Fated Mates

by James Wolfe

  I wouldn’t have given him a second chance even if I had been single and still desperate for companionship. But I wasn’t anymore. Nobody could tear me away from Alexander. The best goddamn man in the world couldn’t distract me from my passion from him.

  And Rich was not the best man in the world, not even fucking close. He was basically nothing to me at this point. More than nothing after the way he’d treated me, in fact.

  “It’s over, Rich. If you thought you were going to come here and give some empty promises and win me back, you were wrong.”

  “They’re not empty!” he practically yelled. “I mean every word. Daniel, I don’t want to lose you. So, I’ll do whatever it takes so that I don’t have to.”

  “That’s not up to you anymore. I’m already lost to you. Seriously, just move on. If you want to quit drinking, good for you. But it’s not going to make me take you back. Now, please, leave my apartment. I need to get ready for work.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Where have you been the past week, anyway?”

  “That’s none of your business,” I told him.

  “Who were you with?” he continued.

  “Who said I was with anyone? Stop, just stop, and leave me the fuck alone.”

  “I do!” he bit suddenly. “I say you were with someone! You must have been! Otherwise… otherwise you wouldn’t be willing to throw me away so easily.”

  “You’re absolutely wrong! After how you treated me, of course I’d be willing to throw you away, regardless of whether or not I’d met someone!”

  “But you have, right?!” he yelled. “You have met someone!”

  “I didn’t fucking say that!” I snapped back.

  His jaw dropped. I wasn’t a good liar. He could see it in my eyes, that I really had found someone else.

  And he didn’t fucking like it.

  I saw the same fire in his eyes that I had that night in the woods, and terror rolled through me. All of a sudden, I felt incredibly unsafe again.

  And, really, I was probably a lot more unsafe than I had been that night in the woods. Because now Rich realized that he’d lost me. That I was not an option for him anymore.

  So, he really had nothing to lose by hurting me.

  “Please, please just go,” I begged him.

  But he didn’t. He stepped toward me, silently. Each step he took toward me was one I took back. Slowly, steadily. By the way he walked, you’d think he was calm, but I could see in his eyes that he really wasn’t.

  Before I could think of anything to say, I was backed up against the wall, and he was so close to me I could feel his breath on me.

  “Rich, just calm down—”

  “Oh, now you want me to be calm?!” he snapped, as his hands wrapped around my neck. Not enough to hurt me, he didn’t press down, but enough for my heart to start pounding in my chest.

  “Rich, yes, you need to relax—”

  “No! I have no fucking reason to relax! Because I just found out I lost my fucking man! I’ve lost everything! And I can’t see one single fucking reason for me to relax right now. Not a fucking one! You tell me, for what reason should I relax?”

  “Because… because you don’t want to lose your temper. Because you don't want to hurt me?” I stuttered out.

  “Oh…” he began to say slowly, “but I think I actually do.”

  Fuck, I was in so much fucking trouble.

  10

  Alexander

  Watching Daniel walk away had been one of the most nerve-wracking things I’d ever done. I couldn’t stand it. And, for every moment that he’d been gone, I’d been in a state of anxiety.

  But, I did my best to hide that from him so I didn’t influence his decision. And, I think I did a pretty good job of it. At least, while he’d been here. I was probably more noticeably disturbed now that he was away.

  Love felt so much more complicated than I’d ever thought it would. I was so happy, so passionately in love with my new mate, but it wasn’t all positive emotions. There was also a lot of worry mixed in with the love. I was constantly thinking about his well-being. It was just as important, if not more important, than my own. And that was something I was ill-prepared for.

  I knew it’d just be a few more days until I could see him again, but that seemed unbearable when I was counting every single minute. Since I only did guard work a few times a week, I didn’t have anything to occupy me right now.

  I tried to distract myself with cooking, but, of course, it only made me think of Daniel more. I had begun to learn his tastes in the week he was here, started to cook with him in mind. Now that he wasn’t here, I still found myself trying to season the food to his taste. I’d almost even found myself making breakfast this morning even though I didn't eat breakfast and made it solely for him.

  After I’d finished cooking, I heard a knock at my door and was grateful for the distraction.

  To my surprise it was our village doctor, Aaron, standing before me, looking both excited and a little frantic.

  “Aaron, hello—”

  “Hello!” he said it so fast he cut me off. “Is Daniel available?”

  And just like that, the distraction was gone, and I was reminded of the fact that he most certainly wasn’t around.

  “No… no, he went home.”

  He frowned. “He went home? But… but what does that mean? For, uh, your relationship, I mean.”

  I thought of it was weird for him to clarify. I’d never known Doctor Aaron to concern himself with the personal lives of others.

  “We are still in a relationship… kind of,” I began to explain. “It’s this human dating thing. We are together, but… it’s not like when wolves are together. He’s at his home now. He will be visiting me again soon, though.”

  “How soon?!” the doctor asked frantically.

  I didn’t understand the reason why he wanted to know so badly. “Uh, this weekend I believe?”

  “Can you get a hold of him sooner?” he asked.

