A Mate's Healing Touch: A Valentine's Day Wolf-Shifter Romance

by Cara Wylde

  “That isn’t like you,” he continued. “Are you up to something?”

  “No,” she said quickly as she moved her Knight out of his Bishop’s way. “I don’t want to disappoint Daniel. He showed me a few things.”

  Caleb’s heart ached a bit, and for the first time in years, it wasn’t because of Val. Rosanna was talking about Daniel again.

  “The last time I played with Daniel, he wasn’t that good.” He was lying. Why was he lying? Daniel was a worthy opponent, actually, and he had even managed to beat Caleb a couple of times. Then, why was he trying to make him look bad in Rosanna’s eyes?

  “He isn’t bad,” she said. “Not very fun, but decent.”

  “And why’s that?”

  She shrugged and looked up at him, her doll eyes fixing him innocently.

  Those big, green irises made a rush of heat go straight to his crotch.

  “He doesn’t talk when he plays,” she explained, “and that makes him really boring. Also, quite useless when you try to learn how to beat someone. But, if I try hard enough, I can make him talk.” She smirked.

  Caleb cleared his throat while his eyes fell back to the board.

  “Exactly how many hours did you spend with him?”

  Rosanna cocked an eyebrow. What kind of question was that?

  “Too many,” she muttered as she studied the board. He had just advanced his Rook, falling in her trap. With obvious enthusiasm, she used her Queen to take care of his Rook, and grinned widely.

  Caleb betrayed a hint of surprise at her move, but recovered quickly. It had been his fault. He couldn’t focus.

  “So, what’s the book about?” she asked, trying to push the conversation forward.

  “What book?” Caleb asked blankly.

  “The one you’re reading.”

  “Oh, that. The story takes place in the middle of a war. Usually, I don’t read romance but this one is pretty accurate,” he said.

  Rosanna was scared for a second that it would bring up bad memories for him, but he didn’t seem to be affected by it. Instead, he was focused on the game. So far, so good.

  “Any highlights?”

  “Don’t kiss in the middle of a war zone,” he deadpanned, and she had to giggle.

  She noticed how her reaction made him smile and relax a tad more. He was letting her in.

  “You weren’t here, but have you heard what happened?”

  “I have no doubt you’ll tell me.”

  “You know Sarah?”

  “Of course I do. Petite, dark hair, freckles…”

  “Yeah, so it turns out she and Steve were planning to go to a party. You know they’re still relatively young, and because they knew they couldn’t get tipsy at the party, they tried to make their own concoction that would make them drunk,” Rosanna said as she moved her Bishop out of his Queen’s path.

  “I can’t imagine that turned out well.”

  “They looked up some recipes and tried to use the bathtub for their concoction. Needless to say, they ruined the whole thing, the bathtub was unusable and needed changing, and Max ordered them to take part-time jobs so they could pay for it.”

  Caleb looked at her blankly for a second before he burst out laughing. To her, it was the most beautiful sound she had heard in a while. She could have sat there and listened to it all day. She felt so proud of herself for having managed to make him laugh. She tried to find other things to say to get the same reaction from him.

  “What about you? Where were you when this happened?” he asked.

  “On a quick shopping trip in Dunkelstadt.”

  Ironically, the incident had happened the day she had bought the box of chocolates. Caleb nodded and took another candy, popping it into his mouth as he concentrated on the game. She smiled when she saw he had finished half of the box himself. From then on, the conversation started flowing naturally. It gave her the courage to move on to the next phase of her initial plan.

  “So, where did Max send you this time?” she asked casually.

  “It’s top secret.”

  She hesitated. She didn’t have a specific rank in the pack, so it was normal for the Alpha, Beta, and the two Deltas to keep things from her and the other wolves when they didn’t concern them directly.

  “Did it help?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know… Did it help you disconnect?”

  Rosanna could feel him drawing back within himself. She knew she had to tread lightly, or give up entirely. She wasn’t ready to do the latter, not yet.

