Just as Dalton had predicted, Marcellus buried himself in his work until breakfast passed and then lunch came and also passed. It was only when his stomach growled loudly for the third time in the span of ten minutes and his wolf was determined to go on strike if his human counterpart didn’t feed him immediately that Marcellus decided to break for a late lunch.
It was late afternoon by the time that he headed into the kitchen to locate the plate of food he knew that one of the chefs had left out for him, just as Dalton had promised.
Marcellus weaved himself through the crowd of teenagers in the living room, all of them having just been let out of school. They all nodded and bowed their heads in respect as he walked past, smiling softly at his pack wolves before he headed into the kitchen and reached into the oven.
Heavy on the meat and light on the greens, just how he liked it.
His wolf growled in ravenous hunger as he finally sat down at the kitchen island and tucked in, grateful that the few wolves lingering in the kitchen had left to give him some quiet to enjoy his meal in peace. With the opportunity to clear his mind while he ate, Marcellus quickly made his way through the first plate but since he had skipped breakfast that morning, he helped himself to some leftovers in the fridge.
He nibbled on some cold potatoes while he reheated a second plate, and grabbed himself a beer to help wash it all down with.
By the end of it, he was full to the brim. An Alpha and he had never learnt to slow down when eating.
He knew that if he returned to the office now, he would only end up falling asleep so instead, he retreated his steps but instead of turning right toward the office, he took a left and let himself out of the pack house for a very much needed run.
The moment his sock-clad foot touched the top step, Marcellus leaped into the air, shredding all of his clothes in the process and by the time he reached ground again, he was now on four paws, running head first into his favourite part of the forest. One which he had specifically closed off from the rest of the pack apart from on momentous occasions.
Next time we’re angry with everyone, we can’t be angry with each other.
Marcellus snorted as he stared out at the woods from the dark, golden eyes of his wolf.
I wasn’t angry with you.
Maybe, but I was definitely angry at you. His wolf growled back as he bent his head forward and pushed himself to run harder, the sound of twigs and branches snapping under his paws filling his ears.
Why are you angry at me?
Correction. I was angry at you. I’m not angry at you anymore.
Okay, fine. Marcellus rolled his eyes. Why were you angry at me?
Because you didn’t agree with me with finding our mate.
We don’t even know she’s real.
How can she not be real? His wolf growled. Everyone has a mate.
Not everyone. Marcellus sighed, choosing to take a back seat, something he was only able to do when he was in his wolf form and the beast was in charge. There are some wolves that go their whole lives without ever meeting their mates.
But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have mates. They just haven’t met them yet.
Well, maybe we’re one of those wolves.
I refuse to believe that. His wolf snorted as he pushed himself further, pushing himself to go as fast as possible as it had been nearly a whole week without shifting, the toll of going on without their mate for so long finally catching up with them. I refuse to believe the Moon Goddess would punish us by not giving us a mate.
Marcellus sighed for what felt like the millionth time that week. I sincerely hope so.
The rest of their run was relatively quiet, Marcellus more than happy to allow his wolf to take the steering wheel, really working out all that pent-up anger and frustration from a week of purposely pretending as if those two fateful days hadn’t ever taken place. As if he hadn’t somehow tricked himself into believing that he could smell his mate on two of his pack members.
Even to his own ears it sounded completely crazy, yet neither Marcellus nor his wolf could explain anything.
Not for the first time in the past week, there were so many questions running through his mind. None of which he was able to answer himself. To get his mind off the matter, his wolf set his eyes on an unsuspecting deer that hadn’t sensed him watching her for the past few moments.
He made sure to stay deathly quiet as he approached his prey from behind, taking one slow step toward it after another. One wrong move or one heavy breath and the animal would scramble on its feet to escape his clutches, but neither Marcellus nor his wolf were prepared to suffer another loss.
It had been quite some time since Marcellus had gone hunting in his wolf form so with the anticipation of this fresh kill, he pounced on the animal before she could even see it coming, going straight for her neck where she would bleed out the quickest.
With the blood of his fresh kill around his mouth and covering his fur, Marcellus mind linked some warriors to fetch the carcass so they would be able to enjoy the fresh deer during dinner and ran back to the pack house. He wasn’t the least bit ashamed or bothered by the fact that he was butt ass naked once he shifted back into his human form.
A whole week had passed since he had last smelt his mate and Marcellus was sure that he had suffered nothing short of a dizzy spell or vertigo; his mind playing tricks on him. As the week had passed, he had allowed himself to believe that he was over it, that his mind had only played tricks on his mind and the sweet scent was nothing short of a mere figment of his imagination. But now all of that was over.
Mate! His wolf howled loudly, scenting her out immediately.
Opposite to the reaction of his wolf, Marcellus pursed his lips and frowned deeply, ignoring the pull of the sweet scent and instead, trudging through the pack house and to his bedroom, closing the door behind him, as if that would be enough to stop her from tempting him. If she was in even real in the first place.
She is fucking real and she’s fucking here right now!
We’re just imaging things again. Marcellus denied and headed into the shower, wanting to wash the fresh blood off him from his kill. She’s not real and she’s definitely not here right now. We’ve been through this all before. Our mind is just playing cruel tricks on us again.
How can you know that? How can you be so sure?
Marcellus frowned as he headed into the shower, allowing the water to cascade over his body, bracing his hands on the tiled wall.