My Second Chance Mate: A Shifter Romance, page 16
This news only solidifies how much of a jerk I am and I wouldn't blame her if she never wants to forgive me. I still need to tell her how sorry I am and promise for the second time never to hurt her again. During my daydreaming, the doctor scurries off. No big deal. She already told me what I needed to know. Now, I have to go get my mate back.
“You’re going to be a dad . . . again,” Craig said in awe.
“Man, you are so far up shit creek and none of us are willing to give you a paddle after the way you treated Harmony,” Jeremy states irritatingly.
“Yeah man, not only did you tick off your mate but your pregnant mate at that. You’re gonna have to do a whole lot of hoop jumping to get her to even talk to you. If I know her, she just might chop your balls off and feed it to you before she even considers forgiving you,” Greg adds.
“You better make this right, Trevor. The future of our pack depends on it.” Austin, always the voice of reason.
They weren’t saying anything I didn’t already know. Not wasting anymore time, I drop my clothes where I stand and shift. I make sure to grab my jeans in my mouth before tearing up gravel and dirt, heading towards my mate.
I'm filled with the anticipation of seeing her and the worry that she's too filled with hate to give me a chance to apologize. I make it to town in no time. Then double my speed past the school, coming to a dead halt at the border of Shadowland territory. Standing just on the other side of the line is Jared in a pair of basketball shorts, with two brown wolves who I know to be Brad and Jace, flanking him. He's standing with his arms crossed in front of him and an angry scowl on his face. The two wolves growl at me.
Harmony’s bodyguards are ready to tear me apart if I make the slightest, threatening movement. Part of me is proud my mate has such loyal protectors, while the other part of me is irritated that they are standing between me and my mate.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’m sure you have no business here since you no longer have a mate,” Jared says, his voice laced with contempt.
That pisses me off. Yeah, I hurt her but I'm here to beg forgiveness. No matter what happened between us, she is still my mate and I will never let her go. I can’t let her go. I concentrate on my human form and feel my paws turn to hands and my arms and legs lengthen until I'm standing on two feet. I slip my jeans on and confront Jared.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. She is my mate and I’ve come to take her back with me.”
“It’s gonna be pretty hard to do since she doesn’t want to be anywhere near you right now. She plans on coming back after she’s had time to rid herself of your stink. After all, my cousin is too good a wolf to abandon her pack or Cody.”
“She plans on coming back?” I ask with all the hope I feel.
“Don’t get too excited, dog face. She’s not coming back to you. She has other plans but that’s for her to tell you when she’s ready.”
“I’ll wait right here till she is. I don’t care how long it takes.”
“Why don’t you just leave her alone? Haven’t you hurt her enough? Let someone else take care of her,” A new voice asks.
“Nate, I told you to stay with Harmony,” Jared scolds as we all turn to the tree line to see him heading towards us.
“She said she wanted to feel sorry for herself in peace. There were major waterworks involved. It was . . . awkward,” Nate replies.
I could care less of their conversation. All I heard were the last words, ‘let someone else take care of her’. Over my dead body. Was he volunteering? I'm spitting mad and ready to charge across the line and rip his throat, but doing that will bring war between our packs. I can’t let that happen, so I gather all the strength I can to reign in my wolf but can’t resist saying, “Why, Nate? You have your eye on my girl?”
He freaking smirks at me and says, “Sure do. With you out of the way, I could get a lot more than just my eyes on her.”
I'm ready to charge at him before Jared steps over the line, pushing a hand against my chest as he shouts, “Shut up, Nate! And stop baiting him. You know Harmony would hang you by your balls if she heard you say that.” Then he turns to me and says, “Calm down. He’s just messing with you and if you cross this line, things will be much worse than just a ticked off mate. You don’t know how badly I want to beat your ass right now, but the good of the pack comes first. A war is the last thing we need.”
Letting his words sink in, I back down. Nate has to get one last word in and mumbles loud enough for all of us to hear, “She should be hanging her mate by his balls.”
“Shut up, Nate!” Jared yells.
Tired of these games, I say, “I just need to see her to know she’s okay. I’ll give her the time she needs but after what I found out before getting here, my wolf needs to hold his mate. We’re no one without her. I love her so damn much.” I don’t care how pussy whipped I look in front of these guys. I want them to tell Harmony how I feel so she'll know I love her. I want to tell her I already love our child too, but I can’t.
“What did you find out?” Jared asks.
“That’s between me and my mate.”
“Oh shit. You know, don’t you?”
“What are you blabbing about?”
“Crap, she’s really not gonna like this. Is that why you’re here? Not for her, but for your future line?”
“What? Wait. You know? She told you? How could she tell you and not her own mate?” I shout in disbelief.
“Easy. I’m her cousin. She tells me everything,” Jared boasts.
“That and she was a mess once we got her inside and blabbed everything to our Alpha Female, loud enough for the whole house to hear. You really did a number on her, you ass wipe,” Nate interjects. He's really getting on my nerves.
“Nate, you’re really not helping things here. Just go tell Harmony that Trevor knows. She needs to decide what to do next and I’m not leaving him here unattended so he can sneak into our territory and harass her before she’s ready.”
