Page 11 of Unlearning

“Wait! How were you behaving and how were you supposed to be behaving?”

I was starting to see why Hailey got paid the big bucks. I scratched below my nose and looked away.

“You remember the couple from the barbecue today, the ones with the PDA?” she nodded. “Well, they're probably on their third round of sex by now, and that's just warm-up. They'll probably mark each other right away, too.”

“So you haven't slept with her?”

“I haven't,“ a half-truth.

“What is marking?”

“A mated couple will bite each other right here,” I traced a well loved part of her neck with my finger, right where it met her shoulder. “And that mark will never disappear as long as both of them live, it almost looks like faint scarring. It lets others know that a wolf is taken. Like a wedding ring tattoo.”

“Would you be able to mark me?” she asked, trying in vain to hide the hope in her eyes.

“No, Hailey. I can bite you, but it will just heal. The mark doesn't even stick for wolves who are not fated mates unless they are widowed, let alone humans. I don’t even know if anyone’s ever tried, to be honest,” I shrugged and she looked away before I could read her face.

“So why didn't you?” she asked somewhat bitterly and I stared at her blankly so she clarified, “mark her, sleep with her?Samantha,” she spat the name.

I shrugged.

“I simply didn't want to. I loved you and only you.”

“What happens if someone doesn’t want their mate?”

“Nothing happens. I don’t think it’s a common enough occurrence to warrant something special happening.”

“Okay, thank you for once again emphasizing how uncommon this situation is,” she said sarcastically. “I meant, can you stop being mates with someone if you don’t want them?”

“Oh. No,” I shook my head vigorously. “There is nothing that can break the bond. Only death can do that.”

Her shoulders slumped a bit.

“The first time she saw you, did she jump you like the girl from today?”

“Yes.” There was nothing to add.

“Did you guys kiss?”

“We did. My wolf took over.”

“Does your wolf love her?”

“If she were here, he would want to be with her. That's as far as I understand him. It's not like he talks to me, I can feel his feelings a lot of the time, but that's it.”

“Doyoulove her?”

“For heaven's sake Hailey, I've spoken to the female once in my life. I've spent a total of 14 hours in her company. I feel nothing for her.”

“So where is she? How and why and when did she leave?” my wife left no stone unturned.

“Well, as I was saying earlier, she was suspicious and she followed me to Chicago. There she saw me living with you, and by the time I got back to the pack, she had left already, but not before telling my parents and the Alpha that I had gotten you pregnant and that we should be living in the pack because of our pup's future.”

“Sosheleftyou,” Hailey narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute, what were you planning on doing once you got back to the pack after Ben's birth, if she had still been there?”

And here is where I hesitated. Hailey and I had made plans for our life after the delivery, back when she hadn’t known what I was. I’d start work at the pack, we’d live somewhere close by while she was on maternity leave. Then I’d try to get the pack leadership to allow me to work remotely, at least half of the week. Right now, I didn’t even have a good lie ready for her. I couldn't even think of a good real solution, let alone a fake one so I went with the truth.

“I have absolutely no idea.”

---