Chapter 3

Feels to Reject

I paced back and forth. I ran my hand in my hair, frustrated very much from meeting Casey's brother, Claude, as well as my unexpected mate. I groaned and wanted to mess up the conference room of Alpha Storm but I stopped myself. He was just watching me and he was smiling like an idiot at me.

I hit the table and paced back and forth. This couldn't be! This shouldn't be happening! This isn't right! I paced again. Shit! Shit! Shit! I cussed in my mind. What should I do? What should I do? Should I leave? No! This was my pack where I live. Why would I leave? Because Casey's big brother was here? No! That was absurd!

"Will you please stop pacing back and forth, Rachelle? I was the one who felt dizzy about what you were doing, not you. Oh, come here. Calm yourself and sit down," said Alpha Storm but I didn't listen. I kept on panicking. I know that some other werewolves dreamed of having their mates unexpectedly or not but I wasn't like them. I didn't wish nor dream to meet my mate yet. I still have my mission to know and to practice how to fight expertly.

I slapped my forehead as I remembered his mesmerizing eyes. I didn't know why but my heart skipped a beat when we stared at each other a moment ago. His dark hazel eyes are really beautiful to stare at and I can't stop myself looking at them. It's captivating. Casey didn't have a dark hazel eye color but it was an olive color that shone when light strikes. They had the same face like they inherited it from each other. He was so handsome and I loved looking at his parted lips. I want... I want to bite it.

But... No! Why was I thinking about that?! Shit!

"Rachelle." I stopped in my tracks and turned around at Storm when I heard his soft voice. Then all of a sudden, his face darkened. "Sit down," he commanded sternly, which made me do it. I sat down on the chair. Then I leaned in and thought about Claude that he was my mate. It clouded my mind and I hadn't realized Alpha Storm's feature was standing in front of me, causing me to stun a little and glare up.

He knelt in front of me and put his hands on my thighs. His stern expression a minute ago turned soft. He raised his hand to pat my head and caressed it. My sharped breath exchanged into steady. I was even shocked that my breath wasn't normal. "There. You calmed down." I gave him a puzzled look which meant I didn't understand what he was saying so I calmed down. Calmed from what?

"What do you mean?" I asked as my heart beat steadily.

He smiled at me and he shook his head. "Nothing." I pursed my lips into thin lines and didn't respond to his answer. It's nonsense. I was irked when I felt my body start to heat up from something. I could smell his scent—my mate's scent from behind the door of the conference room. I started to shiver a little. "So, why are you afraid, Ray? It's my first time seeing you like that a while ago when you met your mate, who was Casey's brother," he said softly.

I looked at him, directly to his eyes. "I-I'm a-afraid to see my mate, Alpha S-Storm." I stuttered as I felt my mate's presence. I gulped. He was there, I knew it.

My eyes widened as his eyes darkened and clenched his jaw. He put down his hand from caressing my head and he looked at me, madly. "So, now we're back from calling such formalities names." He stood up. "What's wrong with you? A while ago, you just called me 'brother' which meant a lot to me. It made me happy. Then, now, you just called me 'Alpha Storm'. Really? What's got into you, Rachelle?!" I flinched as he yelled.

I clenched my teeth and darkened my eyes. "You aren't my real brother, to begin with," I said boldly.

His eyes turned back to its color, blue-grey eyes. It softened as he sighed. He knelt again and held both of my hands. "But you're still my family. I treated you as my little sister. My parents treated you as you're their daughter. I know we were the same age but I've been wishing you would call me a 'brother'. And it happened. But please don't think that I didn't treat you like my own family."

"I never said that you didn't treat me like your own family. You're the one who just said that," I said coldly. I built my imaginative wall. My foster parents, whose parents adopted me and treated me like their own daughter, and Storm, treated me like his little sister. He never had any siblings. They said I came from another pack they didn't know.

He sighed again and silenced and so I am, too. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to initiate another conversation. This topic was very sensitive for us. I instantly knelt in front of him and hugged him as I shuddered. I need his presence. I was still afraid to meet my mate. It was so unexpected.