  “I… I mean, I guess. I have his phone number and address, but I would need to go in to town to reach a phone. What is this about, exactly? Why do you want to know when Daniel is going to come back so urgently?”

  “I have to speak to him right away. It’s in regards to his test results.”

  “His test results? I didn’t know you were even running any real tests…” I felt my heart start to beat quickly in my chest. “Wait, is he hurt?! Is something wrong?”

  “No, not exactly. Or, I mean, maybe he will think it’s wrong… I’m not sure. With your relationship being so complicated.”

  “Well, tell me!” I said quickly. “Tell me right away, what’s going on?”

  He frowned. “I’m… I’m not sure I can.”

  “What? Why? I’m his mate. You’re always able to give mates information like this.”

  “Yes, normally I wouldn’t hesitate to give you your mate’s test results. But your relationship is so different than a normal one… it just feels like it’s something I should say to him individually first.”

  “Okay…” I said, trying to keep calm, though my anxiety was running rampant. “Well, is it urgent? Because he won’t be back until the end of the week?”

  “It’s… he should definitely know as soon as possible.”

  “So should I… I mean, okay,” I tried to take a deep breath and think. My brain was going a mile a minute. “I know we have a weird relationship. I know it is unconventional in our culture, but he is still my mate. I am still responsible for his safety, and it is killing me right now not to know what’s wrong with him. So, please, just tell me.”

  He took in a deep breath. “Okay, I wasn’t expecting this to happen at all, and, at the very least, not quite so soon. But, I ran a test anyway just to be sure, and…” he hesitated, looking down, as if questioning again whether or not he should tell me.

  “And?” I continued to pressure him.

  “And, he’s pregnant.”

  My jaw dropped. “…Wh
at?”

  “Daniel is pregnant,” he repeated.

  I didn't know what to say, didn’t know what to think. I felt like I was barely processing this information.

  “It’s… he’s… it’s possible for him to be pregnant?!”

  “I didn’t know prior to this, but apparently, yes. Evidently, humans are capable of carrying our children, too.”

  I had let go of the idea that I’d be able to have my own biological children. Sure, I may have had a few moments of fantasizing about it since finding out that Daniel was my mate, but, ultimately, I hadn’t believed it could really happen. I didn’t think it was actually possible.

  And, I’d been okay with it. Really, I had been. I’d wanted kids, but I could learn to live without them with Daniel by my side. I could live to learn without anything to be with Daniel. He meant everything to me, he really, really did.

  But, now I was learning not only is it possible, but… it was happening?! It was happening right now!?

  And, on the one hand, this filled me with joy, but, on the other, it filled with me dread. Because I hadn’t even had a chance to explain pregnancy to Daniel.

  There was so much about my village and my culture to explain that I hadn’t gotten around to that part yet. I’d never even told him that males got pregnant in our species. And, if I’d thought for a second it was possible that he could get pregnant, I would have told him immediately! And I would have been a lot safer about our sex!

  Now, I had to explain how we had children, and, at the same, time explain that it was happening to him right now, immediately!

  He’d already been scared off by the commitment aspect of our relationship. So, how was he going to react to this? It was like basically being forced to commit. He didn’t even know if he really wanted to be with me yet! At least, not if he wanted to be with me for the rest of our lives.

  I sunk in to my chair.

  “I know it’s complicated,” Aaron began, “and, I’m sorry because I don’t know how to break this news properly. Usually when I tell someone they are pregnant, it is always a joyous occasion…”

  “I’m not sure how he’s going to feel about this,” I admitted, wishing so badly to be a part of one of those couples that could feel only joy at a time like this.

  “I know. And that’s why you need to go to him as soon as possible. You two need to talk. I don’t think it should wait until the weekend, considering how quickly things progress.”

  Yes, that was another thing. A human female pregnancy lasted a very long, excruciating nine months. But our pregnancies only lasted three. Each month was considered a trimester, and the pregnancy symptoms seemed to move along fast. We also became impregnated faster and could be tested for impregnation within hours of conceiving.

  “Yes… okay, yes, I’m going to go to him,” I said determinedly. “I’m just going to have to talk to him about this.”

  And, once I’d made the decision to go, I didn’t actually feel so bad about it. Because I didn’t really want to be one of those couples where things were completely joyous. I didn’t want anything except exactly what Daniel and I had, as complicated as it may be. He was my life now, and all I wanted him to be was my family.

  Still, I hoped he would take this news well. I prayed he wouldn’t be furious at me for not telling him sooner and that he’d be able to see what a miracle this actually was for us, being able to have children despite the fact that were a different species.

  “Good, yes, go to him,” Aaron said immediately, as he took a small envelope from his back pocket. “Here, here is some human money so you can get a taxi to his place. Use the phone at the bar at the edge of the forest to call.”

  We didn’t keep a lot of human money, but it was more than enough for emergencies when we had to go out in to the human world, though it didn’t happen often. We simply acquired it by occasionally taking our produce to human farmers’ markets. Again, not very often, only whenever our stash of human money was running low.

