Warring Mates

“How’s the training going?” my dad asked, sipping from his water.

Awful was what I wanted to say. Yesterday Evie kicked my ass. She dodged every punch, every kick… It was as if she knew my movement before I even thought of it. Not even with my weapon could I land a hit.

She, on the other hand… She threw me across the room as if I weighted nothing. Without weapons or magic. And I still couldn’t believe it. They were in a whole other league.

“Lexi.” Dad squeezed my shoulder, hauling me out of my thoughts.

“No idea. Ask Silas.” A concise but full answer.

My gramps snorted. “How is it going with that patience of yours?”

“Couldn’t go better,” I bit back, playing with my food. Eating wasn’t on my mind. And neither was being friendly.

“You need to eat something, honey,” my mom said, her hand covering mine.

I pulled my hand back. “I’m not hungry.”

“We will find him, I promise,” she said, and she was about to say something else. But I didn’t let her.

I dropped my fork, leaving the table. Promises wasn’t what I needed. He could be dead for all we knew. Buried beneath the ground—untraceable.

I cried out, punching this wall. The shock reverberated into my arm, my knuckles cracking. They were sure to bruise.

“Lexi?”

“Not now, Evie,” I growled, magic coursing through my veins, the cracks in my wall growing.

“Are you all right?” She attempted to touch me, but pulled her hand back when I glared at her.

“I said not now!” My headache worsened, jolts of pain traveling through my body.

Poor girl. She doesn’t deserve this. Losing someone.

“I don’t need your pity,” I rasped, clutching my head. Too many voices.

“I have no idea what you are talking about…” She really is losing her mind—

“Shut up!” I dashed away, my breathing laboured as my legs carried me away. Out of the palace. The garden. The woods. So far, I even lost myself when I dropped to the ground.

“Shut up,” I whined, rocking myself. “Please…”

The cracks in my wall worsened with each second. Repairing them was fruitless. Every time one disappeared, two more came. It all came crumbling down. Everything.

“Lexi…”

Goddess—not him. Anyone but him.

“Go away,” I whimpered, my voice barely heard.

His hands clasped my shoulders. “Listen to my thoughts.”

I shook my head. His help… I didn’t need it.

Breathe

An order—primal. Just like the beast inside of him.

Yet, involuntarily, I did as he said. As if my body had its own mind.

In… out…

My thoughts settled, his voice the only one I heard. The rest… disappeared. Turning into white noise.

Again.

The crumbled wall builded up once again. My mind, my own again.

“I’m fine.” I shrugged his hands off, scrambling off the ground, and walked back to the palace without looking back.

“It’s dangerous for you to be all alone out here.”

“Jack ass,” I said under my breath. The nerve he had. Lecturing me while he was the one who rejected me.

A growl echoed through the woods—feral. One that let me know not to say anything stupid. Too bad that word wasn’t in my dictionary.

I turned on my heels, poking his chest with each word as I said, “You. Are. An. Ass.”

My back hit the tree hard, my heart in my throat as his canines scraped over my neck. I stilled completely, not daring to move an inch. His beast was in control and I didn’t want to end up with a mark on my neck. Though my beast wouldn’t mind. She yipped inside my head.

“Collin,” I whispered, my fingers stroking his arm. “Don’t do something you will regret.”

He pulled back, his forehead touching mine. And for a moment, the way his eyes gazed into mine, I thought he would kiss me.

But he didn’t…

Instead, he shifted and ran off into the woods, leaving me on my own.

My shoulders slumped. “Why can’t you just accept me?” A broken laugh left my mouth. Why did I even care about him?

I strolled back to the palace, kicking a stone away, my feet dragging me to the small pond. The one where my dad asked my mom to marry him. It was their favourite spot and after a while it became mine too. We had so many fun memories of this place. Watching the full moon reflect off the water, the falling stars in the night sky. They were all so precious to me.

“Lexi…”

My head whipped to my mom, who had a bright smile on her face, and tears gathered in my eyes. “You—”

She nodded her head, sitting next to me. “We found him.”

I lunged myself into her arms. “Thank the stars,” I cried as she stroked my back. “Where did you find him? I thought you didn’t know where the creatures resided.”

“We didn’t. Some guards found him wounded in the woods.”

“He’s wounded!” I yelled, ripping myself out of my mom’s embrace.

“He is fine,” she said, but I didn’t listen as I scrambled from the ground. “You’re making it bigger than it is!”

“I don’t care,” I yelled back. He was alive and here. That’s all what mattered.

Within five minutes, his room came into view, and I stormed inside, my eyes landing on my best friend. Bandages covered his left arm, his chest, his right hand. Not to mention the bruises on his body. He looked horrible. As if they had tortured him.

“Don’t ever do something like that ever again,” I sobbed, lunging in his arms. “Ever again.”

“What? Getting kidnapped?” he joked as he hugged me back with the same intensity. “I’ll try.”

A tear rolled down my cheek as I hit his shoulder. “I mean it, Lachlan. You have no idea how worried I was...” My voice cracked at the end, remembering the nights I spent crying.