  “How are you feeling?” she pressed on.

  “I’m fine.”

  The seriousness in his voice was telling her to stop.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Why are you asking me that?”

  She took a deep breath. It was now or never.

  “I’m worried about you. You never recovered from Val’s death and I…“

  She stopped when he fixed her with a cold glance, his green eyes boring into hers like lasers. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about this, but she insisted despite her instinct telling her she should let it go.

  “Caleb, you can’t keep brushing it off like this. I know it hurt when Val died. It hurt me too, but I learned how to move on. It’s been ten years!”

  For a werewolf, ten years didn’t mean or feel the same as for a human. When you lived for around 500 years, ten years felt like two-three years ago.

  Caleb didn’t say anything, but his hands moved faster, the pieces almost flying on the board. He looked at her, brows furrowed, until she had no choice but to match his speed. Soon, Rosanna ended up making her moves automatically, without having time to put any thought into them. At this rate, she was going to lose.

  “Caleb, you have to talk to me. You can’t shut me out like you’ve done with everyone else. They’re all worried about you, too, but I guess they just don’t have the courage to tell you.”

  He remained silent as he kept on playing. It was as if he wasn’t listening to her anymore, he wasn’t even there.

  Rosanna made her last move, knowing it was in vain. There it was: checkmate. She had started talking about Val three minutes ago, and that was how much it had taken him to beat her. She sighed and reached for the chess pieces with the intention of placing them back on the board for a second game. Her heart sank when Caleb stood up, as silent as ever, took his book, turned around, and left.

  Not a single word, not even “see you later”, or “thank you for the chocolates”. As he moved away from her, not looking back once, Rosanna’s shoulders slumped. She sat like that for a few minutes, not moving a muscle. When she was sure Caleb had probably reached his room, she sobbed, placed her arms on the edge of the table, and let her forehead rest on them. Tears started falling freely, spreading her black mascara all over her face and arms. She let them fall, let her body shake uncontrollably, feeling like she needed to get it out of her system. She hadn’t cried so hard in years, and the saddest part was that she wasn’t exactly sure why she was crying. Was it because she couldn’t help Caleb? Was it because he was so cold towards her? Maybe it was both.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Caleb hadn’t meant to do that. The last thing he had wanted was to upset her, but even as he entered the castle, the sound of her sobs followed him. It broke his heart but… then again... he was used to having his heart broken. He should have turned back, said he was sorry. He should have comforted her. Instead, he forced himself to keep going, as if he hadn’t heard her cry in the first place.

  He wasn’t the right man for her. He was too weak himself to go back there again and take her pain away. He was sure that if he did that, he would burst into tears as well, and he didn’t want Rosanna, or anyone else for that matter, to see him like that. Now he knew he was the cause for all her troubles, and he figured the only way to help her was to put distance between them and leave her alone until whatever she felt for him passed. He wasn’t the right man for her because he wasn’t alive anym
ore. He didn’t feel alive. His life had ended with Valerie. Without Valerie, he didn’t have anything left, there was nothing inside his heart that he could offer to someone else.

  So, Caleb headed towards his room. Rosanna would get over it. She would get over him. She was strong like that, he was sure of it.

  ***

  A week had passed and, to Caleb’s disappointment, Rosanna hadn’t gotten any better. She was avoiding him like the plague, so at least that was a good thing in his mind. He knew she was doing the right thing, but, at the same time, he didn’t know why it made him feel so uncomfortable. He almost wanted to go and talk to her, tell her he had been wrong, but he couldn’t muster the courage. Instead, he pretended not to notice that she didn’t look him in the eyes when they ran into each other around the castle, or that whenever they brushed against each other accidentally, she withdrew as if he had a contagious disease. He did his best not to look for her when she left the Schloss to go running or hunting.

