The Protective Wolf

Lukas was tense as we made our way through the union and out the doors to the cooler air outside. I followed behind him quietly, tugging my sweater closer to my body and bringing the sleeves down over my hands. Did I have any idea what I had to say? Probably not, but I sure as hell could come up with a few things. The wind ruffled up the short dark hair on the back of his head as he walked, his torso moving in motion with each step.

He stopped underneath a tree close to the entrance of another building, leaning his back against the brick and sliding his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans. I stopped in front of him within arms reach, keeping quiet as I studied him.

I guess one could say he was attractive. His skin was free of flaws, except a scar and the stubble coming up from not having shaved. His eyes were always dark, which wasn’t what I expected for a someone claiming to be a werwolf. Didn’t their eyes changes colors at certain times? He was built like someone that could change into a four legged beast, if it was possible to look like that.

“Are you going to say something, Reagan?” I heard his voice but it didn’t register at first. When it did, I felt my lips form an the shape of an ‘o’ involuntarily.

“Um, yeah,” I lifted my eyes to meet his, giving him a brief pathetic attempt at a smile, “just give me a minute to get all my thoughts together.”

He broke eye contact to gaze over my shoulder. Holding in the urge to look behind me, I narrowed my eyes and looked over his shoulder to the brick behind him. Ugly tan, kind of more like oatmeal actually, but that wasn’t the matter at hand.

“I have stuff to do, you know,” he spoke.

“I’m aware. I have stuff to do too, but,” I paused, feeling completely lost in what exactly I wanted from this guy, “I just want something.”

“Then say something, Johnson.”

I scrunched up my face in disgust at the sound of my surname coming out in his voice. It didn’t sound beautiful. He made it sound boring. Which I suppose it was, it was pretty common I guess. He didn’t have to make it sound like a disease though.

“First off, don’t use my last name. That’s not cool,” I told him, bringing my gaze back to him. Lukas looked beyond done with anything I had to say. “Second, I want to know everything about you and them.” As people began to walk by us, I stepped a little closer to him. He tensed up more no longer even slightly relaxed like he had been.

“Can you be specific?”

I glared it him, “Can you take the stick out of your ass?”

He shifted, removing his hands from his pockets and crossing his arms against his chest.

“Food,” I shrugged, crossing my own arms against my chest and moving to lean on the building beside him. We looked casual, like two people just hanging out. Not two people discussing bizarre supernatural beings. “What do you guys eat? Like animals? People?”

Lukas scoffed, “We don’t eat people, Reagan. Realistically, there isn’t much that actually eats people. I mean vampires drink the blood but most use animals these days.” Lukas smirked, I couldn’t see it, but it was like I could feel it. He was going to make some cocky remark. “The only thing I know of that snacks on humans is humans themselves. Cannibals. Maybe like a crazy animal, like bears.”

“So then what?”

“We eat normal food, just like you. We have literally eaten together.”

I cracked a smile, “Good point, good point.”

He sighed, pushing himself off the brick, “Any other dumb questions or can I leave?”

“I think I have more dumb questions actually,” I replied, pushing off the brick just like he did and standing in front of him. I placed my hands on his re-crossed arms, knowing he would tense up. If I remembered correctly, and my sudden confidence thought I had, I was apparently his mate after all.

“Why are you stalling?”

“Not stalling, collecting my thoughts,” I said, “Okay, Luke, Hudson said something about you being mated to me,” he cringed slightly at my words, “what does that mean?”

Lukas kept quiet for a while, avoiding my eye contact and trying his hardest to contain anything he felt about my hands on his arms. This bothered me, but I kept it to myself. I had no reason to be bothered that he showed no reaction. I wasn’t entitled to that. “It doesn’t mean anything, Reagan.” His voice was slow, almost sounding forced and pained.

Tired and worn.

In my wildest imagination, it almost sounded like he didn’t mean any of it. I narrowed my eyes up at him, studying his face as he bit his lip and watched something far behind me. It must be really interesting.

“You’re lying,” my voice coming out careful, light, and low like a whisper. A terrified whisper.

His dark eyes flashed over to me at a rate too quick for a human. It was too quick for my brain to fully understand what happened, I was going on assumptions. “You wouldn’t be able to prove if it was a lie or the truth either way. Why do you want to know, huh?” He kept his arms crossed but tugged himself away from my touch. His eyes were glaring down at me. “If you know, things could change. You’d feel the need to be in it for a long haul, and I can tell that isn’t you. At first, I thought it was. You were everything that I found amazing. You looked beautiful, like my best kind of dream. But you don’t seem like it anymore.”

“Like what anymore? What could have changed?”

“I don’t really have to answer that,” his face looked rough and cruel, scrunched up, but his eyes looked hurt. Lukas shrugged, dropping his arms so they hit his sides with a soft sound before he started waking away from me.

“Lukas,” I reached for his arm, but he didn’t let me grab him, instead he shifted just in time for my hand to miss him. He did stop though, not turning around. I got right up behind him, my mind taking over for me because before I knew it my hands were hitting his back. I just want answers and I don’t know why I was so bothered, but I was. “Why are you so damn frustrating right now? I just needed answers and you gave me nothing, but smart ass remarks. You just called me beautiful, then verbally shut that down the trash and made me nothing. You said my name like it was disgusting. You won’t even tell me what I want to know.”

“We’re mates. It’s an awkward werewolf thing. Basically, you have all the chances to go for anyone in the world and fall in and out of love and do whatever you want. You’re human. You might feel a little attachment and confusing emotions, but I feel pain. I feel the need to protect you, keep you with me at all times, keep in contact with you, things like that. I’d go insane not knowing,” Lukas watched me as he spoke, having turned around before he said a word.

“We just went some time without contact,” I reminded him.

He nodded, “I know, but I kept tabs.”

“Creepy.”

“I know,” Lukas sighed, “but you don’t have to go along with it. I don’t even know if it’s actually a true thing. The real deal, whatever. I do know that if it is, you can’t just say a few words and reject the whole thing. That wouldn’t work, words won’t change anything. No one knows how to break the bond because no one knows how it even was created. You’ll only feel strong emotions around me, but when I’m gone things will be normal, you’d forget. Maybe miss me for a while, but it would be normal. I would feel everything, the distance would pain me.”

“Then I won’t leave you,” I shrugged.

He licked his bottom lip, studying my fave for a moment, “You don’t have to, Reagan. You’re not obligated to do anything. My mate may not be you.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose with the palm of my hand. This was just annoying. Was I his mate or not? I felt his hands come up to my arms, rubbing them carefully and comfortingly. “Do whatever you want, Reagan.”

“Then we’re going to find out if I am or not.”

His head moved in the motion of agreement, but I could already see it in his eyes that maybe, just maybe he had already known our fate.