the air and catching it. Man he's HoT!
"We can't shift that quickly!" A man yells.
"You will learn." Asher says.
"We need more time!" Another adds.
"War won't wait for you... do your best and you will improve." He responds. "Prepare to shift."
I remove my shirt in preperation to shift. Before I can move to my shorts a voice stops me.
"What do you think you are doing?!" He asks as he stalks over to me.
"You said to get ready to shift." I answer.
"Not you!" He growls.
"No. You can't avoid me when it suits you then act like a mate when you feel like it! I'm here to train so suck it up, Mate!" I stand tall challenging him. He growls grabbing my arm and dragging me to the back of the crowd.
"If you look behind you I use knives instead of baseballs!" He growl to the men who keep their eyes forward. I try not to laugh. Is it bad that I like him like this?
"You just gave me a view of all the men in the pack Asher." I link him fueling his jealousy and he growls.
"Focus on your training Emily." He links back.
"I could just focus on my trainer." I respond grinning at his behavior.
"Knock it off!" He growls. I chuckle before blocking the link. Score one for Emily and the mate bond.
"Begin!" He announces hitting the timer once he is back up front.
DING!
Everyone begins to shift.
DING!
The balls begin to fly and the men groan and yelp as they impact their bodies. I made it through a few shifts before I fall behind. With no hope of catching up I just go as fast as I can. I know I'm not fast enough but he never throws a ball at me.
"That's Enough!" Asher yells as he stops the timer. Many collapse in exhaustion nursing their wounds. They look like dalmatians with all the black spots from the bruising baseball bombardment. "Good effort men! tomorrow we start again. Tonight I want each of you in wolf form. One hour run at least. Challenge yourselves. Push yourself to your limit then rest up! We start again at 0500."
I catch up to Asher as he is walking away.
"You went easy on me." I state walking next to him.
"I don't know what you mean." He says.
"I fell out early on yet I wasn't hit once. I wonder why that is?" I taunt him.
"Guess I missed." He says shrugging his shoulders. He is so full of crap!
"Sure you did... soooo since you've decided to go all possessive protective mate on me how about we have dinner tonight before the run?" I ask.
"No... I've told you. Don't get attached to me. I'll only let you down." He tells me. No! I'm not letting him give up!
"You have dinner with me or I stick to you all day. We can spend plenty of time together." I smirk running a hand down his chest just to provoke a response. He growls.
"Fine! Dinner... now stop toying with me!" He takes my hand from his chest, sighs, and takes off running. I can tell he's fighting himself.
"See you at 6, Mate!" I call after him.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°
6pm
"Hurry up mate! It's pizza night and I'm not missing out on the meat lovers!" I tell him as I pull him down the stairs.
"I'm coming Meme." He says and I smile. I like when he calls me that.
"Sooo... what's your favorite color?" I ask as we sit with our food.
"I'm not doing this Emily." He tells me and I sigh.
"Its a simple question, Asher." I respond.
"Green... Black... camo... it doesn't matter anyway you don't want to get to know me. The things in this mind would give you nightmares." He tells me tapping his temple. He is trying to scare me but it won't work.
"I can handle it... mine is Blue... favorite song?" I ask and he sighs finally giving in.
"Techaikovsky's 1812 Overture." He answers.
"Seriously?" I ask eyebrows raised. That was... unexpected. He shrugs.
"Haven't heard much... that one is just full of such raw emotion. You can feel it. Alot of modern songs just all sound the same." Asher explains.
"You amaze me." I say and I cant help but smile at him.
"I can't do this!" He jumps up and runs off. I follow him and end up at his room.
"You can't be in here!" He tells me.
"You can't leave me." I say nearly crying. I won't let him! He needs me and I need him.
"Please don't." He begs me standing up and walking towards me.
"You can't die! You can't give up!" I yell throwing him against the door. I can feel my wolf influencing my actions.
"I already Love you you idiot!" I kiss him and he eagerly kisses back. I pull away and begin kissing his neck. I can't get enough of him.
"Mark him, now!" My wolf commands.
"But..."