  Caleb continued to go on with his life as before. Unfortunately, that hour they had spent in the gazebo talking and playing chess had made him realize how dull his life had really become. Except for work, he had nothing else to do. It didn’t help that his Alpha, Max, wasn’t asking much of him lately. He had hoped he would send him on a new business trip, but it had been a week, and Caleb was still stuck at Schloss Blackmane with nothing but his books to keep him company. He still hunted and ate alone, isolating himself even more with each passing day. If he was to be honest with himself, he had to admit that everyone else had moved on. Max was busy with his wife, Avelyn, and the both of them took care of their three pups. Kevin, the Beta, had had his head in the clouds lately, since he had met his mate on Valentine’s Day. She hadn’t moved in with him, at the Schloss, yet, but they were making plans for that.

  There were moments when Caleb couldn’t decide whether he was still in love with Val, or he was just deluding himself into thinking he was supposed to stay faithful to her memory. What he felt for Rosanna was attraction, of that he was sure. But, could it also be more than that? He didn’t know, as he never allowed himself to indulge in his feelings. He never allowed himself to imagine how it would be like to touch Rosanna’s skin, kiss her lips, feel her small body pressed against his. The second those thoughts came to his mind, he banished them as if they were forbidden.

  Once, it so happened that he was coming back from a run. He spotted Rosanna and Daniel at one of the stone tables in the front yard, playing chess. They had probably chosen that place to avoid the gazebo, where they knew Caleb liked to read. On the one hand, he appreciated their thoughtfulness. On the other hand, seeing them together, laughing and playing game after game, sent a cold dagger right through his heart.

  Was he jealous of Daniel? It didn’t make any senses… He knew the other Delta was good for Rosanna. If there was something between the two, Caleb should have been happy for them. He wasn’t.

  As he passed them, he noticed how Daniel took one of Rosanna’s Pawns off the board, and Rosanna reached over to grab his wrist playfully. That small gesture made Caleb so angry that he could barely see straight. He walked faster, making sure they hadn’t noticed his presence. He went to his room and locked himself up, determined not to reemerge unless it was something serious.

  ***

  A knock on the door pulled Caleb out of his reverie. Before telling the person to come in, he identified the scent. It was Daniel. He swallowed heavily, got off the bed, and went to open the door himself.

  “Hey!”

  Daniel greeted him as if nothing had happened.

  In fact, nothing had happened, so Caleb had no reason to act awkwardly. He smiled and asked him what he needed.

  “Max told me to come get you,” Daniel said. “He needs us in his office.”

  “Finally! He’s giving me something to do,” thought Caleb, and his mood improved a little.

  “Do you know why?”

  “No idea. Hurry up, though.”

  Caleb studied Daniel for a second. They had been friends for as long as he could remember, and had only grown apart after the Battle at Alma Venus and Val’s death. Daniel was a tad shorter than Caleb, but just as handsome. He had blond hair, mossy green eyes, and he was built like a rock. He and Rosanna would look good together. That thought made Caleb’s stomach clench uncomfortably, so he dismissed it.

  “Just a second,” he said, and closed the door in Daniel’s face.

  It wasn’t like him to do that. Normally, he would have invited his friend into his room, but not this time. He changed his shirt and put his shoes on, all the while trying to calm down his nerves and convince himself he couldn’t behave like a douche around Daniel just because he was jealous of him. If he had wanted Rosanna, he should have made a move. It was his own fault Rosanna had found solace in Daniel. When he got out of the room and joined the other Delta, Caleb felt a bit better. They walked together to their Alpha’s office.

  Max Blackmane had always demanded attention, and today was no exception. He had a special sort of aura about him, and it was something one couldn’t simply gain, not even in a lifetime. It had to be inherited. Though he wasn’t wearing anything fancy, just a shirt and jeans, something about the way he stood, tall and proud, made everyone around him listen to what he had to say. He was very good-looking, with his tight muscles and broad shoulders, his raven black hair, and intense green eyes that seemed to see right through all the members of his pack. Caleb and Daniel were no exception.

