Page 33 of Grim

“I’ll see if I can find anything to hold off your next rut, or at least something to ease the potency,” Bones said and took notes again while I continued to watch my mate sleep.

By the time Locke and Bones left, I had Journey sleeping with her body slightly raised on the bed. My first job was to make the apartment more livable. I had no reason to dress up my dwelling. I never thought I would have a mate.

Now that she was here, I had every reason to ensure her home was comfortable. I reached for the bags of food I had ordered, and I put them in the proper cabinet and refrigerator. Most of the food I would have to cook on my own, but I didn’t find that to be a problem.

The club might see me as an enormous wolf with enough muscle to take on even an Alpha like Locke, hell, even overpower him, but I hadn’t always been this way. I was born from a long line of omegas, thus I started life on the bottom of the pack’s totem pole.

At a young age, I was deemed too weak to seek warrior training at ten. Instead, I learned how to clean the pack house and do small menial jobs throughout the pack territory. That could be collecting trash to take to the human quarries or collecting firewood and setting them out on wolves’ doorsteps for their own homes. One of the primary jobs that my family inherited was cooking.

It was considered a low-level job, cooking and cleaning the kitchen, but my parents enjoyed it. They had full range of the kitchen, along with my siblings, to feed over a hundred wolves each day for three meals. My parents always hummed a tune, smiling at each other as mates would do.

I had grown up intending to find my mate, to love her just as my father loved my mother. I prayed to the goddess however, for a special request, and the request was for me to become strong enough to protect my mate.

More than likely, my mate would be an omega. If my mate was higher than an omega, then she would very well forget me and find another wolf that could take care of her. I had seen it too many times in my pack, often ignoring the goddess’s pairing.

I didn’t want that to happen to me.

My father was lucky that my mother was also of low status. However, many times my mother and father were picked on because of their lack of strength. And they lacked the drive to become something stronger.

That led to my mother crying because of the bullying, and my father could do nothing about it. He didn’t have the training, the drive to do something more until it was too late. He now had too many chores and too many pups to feed. I never wanted to see myself in that position. I would never let my mate cry because of cruel words or any physicality from other wolves. So, began my training on my own.

It was unheard of to move up the ranks in a pack, but that didn’t stop me. Once my chores were completed, I would run to the training fields. I lifted weights. I ran. I howled. Day by day, I grew more muscular than I ever could imagine, pushing myself to be something stronger.

The Alpha took notice. His long strides followed me into the rain one winter as I pushed myself by lifting tires and throwing weighted balls from one end of the field to the other. I was nearly eighteen, almost old enough to find my mate. I knew I had a short amount of time, and once my mate saw me, she would not see me as a helpless omega. I didn’t care if she was one. All I cared about was being worthy of her and able to protect her.

“I’m impressed,” the Alpha barked into the rain. “Even my warriors refused to practice today, and here you are, an omega lifting weights my Gammas could not hold.”

I stood up straighter, watching him stride toward me.

It was then I realized my muscles almost matched those of my Alpha, but I kept the happiness tucked away inside.

“I want to be more, Alpha. I want to protect the pack, protect my future mate.” The Alpha grinned, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“I believe that. Why don’t we test you further?”

A groan came from the bed, knocking me out of my reminiscing. I made chicken parmesan in the oven with garlic bread and salad. Journey coughed, and my wolf forced himself to bolt to the other side of the room to help her up.

Her doe eyes looked up at me, blinking away the streaming tears. “I’m sorry,” her voice rasped. “I’m not sure what happened.”

“Shock,” I stated plainly. She nodded, gripping hold of my hand. “What happened? Why were you in the closet?”

Journey gulped, her hand shaking again. I took her hand and laid it on my chest as I sat down, which seemed to calm her.

“I was alone, and I heard banging. I got scared.” She blushed. “I think it reminded me of the night before you saved me.”

I hummed, pulling her head into my chest. I purred, and her tense body relaxed again.

“You are safe now; I won’t leave.”

Locke had given me as much time as I needed to help my mate, to show her I would keep her safe and to let her know she was mine.

Chapter Twelve

Journey

Ididn’tknowwhatwas happening. This strange calmness came to my body as he hummed in his chest. My mind rushed through all the scenarios of what could go wrong from one moment and the next. The hum silenced it all.

I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened.

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