"His wolf wants it, I want it, you want it, human is confused we can help!" She stops me from arguing. Before I know it my teeth are in his neck. It feels amazing. I wait for him to return the mark but he pushes me away and jumps to the other side of the room.
"Come on, Asher! You know you want to." I move the hair away from my neck, offering it to him. He needs to mark me I can feel it. That was the entire point!
He bites his lip so hard it bleeds. I can see his internal struggle. He wants to I can tell. What's stopping him!? Poor guy I wish I knew what was making him so conflicted.
"Get him to mark us and we'll know." My wolf says and finally I agree. I can't help him if I don't know what's going on in his head.
"I'm giving you permission, mate." I tell him as I approach.
"Mine!" He growls holding me. I close my eyes. Finally!
Just as I feel his teeth graze my skin he let's go of me and jumps through the window landing two stories below in a pile of shattered glass. I watch him run into the woods and shift.
By the time I compose myself and make it to the woods in search of my mate others have found him. I hear my dad yell and move quickly to find them.
"You promised not to mark her! Not without a ceremony! My little girl!" My father yells beating Asher over and over. This is all my fault! Stupid wolf! Stupid plan!
"Daddy." I say stopping him from punching my mate.
"Meme, are you okay? I can't believe he forced you..." Dad stops talking to me in order to grab Asher as he approaches me.
"My King, if you don't want your daughter marked I suggest you get her out of here. I'm not sure how much longer I can stop myself." He growls obviously fighting for control.
Dad looks at me examining me for the truth. I lower my head then move my hair so he can see I'm unmarked. Once he sees no mark it clicks. Asher finally loses control and tries to get to me but my dad stops him.
"Malakai! Take Emily and lock her up in her room at my house. Post guards. She is not to leave!" He orders.
"Daddy please!" I beg stepping forward but Uncle Malak grabs me pulling me away along with three other wolves to act as my guard.
The walk home is silent. The grip on my arm never wavers. Finally, when we reach the Alpha house, Uncle Malak orders the guards into position and drags me upstairs to my room.
"It's funny. We were all worried about what he'd do to you. We never thought we'd need to protect him." He says, his disappointment clear, as he closes the door.
"Stupid wolf! I told you No! I told you we shouldn't! But do you listen? No! He will hate us now! You ruined everything!" I mentally yell crying into my pillow.
"His wolf thought it would work. He thought it would force him to subcome to the bond... I'm sorry." She answers. I let out a huff and block the link.
"Emily." I hear Dad's voice boom through the house as he comes to my room. I sit up and wipe my tears.
"We need to talk." He says as he opens my door.
"I'm sorry, Daddy." Is all I can say as I watch my carpet.
"You marked him." He says and I nod.
"You know if he wouldn't have escaped you, you would never have a ceremony. You would never get to have that special day. I wouldn't get to walk you down the aisle or say the words to bless the union. I wouldn't get to give my baby girl away... I know it's not about me but that hurts, Meme." He says sitting on my bed beside me.
"I want all that... my wolf... I... we were just scared. We want to know why he is so...so... damaged? Hurt? Confused? He wants us but he pushes us away. I know he wants me but he won't allow himself to. Our wolves convinced me it was a good idea." I try to explain. Dad wraps his arm around me.
"I understand, princess. I'm just disappointed." I feel myself begin to cry at his words. That is worse than angry.
"You know." He starts in a lighter tone. "Your mom marked me without concent." My jaw drops. My mom?
"What?" I ask in astonishment. He chuckles.
"She didn't know what she was doing and I had less control than your boy. I marked her back on the spot... you know part of the reason he didn't mark you back is I commanded him not to mark you without a ceremony. Apparently I commandad the wrong wolf." He chuckles.
I don't know why but that helps. I guess he couldn't resist me on his own.
"Thanks, Daddy." I say giving him a hug.
"You're still on lock down until the mark fades and you better not try this again. I'll be training you at night until this is settled and believe me it won't be easy." He says back in Alpha mode.
"Yes, sir." I say and he hugs me again.
"Good night, princess."