“No,” Nate protests. “Don’t make me do it. This pregnancy is making her scary. Before I left, I suggested she take a warm shower to feel better and she blew up on me. Started asking me if I was trying to say she stunk. Then went into a ten minute rant about how girls always have to go out of their way to keep themselves hot for us guys and we don’t even know how to put down a damn toilet seat and blah, blah, blah. My ears were seriously bleeding. Don’t make me go back there, please!”
His little break down eases some of the tension in the air, and we all relax a little. I hear a huffing sound from the two brown wolves as if they were laughing. “She has been a bit high strung since she got here but too bad. Do it, Nate. That’s an order.”
Nate slumps his shoulders dramatically and turns to head back to the pack house. I would have found enjoyment in the situation if I wasn’t so torn up about causing her the added stress.
“You really are in for it, you know. If you thought Harmony was a handful before, that's nothing compared to now. She’s only been with us for an hour, but I swear we’re all guarding our manhood with our lives. She’s already attacked each one of us for one thing or another and she actually likes us. Imagine what’s in store for you. I almost pity you, but I know you deserve everything that’s about to come your way. She’s gonna make you pay, and pay big,” Jared warns.
“If it means I can have her back in my life then I’ll take whatever she throws my way. It shouldn’t be too bad, right?” I ask unsurely.
“Famous last words, Trevor. Famous last words,” Jared says with a shake of his head and anticipation in his eyes.
That look instills fear in me. Not only the existing fear of losing my mate but now the fear of what she’ll do if she agrees to come back. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Crap.
Chapter Twenty Six
Be Careful, She Bites
Harmony
They're doing it again. Peeking in the crack between my door and door frame that my aunt insists I keep partially open before I shut myself off from the world. I'm not that depressed. At least I don’t think I am. It’s hard to tell with all these different emotions swirling in me. Then there are the constant mood swings I'm feeling. One minute it seems that I'm too shattered to move and the next I feel empowered with a ‘Who needs Trevor?’ attitude.
I'm beginning to get frustrated. I literally lost it with myself when I started bawling over the dog food commercial. Seriously, dog food? All because they did a little montage of the dog’s growth from pup to adult and I felt like I could somewhat relate. Pathetic is my middle name. Then there are the moments I'm not too proud of. Those usually involve the guys which explains the whispering going on outside my room right now.
“You tell her. You’re her cousin,” Nate is saying, trying to keep his voice down. Of course I can hear everything so there's no use for him to be so quiet.
“No way. She threw her brush at me the last time I went in there. I didn’t even see it coming. One minute I got her to smile, the next she was trying out her throwing arm on me. I was the most recent victim so it’s your turn. Besides, you lost the coin toss. Now get your ass in there,” Jared argues just as softly.
“I’m afraid of what she’ll do to me when I tell her what he’s doing now. She really doesn’t understand the concept of not shooting the messenger. Couldn’t we just send her a text?” Nate tries to reason with Jared.
“No, you idiot. Plus, I already tried that. I got a text back from Megan saying Harmony left her phone there. She also told us to stop being pussies and get it done. If she only knew how bad it was then she wouldn’t be saying that.”
“It’s been two days. How long is this supposed to last?” Nate asks, exasperated.
“My aunt said she’ll be pregnant for five months so that means we could have about one hundred forty eight more days of this.”
“What?” Nate whisper shouted. “As much as I hate the guy right now, we really need her to take him back. That way she can torture him. I love her like my very own sister but I can only take so much.”
Ridiculous. I'm not that scary. “You guys know I can hear every word you’re saying, right?”
Absolute silence.
“You should just come in here and tell me whatever it is you think I’m going to blow up about and get it over with.” I advise them, sitting up in bed. I know I look like a hot mess. I've been living in some old pajama’s that I never packed when I moved and my hair probably resembles a birds nest judging by the knots I encountered when running my fingers through it. I can understand why they are scared of me. I think I'm starting to smell funky too. I haven't brushed my teeth or washed my face since yesterday morning.
It’s been two days since the blow up with Trevor, and I know he’s been waiting for me at the borderline of my uncle’s territory, but I refuse to see him. I'm hoping he'll eventually give up and go back home. His words hurt me, whether he mean them or not. He’s been trying to talk to me through our bond, and I can feel him nudging the blocks in my mind. If I'm honest with myself, I'm getting weary of keeping the block in place. With the morning sickness and fatigue, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold him off.
Nate and Jared finally work up enough courage to enter the room and stand side by side in front of the bed, trying to hide their twin grimaces when they see the state I'm in. I raise my brow in question and they replace it with charming smiles that I can see through completely.
“What is it? What did he do now?” I ask.
Jared bumps Nate’s arm with his, causing Nate to shoot him a dirty look before answering, “He’s made his stay at the borderline permanent.”
Confused, I ask, “What do you mean permanent?”
Jared taps him with another bump and a dirty look, before Nate visibly swallows as if fearing the worst from me before answering, “He’s setting up a camp with a tent, sleeping bag, lanterns, canned goods, the whole bit. He’s not leaving until you go back with him. He even said to tell you Cody will be with him this weekend. They’re gonna make a guys only camping trip out of it unless you decide to join.”
