Hannah

After training, well my training and Micah staring at me like a creep the whole time, I try to sneak out of the packhouse by myself while Micah was talking to his dad.

It didn’t work.

“Micah. You have to stop following me everywhere. It’s weird. We went years with hardly being in the same room as each other. This is a big adjustment for me.” I tell him and he gives me sad eyes.

Ugh.

“I just wanted to ask you something.” He says, pouting out his lower lip and shuffling his feet. I sigh a little but turn to face him.

“What would you like to ask?”

“Will you spend the whole day with me?” He asks with bright eyes and a wide smile. I groan and turn away from him, but he hurries to catch up.

“Come on, Hannah!” He says and I growl at him.

“Don’t you have future Alpha things to do?” I ask annoyed, but he just shakes his head.

“Nope. Dad said getting you to love me is the most important thing I could do for the pack right now.” I grunt in response and can’t help but laugh.

“Love? Try tolerate first.” I say and he smiles at me.

“How can I do that if we don’t spend any time together?” He asks reaching for my hand. I let him take it and he seems surprised, until I let my claws come out and sink them into his skin.

“Ah, Fuck! Damn, Hannah. You don’t have to be so aggressive.” He says annoyed and I feel a little guilty. I take his hand and lick the wounds I made, and I see his body shiver as he watches me. The wounds heal nearly instantly, and he stands dumbfounded for a few seconds.

“I didn’t realize it was that effective.” He says, observing his hand.

“You’d learn a lot of things if you paid attention.” I tell him and he groans.

“I know. But shit is so boring.”

“The way the pack works, how mates work, werewolf culture in general, is not boring. And it’s important.” He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, and I fight the urge to do the same.

“I know. You’re right. I’ll start making more of an effort.” He says and my eyes balk at him.

“Really?” I ask incredulously. He smirks at me and moves a little closer.

“Yep. Because now I have a reason to.” He says smugly and I roll my eyes and push him away from me.

“Where are we going anyway?” He asks and I shrug.

“I’m going to my house. I don’t know where you’re going.” I say and he smiles mischievously at me.

“I’ll go wherever you go, sweetness.”

I hate that I like that pet name.

“Micah. A girl needs alone time. Quiet time to… ponder the complexities of the universe.” I say profoundly and he barks out a laugh.

“You mean watch funny youtube videos and put gunk on your face.” He states.

“Same difference.” I mutter and he chuckles. He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and I have basically given up trying to keep him from touching me. I know it’s not completely his fault. The pull of the mate bond is strong, and Micah has never been one to resist temptation anyway.

Our interaction gains a few curious gazes from pack members that we walk by, but Micah seems oblivious to it all. I breathe a sigh of relief when we finally get to my house. I run up to my room and change into comfy clothes before whipping up some lunch.

“Where are your parents?” Micah asks as he helps with some sandwiches.

“At work.” I say, grabbing some drinks from the fridge.

“Ah. So we’re all alone.” He says suggestively and I growl at him again.

My throat is starting to hurt from growling all the time.

“Don’t try anything funny. You will eat your snacks, watch the movie I pick, then leave me be for some peace and quiet. Agreed?” I ask and he nods his head somberly.

“What’s the matter?” I ask with a hint of exasperation. He sighs and looks at me with sad, wide eyes.

“I just wish you liked me as much as I like you.” He nearly whispers. I don’t know why I do it, if it’s what little I feel of the mate bond or what, but I glide over to him and wrap my arms around his neck gently, pulling his face into the crook of my neck so he can breathe in my scent.

“It’s been one day, Micah. After five years of mistreatment. It’s going to take time. You have to ask yourself if I’m worth the effort.” I say quietly and he nods into my shoulder.

“You are.” He murmurs against my skin and I feel my heart do that stupid flutter again. I pull away gently from him and give him a little smile.

“Let’s go find a movie you’ll hate.” I say, making him laugh.

“Sweetness. This movie is terrible.” He groans for the tenth time in twenty minutes.

“Feel free to go to your own house and watch your own movie.” I shrug, not moving my eyes from the screen. He groans again and stands up, making me wonder if he’s actually going to leave.

Instead he goes upstairs to my room and grabs my comforter off my bed and lays on the couch, cocooning himself in the heavy blanket and laying his head on my lap.

“What are you doing?” I ask annoyed.

“If you’re going to make me suffer through this, the least you could do is let me get comfortable.” He says wrapping his arm around my legs and clinging to me. He takes a deep breath and I see his body relax. I huff and cross my arms, but don’t push him away. He turns to look at me and gives me a smile.

“Feed me some popcorn, sweetness.” He says with cocky grin and opens his mouth.

I push him off of me and onto the floor. He grunts and pushes himself back up onto the couch.

“So aggressive. You know I was just kidding.” He mutters as he reattaches himself to my lap. He breathes out another contented sigh, nuzzling his face into the soft fabric of my stretchy pants. Before long I hear the gentle snores of him sleeping.

I can’t help but smile at him, all snuggled up, wrapping himself purposefully in my scent. If he hadn’t been such an asshole, he would have been a good mate. Even if he had just ignored me, I probably would have accepted him. But he went out of his way to be hurtful to me. I don’t think a mate bond should just erase that. My thoughts bring down my mood, and I shut the tv off before removing myself carefully from Micah’s hold so I can stand. He whines a little in his sleep and rolls over, curling up into the couch.

I decide to escape the suffocating scent of my obnoxious mate and take a walk around the pack. This is one of the few days I have the afternoon to myself and I usually like to be lazy around the house. Since I was robbed of that option, I decide to mosey down to the book shop to see if Katie is working. I round a corner and am ran into by a foul smelling, irate she wolf.

Jasmine.

When she realizes it’s me, she snarls loudly and pushes me so hard I fall into the grass. I stand up, my face pinching in disgust.

“Good God. What is that smell?” I ask, more to myself than anything.

“It’s fucking chili day.” Jasmine seethes and I can’t stop myself from smiling. “This is all your fault, you stupid bitch.” She hurls at me, but I just shrug.

“I don’t see how it’s my fault that you acted like an idiot and got yourself in trouble. If you had just listened to Micah, this wouldn’t have happened.” I say with an air of nonchalance in my voice.

Her suffering doesn’t matter to me.

“I can’t believe you’re his mate. What kind of sick, twisted shit is that?” She huffs out a humorless laugh and rolls her eyes.

“Obviously I’m better than you, or you would’ve been mated to him.” I say and start to walk away, but she grabs my shoulder and turns me back to face her.

“Why don’t you just reject him? He hates you; he always has and he treats you like shit.” She practically begs me, and I laugh loudly at her face, making her furrow her brows in confusion.

“I did reject him, Jasmine. Two minutes after I realized he was my mate. He won’t accept the rejection and is trying to get me to forgive him. Which means, even after his own mate rejected him, he still doesn’t. want. you.” I say slowly and as the realization dawns on her face, I see red fiery anger fill her eyes just as she lifts her fist to punch me.