6. Drew

Iwas pretty sure I messed up. That wasn’t my intention, but Sebastian’s scent changed. I’d upset him. I thought about what I’d said but didn’t think I’d said anything wrong. “What’s wrong?” I asked. It did no good to wonder when I could simply speak up and ask. Would he answer? Would he be truthful?

“You may not have intended for it to, but you sound as if you’ve resigned yourself to your fate, despite it not being what you wish. I would never force you to do something you do not want, Drew. If you do not wish to be mated to me, or to anyone for that matter, I of all people will not force you to let me claim you.”

Is that what he thought? No wonder he seemed upset. “I want a mate, Sebastian.” I sighed. Already I was messing things up. Wonderful. “I’m sorry you think I don’t. I do, I promise. I just…I feel like you deserve better. I barely finished school. College was out of the question. And now I work at the council store because some alphas still cause me anxiety.” I wanted more, but I’d been comfortable at the council store, and they hadn’t seemed like they were in a hurry for me to move on.

“I don’t care about any of those things, Drew. Only that you are happy and well cared for. I have more than enough to support us financially for the rest of our lives. Then some, actually. I do not need anything from my One except the desire to be with me.”

Could that truly be enough though? It could. I’d seen it over and over. Philip and Phineas. Neither they nor Roman had a whole lot simply because they’d spent so much time running from the insane man that killed their mother. Oscar had to start over. So did Chase. So many had to start over. And even if I had a family growing up, I was well over a hundred years younger than my mate. It wasn’t expected that we would be at the same point in our lives as one another.

“I never meant to make you feel as if I wasn’t invested in this,” I said, pointing back and forth between us. I groaned because what little light we had seemed to disappear when a cloud covered the moon. “Is it possible to go somewhere else? But still private? I can see you, but barely, and I have a feeling you can’t see me at all.”

“I can see your aura, but yes, we can go somewhere else to talk. Did you want to find a private table at an outdoor café? Or go somewhere else?”

“Can we just go back to Montana?” I asked. I hated doing so, but it was the middle of the afternoon there, and everywhere on Treasure Ridge was a safe place for us to talk about all of this. “It’s not that I don’t want to see Barcelona. I do. We can maybe come back after we talk?” I didn’t want Sebastian to think that his efforts weren’t appreciated. They were. “This is nice. So sweet and romantic. But I want to see you. I want to be able to look into your eyes while we talk about these things.”

“Sure. We can go back to Montana.” Sebastian reached out, and when he touched my leg, my stomach did that flip again. We were now sitting on the ground in a clearing. It was definitely daytime, and when I looked around, I was able to pick up on the fact that we were on Treasure Ridge. “We’re home?”

Sebastian tilted his head to the side. “If Montana is your home, then yes, we are. The council building is about a twenty-minute walk in that direction,” Sebastian said, pointing behind me. I turned, wondering if I’d be able to recognize the area, but nope.

“Where are we, then?”

“The dragons live just over there,” Sebastian said, pointing to his left, my right. I looked that way but couldn’t see anything but trees surrounding us. “You mentioned you wanted privacy. Will this not do? It’s private. We won’t be disturbed.”

I looked around again. “Aren’t we trespassing?” I went running a few times in my cheetah form, but we never ventured far from the council building.

“No. This area is for everyone to use. Have you not explored the mountaintop?”

I shook my head. “I’ve gone running, if that’s what you’re asking. But only with Roman. And we don’t normally go too far from the house. Usually just within minutes of the store at most.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Why? The entire mountaintop is open to everyone here. Obviously, don’t go peeking into windows of houses, but there is so much space here for you to explore.”

“Have you?” I asked. Sebastian wasn’t a shifter, so he couldn’t go nearly as far or fast as a shifter could. Right?

“I’ve explored some. Probably more than you from the sound of things.” Sebastian pointed over to his left. “We’ve had some fun with magic just over there.”

I looked to my right but still saw nothing. I readjusted how I was sitting. I stretched my legs out in front of me after I turned to my right a little more. “Do you like being an enforcer?” I asked.