He's looking anywhere but at me while he's explaining so he doesn’t see the fury building within me but Jared does and he starts to slowly back away as Nate makes the mistake of continuing, “I think it might be good for you. You know, to see him. Maybe it will make you feel better. Your wolf probably misses his and Trevor looks worse than you. I think he’s really sorry. Don’t you think you should at least let him explain?” After he suggests that last sentence, he finally looks at me and winces at my expression. Then he looks to the side for help from Jared, but he has already made his escape and is halfway out the house by now.
Nate takes a step back for every step I take forward as I say, “Really, Nate? So you think I should forgive him so easily after all he’s said to me because you think he’s sorry and he looks bad?” Another step forward from me, and one back for Nate. “You think I would feel better and my wolf would be happy to go back to the idiot that accused me of causing an accident I had no control over, blamed me for almost losing him his son, and brought up his ex-mate as an example?” We take the final steps for both of us, bringing Nate’s back to the wall and me up in his face. “You want me to forgive him for turning his back on me when he promised he would love me and never hurt me again? Is that what you think is best for me, Nate?”
He looks so worried and sad that the anger I feel dissipates, leaving only a heavy weariness in it's place. I shouldn’t be taking it out on him. He's just trying to help. Why am I being so horrible? Transferring my hurt onto others? That thought causes me to lose my strength completely, and I feel myself fall, only to be picked up immediately by Nate's strong arms.
I stare into Nate’s eyes, wishing for a moment they were the familiar ones of the guy I love and feeling even worse that Nate is so sweet to me after all I’ve put him through these past couple days. That’s when the sobs hit me. Full, body wracking sobs. I'm probably getting snot and tears all over Nate right now, but he continues to hold me tightly to his chest.
He carries me to the bed and sits down on the edge while cradling me in his arms and rubbing my back, letting me cry till there's nothing left. After about twenty minutes of this, my sobs become sniffles, and he pulls back to grab my chin, forcing me to look at him. Before he can say anything, I force out through a scratchy throat, “I’m so sorry, Nate.”
He smiles a sad smile and says, “Don’t be. I get it. Sort of.”
I can’t help but return his smile with a small one of my own when he continues. “Look, Harm. I don’t really know much about all this mate stuff and after these past two days I don’t think I ever want to.” Seeing the look on my face, he quickly covers with, “I don’t mean anything bad toward you. I’m just saying it all seems so hard. To love someone so much that you can so easily hurt them with stupid words. Trevor is an idiot but before you, he was a heartless idiot. You changed him and from what I can tell, he loves you a lot and regrets what he said. You won’t know that for sure until you talk to him.”
I think about what he's saying. I know I will have to go back eventually. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to do that yet. Can I live with him and raise a child together knowing there are so many issues between us?
Nate, unaware of my thoughts, continues, “I think you should talk to him, but make him sweat a little. Dangle yourself in front of him, just out of his reach. Where’s the strong Harmony we’ve come to know that would bust our balls for looking at her funny? She’s the one that needs to find Trevor and make him pay. Just remember, you guys have a baby to think about and a little boy too. As much as I hate to say it, you guys belong together.”
He's right and being serious for the first time since I’ve met him. I'm shocked that such sound advice is coming from this self-confessed player. Twitches of the first real smile since the accident play at the corner of my mouth as I tease, “Wow look at you, Nate. Being all sensitive.”
He scoffs, “What? I’m not being sensitive. I’m a man. We don’t act sensitive.” He puffs out his chest as he says, “And I’m all man with excellent observation skills. That’s all it was. Pfft, me sensitive? No way.”
Seeing how bothered he is I let out a deep, belly aching laugh that shocks him enough to let go of me, causing me to drop on the floor. It doesn’t phase me. It only makes me laugh harder, almost maniacally, as he stares at me confused. After my laughter finally subsides he says, “Remind me never to get my future mate pregnant. The effects are scary and confusing.” The worried look on his face brings about another round of laughter but he joins in this time. When I'm all laughed out, I realize I feel a little better.
Better enough to face Trevor but if he's expecting me to accept his apology right off the bat, he has another thing coming. I'm going to make him work hard for my forgiveness. If he wants a life without a mate, I'm going to give him one. I will go back to his pack house but I will stay in one of the guest rooms. I'll only talk to him when needed. I plan to treat him like a stranger in his own home. I know deep down that he didn’t mean the things he said, he just let his fear and whatever other idiotic reasons he had get in the way of us. I'm going to make sure that never, ever happens again. It's time he grew up. We have a little boy to raise, a new life on the way, and a graduation around the corner. We aren't allowed to be careless teens anymore. This pregnancy forces us to be adults, so it’s time we start changing. After I play a little childish game of revenge, that is. Payback certainly is a bitch. A pregnant one to be exact.
With that thought in mind, I give Nate a peck on the cheek and head for the shower. If I'm going to do this, I need to be in top form. Once I'm done, I'll give Trevor what he wants. I'll come back but I'm going to make him wish he never messed with me.
