Page 4 of Unloved Mate

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Zeke

I remember the first full moon that Valor transitioned into his wolf. Just like he said, I had helped him pick out his wolf's name, Leo. He had been pacing in the pack house, agitation quaking his bones as he thought what it would be like to shift into his wolf for the first time in his life. He was nineteen, and I was just a year older. Most wolf bloods get their wolves at eighteen except from Alphas whose wolves emerge even as early as childhood. Between the age of eighteen and twenty-two, our wolf manifested. Past that age, a wolf blood would remain wolf-less for the rest of their life. That wasn't the case for Valor on tonight’s full moon. The moon rising in the skies was the wolf moon, and it was the only time that the wolves of Night Shade Pack could shift into their wolves for the first time. Valor’s wolf had emerged about three days before the full moon, sending him over the hills with excitement. With the moon rising in the night sky, Valor paced the living room, muttering incoherent words. I rasped against the wood, and he halted and leveled his gaze with me. “Sorry I was held up.” I told him.

“It’s ok. Let's go.” He said to me with a smile.

We both headed to the clearing where the full moon run was happening with the Alpha and the other ranked members of the pack, taking their places in the first rows, the royal blood werewolves following and then us. Valor had joined his family with the Alpha after I had countlessly reassured him he couldget through this.

We gave ourselves over to the power of the full moon, using its energy to bring forth our wolves. We could shift without the moon as wolf bloods, but with it, it was more intensified. It drew us closer to the power of the bond of the goddess herself.

I morphed into a brown wolf, my eyes turning into a bright golden color, and I joined the pack of wolves in the run, moving through the forest in unison and breaking into boisterous howls of joy with our gaze tilted to the silvery moonlight. When we circled the territory and returned to the clearing, Valor was standing naked and covered in earth. He did it. He shifted.

He headed toward me with a hearty chuckle, his arms opened up in an embrace, but he stopped halfway in his tracks when he picked up a scent in the air. if I had to guess, he had smelled his mate. I watched as Valor searched for her in the crowd, but when he had found her, a cruel rejection awaited him. I spent the entire night with him, consoling him that they didn't know his worth. I did. But I wasn't sure if giving myself over to my feelings for him was the right thing to do.

I let out a chuckle, scanning through the clearing where his first shift happened about a decade ago. It had been so long, but it still felt like yesterday.

I had left the pack house after seeing Valor’s deceased body in his room, and I headed toward the clearing where I reminisced about the first full moon run I had with Valor. Now I was back here and burdened by the feeling of nostalgia, I resumed my stroll back to my former home, where I used to livealone. I had spent most of my life in the sentinel training camp after I turned sixteen years old, relying on the pack to care for me as death had taken my parents as such an early time of my life and I've had to struggle with everything. That was until I met Valor. It seemed alright at first until it didn't. Of course, Valor had to be perfect. He had to be picked even if he wasn’t well qualified for the task. His family treated me as part of them until they felt I was somehow stopping Valor from fully committing to his duties. They threatened me to leave, come the next full moon, I left Valor with a little parting gift. He had found his second chance mate, but I made her reject him, a skill I had honed after my powers manifested with the presence of my wolf.

I made it to the housing areas, returning to my old home, which was now occupied by a family of wolf shifters. Someone I knew from training camp years ago. Luckily, he recognized me and he showed me to the small house behind the building where they had moved all my family stuff, including my father's motorcycle. I wondered if that baby was still alive. I took it out of the small compartment and worked on it with the little skill I had learned about bikes from my friends, who were part of the Eclipse, and half an hour later, the engine was running. I drove it back to the pack manor and parked it next to the car I had come with, hoping that Valor would come back to life, and we'd take off with the half moon guiding us through the night sky.

I waited out the rest of the evening at the clubhouse, reuniting with old acquaintances and praying earnestly in my heart that he came back. My plans for him wouldn't work out so well if he was dead and lying there like a limp fucking vegetable. He needed to come back to life just like the witches said he would, and I’d give him the best start of his second life, then leave him ruined as payback for what he and his family did.

