Page 23 of Warrick (Rocky Mountain Pack #1)
He hums for a moment before speaking. “I think you might be onto something. Didn’t he lose his parents during a football game or something like that? That was after you caught him cheating under the bleachers, if I remember correctly.”
My mouth drops open. I didn’t think about that.
I don’t know if that is what caused it, but he might be onto something.
The cheating when we were teens was just a horny teenage boy with all the popularity to boot.
But everything since then? It does come off more as someone trying to keep people at a distance than someone who just can’t keep his hands to himself.
There is so much I really don’t know about Warrick, a lot of things that I’ve made assumptions about, and what’s worse is I’ve never tried to look closer.
All this time I’ve left him to his own devices without considering the why or pushing for him to tell me what’s wrong.
Maybe he isn’t the only one who needs to work on themselves?
How can I harp on him for not being a good mate to me, while I left him in his pain without a second thought?
“You might be onto something there. But I can’t make him open up to me.”
Chase reaches across the blanket and pulls my hand into his.
With his thumb brushing over my knuckles back and forth, he says, “No, but you can show him that he can’t push you away like he does everyone else.
Maybe show him that he means something to you and he will, in turn, see that he doesn’t have to keep deflecting. ”
I stare at him for what feels like ages. Why couldn’t he have been born a wolf shifter, so I could just mate with him? It’s rather unfair, really.
Tapping his hand with my other hand, I say, “That’s enough about me. How’s the search for your mates going?”
He pulls back from me and stares out at the horizon. “It’s not.”
My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. It’s not like him to be so cut off. “What do you mean?”
“It means that I’ve stopped looking and don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“You don’t get to make me talk about my mate's situation and then close off when I ask about yours. That’s a bit unfair, don’t you think?” My lips purse in anger.
“Fine. I’ve told you before that we have two mates. I mentioned how they are going to be females, but what I didn’t mention is that I’ll have trials to be chosen by them.” My eyebrows shoot up as my eyes bulge.
“Wait, let me finish. The similarities between our kind are that the male feels a draw to each of his females, but they can choose not to accept it. Each month on the full moon, there is a ceremony where each Triad Bond comes forth in front of the Moon Goddess to present their selections. The pillar, which is the male’s role in the Triad bond, then faces several challenges to test if he is ready for the bond.
It’s all secretive and each person’s experience is different.
We are told not to share the information outside of our packs, not really sure why, but the elders, what we call the heartkeepers, have always warned us against sharing the information. ”
My heart swells with love. He feels comfortable enough to share something with me that he isn’t even supposed to. I can’t even imagine having to do all this to be with your mates. “Thank you for sharing with me. Why did you though, if you aren’t supposed to?”
“I trust you, Aspen, and with everything you have shared with me, I couldn’t keep this one any longer. Plus, clearly my mates aren’t in my pack and they aren’t close or I would have felt the pull towards them by now.”
I lean my head on his shoulder as I wrap my arm around his. “Neither of us is having much luck in the mate department. You will find your mates soon. I can feel it.”
We fall into our quiet contentment as we watch the clouds cast shadows over the valley.
A quick glance at the sun lets me know that we have been sitting here at least an hour or so.
Sometimes I wish we could stay out here until the sun sets, but the numbness in my butt cheeks lets me know that it’s not an option.
Sighing, I push off his shoulder to start packing up our stuff. “At least we have the babies to look forward to.”
He chuckles, “Yeah, isn’t the gender reveal soon? I still don’t quite understand the point of that.”
Standing up, I brush off my butt and hands. “Yes! We finally find out if the babies are boys, girls, or one of each. It’s a very human activity, but remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Nova was human. Silas doesn’t want to take away those things just because he turned her.”
“Fair enough, I suppose.”
As we begin our descent down the mountain, I think about all the things that I have to look forward to and, right now, being an aunt is the most exciting thing coming up.
As excited as I am to welcome the new pups into our pack, I can’t help but feel envious of her.
I want my own pups to be excited about. Maybe I can just adopt since it doesn’t seem Warrick and I will ever be able to move beyond our pasts.