✋

After the Beta had ran out Adonis spent the next hour with Mabel, comforting her and telling her stories to calm her down.

"A-am I stay-staying h-h-h-here?" Mabel questioned, eyes puffy and red from all the crying she's been doing.

"I wish you could Mabel but father says you must stay in the orphanage, only for a little while, I promise you'll be safe in there" Adonis says, feeling his anger rising at his father for not allowing Mabel stay.

They have a big house and loads of rooms yet he still won't allow her to stay? It makes no sense.

"O-okay" Mabel speaks sweetly, giving Adonis a soft smile.

"Y-you're okay with it?" He questions tilting his head to the side like a little puppy.

She nods.

"M-make frie-friends?" She questions, seeking conformation that she will make friends.

"No-I mean yes but no guy friends" he says shaking his head quickly.

He knows that he shouldn't try control her but he couldn't help it.

"B-b-but you-you're a boy" she asks, confused.

"Yes but that's different" he replies

"Okay" she said, her four year old brain losing interest on the subject easily.

There was a knock on the door and Beta Female Bellamy walks through the door with Liam at her side. Bellamy has fiery red hair that was up in a tight ponytail and fell in wild curls, and beautiful dark blue eyes. The little boy beside her has dark curly red hair that rested nicely on his forehead, with freckles surrounding his face and deep brown eyes. They were truly beautiful.

Liam runs over to Adonis and they proceed to do a secret handshake they had made the day before. Adonis notes that Liam is holding a bag that he assumes is Mabels clothes.

"Hi there, I am going to assume you are Mabel?" Bellamy speaks, she has a thick Irish accent that compliments her appearance, she walks over and bends down in front of her.

"Amabilis" Mabel says. Only people she trusts can call her Mabel and she doesn't know this woman.

"Right. Well I'm here to wash you and give you new clothes." She smiles, making Mabel smile back. She reminded Mabel of her mom.

"Liam bring me the bag, Mabel and I are going to go upstairs to wash up" Bellamy says, holding her hand out for the bag.

Mabel get up from the floor and wobbles a bit because her legs had fallen asleep. Adonis is at her side in seconds and puts an arm around her waist to steady her. She places both of her dainty hands on Adonis' shoulder and nods when she's ready to stand by herself.

Adonis slowly let's go but keeps close to her in case anything happens.

Bellamy takes Mabels hand and leades her up the stairs while Adonis is left to stare longingly after her.

"Donny what are you doing?" Liam questions, wondering why his best friend is acting so weird towards the small girl. Liam has a bit of an Irish accent that comes through in little words such as 'like, here, what, yeah' and most of all 'Donny' which is was he calls Adonis.

"Nothing why?" Adonis questions still staring at the stairs where Mabel no longer is.

"You look weird, d'ya fancy her?" Liam giggles, obviously not, Adonis has never had a crush on anyone.

"She's my mate" Adonis says, finally looking at Liam.

Liams jaw drops.

"No way! Mom explained mates to me today but said you have to wait till you're 18 to have one! No fair how come you get one already?" Liams whines and throws himself on the couch.

Adonis shakes his head at his best friends whining and asks him the question no ones seems to want to answer.

"What is a mate?" He asks and Liam shoots his head up and stares at Adonis in shock.

"How do you know she's your mate if you don't know what a mate is?" Liam questioned, shaking his head confusedly.

"My wolf told me"

"Your wolf is talking to you already?"

"Only around her"

"Well did it say it's name?"

"Not yet"

"What did it say?"

"Find her"

"Who's her?"

"Mabel"

"That's it?"

"Yes"

"Nothing else?"

"No. Now tell me what a mate is" Adonis all but yells, getting annoyed easily.

"Alright, calm down please. Okay so here's what my mom said, she said 'a mate is a person that you will meet when you're older that is the love of your life, your mate will change your life in the best way possible. You will have unconditional love for your mate and they will always have unconditional love for you too. You as a male will want to protect your mate much more than she will, unless it's a male then he will want to protect you as much as you do him. The male will have more strength than the female but the female will have more wits and will be, in some cases, more clever with the way they move. I want you to know that just because you have a mate out there does not mean that you are in any way obliged to them until you meet them. You can kiss, go out with other people or even other things as you get older, that is and will be entirely your choice. I-' and then she got cut off by the Alpha talking to her through the mindlink." Liam says, fidgeting with his hands as he does.

