Chapter 6 : You’re Mine

*Delilah*

After the long week, I was glad that it was finally the weekend. I’d done homework all day Saturday. On Sunday morning, my nightmares hadn’t kept me up too much the night before, and I was able to sleep in until after noon. I lay in my bed scrolling on my phone for a few hours before I decided to get up and shower. Being clean always made me feel better.

I walked to the kitchen to make some lunch, and my dad was sitting at the table, eating a sandwich.

“Hey,” he said through a mouthful of food.

I chuckled. “Hey, Dad.”

Kendra was gone with her friends. She had banged on my door earlier to let me know when she was leaving, laughing as she always did. I couldn’t wait to be out of that house and away from her.

I made a sandwich and sat with him to eat it.

“So, Kendra said she learned about mates yesterday. Did you?”

I chewed my food slowly and swallowed, waiting until I knew I’d have control over my voice before answering.

“Yeah, we did.” I took another bite so I didn’t have to say anymore, and I hoped he’d drop it.

“You were too young to explain it to when you were younger, but that’s how I found Jennifer.”

I raised my eyebrows as I took another bite, hoping he’d continue in my silence. To my surprise, he did.

“We’d been camping outside the territory, and I was good about staying undetected, but then I smelled her. That’s how I ‘ran into her’ in the forest while hunting,” he laughed.

I swallowed my last bite and took a long drink of water. “I didn’t know you guys were mates. I just thought you found her and fell in love.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you sooner. It just seems like everything has happened so fast. Wasn’t it just last week we were living off the land together?” He looked at me with a smile that I didn’t feel.

I chuckled dryly. “Yeah, it feels like that.” I stood, tossing the paper towel I’d used as a plate into the trash. “I’m going to go to town, Dad.”

“Okay, Del. Have fun.”

I nodded and grabbed my water bottle and my book as I headed out the door.

I walked down the street of our neighborhood, determined to sniff out my mate. I kept my eyes open but focused on my breathing. I walked through the various blocks surrounding me, breathing slowly through my nose.

I still didn’t catch the scent I was looking for, but I didn’t give up. The park was close, and the weather was perfect. Maybe I’d find my mate there.

I walked through the last block of houses before the park and came up empty again. Standing at the corner that bordered the park, I looked at everyone enjoying the day.

Couples laid together on blankets, kids ran chasing each other, and people my age played frisbee or just hung out on the picnic benches together. Everyone looked so happy, and I wondered if I’d ever feel that way.

I walked into the park, making sure to keep my senses open. Keeping to the back paths to avoid people as much as possible, I smelled a lot of things from hot dogs to pretzels, and even champagne. My sense of smell was incredible, but I still couldn’t find the smell I was searching for. I didn’t even know what it was exactly.

I found a shady spot under a tree and sat down, opening my book to make it seem like I was reading and not just being a creep and staring at people.

My head was down and looking into my book when my nose alerted me–Kendra. I whipped my head up, and there she was, leading her group of hyenas toward me.

Shit. I closed my book and stood, shoving it into my back pocket.

Kendra and her friends laughed as they approached me. I stood, holding my water bottle in one hand, with the other hand stuck in my front pocket.

Would she ever get enough of this?

“Delilah, you’ve come out of your cave I see,” Kendra said, smiling with the joy of cruelty in her eyes.

“Kendra, give it a rest, please. It’s Sunday for Goddess’ sake, is someone paying you overtime for this?”

She laughed, but my face remained as unmoving as stone.

“Nobody has to pay me. I’d torture you for free.”

Her friends laughed behind her, egging her on.

“When are you going to take the hint and just leave? Give up already. Your mate isn’t here. You have no friends, and even our father prefers me to you. You’re not needed,” she said, flipping her hair and looking at me with disdain.

I tried not to let my hands shake or my bottom lip tremble. She was right about most of that, but I knew my mate was here. I’d smelled him.

“You can’t even show regular emotions! Most people would at least cry, but not you. You’re a stone-cold bitch.”

I dropped my water bottle and shoved her hard, sending her flying, her friends who caught her yelling curses as they did.

I stood there, my chest heaving. If she wanted emotion from me, she could deal with my anger.

“You are insane!” she yelled, drawing attention from the crowd. My shove had garnered a few stares, but now most of the park was looking in our direction.

