Heavenly Poison

Emilia Stark

“You’re joking, right?” My friend Lexi asked me.

I was looking directly at the boy my Wolf had recognized as her mate. He was- perfectly handsome. Since we’d entered Marie’s diner, my Wolf had been whining to be let out. Now I knew why.

My mate was everything I had hoped for, and then some more.

His light brown hair was all over the place. I could see how straight and smooth it was, even though he had it messily styled. His green eyes were like emeralds staring back at me, and the light tan on his skin completed everything that made him flawless.

“Emilia, snap out of it,” Jenna told me, as she pulled on my arm to make me sit down.

Jenna and Lexi had managed to drag me toward a table without me noticing.

My mate was now looking down at his plate. He looked bothered by something. His features were hardened and his jaw was clenched. As I kept staring at him, a thought finally occurred to me.

He was a human.

Out of every Wolf in our pack, or even in others- I had been chosen to have a human mate. One look at him and I knew there was no way I would want anybody else.

My mate was perfect.

“You’re so lucky. He’s really cute,” Jenna told me, looking down at her plate.

I stopped staring at my mate, and turned to frown at her. The blush on her face made me angry. I didn’t want her or anybody else to be looking at him like that.

I was going to say something about the comment she made, when Lexi stopped me.

“It’s true Em. It’s not our fault your mate is gorgeous,” she said.

Lexi was sitting next to me, and across from Jenna. We were both facing my mate. Right after she made that comment, she turned to look at him.

“Stop staring at him!” I growled. Lexi and Jenna seemed surprised by my outburst, but remained quiet.

Being the daughter of the Alpha usually did that. It bugged me how much respect they had for me at times. Right now, I was glad they listened to me.

My Wolf wouldn’t like for other girls- friends or not- to be talking about our mate that way.

We’d been sitting down for about five minutes, when a girl grumpily came to take our orders. According to her, the waitress from our section had just disappeared into thin air.

Lexi and Jenna ordered for me. My stomach was full of anticipation, and I knew even if I tried, there was no way I could eat. I was too excited about finding my mate.

I gave my mate discreet looks, trying to guess things about him. He was wearing a simple white shirt. There was nothing to it, yet I couldn’t help but find it perfect on him.

The serious expression on his face created an air of mystery around him- one that my Wolf and I wanted to break through.

“Have you seen him before? Did he go to school while I was out?” I asked my friends.

Next week, I’d be starting my junior year in high school.

Werewolves usually shift when they turn 13 years old. It isn’t until we turn 16 that our bodies start maturing, and our Wolf tries to take over. It usually lasts for a few months- being hormonal and with mood swings.

Even though I didn’t want to leave school, my dad had forced me. There was no telling what our Wolves could do during this time, and we just couldn’t risk it.

He was the Alpha of the pack, so that gave his order twice the power.

“I’ve never seen him before,” Jenna quietly replied.

“Neither have I,” Lexi agreed.

There was a plate of food across from my mate, other than his empty plate. It was obvious someone was with him, but he was at the table by himself.

My Wolf was telling me to go to him. She wanted to talk to him and tell him who we were. Before I did anything stupid, I stopped myself. I would drive him away, and probably scare him if the first thing that came out of my mouth was that he was my mate.

I had been staring at my mate when he suddenly turned his gaze up to look back at me. I smiled, wondering if he felt the bond, or any sort of attraction toward me. He only stared at me blankly, his expression making him look bored.

After a few moments, he looked down at his plate again. It was possible he was feeling shy or uncomfortable. Most Werewolves were the opposite of that. There was usually confidence radiating out of most Wolves, the ones with title especially.

Plenty of times, humans lacked that.

I just didn’t peg my mate as a shy one.

No one from our pack had had a human mate in a while. I knew it was possible, but it was rare.

My Wolf kept repeating it was because our mate was special, and I completely agreed with her.

I could have stayed in my booth, and let him get away. But nerves in my stomach didn’t want to go away. The summer was just about to end, and school was starting next week.

There was a chance my mate had only come to visit someone from town. I’d never seen him before, and neither had Jenna or Lexi. Both of them had been going to school for the last two months of our sophomore year, so they would know.

It was my Wolf who pushed me to get up, and make my way toward him.

I walked the short distance between our booths and noticed he didn’t turn up from his plate. When I got closer, I realized he had his phone in his hands.

It made me slightly curious and jealous. I couldn’t help but wonder who it was that he was texting, if that was what he’d been doing.

“Hey,” I said, as I stood there. I gave him a small wave, and a friendly smile, hoping not to freak him out with my bluntness.

He nodded at me, but didn’t say a word.

