Her Forever

Jack

After leaving Rosalie in her room, I quickly changed into jeans and a black muscle tee and headed downstairs. The house was cleaned to perfection; since finding out that Rosalie was my mate, I had made every pack member come deep clean every crevice of the house. Not that it was that dirty to begin with, but I wanted everything perfect for my mate’s arrival. Wolves tend to be very passionate about caring for what’s theirs, and Rosalie was very much mine. This was to be her home, and if she didn’t love it, I would rip it to pieces and build something else for her from the ground up.

Keith stood in the kitchen in his joggers and an ACDC band shirt. He had just gotten off the phone with the pack gate guards letting them know that a pizza delivery guy was on the way. We decided on something simple for dinner since I hadn’t officially shown her the rest of the house, like I’d wanted to do in the morning. “Is she getting settled, Alpha?” Keith asked as he put the phone back into his pocket.

“Yeah, she is.” I smiled and took a bite of an apple from the fruit bowl. “I think a little overwhelmed; I’ll have to take my time.” Amanda and her mate, Tyson, came into the room hand in hand. The significant mark on each of their shoulders was ever-present and only made me a bit jealous.

“Hello, everyone!” Amanda said in her usual energetic voice. “Tyson is my mate!” She held one of his hands in both of hers, and you couldn’t help but see the affection in his eyes towards her. He gave her a light peck on the lips, and she giggled when his beard scratched her face. Who knew the energetic personality would be mated with one of my more new serious warriors. Tyson had just arrived a month ago after transferring packs because he hadn’t found his mate and felt like he needed a change. The Goddess must have planted something in his mind that this was where he was supposed to go because he found what he was looking for. Werewolves would always find their mates; time was a different story.

“Congratulations to the both of you; I’m surprised you are here, actually. I thought you would be off continuing the mating,” Keith said with a laugh. Amanda gave him a glare while Tyson growled at him. He was never one for talking, so Amanda was going to be his soundboard.

“Well, we were. I told Tyson we should take a break because my bestie is the Luna. Getting her comfortable here was a priority. Her first night here might be hard, so we will eat dinner and watch a movie with you guys until she goes to bed. After that, you are on your own, Alpha.” She giggled into Tyson’s neck. I rolled my eyes. I was happy for Amanda, but my Wolf was insanely jealous we couldn’t hold our mate like that.

Thinking back to the car, there was something off. I haven’t spent enough time with Rosalie to know her habits, but when she looked out the window, there was a haze within her eyes that looked like she remembered something. A forgotten memory or one she was trying to shy away from was evident as her eyes started to glass over. Only by Amanda, who realized that Rosalie was about to cry, helped her to snap out of it. Everyone in the car saw it, and it embarrassed her that her mind had taken her somewhere else. This only made me more curious about her past and wanted to protect her. Was something after her, or was it just bad memories?

I looked over to Bruce, who had just walked into the kitchen, “Bruce?”

“Yes, Alpha?”

“I want a full background check on Rosalie,” I stated.

“What? Alpha, no, you shouldn’t do that,” Amanda interjected. There was silence from everyone, and Tyson pulled Amanda behind him.

“Don’t question me, Amanda; you know your place,” I said sternly. One who questions an Alpha can get in some serious trouble, and she knew it.

“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Amanda bowed her head as she spoke, “it is just, she has a lot of trust issues. If you go digging in her past and she finds out, will she really trust any of us?” Tyson looked at his mate in understanding. I was looking at the bigger picture, one where I needed to know if she was hiding from someone. The numerous locks on the door and the way Rosalie shied away from most people made me think she was hiding rather than just being scared of people in general. She would go to work and hotels to fix computers but stayed away from most crowded places. Another piece of the puzzle was missing.

“No, end of discussion Amanda, Bruce get started on it by tomorrow,” I said.

I could hear the light tiptoeing of little feet coming down the stairs. Something else I noticed about my mate, she was quiet when she walked. As if not to bother or disturb anyone. I’m grateful for the better hearing Werewolves have. Otherwise, she could walk in on any given conversation without us knowing, and that would be disastrous right now.

