Mixed Feelings - 2 (Makai's POV)

Storm's eyes suddenly glowed, and I knew they were calling him back.

I don't mind that he has to leave. I had a fight in the Pit to prepare for, anyway.

"Who exactly are you trying to convince?" Kitai asks drily.

"I need to go," Storm sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Storm?" I prod when he doesn't respond.

"The Seer is here. Dad is calling me back home to see her. She has an answer to my- you know."

Dread fills me to the point of suffocation as I nod. Yes, I was well aware of what that meant. Storm and I had avoided the subject for the past four years, ever since he turned eighteen.

Werewolves could detect their mates at any age after the age of twenty-one. The alpha's family could smell their mates from a distance of 200 kilometres away and follow their scents until they found them.

When Storm turned twenty-one, the entire pack was anticipating who Storm's mate would be. I knew many people, including his family, wished for a male mate rather than a female mate because they desired someone who would love and pamper him indefinitely.

I know all this because my mom always brings pack gossip to me. She shares all this information over the dining table every evening, whether I wanted to listen or not. According to her, the fact that I had decided to live like a hermit didn't mean that I shouldn't be abreast with pack news.

I hadn't been looking forward to Storm meeting his mate because I know our friendship would suffer. When a year passed and Storm had still not sensed his mate, everyone assumed something was wrong, and the alpha had been looking for someone who could unblock whatever was preventing him from finding his mate.

They suspected it was because Storm was a Raai, a werewolf with magical abilities, but Raais were so rare and hadn't been born in decades that no one seemed to have any useful information about why he wasn't sensing his mate.

I had pushed Storm's mating out of my mind because it makes me anxious, but I can't ignore it any longer now that the Seeker was there to help him find his mate.

The Seeker was a very old werewolf, the council's oldest, and when Alpha Ben had sent word to the council about Storm's problem months ago, they had received word that the Seeker herself would come and address the issue. They hadn't given a time frame at the time, but I suppose that time had come.

That must be why the Hakhan Pack is hosting a Pit fight tomorrow. Maybe the Alpha wants to celebrate.

Storm stares at me, aghast. "What? There's a fight tomorrow?"

I hadn't meant to say that out loud. "You didn't know?" I asked him.

"No. I came back last night, and Dad only told me that he was hosting a celebratory party because my brother and I were gone a long time, and the pack is stronger now because of the allegiances and partnerships we were able to achieve. He didn't tell me that he was hosting a Pit Fight as well!"

"Maybe he didn't mention it because he knew you would react like this."

He ran his hands through his curly hair in frustration. "Why do you not care, Kai? Why?"

"Storm, I've told you that I don't mind fighting for the Pack. It doesn't require as much of my energy as you think."

"But sometimes you get hurt! Especially when we host it here!"

Pit Fights were organized by packs as a form of entertainment and to allow packs to showcase the strength of their Warriors. Although I wasn't a trained warrior, I can fight better than any of them. I am stronger than all of them in both my human and wolf forms, and I've been fighting in the Pit since I was fifteen years old.

Storm would be horrified to learn that the only reason I volunteered to fight for the first time was to retaliate against some warriors from the neighboring pack who had made some lewd remarks about him. Storm was only twelve years old at the time, and I had been so disgusted.

Generally, there were several competitions where different warriors fought each other and then fought the winner from another competition until the ultimate warrior emerged. I have never lost any fight.

Storm hated it when we hosted it here because Beta Paul had come up with an idea to make the Pit more entertaining and the stakes higher. That was what he had said, but really, he just wanted an opportunity to flex to the other Packs that we were stronger.

Instead of everyone fighting everyone until a winner emerges, all the winners from the second round of fighting fight me one by one. None of them has ever beaten me, but Storm is always worried.

I suppose it's the friendship thing.

Kitai snorts. "You're so daft that it's both unbelievably sad and utterly ridiculous."

I ignore him again to concentrate on Storm.

"Don't worry, Storm. I'll be fine."

"You were so hurt the last time! There was a lot of blood-"

"Most of that blood wasn't mine, Storm. To be honest, the only reason I get hurt is that I let them get a few licks in. I'm stronger than you think."

He hesitates and gazes at me, his blue eyes boring into mine. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really."

He ponders my words, appeared somewhat mollified, and then became indignant.

"Why would you deliberately allow them to hurt you?"

"Storm, think about it. It's one thing to be able to fight a large number of men and always win; it's another to win completely unscathed. Doesn't it strike you as strange? I shouldn't be that strong. I don't even use a fifth of my strength."

He shakes his head stubbornly. "I don't care how it looks. All I care about is that you don't get hurt."

I smile at his antics, then lost my smile when his eyes glowed again.

"You need to leave. They are waiting for you."

He nodded, face gloomy. For the last time, I lock my gaze on him. I wasn't sure if we'd get another chance now that he is going to find his mate.

Even with his expression gloomy, he is the prettiest boy I've ever seen. His loose dark curls were almost brushing his shoulder and bounced when he moves. The jeans jacket he was wearing fit his body perfectly, and I restrain myself from inspecting his lower half.

That would trigger thoughts that I had no business having.

I notice him nervously twisting his fingers. "I'm not sure if I want to meet my mate," he frets, startling me into meeting his stormy blue eyes again.

"What? Of course, you do. I know you were ecstatic about it when you were younger."

"You don't have a mate either, and you don't seem remotely bothered about that," he shoots back.

"But that's different. I have never wanted a mate. I don't want that kind of burden."

"Burden?" He said it as if the word tasted bitter on his lips. "Why would a mate be a burden?"

He seems so personally affronted, and I bit back a smile because it wouldn't be appreciated.

Storm is so cute when he gets stormy. He looks like an annoyed puppy.

"Don't you want someone who will love you completely and dedicate themselves to making you happy?" I ask him.

He mutters something ineligible and lowers his eyes. "What was that?"

He stares defiantly at me. "That was before."

"Before what?"

"Idiot," Kitai groaned.

"Listen, Storm. You're going to meet your mate soon. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. You should be happy. I'm very happy for you."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire"

"Are you?" he inquired, searching my face as if looking for something.

Perhaps he needs some words of encouragement?

"Why wouldn't I be? It's good news, and you should be happy too," I explain, hoping to lift his spirits, which seem to be plummeting for a reason I can't fathom.

If anything, he seems to get more agitated.

"Idiot."

Storm shakes his head and gives me a humorless laugh. "Why wouldn't you be, indeed. Goodbye, Makai."

With that he vanished, leaving me feeling miserable as if I had upset him somehow. Dropping to the floor, I raise my knees to my chest and allowed all the pain and sadness I hadn't let Storm witness to wash over me.

I am about to lose the one thing that always makes me happy; the one person who understood me and cared for me. The only friend I've ever had. I did not doubt that his mate would keep him away from me. I would do the same if I was him.

Storm. My Storm. I'll miss your ray of sunshine.

I felt Kitai wrapping me in comfort.

I would have cried if I could, but I don't know how to. I haven't cried in eighteen years.