“Can I sit down?” I asked, as I pointed to the seat in front of him.

He cocked an eyebrow at me, still without talking.

He was about to say something, when a guy came and took the empty seat in front of him.

“Can I help you with anything?” The guy who was now sitting in front of my mate, asked.

He had a playful grin on his face, which unsettled me. As I looked between him and my mate, I couldn’t help but notice similarities. Even though his hair was darker and his eyes were icy blue instead of green- both he and my mate looked fairly similar.

It was hard to miss the strong build of their bodies, which only came from hours spent working out.

When I finally snapped out of staring at them, I found the guy in front of my mate smirking at me.

“Someone already took our order,” the guy said.

“I, I’m not a waitress,” I replied, stuttering.

My mate’s eyes were giving me the chills. He was scowling at me, looking ticked off. I hadn’t done anything to him- other than stand in front of his booth looking like an idiot.

“Well, what did you need?” The guy asked. He grabbed his coke, and took a long drink from it.

The movement caused his scent to hit me. Unlike my mate’s sweet scent, which was driving my Wolf wild- the other guy’s scent was complicated.

“I, uh, thought I recognized him,” I said, looking only at my mate.

“Really? Do you know her Damien?” The guy asked.

Damien.

That was his name. It went with him. Now that I knew his name, I kept replaying it in my mind.

“I’ve never seen her before,” my mate, Damien, replied.

His voice caused a light shiver to run through my body. I wanted to hear him talk once again. But as it was, he seemed uncomfortable with having me interrupt his meal.

I could hear Lexi and Jenna in my mind, telling me to go back and stop embarrassing myself.

Of course, it was probably the only thing I was accomplishing- to embarrass myself. But, I couldn’t walk away. Truth was- I preferred to humiliate myself in front of my mate, than have no contact with him at all.

“Yeah? Maybe you just don’t remember her. I’m Sebastian, by the way,” the guy in front of my mate said, as he outstretched his hand toward me.

His touch was soothing, but something about that made my Wolf wary. I kept my hand in his just long enough not to be rude, before pulling it away.

“This is my little cousin, Damien,” Sebastian motioned toward my mate. So they’re similarities came from being cousins. I was thinking they were brothers, but now the different hair and eye color made more sense.

I was hoping Damien would also shake my hand. He didn’t.

He only gave Sebastian a look that I didn’t understand. It seemed like they were speaking in code, even though neither of them was talking.

“I haven’t seen either of you before,” I said, trying to keep the conversation going. I was feeling pretty stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t want to step away from my mate, even though he didn’t seem thrilled with having me there.

“I thought you recognized him from somewhere?” Sebastian asked, in a mocking tone.

I stayed quiet, feeling my face burn up. When I turned to face Damien, he was now frowning at Sebastian. I was at least glad he wasn’t giving me that killer look.

“Well, I thought I did. But, now I realized that I don’t,” I replied after a while. I knew it was a lie, and both of them seemed to know that too. They were at least nice enough not to call me out on it.

“We’re leaving,” Damien said, as he got up from the booth.

I couldn’t help but notice how tall he was. He was almost a foot taller than me, so I had to look up in order to see him.

His features were now smooth, but he was avoiding my gaze. There was no doubt that all my staring had freaked him out.

“I’m still eating,” Sebastian said, as he took another forkful of pancakes.

Again, Damien gave him that look from before. Sebastian rolled his eyes, sighed, and finally got up.

“You owe me,” Sebastian said to Damien, as he stood next to me.

He looked about an inch or two taller than Damien. I was standing in between the two, feeling dwarfed by their tall figures.

“It was nice meeting you…” Sebastian said, letting the sentence hang.

“Emilia,” I said, keeping my eyes on my mate.

My Wolf was telling me not to let him go, but there was hardly anything I could do.

“Emilia, that’s a nice name,” Sebastian said, smiling. His smile was far from friendly, more predatory than anything.

Even though Sebastian wasn’t doing anything, he was making me feel uneasy. His entire figure was intimidating. I took a step back, which caused me to bump into Damien.

As soon as my body touched his, I felt small electric shocks form wherever we came into contact.

I was giving him my back, and as rude as it might’ve been, I couldn’t bring myself to pull away. It felt amazing to have his chest pressed against my backside.

I could feel his warm breath blowing down my hair lightly whenever he exhaled.

My Wolf was purring at his touch, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes to enjoy the comfort of having him so close.

If it were for me, I would’ve stayed pressed up against him. Somebody clearing their throat was what snapped me out of it.

“Do you still want to go?” Sebastian asked, looking at Damien. He was looking at both of us, with a teasing grin on his face.