“We’re in the kitchen!” Amanda spoke up. The soft padding of her feet neared the door, and everyone waited for her to come in. She peeked her head in the door to see who all was in the kitchen and her eyes lit up once she came in. Inspecting everything she saw, I knew she thought it was huge. Hell, it was four times the size of her dingy apartment. As she was looking around, I noticed her attire.

She had tight black bike shorts that went halfway down her thigh and knee-high white socks with an oversized baby pink hoodie. Her hair was in a messy bun that helped me see the rest of her gorgeous face. If you weren’t looking for it, you might miss it, but she did have a few scars around the base of her neck and a few near the bottom of her shorts.

Several others noticed and let out a low growl knowing that their Luna had been in distress before her time here. Rosalie quickly looked up with her eyes wide, “D-did you hear that?! It sounded like growling!” she whispered. I noticed that a lot, she whispered. It was precious and cute and made me want to pay attention even more, so I never missed a sound.

“There are a lot of animals around the area, Lee. You are living in the middle of a forest now, you know,” Amanda chirped.

“Right, but it just sounded so close.” A brief shiver ran up her spine as she hugged herself. I hope it was my growl that gave her that.

“Amanda, I’m a bit hurt; you haven’t introduced me to your boyfriend?” Amanda looked at Tyson, and they both gave each other the biggest smiles.

“This is Tyson, Tyson, this is Rosalie––or Lee if you want to call her that.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tyson gruffed. I think that is the first time I’ve heard a complete sentence from the guy.

“Nice to meet you too, Tyson. How long have you guys been together? Must not be that long since you weren’t at her birthday last week?”

Amanda butted it, “Uh, yes, just recently. I’m not trying to keep you in the dark, Lee.” Amanda nervously chuckled.

“Hey, it’s your business; I’m just happy for you both!” Rosalie smiled happily.

The doorbell rang, knocking everyone out of their trance. “Pizza’s here!” Keith yelled as he ran out the door. The dumb bastard is always hungry. “Shall we go?” I lead Rosalie to our large entertainment room. The couches were the biggest you could buy; it was like a giant bed the way it wrapped around and several ottomans placed in front so everyone could relax their feet. The pizzas were brought in, and everyone began to dig in. Rosalie sat and watched as everyone grabbed their plates.

After I filled a plate with three pieces of pizza and a coke, I handed it to her. She looked at me questioningly, and I gave her another nod for her to take it. “I got it for you, Kitten. It’s alright.”

Whispering a quiet ‘thank you,’ she began to eat, and I sat beside her. Our Wolves want to serve and provide for their mates. If any other male had handed her a plate, it would be an insult upon me not providing for her.

After everyone had their fill, we decided to watch a movie; everyone wanted a horror movie. Still, I could tell that Rosalie was uneasy. “Rosalie? What would you like to watch?” I asked her. She thought for a moment, “A horror movie is fine, just not any with kids in it. I don’t like it when kids are in it getting scared or being part of the scaring.” She laughed.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Keith put in the movie. Every couple in the room had a blanket to share. Amanda and Tyson, Keith and Claire, and Bruce and Anna curled up on the couch, snuggling together. I grabbed the last blanket and threw it over our legs as I sat beside her. This was too perfect

Rosalie

The movie started, and I was really starting to feel insecure. I honestly hated scary movies, I’d only watched two before, and both times it freaked me out for days. I stayed in my apartment shivering under the blankets at night when I was on my own. When I was six and had watched the movie “It” with a relatively nice family. After being moved out of that foster home and with my foster dad, Derek, my entire life was a horror movie, so I didn’t care to watch any more after that. Not that I was allowed to anyway.

Everyone had a blanket around them and was paired up with their partners while I was stuck on the couch beside my boss. He was radiantly handsome, I must admit, and I couldn’t do a thing about it. Not that I should, or wanted to, or… I wasn’t really sure. The more time I spent with him, the stronger the feelings got, and it really scared me. He was so nice; I’m sure I’m just reading into it anyway. My body just craved a gentle human touch that I have been denied most of my life. That’s all that it was.

Jack reached behind the couch and pulled out a large blanket. “There is only one left; care to share?” He smirked while my face lit up like a stoplight.

“S-sure,” I mumbled, hardly audible. I came a little closer as he put the blanket over our legs that were hanging onto the ottoman when ominous music began to play.