“I do.” Sebastian chuckled and shook his head. “I was actually in the family business before. Being an enforcer is so much more engaging.”

“Yeah? What does your family do?”

Sebastian sighed. “Father has a law firm. Nothing personal, more business transactions and dealings. Lots of suites, stuffy meetings, things of that nature.”

A lawyer. My mate was a lawyer. Could our differences become any more drastic? I heard noise off behind me and turned to look in that direction. Once I did, Sebastian seemed to understand.

“Is something wrong?”

“There’s someone coming,” I told him. “Several someones, it sounds like.”

Sure enough, moments later, there was a group that came running into the clearing. Sebastian chuckled. “It’s the hellhounds.”

I glanced from my mate to the group of canine-looking shifters. There was a gorgeous jaguar with them, as well as a large lion. They seemed a bit out of place, but I wasn’t going to question it.

“Brice and Ledger are with them as well. Which means that Atticus and Damien are there in the group.”

I had no real clue who he was actually referring to. I’d heard the name Atticus before. And I was sure I’d met Damien a time or two but couldn’t be certain.

When one of the hellhounds stopped directly in front of us, it took a lot for me to not shy away. They were massive. So much larger than any wolf shifter I’d ever seen. When he suddenly shifted, I immediately recognized the man who was now crouching down on the ground. I’d seen him walking around the grounds near the council building before.

“Atticus,” Sebastian said.

“Sebastian,” he replied. Then his eyes focused on me. “And you must be Drew.”

“Umm…yeah,” I said. I moved a bit closer to Sebastian, wondering how he knew my name. I couldn’t remember ever talking to him before.

“Word has spread about you finding your One. Congratulations,” Atticus said.

“Thank you. We were just having our first date,” Sebastian said. “Which you and your pack are interrupting.”

Atticus chuckled. “Noted. We’ll be on our way. We were just out for a quick run before we go back out on assignment.”

Sebastian leaned to his right a bit before he sat back up. “Warwick is off already, then? With Frederick?”

“Yes. They left about an hour ago. They should be back tomorrow at the latest. The rest of us though, we’ll be gone a bit longer.”

“I wish you all well on your assignment.”

Atticus grinned. “You’re most likely going to be having more fun, but that’s expected. Try not to let too many interfere just yet,” Atticus said before he looked directly at me. “It’s nice to meet you, Drew. Warwick said West told him you have amazing aim when it comes to chucking books.”

Immediately, I felt my face heat. West. That’s why that name sounded familiar. He was the wolf shifter that I’d been throwing books and anything else I could get my hands on when new men suddenly appeared and tried to rescue us. I had no way of knowing that they were there to rescue us though.

“I still feel bad about that,” I said, embarrassed.

“Don’t,” Atticus said. He chuckled. “Just throw something at Seb here if he gets out of line,” Atticus told me.

My mouth dropped open, horrified. I would never. Sebastian started laughing. Atticus winked at me before he was suddenly a massive beast with flames in his eyes. He trotted over to the others, who had been sitting not too far away. Atticus walked right up to the enormous lion, and they seemed to share a moment before, as a group, they all took off, disappearing into the trees in seconds.

I was almost afraid to look at Sebastian, but I needed him to know that I wasn’t normally abusive. Throwing books or stupidly heavy figurines wasn’t something I normally did.

“All right,” Sebastian said once he stopped laughing. “I have got to hear all about this. Do tell how it is that my One chucked a book at West. Please. And how is Warwick involved?”

I bit my lower lip before taking a deep breath. “It wasn’t really intentional. We were being held captive in this house. I thought that he was just some new guy that was there to force us to shift and then shove us into cages again. Abel was sleeping and wouldn’t wake up and had been that way for way too long. Tyler had already been drugged and was weakening by the moment. I knew from experience that once they had all of us drugged and locked in cages, they were going to ship us off. So I decided that I wasn’t going to submit without a fight. I grabbed the first thing I could find, which happened to be a hardback book. That seemed to enrage him when it connected with his upper arm. The next thing I happened to grab was this hideous marble bookend. I tossed it, then a lamp, and then threw two more books in quick succession. I’m not sure how Warwick is involved. I don’t really remember that name being mentioned.”