I felt my face warm up, before I pulled away from Damien.

When I turned to look at him, his cheeks had a slight blush in them. I wanted to press my hands on them, knowing they would feel warm.

“Let’s go,” Damien said, in a snappy tone.

Sebastian left a few bills on the table, before following after Damien. My mate looked in a hurry to leave the restaurant.

I watched them go, Sebastian walking far slower than Damien.

As he passed Lexi and Jenna, I noticed he waved at them. They both waved back, blushing after him.

Before leaving out the door, Sebastian turned toward me, and winked.

“What was that all about?” Lexi asked, as I went to take a seat back in the booth.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I lamely replied.

“I’m talking about you walking up to the hotties,” Lexi continued to press.

“Did you notice anything weird?” I asked, thinking back to Sebastian.

“Do you want me to say it, or should I sugar coat it for you?” Jenna looked at Lexi warily, probably not wanting her to say anything.

“What are you going to sugar coat?”

“Your mate didn’t exactly look happy,” Lexi replied.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“He’s not a Werewolf Lex, of course he’s going to get weirded out by having me just approach him,” I told her.

“Besides, I was talking about my mate’s cousin, Sebastian,” I said, looking between her and Jenna.

“They’re cousins?” Jenna asked.

“His name’s Sebastian?” Lexi asked at the same time, with a thoughtful look. If the way both her and Jenna reacted toward Sebastian said anything, I had no doubt there was some attraction there.

“Yes, it is. There’s something about him, I just can’t point out what it is,” I admitted.

“Don’t tell me you like your mate’s cousin too?” Lexi asked, frowning at me.

Her question had basically confirmed it. She definitely liked Sebastian.

“No, I don’t. Did you see my mate? I have more than enough with him. Damien is a lot better than Sebastian,” I told the pair.

While Jenna cocked her head to the side, looking like she was thinking it over- Lexi was scowling.

“You would say that, he’s your mate. To me, I’d definitely pick Sebastian,” Lexi said.

Even though I disagreed with her, I didn’t bother arguing. There would be no winning when it came to Lexi.

Jenna was in the middle of a story, when a girl who looked a few years older than us passed by. She had a name tag on the side of her shirt, and was wearing an apron.

Just her scent gave off what she’d been doing before passing by. I remained quiet, but Lexi gave her a disapproving look.

“Is that even sanitary?” Lexi hissed after the girl passed by.

I looked down at the plate of food that had remained untouched. I was glad I hadn’t eaten anything.

The girl’s outfit was rumpled, her pony tail looked messy, and her arms were red, almost bruising.

“I think we should leave,” I told them, seeing as Jenna was already eyeing the food suspiciously.

“I second that,” Lexi agreed, already getting up.

Just before leaving, we heard the waitress that had passed by getting yelled at by a man. I felt slightly bad for her, but just thinking back to the scent she’d been carrying- it was enough to make my way out the door faster.

“Are you going to tell the Alpha?” Jenna asked me on the drive home.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s too soon. I need to talk to Damien again, you know, to see what’s up with him,” I told her. I was nervous about telling my dad that I’d found my mate.

He would be happy for me, that much I was sure of. I just wasn’t sure how I would explain that Damien was a human, and I knew nothing about him.

Damien Gray

“You look mad,” Sebastian told me for the tenth time.

He was driving us back to the apartment. Early this morning we’d gone to get a new car in the city. With enough money, Sebastian had persuaded the salesman to let us bring the car today.

I chose to stay quiet, knowing I would only satisfy him if I kept answering.

“So you’re the mate of a Werewolf, it’s not a big deal,” he casually commented.

“It’s probably a good thing. Imagine, if you’re able to control an entire pack? Talk about irony,” he said, sounding amused and excited.

“We could bring down an entire pack, and thank your sexy little mate for that,” he continued.

I growled when he talked about her that way. It was unintentional, but Sebastian still caught on to it.

“Stop!” I snapped.

He turned to look at me for a few seconds, before facing back to the road.

“We’re not getting involved with anyone from Mountain Peak. I’m not going to accept the girl,” I told him. I refused to call her my mate. Whoever decided to pair us must’ve had a sick sense of humor.

“Relax Damy- I’m only throwing ideas out there. You know we can do whatever you choose. She’s your mate after all,” Sebastian said, trying to push my buttons.

It was working, but I was trying my best not show it.

Sebastian laughed, as he shook his head.

“Damien, you don’t have to be so sensitive about this. I’m joking,” he added, even though I wasn’t too sure.

At this point, anything that involved Sebastian and Wolves- I knew it would only bring us trouble.