This brought me to pay attention to the movie instead of the flaming hot man beside me. As the music started to fade and the intense scene started to arrive, I slid my knees up under my chin and held my legs close. I could feel Jack’s eyes burn into the side of my head. Between the movie and him staring, my heart was about to explode. As if my body stiffened, a jump-scare scene popped up on the screen and all the girls, including myself, screamed like our asses were on fire. I jumped so high that I landed on the ottoman in a defensive stance, ready to run while everyone, including the girls, started laughing at me.

Laughter filled my lungs when I realized what I had done in front of people that have only shown me kindness from the start. My mind was already hardwired for the flight of fear instead of the fight. Even Jack started laughing, then picked me up and set me back on the couch. He put me back under the blanket and scooted closer to me.

“Damn girl, I didn’t know you could jump so high!” Keith belted while his mate continued to laugh. “That was quite impressive!”

Amanda and Tyson had stopped laughing and continued to make out on the sofa, and soft m***s and hums came from their lips. Their hands started roaming around each other’s bodies, and I could have sworn Tyson’s hand went up to Amanda’s shirt. “Ew, get a room, you two!” I squealed while everyone started looking in their direction and laughing.

“Don’t mind if we do!” Tyson said with a grunted strain under his breath. He carried Amanda with her legs around his waist and out of the room while she laughed contagiously. Tyson was obviously aroused and only made my blush go all the way to my ears.

“What’s wrong? See something you didn’t like?” Keith whisper-yelled while his girlfriend smacked him in the chest. “What, I think it’s hilarious. She got so red.”

Both my hands went up to my face as I tried to hide. Jack put his arm around me and pulled both my hands away from my face. “Don’t hide that pretty face; Keith is just an a*s,” he chuckled and pulled his hands away. Me pretty? He was just so pretty. Can a guy be pretty?

After laughing and making a few more hard jokes about my impressive reflexes, the movie continued. I couldn’t help but feel safe with Jack and my surroundings, he was like a magnet, and his pull was getting stronger. Halfway through the movie, he scooted his entire body right up next to mine and put an arm around back behind the couch as if to spread his body to become comfortable. A contented sigh left my mouth, and I found I was no longer scared of the demon-like creature trying to escape the TV. In fact, I was comfortable––strangely comfortable. Like I was meant to be here. I don’t know that I’d ever felt that way about anywhere.

There had been so many sleepless nights with always having one eye open. The nightmares had made sure that I never got more than 2 hours of sleep at a time, and being just 19 years old, it was giving me wrinkles. As the movie progressed, my eyes started to drift. This wasn’t like me; falling asleep during a film or with any noise was next to impossible. It had to be completely quiet for me to sleep. Otherwise, I would think someone would come and grab me from my bed.

Taking one large blink of my eyes, or so I thought, the movie was over, and my head had tilted on Jack’s shoulder. Most of the couples were asleep from what I could see as I was batting my eyelashes. Looking up, I could see Jack was sleeping too. His steady breathing and the rhythm of his heart were sounds I would cherish.

My biggest decision right now was to stay and pretend to go back to sleep and enjoy this for as long as I could, or get up and go to bed. My heart tells me one thing while my mind tells me another. I can’t get close to anyone; what if my foster dad came back to get me? I’ve done so well hiding, and coming out here really has helped me. He could never find me. Right?

But what if he did find me? He would ruin anyone and everyone I ever came in contact with. Do I want to put all those that I am starting to care about in danger? My heart was breaking; most of my body had been broken, but what about my soul? It was all I had left. If that died, there would be nothing left. I would genuinely be a hollow shell of a person. My decision was made; I had to get up. Being meticulously slow, I unwrapped his thick, muscular arm from around me and placed a pillow in my stead. The blanket that he had me wrapped in was now wrapped around his own body.

I winced at the loss of his warm body against mine. I didn’t realize how cold it was in this house. Satisfied with my work, I tiptoed up the stairs and retreated to my bed, and curled up into the blankets. The soft pillow clouds engulfed me. Being warm was something I always craved, blankets in excess were heaven. However, I didn’t feel the warmth I thought I would have. Instead, I felt a weight sitting on my chest at the loneliness I felt in my bed.