“Oh, that’s classic,” Sebastian said. “I’m proud of you,” he told me, surprising me.

“What? Why? I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes you did. You fought against an unknown opponent. I’ve seen West. I’ve been on assignments with him, and he can be quite intimidating. You didn’t let that stop you. You fought with whatever you could find. I’m proud of you for that.” Sebastian reached out and touched my upper arm.

I couldn’t help but blush. I couldn’t remember anyone ever telling me they were proud of me before. Dr. Bennett had said he was proud of the progress I’d made, but that had been the closest anyone had ever said something even close.

“Thank you,” I mumbled. I reached out to the grass beside me and started tugging at it as my vision blurred.

“Drew? Would you look at me? Please?”

I took a deep breath and looked up at my mate.

“Why are you crying?” Sebastian reached out but quickly pulled his hands back when I closed my eyes. “Sorry. I only meant to comfort you.”

I opened my eyes and felt another tear fall. “I didn’t do anything. Honestly. I just didn’t want any of us to be shipped off. I knew what would happen if we were. We’d all heard them talking about how popular Abel especially was going to be.”

Sebastian nodded. “I’m not sure why. Most likely because he’s incredibly tiny and so much easier to dominate over.” I nodded, then swiped at my eyes and took several deep breaths. “Drew?” I looked back at Sebastian. “Can I give you a hug? If you’re not comfortable with that, I understand.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand you, Sebastian. I’m all right if you want to give me a hug,” I told him. “I was leaning into your side earlier. I said I was all right with us claiming one another. I’m not sure how easy it will be for the sex aspect of that, but I’m definitely willing to try.”

I leaned forward and slid my arm around Sebastian’s waist. As I’d noticed earlier, he was incredibly slender. But I could feel the strength in him as well. When Sebastian’s arms wrapped around my shoulders, I basically melted into him. Sebastian held me tightly, and I felt a calmness come over me. His touch was so different than Monroe’s. I’d hugged Abel and Tyler before as well. And, of course, Philip and Phineas. Roman wasn’t really the touchy kind with anyone other than his brothers, but I understood that completely.

Sebastian though, he felt safe. He felt comfortable and like I was supposed to be here with him like this. It was nice. That made it sound insignificant. That wasn’t the case at all. He was everything—would become my everything.

“I am proud of you,” Sebastian said again.

I sat up, pulling from his embrace. I needed to see his face. When I met Sebastian’s blue eyes, there was a moment of panic. It was going to be so easy to fall for the gorgeous warlock. I needed to take things slow though. At least with my heart.

“You are the first person to ever be proud of me, and that means a lot.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened. “Nobody has ever said that to you before? Honestly?”

I shook my head. “Not many who grow up in the system have good families. Mine were either abusive or indifferent. I preferred the indifferent ones, honestly. At least they usually fed me, although it never seemed to be enough. I was always hungry, which is why I had so many different families. I had one who actually locked me in my bedroom at night so I couldn’t sneak down and have a snack.”

I saw Sebastian’s face harden. “Who are they? They will pay for treating you like that. No child, shifter or human, should ever be treated like that.”

I sighed before I leaned forward and laid my forehead on Sebastian’s shoulder. “It doesn’t matter, Sebastian. There were several families that were like that. Not the locking me in my room, but who would call and have me taken back because I just kept eating. Or that I didn’t help out enough around the house.” I snorted at that memory. “That meant I didn’t do all of the housework fast enough for them.” There were nice foster families. They did exist. There were horrible ones though, unfortunately. That was why the group home was actually so much better. “It’s in the past,” I told him. I sat up and smiled. “Let’s leave that part of the past there. It’s miles away, and it can stay there.”

Sebastian looked like he wanted to argue, but a large shadow suddenly covering us had us both looking up. I stared at the sight in awe. I, of course, knew there were dragons here. I had never seen any in that form though.

Sebastian looked back at me and grinned. “If Reinhold and Emmerich are flying around, it must be quitting time. Well, that and with Atticus and his pack running, it’s definitely quitting time. The fact that Emmerich is flying with his brother tells me that it really is since he’s mated to Master Ambrosius.”