  “Thank you so much!” I said to him. “Wish me luck.”

  He smiled. “Good luck. And for what it’s worth, Alexander, I think this is all going to work out.”

  How deeply I wished the same.

  11

  Daniel

  I’d only known fear like this once before, and that had been in the forest the night I’d met Alexander. Except the difference between that night and this night was that a wolf wasn’t going to come to my rescue. My soul mate wasn’t going to show up because he could smell my scent and then save me from the monster that was Rich.

  It sounded dramatic, considering Rich had only gotten physical with me once, but I couldn’t help but feel that my death was a possibility here. The way he was looking at me like I wasn’t human, the fact that he knew there was someone else, that I wasn’t going to ever come back to him. It felt like he knew he had nothing to lose.

  And I wasn’t fucking ready to die.

  I felt like my life was only barely starting. I’d only barely met the love of my life, barely realized that my path in life was leading me away from everything I’d ever known. I was supposed to be with Alexander, that was what was going to give me happiness, and I hadn’t even had a chance to achieve that yet.

  And oh, god, poor Alexander! What was going to happen to him if I died?!

  He had waited his whole life to meet his mate. Slowly, he’d begun to lose hope that I was even out there. If I died just a week after we met… it would destroy him. Absolutely devastate him. And, since, in his eyes, I was the only one out there for him, he would never recover. He’d never move on.

  “Rich, please—”

  “Don’t!” he screamed out, his hands still around my neck. “Don’t beg me. It isn’t going to do a goddamn thing. The only fucking thing that’s going to help you now is if you tell me the truth! The whole goddamn truth! Who is he?!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I yelled back.

  “Don’t lie!!” There weren’t even words for the terrifying tone of his voice. It was like a growl. It shook me to core.

  “Please, please, Rich—”

  “Who is he?!” he repeated again.

  “His name is Alexander!”

  I knew admitting it was going to be a mistake. I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth. But my dumb ass still did it, still said the fucking words out loud like a fucking idiot.

  And the resulting fury came almost instantaneously.

  His hands tightened around my neck, tightened so hard I could feel myself losing my breath.

  “How the fuck could you already be with another fucking man?! It’s been one fucking week!”

  I didn’t have time to answer him, not that I could have with his hands around my neck this way, but, in any case, we were very quickly interrupted when I heard my door fling open.

  I couldn’t see who it was, not when pinned against the wall this way by Rich, and I had no idea who it could be. A neighbor who’d heard us making noise, maybe? But, either way, I was instantly filled with relief.

  “Who the fuck—” I heard Rich say before his hands quickly left my neck.

  It took me a second to process what had happened, but, when I realized just who had Rich pinned on the floor, my jaw dropped.

  “Alexander?!” I gasped.

  “This is the man?!” Rich started flailing against him, trying to get a swing in, but Alexander had his arms pinned to the floor, and, no matter how much he rocked around, Alexander’s strength was far too great for him.

  “How dare you put your hands on him!?” Alexander snapped.

  “Get the fuck off me!” he yelled. “And don’t fucking speak to me about him! You know nothing about him! You’ve known him a fucking week, he’s not fucking yours!”

  “He is!” Alexander screamed. “You are nothing to him, less than nothing, and you will never put your fucking hands on him again!”

  His screaming was beginning to sound more and more intimidating. A lot scarier th
an the way Rich had yelled at me a second ago, and that was pretty terrifying. I would be shaking right now if I were Rich. The only reason I wasn’t was because I knew this anger was not directed at me.

  “Get off,” Rich said, but this time he wasn’t yelling. I could tell he feared Alexander. He said it in a cool, monotone voice.

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t rip you apart right now,” Alexander continued to yell menacingly, ignoring Rich’s attempts to deescalate.

  “Alexander!” I yelled at him.

  He jerked his head toward me. “He was going to hurt you! He was going to hurt you again! I can’t let him get away with that!”

  “You have to!” I said. “Don’t stoop to his level of violence. Come on, you need to breathe. He was going to hurt me, but he really didn’t. You need to let him go.”

  I could see how torn Alexander was. Torn between his desire to make Rich pay for what he’d done and his desire to give me whatever I wanted.

  “I will not let you go until you promise me you will never lay on a hand on him again!” Alexander said, after turning his attention back to Rich. “That you won’t even ever come near him again! He is done with you! And if you can’t get the hint with his words, I will show you with my fists.”

  “Fine!” Rich snapped. “Fine, what the fuck ever, he’s not worth it anyway!”

  It was Rich’s way of trying to keep some of his pride when I knew he now had none. He was going to act like he didn’t care if he couldn’t have the leg up on Alexander.

  But that didn’t exactly work for Alexander. Any insult to me sent him in to protective mode once again.

  “He’s worth everything! He is absolutely everything that is beautiful about this world! Take it back!”

  “No!” Rich got the courage to spit back.

  I could see Alexander’s grip tightening on Rich’s arms, his fingers digging into him.

  “Let go of me!” Rich said, as he started writhing under Alexander.

  “Not until you take it back! Take it back immediately!”