  Caleb felt a bit out of place when Max nodded towards him. It hadn’t always been like that, but now that he was unable to put some order into his own thoughts, he felt uncomfortable when his Alpha looked at him. He had this sensation that Max knew something about him, something that kept eluding Caleb himself.

  “Thanks for coming,” Max said. “Please take a seat.”

  Caleb and Daniel sat in the two leather chairs facing the desk.

  “What happened?” asked Caleb. Max’s furrowed brows and clenched jaw told him something was wrong.

  “Before we start, I have to warn you this isn’t a small issue,” Max started. “We haven’t dealt with something like this in a long time, and I hate that we have to do it now.”

  “What’s going on?” Daniel asked. He leaned forward in his chair.

  “There have been sightings of a wolf. Tourists in Dunkelstadt have complained.”

  “Why is that a big deal?” Daniel asked. “This is our territory, after all. All tourists and hikers should know that. It’s no secret. If someone saw a werewolf or two up in the mountains, they should know they’re not harmful.”

  Max smiled, but it wasn’t a happy or pleasant smile. Yes, everyone in Dunkelstadt knew about Clan Blackmane, and tourists were always warned the moment they stepped into town.

  “Our wolves don’t go into town in their wolf for, neither do they attack it,” Max clarified.

  “I’m sorry, attack the town?” Caleb asked. This was serious. He had to be sure he understood correctly.

  Max stood up and started pacing the office.

  “A couple of tourists have complained about a wolf roaming the woods and threatening them. But that’s not all. The mayor called me half an hour ago, and told me there was an attack last night, in Dunkelstadt. Not in the forest, but in town, in a back alley. He asked me to control my wolves.” Max stopped and looked at Caleb and Daniel for a second. “Here’s the thing: I know none of my wolves would ever do that. Not even Sarah or Steve, who are young and reckless to the point of pure stupidity, and who have almost blown up a room a month ago. So… who is this wolf they’re complaining about?”

  “Are you suggesting it might be a rogue?” Daniel asked.

  Caleb could feel the jolt in his heart at the sound of that. He didn’t want to think they were dealing with a rogue werewolf, but the look on the Alpha’s face confirmed just that.

  Daniel didn’t look very convinced, either. Rogue shifters had disappeared almost entirely since the peac
e treaty between humans and shape-shifters had been signed, over a century ago. A couple of them had caused trouble for some years after that, but the Council of the Six Factions had suppressed them easily. Now, the humans and the five shifter factions lived in peace and harmony, accepting and even helping each other.

  “Yes, I think it’s a rogue,” Max confirmed out loud.

  “One or more?” Caleb asked.

  “The mayor said it’s just one. Let’s hope he’s right.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Daniel asked.

  The blond wolf had straightened his back, ready to receive the Alpha’s orders. Caleb stole a glance at him and noticed, not without envy, how strong and determined he looked. He straightened his back himself and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Right now, there was no point in feeling depressed and defeated. Caleb had to do his best to control his issues and behave like the Delta that he was.

  “I want you two to go on patrol tonight and see if you find any trace of a rogue wolf. If you find him, try to reason with him, fight him if you must, but capture him alive. I need to talk to him and see if he’s got any friends around. Then, we’ll take him to the Council and let them deal with him.”

  The Deltas nodded.

  Max fixed each of them with a stern glance.

  “I don’t want any rogues on my land. This sort of situation makes Clan Blackmane look bad, and we have a reputation to maintain. Do your best tonight, and don’t forget to stay safe.”

  “Yes, absolutely,” said Daniel.

  The Deltas stood up, and Max dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

  Once they were out of the Alpha’s office, Caleb and Daniel started walking towards their rooms, which were close to each other.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Daniel asked. “What do you suggest?”

  “It’s quite clear the bastard won’t come out during the day. Not with so many Blackmane wolves running around. Let’s wait until midnight and go get him.”