Mates Conquer Everything, Right?
20 The talk

Ignoring the real reason why Oliver and Ela are with us was easier than I thought. I have a lot of fun. Igétas and I are an amazing team. We decided on playing alternately. I start with a hit and then Igétas puts the ball. Igétas begins on the second hole and I almost hit the ball in the right spot. Almost, but the ball stops a ball’s length away from the hole. Oliver and Ela are getting excited. We have fun banter and I learn about Igétas’ impatient attitude and his love for his pack. It looks like he doesn’t know Ela as well as Oliver, but he tries to get to know her. I love that about him.

We play eight holes. We aren’t the only players and we need to wait for another couple to finish. We talk and I try to keep Igétas busy so he doesn’t feel the urge to be impatient.

We play another two holes and wait for Ela to get us drinks.

I am looking around and see a couple sitting on the terrace. Squinting my eyes, I see Chris. Another Pack member, talking to a man I hadn’t seen before. Chris meets my eyes and instead of waving or looking surprised to see us, he is looking away too quickly. Like I shouldn’t know that I just saw him monitoring me. That’s it!

“Igétas I want to have dinner early. We need to talk.” He meets my eyes and knows I mean business. The sentence ‘we need to talk’ was not unknown to him. Everyone knows that it usually means something bad, and to be honest, I am mad. So angry, all of a sudden I don’t want to play mini golf anymore and want to leave and talk.

I try to get my head straight in the car and not let myself get distracted by my man next to me. The diner he took me to is medium-sized and has a lovely décor. Very American 50′s, but I don’t have a lot of time to enjoy it. Igétas slips a twenty-dollar bill into the hostess’s hand and we are escorted upstairs. His hand is resting on my back as we take a seat on the empty floor. It has more of a nightclub look with red and blue décor. I don’t hate it, and I look outside and see the forest nearby.

“What’s wrong?” Igétas starts the conversation. “You looked like you were having fun and then your expression changed.”

“Why are you protecting me?”

“You are mine, mine to love, mine to protect, mine to…” I cut him off.

“That’s not what I meant, what is the threat that you need to protect me from?” I look into his eyes and he can’t hold my gaze. A tell that he might not tell me the truth.

He opens his gorgeous mouth to talk and I interject. “Don’t you lie to me! I swear that if you lie to me now, I will see it as treachery.” I point my finger to him.

“Okay, what do you want to know?” he asks and I see that he wants to cooperate.

At that moment a waiter arrives, and we order some food. I don’t even know what I am going to get. Igétas orders for me since we didn’t get any menus. Looks like Igétas knows it by heart.

“Am I in danger?” I ask.

“Not directly.” He chooses his words carefully.

“And with a detour?” I ask and clearly, I stated the question wrong, because he smiles while there is nothing to smile about.

I give a stern look followed by a wink and he nods his head. “You could be. I am not sure.”

“Tell me about it.” He changes his demeanor and sits upright.

“It is a family matter...” He starts off and I gesture for him to continue. “Well, when Tharros and I were young, I was eighteen and Tharros sixteen, our parents left us behind and we needed to run…”

“Why would your parents leave you?” I ask, not understanding why parents leave young adults to run a Pack.

He takes my hand in his and he kisses it, sits back relaxed and stares into my eyes. “Sometimes I forget that you are not from here. The English language can be difficult to understand.”

I smile at him, loving the way my hand feels when he holds me. “You can learn Dutch.” He chuckles and doesn’t respond.

“I meant to say that my parents died.” That was something I didn’t expect. He sees my shock and waves it away. “It is okay, It isn’t as painful now. We needed to decide who was going to be the Alpha. A pack can’t function with two equal leaders. There has to be one. I was the oldest so it would be logical for me to take the Alpha title. But Tharros had met, his mate, and his wolf was more developed than mine.”

Wait a minute. “What do you mean by developed?”

“When we are younger, our wolves only know basic needs, like hunger, happiness and anger. He develops just like people with age but also through experience. And if a wolf is mated, it will make the maturing go faster.” He looks at me to check-in and I nod, understanding his story.

“A Pack is as strong as its leader. At that moment Tharros was just a little stronger than me because my wolf was not fully grown. Well, not yet. Now that I’ve met you, my wolf is changing. He thinks about more than food, the safety of the pack, and family. He thinks about you. Love and a future. In a couple of days, weeks, or maybe a month he will be fully grown and I will be stronger than Tharros.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” I ask, happy to know more about him but still confused about why I am in danger.

“I have the feeling that Tharros won’t give up the leadership as easily as we had decided when he took over the pack, but it is safer for the pack if the strongest man or wolf is the leader. You are the one that makes me strong. Human or not, I don’t care. Tharros cares about your status as a human and I heard…” he stops for a second to look into my eyes intensely.

“I think he is trying to get people on his side. Saying that you are not good for the pack and Yolanda is. That I am weak with a human by my side and not a werewolf. I am not easily scared, but just the thought of losing you is driving me crazy.”

I shake my head not understanding why this is even an issue. “I don’t understand. I set a rogue on fire. I helped you all.”

“Yes, you did.” He says and I see his proud smile. “It will not be for him to convince the pack, but I don’t want him to take you out through different means.” He doesn’t have to elaborate on that.

“That’s why you had me followed in school and had your pack watching over the date.”

He nods and I feel a lot better. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”

Our food comes and it looks delicious. We eat and I take the liberty to speak.

“So, tell me about mating.” I say and he almost chokes on his steak.

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