I was rocking my body through the crowd of wolf bloods that dominated the dance floor with a glass of vodka in my arms, moving in sync to the music with the men and women. I threw back the content of the glass on my mouth and was about to head over to the bar when someone placed his hands on my shoulders, stopping me. “If you know how long it took me to find you here you wouldn't hesitate for a second. Valor is awake. The Alpha sent me.” The man said. He was a patrol wolf. My heart skipped a beat when he mentioned that the Delta had made it back to life, and I passed my glass to a wolf blood next to me, following the patrol wolf until we made it out of the clubhouse with the feeling of overjoy still fluttering in my heart. I sprinted off with the patrol wolf right behind me and I didn't stop running until I arrived at the front door of his room. He was pacing the floor when I arrived, and the look of surprise when he saw me sent a thrill of joy through me. He was alive. I wasn't supposed to be as excited as I was by seeing him alive, but still my heart bubbled with genuine excitement. I didn't think twice before I pulled him into a tight squeeze. Staying with him made me recall our days together. The days I spent loving him in secret. Right now, with him present, I didn't even know if I wanted this so-called revenge anymore because all the feelings I had for him came crashing back into me, causing tears to well in my eyes. He was the same old Valor, always yapping whenever he felt comfortable and taking his duties as a ranked wolf blood seriously the next minute. As he just ranted about missing his duties and his family, I just looked at him with a huge smile on my lips. I shouldn't be feeling this. What I should feel was hatred, but with each passing second of watching the light in his eyes, the hatred diminished.

We had returned from the unplanned expedition of driving out of the pack house on the motorbike, meeting theentire manor in grave silence. We crept back into our room, ensuring we didn't wake anyone from their deep slumber. Once we had entered Valor's room, he locked the door gently and turned on the light, pulling off his jacket and tossing it on the ground. “So, are you going to take your bath or something?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Alright. You go first. I'll wait. You can take any of the clothes from my wardrobe.” He murmured as he took off his shirt. My gaze lingered on his perfectly lined abdominal muscles and the hairs on his chest. I swallowed hard and looked away once I realized I was staring. I smiled and dashed into the bathroom, returning a few minutes later, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Valor finished in the bathroom as well and joined me in the room. He dressed up in a tight black short and climbed into the bed, covering himself with the sheets, his gaze glued to the ceiling. “So tell me more about what you do these days?”

“I’m part of a werewolf club known as the Eclipse. We dedicate our lives to helping wolf bloods and other supernatural creatures to find a home.”

“That’s a good cause.”

“We would use another member. That's if you want to.” I glanced at him and smirked. He let out a breath and returned his gaze to the ceiling.

“Well, I'll think about it.”

“Yeah? What about you? You should have a whole series of stories to tell me after leaving for twelve years.”

“Sometimes I wish I never left. No goodbyes, you know.”

“Yeah, me too.” He shrugged and lay on his side.

“Well, the mates I thought would be my all rejected me twice, and since then I've isolated myself, keeping to my duties as the Delta close to my heart above everything else. Until Aiden showed up. There was something about him. We didn't spend so much time together, but each time we were alone, it felt safeand right. But he killed me without hesitation when I tried to save the Alpha’s mate. I guess his hunger for revenge bested our friendship.” Valor explained with a devastated expression. His words echoed in my head, leaving me to question if coming back here for revenge was the best thing. Was I going to let this hunger for revenge ruin everything I felt for him?

“Don’t say that, Valor. You deserve to be loved. Everyone does.” I said out of the blue and took his hands, giving him a soft caress.

“Then why? Why does it have to be me? The moon goddess said I should do some soul searching, but it's really hard for me. I don't think I deserve a second chance.”

“Hey, Valor. You are a good man, and those who rejected you did that because they couldn't afford you,” I beamed at him and put my hands on his jaw, directing his face to mine. We were so close that I could feel his breath against my skin. The impact of our skin touching each other sent a thrill of sensation through me, something that I never wanted, but it came. Our lips came into a mild contact, and he exhaled deeply. “You’re special to me. Always remember that.” I said to him and he turned away from me, his breath pacing as he shot to a sitting position. He cleared his throat and pressed his hands into the bed.

“I need to take a walk alone.”

“Sure. Anything you need.”

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