Jude

I never believed in fate. Fate be damned. But since the moment fate brought in the only person that meant so much to me, I became a firm believer that what was meant to be would be and you couldn’t escape the fate woven for you.

And my fate was Rosie.

Through the week, I’d had a hard time holding my wolf at bay. The stubborn animal didn’t have an ounce of human thinking. He just wanted to spend time with his mate, scent her, claim her even when I tried to let it reason. Rosie was human and she would feel the mate bond slower than a werewolf.

At least she was already feeling the bond, I could tell—the way she leaned into me without realizing it, the way her heartbeat spiked when I got close, the way she caught her breath when our hands accidentally brushed. Fate had been weaving our bond together slowly but surely.

I was silently humming inside to be able to spend time with Rosie, my animal rolling in contentment just from walking beside her. I tried to stop staring at her like a creep but I couldn’t help it. My eyes kept finding her—in class, in the hallways, even now as we walked together. Like she was the fire and I was the moth attracted to her.

Rosie took my breath away with everything, even without even trying.

I wanted to possess everything of hers. Her little smile, her little unsure voice, the way she tucked her brown hair behind her ear, the way she fiddled with her fingers. To keep myself calm sometimes, not to behave like a caveman—beat my chest, howl and hurl my mate away to rut till oblivion—I settled with counting her inhales and exhales. In, out. In, out. The steady rhythm of her breathing. That calmed my wolf down. Barely.

I just wanted to tell her about myself being a werewolf, but I knew humans never sat well with what they didn’t know. I might scare her away even before courting her and I didn’t want that. I wanted to pull her closer, bury my nose in her jugular, scent her so that people would know she was taken, but I forced my hands to stay at my sides, forcing my wolf to behave. And started this mantra in my head whenever I felt my wolf wanted to move out of line.

The patient dog eats the fattest meat—I’d read that African proverb somewhere, and the foolish animal responded in a snarky gruff voice, I’m a wolf, not a dog. And I rolled my eyes. Semantics. The point still stood.

I knew I was a genius, thanks to my superior genes. I rarely went to class, didn’t need to, but since I knew we were taking a course together, I never missed class. Not once. It didn’t matter if I was exhausted from practice, it didn’t matter if the coach scheduled extra drills. I’d be there. I just wanted to be with my mate. In her space, in her orbit. Beside her, behind her, near her—everything.

God, I rubbed my face. Normally when a wolf found his mate, within three days the mate bond would be completed and they would claim each other. Bite, mark, consummate. It was instinct, natural, right. But I was different. My mate was another species.

I stood up and slung my bag on my shoulder as I waited for Rosie to pack her books.

Another class finished, but I didn’t hear a thing the professor said. All my attention was on my mate—how she bit her lower lip when she was concentrating, worrying it between her teeth until I wanted to reach over and soothe it with my thumb. How her brow furrowed when she was trying to get the concept the professor was talking about, those little lines appearing between her eyebrows. How she released a soft small huff sound whenever she made a mistake, barely audible but I caught it every time. And those made me smile, and I added those moments to my collection of memories about my mate.

"Where are you going now?" I asked even though I knew. I always knew.

Rosie stared at me incredulously before she turned. "Café," she responded in a duh voice, and stood up from her seat.

But I liked listening to her voice, her micro expressions. I loved everything. I waited for students to leave before we left, because I knew my mate hated crowds. She hated being the center of attention—I could tell from her body language, the way she shrank when students stared, the way her shoulders curved inward like she was trying to make herself smaller, invisible. But I couldn’t do anything about it because the students liked staring at me and it made my mate jumpy. I wished I could command them to take their eyes away, use my alpha authority to make them look anywhere else. But the school population was half wolf and human. Even if the wolves listened to my silent command, it couldn’t do anything to the humans who had no idea what I was.

I walked beside Rosie at her own pace, listened to her ramble about how hard the assignment was, and worried about how she would do it.

And my heart skipped—another opportunity for me to spend time with my mate.

"I can teach you if you want?" I offered, trying to sound casual even though my ears were flaming in shyness. Heat crept up my neck.

Rosie stopped walking completely and faced me with wide eyes, surprised like she couldn’t believe I was offering. "You’ll teach me?"

"Yes," I nodded, maybe too eagerly. "I’ve got a 4.88 GPA."

"whoa! You’re like a genius." And my wolf wagged its tail that our mate was proud of us, practically preening, and I smiled smugly despite myself. "When will you have time to teach me?"

"Anytime you pick is good for me," I responded as I stared at the blush creeping up her cheek, that pretty pink color spreading across her skin, and I wanted to nuzzle into that color, feel the warmth of it against my lips. I felt my pants tighten and I cleared my throat, looking away before she noticed.

"Okay..." she mumbled softly, that shy voice again. "What about after class before going to the café?"

"That’s okay by me," I said even though I knew after class, I had drills with the team. The coach was already pissed at me for the distracted practices. But fuck drills when my mate was there. Fuck hockey. Fuck everything that wasn’t her.

When we reached the familiar café for her shift, I felt a growl wanting to rip through me from parting with her, but I couldn’t do anything. My hands stretched unconsciously to hold her back, to hug her and tell her not to go, don’t leave, stay with me. But I couldn’t do that because I knew she loved her job and I couldn’t sound clingy when we hadn’t even defined our relationship.

It wasn’t even a relationship on her side. It was... maybe friendship.

Rosie stopped at the door and smiled, and that smile hit me square in the chest. "Thank you for walking me here," she said and I sucked in a breath, held it. I could breathe in her hesitation in her scent, that sweet anxious smell that told me everything. She too didn’t want me to leave. The feeling was mutual. So painfully mutual.

"You’re welcome."

"See you tomorrow." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

I nodded and lingered at the door like an idiot, watching her disappear through it, watching until I couldn’t see her anymore. And my wolf howled in pain from being parted from its mate, a mournful sound that echoed in my head, made my chest ache.

Soon, I promised both myself and my wolf. Soon she’ll know everything. Soon she’ll be ours.

I just had to be patient a little longer.