I recognized Reinhold’s name. “Reinhold is mated to Chase. He was talking to me earlier. He and Oscar were trying to convince me that it would be all right, that mating with you would work out perfectly.”

Sebastian’s smile faded a little, but not completely. “I won’t hurt you, no. I’m willing to wait things out and take it slow. We can see what each new day brings us, and I hope that eventually you will trust me completely.”

“I already trust you,” I told him. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at me, and I scowled. Of course he could do that. I had absolutely zero ability to do that, even a little. No, my eyebrows had a mind of their own, and if one was going up, the other was as well. “It’s true,” I said. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have gone off to Barcelona with you. I told you then I trusted you. I do. You’re my mate, and you won’t hurt me. I know that. I’m ready for this.” Would he believe me? I wasn’t sure.

“One day at a time,” Sebastian said in response.

I nodded because that was all I could do. I pulled away a little more and then rolled to my knees and then my feet. I brushed off my ass and the backs of my legs. They were covered in not only sand but dirt and grass now as well.

“Going somewhere?” Sebastian asked. He stood, and I could only shake my head. He looked absolutely perfectly put together. His slacks were still clean and crisp, and his button-down was unwrinkled, despite probably being the one he was wearing earlier when I’d first met him at the store.

“Well, you mentioned it was quitting time,” I told him. “And I might not have a watch on, but my stomach is telling me that it is probably getting close to supper time. You said the council building is a twenty-minute walk that way,” I said, pointing in the direction Sebastian had said earlier. “That means I’m probably twenty-five minutes from home. I should probably start that way if I hope to have supper while it’s still hot.” I knew that Roman was most likely already home, also that there was no way that Abel and Tyler hadn’t shared with him that I’d met my mate. I also knew that they wouldn’t be expecting me for supper, so the chances of me getting something hot to eat with them were slim to none. But I was more than capable of cooking myself supper.

“You’re upset,” Sebastian said.

I shook my head and stopped brushing off my pants. “No. I’m simply doing as you suggested. One day at a time. I feel as if we’ve already learned quite a bit about one another already. Perhaps we can learn a little more tomorrow.” I started walking in the direction I needed to go and took several deep breaths, trying to keep myself from crying. Damn omega hormones. I figured they’d eventually reveal themselves. Sebastian was my mate; he was my alpha, and things were mucked up between us already. I didn’t want for him to do anything he wasn’t ready for simply because of omega emotions.

Sebastian’s hand on my wrist stopped me. When he tugged, I was forced to take a step backward, and then I found myself spun around. “I don’t want you leaving until we are on the same page,” Sebastian said. His hands came up, and when he placed them on my shoulders, he leaned in and slowly lowered his face closer to mine. I couldn’t help but close my eyes when his lips touched my forehead. “Don’t be mad, Drew. I want nothing more than to take you home with me and get to know every inch of your body. I would love nothing more than to show you just how amazing sex could be. But I need you to be there with me completely. And right now, I’m not sure you would be.”

“Then it’s definitely time for me to go home,” I told him. I stepped away and looked up at my mate sadly. “I would very much be in agreement with becoming yours. But it seems like you have expectations that I’m not meeting, therefore I will say thank you for the date, Sebastian. You know where I live and are welcome to contact me again when you’re ready for another.” I turned and started walking. Sebastian was suddenly in front of me, and I gave him a glare before stepping around him. Only he wouldn’t allow me.

I felt my cheetah rising within my chest, and although I knew Sebastian wouldn’t intentionally hurt me, his action had stung a little. Deciding that the loss of my clothing would be worth it, I leapt to the side, letting my cheetah push out in a blink. At least that was something that I had somehow mastered in a hurry. My body was transformed in an instant, and I heard a gasp behind me seconds before all four paws hit the ground. I took off, thankful for the agility of my cheetah. I had no doubt that Sebastian would show up again, but right now, I needed some space to figure out how I could convince him that I was ready for a mate. Being in this form had always helped in recent months, so I figured, why not now?