Storm hugged me back. "Sshh. I'm right here, Ray. You can tell me your feelings." He cooed me while rubbing my back to calm me down which it helps me very well. I calmed in his arms.

"I'm really afraid to meet him, brother." There. I said it again. I called him 'brother'. I could feel that he was glad that I called him that. I never called him like that. I used to call him 'Storm' or rather 'Alpha.' He and I weren't true blood-related but he already treated me like his sister since I came here in their pack. I used to call him 'brother' when I was a little but as I grew up and realize what I was from his family, I started to act so formal for them which for them, it didn't necessarily. "It's so shocking and surprising," I said again and leaned my face on his shoulder.

"And it's so unexpected."

"I never thought that I could accidentally meet him in the forest."

"While I was walking back to the packhouse a while ago, I smelled his scent."

"I didn't know that that scent was his and rather, he was my mate."

"I'm not ready to meet him."

"I'm not ready."

"I'm... not."

I shuddered again and my body started to heat up. I could almost feel the presence of my mate behind that door. I hugged Storm tightly. I was starting to feel fear of meeting him. Come on! Please tell me. Is there any phobia that you can call fear of meeting your mates? I wanted to slap myself mentally. Goodness! Graciousness! There is no such thing as that.

After I burst out my feelings, I silenced and waited for my brother to speak up. Surprised, Storm lifted me and he put me down in the chair to sit me down. Then, I heard his chuckle and winced my hair using his hand like I was a dog. I frowned, causing him to laugh his ass out. I rolled my eyes. But I'm happy to hear those laughs again. It has been a long time since I last heard it. The last time I heard about it was when I left my pack to join the academy for werewolf soldiers. He usually laughed when he and Casey were together, talking nonsensically.

"That was just fine, Ray. Some werewolves weren't ready to face or to meet their mates. But they have to deal with it. No matter what they can do to shoo him or her away, it doesn't change the fact that they are mates." I tried to absorb it in my mind. Yeah, I know what the definition of mates was. They are your soulmates and they are connected in some way. They are bound and will be together forever. They will not be fulfilled if they don't have their other half.

"I'm still not ready," I answered and frowned.

He kissed my forehead. "Some werewolves, when they met their mates, some of them rejected their mates because they couldn't accept meeting or being with them. Or rather, they just don't want to have mates yet or they are disgusted. So, I'm warning you, Rachelle, whatever running in your mind feels to reject that Alpha boy, quit it in your mind. I am not going to allow you."

I was left speechless. Damn! How did he know that I was planning to? Great! Now that he warned me, how could I not meet my mate?

He sent me daggers. "You're planning it, don't you?" He growled.

"Hey! I am not! Don't accuse me that I am planning to do that because if I do, you could kill me." Great! Goodness! Graciousness, Rachelle! And now you'll be damn at lying. Shit! Shut the fuck up!

"Are you sure?" He stared at me with disbelief and looked directly into my eyes as if looking for a hint that I was lying. Well, I'm not going to let him know that.

"Give me some time." I gave him my bored expression and stared into his eyes. Please let him not know. Please let him not know. I chanted that to myself over and over again. I don't know what to do if he finds out I was just lying to reject my mate even though I can't do that. I don't have the guts to reject Claude for the Moon Goddess' sake.

Then, suddenly he smiled and patted my head again. "Okay. If you're not planning on that, then I guess, you're planning on meeting him, right? Come on!" He instantly pulled my hand to stand me up and he started walking towards the door where my mate was behind there together with Casey.

"Hey! No...no... That's... That's not what I meant, brother! Brother! NO!" He didn't listen to me but he just opened the door. "BROTHER!!!" I yelled at him as I met the two siblings, Claude and Casey.

Claude looked at me. I saw his eyes lightened up as he saw me with those dark red beautiful pairs of his eyes. I even saw him flash a smile. My stomach automatically flipped.

Goodness! Graciousness! My heart went wild!