I grabbed my water bottle and started to make my way out of the park.

She and her friends followed me, hurling curses at me as I picked up my pace.

Soon, there was a crowd of people following her. Kendra grabbed a half-eaten hot dog from the top of a trash can and launched it at me, barely missing me.

Before long, the crowd was throwing trash at me as I finally broke out in a run, leaving them all behind as I escaped the park and raced for the forest that ran along the back part of the park.

The noise of the crowd faded, and I slowed to a trot and then finally a walk. I checked over my shoulder often until I was sure I was alone. I stopped in a clearing that had a big fallen log and sat down, panting.

I drank a large gulp of water and then leaned my head back. How could people treat anyone like that? Anger coursed through my veins, and I breathed in through my nose slowly and out my mouth, trying to calm down.

The smell of rain, amber, and the unmistakable but unidentified smell filled my nostrils and my eyes shot open.

I looked all around but didn’t see anyone. I pulled in a long slow breath through my nose again, and it was there, stronger than I’d ever smelled it.

I stood and followed my nose out of the clearing and further into the forest. The smell became stronger and stronger and soon it felt almost intoxicating, like it was pulling me to its source.

I stumbled onto the path I took to school and made my way down it, toward my spot. I rounded the bend in the path and saw someone sitting on the logs I liked to lay on.

We made eye contact at the same time, and it was instant.

MATE.

I faltered in my next step, stumbling slightly and he rushed to catch me.

How could it be? He was my mate? Andrew??

“Woah, watch out,” he said, laughing awkwardly as he grabbed me by the elbows to steady me.

“You’ve never helped me before,” I said almost absentmindedly.

His smile fell and he looked down, ashamed.

“Oh my Goddess! It’s real,” I yelled.

I leaned in and smelled him. Fresh rain, the best I’d ever smelled, amber, and the smell I’d been chasing for two days.

“You’re my mate.” I opened my eyes and looked at him and saw that he was looking at me with desire, with love.

I blushed and looked away, backing up a little. I was so close to him before, closer than I’d ever been to anyone outside my family.

“You’re my mate too,” he said, his chest rising and falling quickly.

We stood staring at each other, both in complete wonder.

I laughed and broke the stare. “I can’t believe this. How is this happening?” I muttered under my breath.

“I’m sorry if I’m not the mate you wanted,” he said, looking at me with hurt in his eyes. At first, I felt awful and just wanted to kiss him to take the look off his face.

But then, logic kicked in.

“Come on, we both know that I’m the one who’s not a first choice for a mate.”

He didn’t say anything at first, looking at his hands before he finally looked at me. “It wasn’t what I expected, but who am I to question the Moon Goddess?”

I stared at him in disbelief. He was taking this way better than I was.

“She doesn’t make mistakes, that’s for sure,” I said, staring into his honey-brown eyes that were drawing me in.

Without knowing it, we’d started to move closer to each other.

“I don’t know how I never noticed how beautiful you were before this,” he said, his eyes wide and his hand reaching to brush a light finger down my cheek.

He tilted my head up to look at him with one hand as the other wrapped around my waist and pulled me close to his chest.

I sucked in a quick breath, shocked at how just that light touch sent electricity racing across my body.

The desire in his eyes was contagious, and I knew I was looking at him the same way.

Without another word, he slid his hand to the back of my head and pulled my face toward his, pressing his lips into mine softly.

I kissed him back just as gently at first, but then we were both ravenous. I threw my arms around his neck, and he slid his hands down my sides before grabbing my ass with both hands and lifting me effortlessly into the air.

Instinctively I wrapped my legs around his waist. I felt my back pressed into a tree and wasn’t phased. He deepened our kiss, sliding his tongue into my mouth. I moaned around his tongue, loving the way he tasted.

I’d never kissed anyone before, and I didn’t want to stop there. He was intoxicating. I’d never felt so helpless to my emotions before. I could feel the wetness building between my legs. I’d never known what it would feel like to have another person touch me.

I pulled away from his kiss and looked at him, both of us breathing hard.

He grinned at me, his eyes lighting up as he gazed into my eyes.

“You’re mine,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine.

“Then take me,” I said, feeling like I’d transformed into a completely different person.

I couldn’t believe I was about to have sex with my mate. He kissed me again hard, and I melted into his embrace.