Adonis sat in silence, digesting the words that were just fed to him.

Just as he opens his mouth to respond he hears the sound of his mate shrieking and is instantly on high alert, running at top speed towards the shouts.

He reached his room and hesitates, why was she in his room?.

He throws open the door to see his mate no where to be seen.

"Mabel? Mabel baby, come out please" Adonis shouts, getting anxious and overwhelmed.

His father often called his mother baby so he presumed it was a mate thing to refer to your mate as an infant.

Oh well, he's gonna do it either way, it felt right.

He heard small whimpers from the side of his bed.

He walked over and saw her huddled in a corner, but instead of being dirty and wearing dirty clothes, she was clean. Her beautiful warm skin shining and her pink cheeks coming out. She had small pale yellow sundress that made her look so adorable it made Adonis want to faint.

However he couldn't admire her beauty because when he glanced up at her, her face was tear stricken and a permanent look of fear scarred it.

He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to kill whoever made her cry.

"Baby what's wrong, has someone upset you?" Adonis questions, silently making a hit list.

"N-no, I-I j-just thought I s-sa-saw the ro-rou-rouge" she says before shivering sinisterly.

"Rouge?" He questions.

"Th-the one w-who kil-killed my pac-pack"

Suddenly it all connected in his mind, that's what the Beta and his Father had been talking about, that's what they had missed.

He looks down at his mate in sympathy as she spreads her arms out in front of her, reaching out to him.

He walked over to her and picked her up, her arms coming around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder.

"Mabel, where's Beta Bellamy", Adonis asked.

Why is it that his mate was left alone?

"S-she said sh-she w-as going to get t-th-the A-alpha." Mabel says, her eyes drooping tiredly.

She's always tired, Adonis notices, we'll have to get that checked.

"Okay baby, let's go downstairs, Liam is probably waiting, maybe we can watch a movie" Adonis whispers comfortingly to her and rubs her back as he carries her downstairs.

He sets her on the couch next to Liam who looked nervous to say the least. Adonis walked into the kitchen leaving the two alone on the couch.

"Hello, I'm Liam" Liam says, trying to be polite, and stuck his hand out.

"Hellos, I'-m-m M-m-mab-mabel, I-I'm sorry, I c-can-can't be you-your friend." Mabel replies solemnly as she stares longingly at his outstretched hand.

"What? Why?" Liam says, borderline whines, as his ears turn red in embarrassment of being rejected.

"Addie s-said I'm n-not allow-allowed to t-t-t-talk to bo-boys." She says looking over at Adonis who was walking back leisurely, with a cup of milk and a plate of cookies in either hand.

"Yeah, well, I'm an exception", Liam said, hand still outstretched.

"O-okay" Mabel said, taking his hand and shaking it as he takes it up to his lips and kisses it softly.

Her face turns red and she squeals, grabbing her hand back and shoving her bright face into a nearby cushion.

Adonis growls loudly, and scowls at Liam.

"Lee, you are testing my patience, I will not hesitate to snap your lanky arms off." Adonis says casually, setting the stuff on the table and walking over to Mabel and lifts her up to sit directly next to him.

"That's mean" Mabel says, shaking her head at Adonis.

"That's the truth." Adonis insists, lifting the remote and switching the tv on.

"Unlike ye being mates" Liam says playfully, wanting to get a rise out of Adonis.

"Liam", Adonis snarls and jumps up at the same time Liam does and gets into a predatory position.

"Run, run and hide, because I'm going to murder you" Adonis says, before Liam takes off and disappears from sight in less than a second.

Adonis sighs happily and gets back on the couch next to Mabel.

"He will be gone about half an hour before he realises I'm not looking for him." Adonis smiles , feeling accomplished.

Mabel stays silent.

"Are you alright baby?" Adonis says to the petite little girl.

...

"W-what ar-are mates?"