𝖆𝖚𝖌𝖚𝖘𝖙

I can't believe it.

She stayed.

After everything she saw, her entire idea of what's real shattering in front of her eyes, she still stayed.

Granted, she ran at first. But ultimately, she chose me.

She chose I thought, feeling nearly giddy at the idea.

She could've walked away, found someone else. But she didn't.

I don't think that I'll ever understand why she chose a monster over living a normal life, but I'm forever grateful. Because, to be completely honest, even though I told her she could go find someone else, if I had ever seen her with another man, I may not be able to control my urge to kill him.

Rolling my eyes at my animalistic protective instincts, I decided to revel in the presence of my mate.

After our discussion, and the amazing, surreal moment that happened afterwards, I pulled her from the porch and into the living room, where we were both now seated on the couch, her head resting on my shoulder as she slept peacefully.

I can't believe she let me kiss her.

I thought back to the incredible moment when her lips touched mine. She didn't pull back, she didn't run from me. She stayed.

I looked down at the sleeping angel curled up beside me, smiling at the sound of her soft breathing.

"What did I do to deserve being paired with you?" I whispered, tenderness leaking into my voice.

An abrupt knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.

Grumbling, I got up from the couch, careful not to wake Heaven in the process, and made my way to the door.

Swinging open the door, I was met with the face of one of my pack members, Tara.

"Alpha," Tara bowed her head in greeting.

I gave a swift nod in acknowledgment, and motioned for her to raise her head.

"What have you come here for?" I questioned. It was rare for pack members to randomly show up at my house uninvited.

"Beta Antonio has sent me as a messenger," she responded, "He wanted me to tell you that he caught two rogues around the edge of the border, and now has them in one of the holding cells."

The mention of the rogues that had been hanging around the territory lately sent me into a bad mood.

"I'll be right there," I growled out, slipping on my shoes as I made my way through the door.

All of a sudden, I remembered my sleeping mate in the other room. I didn't want to leave her alone again.

Glancing back into the house, an idea sprung in my mind.

Looking back over to Tara, I spoke.

"How would you feel about doing a special favor for me?"

✧ ✧ ✧

𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓

I woke up abruptly to the sound of a loud thud.

"Ow!" a female voice yelled, "God damn heels are about to make me break an ankle."

The sound of the unfamiliar voice brought me quickly out of my sleepy state as I sat up from my position on the couch.

"I am going to burn these God forsaken shoes when I get home," the voice mumbled again.

"Um, hello?" I called out. I wasn't really scared, it wasn't like the voice sounded all that intimidating.

Suddenly, a girl around my age popped out from the doorway with a large grin on her face, making her way over to where I was sitting on the couch.

Once she teetered over to where I was, only cursing a few more times about her heels, I managed to get a good look at her.

She was probably around average height (without her shoes), a warm skin tone, deep brown eyes, and short, curly brown hair.

But it wasn't her features that threw me off. It was her incredibly strange fashion sense.

The girl was wearing a bright pink overall dress, matched with a striped, long-sleeve shirt underneath. Butterfly-shaped hair clips were strewn throughout her hair; and to top off the whole outfit, a matching pink pair of heeled combat boots adorned her feet.

"Ah, so you're the big bad wolf's mate," the girl says matter-of-factly, staring me down as if she was studying me.

"Yes," I drew out the word, curious as to who this girl was, "And you are?"

"Oh, that's right," she laughed, her short brown curls bouncing around her face, "My name's Tara."

This crazy girl really was oblivious to how strange this situation was.

"Uh huh. Well Tara," I answered in a strangely calm voice, "Can I ask why you're here?"

"Oh, yeah!" she gasped, "I guess I should tell you why I'm here. The Alpha sent me over to hang out with you so you wouldn't be alone."

I nodded slowly.

"Okay, first things first," Tara began, swinging a large purple duffle bag from over her shoulder, "The Alpha mentioned that you would be needing more clothes."

I eyed her outfit warily. I wasn't exactly confident enough in her fashion sense for her to dress me.

She began yanking garments out of her bag, occasionally holding them up to me and muttering to herself before tossing them haphazardly onto the floor.

"Ah ha!" She exclaimed, pulling out a pair of faded black jean shorts, along with an oversized cropped, long sleeved grey shirt.

"I can tell we don't exactly have the same fashion sense," Tara stated, gesturing to her colorful attire, "You definitely have a darker style, which totally works for you, by the way."

I took the clothes from her outstretched hand, impressed that she managed to find something that wasn't a neon color in her wardrobe.

"Thanks," I said, beginning to make my way over the bathroom across the hall.

After walking to the bathroom and closing the door, I slipped off my old clothes, and into the new ones that Tara had given me.

Once changed, I unlocked the bathroom door and made my way over to Tara who was now lounging in the living room.

"Ooo! You look cute!" she shouted, clapping her hands excitedly, "I should become a personal stylist."

A smile broke out on my lips from the ridiculous girl in front of me.

"Thanks for the clothes," I said, going to sit beside her on the couch.

"No problem!" she responded cheerfully, turning to face me, "So now what do you wanna do?"

"Well," I drew out the word, "I was hoping we could just talk about all the crazy stuff that's been happening to me recently."

"Oh yeah," Tara said thoughtfully, "I forgot you're kinda new to all of this, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I admitted, laughing slightly, "I didn't even know werewolves existed until this morning."

"Well then, I can tell you whatever you wanna know," she answered, offering me a friendly smile.

"I do have a few questions," I respond.

"Ask away," she said invitingly.

I paused to think for a moment, going over what I already knew (which wasn't a lot), and deciding what I was most curious about.

"So you're a part of August's pack?" I asked, using the terminology I've heard a few times before.

"Yep!" she responded, "August is our Alpha, so he's in charge of making sure everything's running smoothly in this pack. Our pack is pretty big and spread out, although the majority of us live around this wooded area."

"So if werewolves live in big groups, and are pretty close to human civilization, how do more humans not know about your existence?" I asked.

"Werewolf packs almost always live in obscure areas that not many people travel to," Tara responded, thinking over her answer, "Also, we have border patrols that go around and make sure to keep anything unwanted out of the territory."

I nodded at her answer.

"So, what do you guys even do around here?" I gestured to the window, which gave a perfect view of the seemingly never ending forest.

"A lot of wolves go and get jobs and live life like any other human, except when they come here," She answered, "It's like a sanctuary where we can finally be ourselves and not have to fit into the human world. We can run free in the woods as wolves, and talk freely about our species without getting weird looks."

"And what about mates?" I asked, extremely curious on the topic, considering it was the one that affected me the most.

"Mates," Tara sighed wistfully, "Its every wolves' dream to find their mate."

"Have you found yours yet?" I questioned.

"No," she sighed sadly, "But I hope it'll be soon."

Tara seemed saddened by the subject, so I moved over and gave her a quick hug.

"I'm sure it will be," I said reassuringly.

Immediately, Tara's mood shifted, and she was back to her bubbly, energetic self.

"You know what, Heaven," she said, turning to me with a large smile on her face, "I have a feeling that we're going to be really good friends."