raiden

"He's your mate?" Beta Reo asks in a state of disbelief. "The human is your mate?"

Beta Reo's eyes move away from mine and focus on my very confused mate behind me. A small frown forms on my face. I wish I could've taken the time to explain everything to him instead of everything just being thrown in his face the moment he woke up. The only emotions that show on his face are confusion and anger. I wish I could feel what he's thinking.

"He is," I repeat once again and Beta Reo's jaw clinches.

His eyes move from my mate and he stares back at Alpha Tatum questioningly. Silently asking if he should go through with it or not.

"What harm is he going to cause?" I ask the alpha. "He'll be by my side. It's not like there's anyone here he can tell."

Alpha Tatum's green eyes meet mine. "How do you even know that's what he wants, Raiden? He's just woken up in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by creatures he's never seen, and now there's some strange man claiming to be something he has no idea about. How do you know he doesn't have a family or someone looking for him?"

My lips pull into a frown and I briefly glance at the human from the corner of my eyes. His eyes dart back and forth between the alpha, beta, and I. Maybe it is selfish of me to want to keep him here, but he's mine. He's my mate— I just found him, I can't lose him now.

"Give me a chance," I say. "Give me a chance to get to know him; to learn what he wants. If he wants to leave after that...if he wants to leave then I'll let him."

The room falls silent as I wait to hear what Alpha Tatum has to say.

"What are you going to tell Nara?" Maia speaks up. "What are you going to tell Mom, Dad, and Alpha Demos? They're not going to approve of this— they're not going to approve of him."

My brown eyes meet her similar ones. "I have never wanted nor agreed to a relationship with Nara. Mom and Dad have both known that I'd been waiting for my mate. If they can't accept him simply because he's human then I don't—"

"—Stop saying that!" My mate demands from behind, causing me to turn around and my eyebrows to furrow.

"Stop what?"

"Stop talking as if I'm not here. Stop trying to make decisions about me. Stop calling me 'human' and your 'mate'. Neither of those things is, or will be, true."

The room grows quiet and I stare into the pair of heterochromatic eyes. On the surface layer, anger shines within them, but underneath there's sadness hiding behind that anger. Part of me wants to ask about his life prior to appearing here. I want to know the story behind how he ended up here. I want to sit down and know just what caused all that pain he feels. Who caused it? I want to make all of his sadness disappear.

"You're not human?" I ask instead.

One step at a time, Raiden. Forcing him to speak will get you nowhere.

He looks at me with disbelief. "Is that all you heard?"

I offer him a smile and move to open my mouth, but the sound of a cough from behind has me turning around. Alpha Tatum looks between the two of us before he focuses on my mate.

"If you aren't human then what are you?" He questions. There's a slight edge to his voice and his eyes are narrowed slightly.

My mate's jaw clenches. "A wolf. Just like you."

My eyebrows raise at that and I sniff at the air. The only unusual scent in the room is that of the other rogue from before who still hadn't woken up.

"You're a wolf?" Beta Reo asks, the disbelief clear in his voice. "We found you in human form and why don't you have the scent of a wolf?"

Rather than replying, my mate turns the opposite way, ignoring the beta's question. Beta Reo shifts in annoyance and opens his mouth to speak once again, but Alpha Tatum stops him before he manages to do so. He eyes my mate for a few minutes before turning to me.

"He can stay," Alpha Tatum says. "But I don't want him wandering without anyone with him."

With that, I watch as the alpha and beta leave the room. Blinking twice, I turn to Maia with a grin.

"That was easier than I thought," I tell her.

Maia shakes her head. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Tatum never agrees to something so easily unless he has some kind of ulterior motive and you still have to deal with Mom and Dad."

I frown as Maia follows the other two out of the room, leaving me alone with my mate and the sleeping rogue. I knew her words held some truth to them. Mom and Dad weren't going to be happy with who my mate was. Human or not, he wasn't what they wanted for me. He wasn't Nara — he didn't come with a pack to offer me.

Shaking my head, I push the thoughts away and turn to my mate. As I stare at him, I can see a few injuries showing from underneath his shirt. I want to call a doctor in to check on him, but just judging from his body language I can tell that he doesn't want to be in the hospital any longer.

I'll take him home and link for a doctor.

With that decided, I move to grab his hand before stopping and switching to a wave instead.

"Come on," I tell him with a smile.

"Where?" He asks with narrowed eyes.

"Home," I tell him with a smile, but he doesn't bother to return it. Instead, he stares at me with a blank look. I watch as his eyes dart between me and the door and shake my head.

"You won't get very far if you try to run," I say, causing him to scowl.

He still doesn't move from where he's standing so instead, I walk towards the side of the hospital bed and take a seat in one of the chairs. We sit there in silence for a few minutes, the faint snores of the other wolf filling the room.

"What are you doing?" He finally asks me.

"Waiting," I tell him honestly. "We can stay here in this room or you can come with me. The choice is yours."

My mate's quiet for a few minutes before he lets out a sigh. "Let's go then."

My grin grows and I stand from the chair and follow him toward the door. "Wait, what's your name?" I ask him again.

"...Cloud."