“Hey...” He wiped a tear away, cupping my cheek as he looked me in the eye. “I’m safe. A bit peachy, but safe.”

“What if you weren’t,” I breathed out, touching the nasty bruise on his jaw.

“Have a little faith in me, bunny,” he whispered, our noses brushing against each other.

I closed my eyes, a smile tugging at my lips. “You just had to bring up that nickname, didn’t you?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“What?” I breathed out, my eyes fluttering open. His eyes, swirling with an emotion I could not name, were fixated on my lips and a heat spread through my body as his lips touched mine ever so slightly.

“A kiss,” he murmured against my lips.

Tingles spread through my body, a haze clouding my mind as fire coursed through my veins, urging me to take it farther. So I did. I pressed my lips against his, my tongue darting into his mouth as my fingers gliding up from his chest to his hair where I entangled them.

“Lachlan,” I moan as his lips explored my neck, surely leaving bruises. It drove me insane with want. Even to the point it scared me. “Wait…” My beast…

He pulled back, his eyes searching mine. Worry… fear… It all flickered inside his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He touched my cheek, catching an escaped tear. “Is it Collin? I know he is here because of that meeting. Or is it that fight we had before? It was a stup—”

A broken chuckle escaped my mouth. “It’s none of that. And that fight…”

“I shouldn’t have pushed you.” He kissed my temple. “Collin is your mate, and I understand that you need time.”

“Well, about that…” I leaned my head against his chest, his heartbeat calming me down. “Seeing him here again, it made me realise how much of an ass he is.”

His chest vibrated with laughter. “And it only took you two years?”

I swatted his chest. “Shut up.”

“If it wasn’t Collin and neither the fight, then what scared you?” he whispered in my ear. A soft caress that had a shudder going through me,

“It’s my beast…” I breathed out, relaxing in his hold. “I’ve never felt her this present, and it’s scaring me.” She sat on the forefront of my mind, watching and purring.

He rested his chin on top of my head. “Are you scared to shift?”

“No… I mean…” I shook my head. “I don’t know, honestly. Mom told me it didn’t hurt that much, but still.”

His fingers trailed over my back in a soothing pattern, his breath tickling my head. “Just think of all the positive things you will get out of this. You can hunt together with your mom. You’ll be stronger and faster.”

“If you say it like that…” Those couple seconds of pain didn’t sound so bad now. Not when I would have a lifetime of pleasure from it. “Oh Goddess,” I squeaked, pushing myself off him as he jumped up.

“What?” he said, his voice louder than first.

A blush crept upon my cheeks as reality downed on me. I hadn’t even thought about that. “Well… I don’t… By the stars,” I stammered. Now that my beast was showing herself more frequently, it didn’t just mean that I would shift…

“Lexi…” He touched my shoulder, worry in his eyes.

“I will shift soon,” I said—each word slow and careful. “And Collin rejected me as his mate…”

His eyes darted to the window. “Okay… No pressure.”

“You’re panicking,” I mumbled, my heart breaking, and my vision blurred..

“I just…” He sighed out. “We are both young Lexi and I… I—”

“Like you said, no pressure,” I whispered as I touched his cheek feather lightly with my fingers. “Who knows? Maybe it takes a couple months before I shift and another couple before I go insane. That is, if you still want me…” I dropped my hand. What if he didn’t want me like that?

“Of course I want you.” He cupped my cheek. “And mating doesn’t seem that bad… Even though we are both young,” he added, an awkward chuckle leaving his mouth.

“Maybe I should go…” I slipped off the bed, my head low. Even my best friend didn’t want me, speaking as if mating was the worst thing in his mind.

He grabbed my arm, wincing. “Don’t go.”

“Why not?” I forced out. And tears were on the verge of spilling when I spoke the next part, “it’s not like you want me.”

“Lexi, that’s not true,” he said, his voice stern. “It’s just overwhelming. Which doesn’t mean that I don’t want you.”

I sat on the edge of his bed, my head in my hands. Maybe I overreacted a bit. “This sucks,” I murmured. If my beast hadn’t chosen Collin as my mate, I wouldn’t have to worry about this.

“Come here.” He circled his arms around my waist, kissing the crook of my neck. “We will figure it out, but let’s just relax for now. Enjoy each other’s company.”

Nestling myself in his arms, I breathed in his scent, his heartbeat lulling me to sleep—almost. “What can you remember of those creatures?”

A shudder went through him. “It’s all a blur, actually. The only thing I can remember was the coldness and the smell of moss.”

I pushed myself off his chest, our eyes connecting. “Anything else?”

“Not really.” He inclined his head, deep in thought. “Well… There were these murmurs. They talked about something, but I don’t really know what. The only word I could make out was shifter.”

“And your escape?”

“The creatures left for some reason, and I saw that as my chance to escape. Though not entirely unscathed. One stayed behind and I didn’t notice it was following me until a couple minutes.” He held onto me tighter, breathing in my scent as if he wanted to calm himself. “But when did this turn into an interrogation?”

“It didn’t.” I laid down, drawing patterns over his chest. “I’m glad you are safe.”