Hello! New chapter!
I'm not sure if I'll update before Christmas, but in the off chance I don't: Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope you spend the holidays with your love ones.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review!
WARRIOR.
Chapter 10.
PAUL POV
Sam parked the car near the entrance of Bella's building, and I had to fight the urge to leap out of the moving vehicle and run to my mate.
It's been the longest and most tortuous month of my life.
Out of decency, and because he offered to drive our asses here, I waited until Sam moved his slow ass to walk to Bella's apartment.
"Hurry up!" I growled halfheartedly when we entered the building.
He chuckled behind me. "Is your ass on fire, Lahoote?"
I ignored his ribbing and accelerated my pace. It's like the closer I was to her, the faster I needed to go.
I didn't lower my pace when I stood in front of her door; instead, I used that adrenaline and knocked rapidly a few times.
She opened the door and immediately jumped in our arms. It was a strange position, dividing a girl's hug with another person, but it worked for us. When we broke apart, she had tears in her eyes. I laughed and wiped them off. She had always been gorgeous to me, ever since Jake first introduced her to us, before I knew she was mine forever. But now that I was irrevocably hers, she was the most beautiful creature on earth.
When she disentangled her legs from Sam's and my hips and hopped down, I couldn't resist it anymore. I leaned forward and captured her mouth with mine, holding the back of her head with my left hand, keeping her close to my body.
I had always been known for acting first and thinking later; this was not the exception. It may cause me some problems in the future, but I planned to use my impulsiveness to my advantage.
She whimpered and tangled her hands in my hair, eagerly returning the kiss.
I traced her bottom lip with my tongue, asking for an invitation into her mouth. She opened, and our tongues danced together. She tasted like mint and cinnamon, and I was an addict. I wanted to damn everything to hell and take her against her door fast and rough, and then, once she had screamed my name, I would allow Sam to join. But being in a pack has taught me how to share. Being an only son had its disadvantages. And sharing Bella would come with growing pains, but if I wanted her happy, I had to be a good boy and share.
So, I relished my kiss with her but slowed it down until our lips were only whispers of touches. I broke away, and after one last peck, I pushed her softly but firmly towards Sam.
Sam, the ever-patient Alpha, left his patience at home because he took our girl in his arms as soon as she stepped in his direction and crashed their lips together.
Luckily for my ego, she reacted similarly to Sam as she did to me. A whimper sounded in the back of her throat as she clung to his shoulders with one arm and tangled her other in the back of his neck. Sam had short hair, but it was long enough now that she could tangle her fingers through it.
I had never entertained fantasies of threesomes, less of all a threesome that consisted of two dudes and one girl. But seeing my Alpha and best friend kiss our mate was an experience I definitely wanted to see on repeat. I wondered briefly how it would be to fuck her and love her together.
After what felt like hours, but it was only minutes, they broke apart. She turned, showing her flushed cheeks and bright eyes. "Hi."
Sam and I laughed. "Hi, sweet girl." I said.
She took Sam and me by the hand and led us to the living room. We sat on the couch while Bella sat on the coffee table, facing us.
"I missed you so much." She said. "I can't believe it's only been a month." I understood what she felt. It felt like a month sometimes and like a year other times. My conversation with Jake replayed in my mind. He had marked Angela before she left for school, but I wasn't sure if that were something Bella would agree to so soon.
"I know, sweetheart." Her hand was still encased in his, and I saw him squeezing it. They had their own secret language. Instead of feeling jealous, I was glad. Bella and I communicated differently.
We settled into a comfortable conversation for a while, asking her about school and Connor. I knew she knew we – I was jealous about this guy in her life. I didn't care if he was gay, which, yes, it's stupid, but jealousy is not always rational.
After a while, the elephant in the room started stomping its big feet, so it was impossible to ignore it anymore. We could pretend it wasn't there when we lived in different cities, and even then, it was hard. But here we were, finally together, and I wanted to shout it from the rooftops for everyone and their mother to hear.
"You're our mate." I said, finally. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sam breathe in and hold onto that breath as if his life depended on it. I waited with baited silence for our mate to speak.
She looked oddly calm, and there was no trace of surprise in her face.
"And?"
I frowned, confused. "What do you mean, 'and'"?
She smiled that beautiful smile, resting her elbows on her thighs and leaning forward. "It means, I know, and I'm asking what else is there to know. What does it mean?"
She knew? What? How?
"You know you're our mate?" Sam spoke, shock clearly visible on his face.
Bella giggled. "Yes, I know."
"Did someone tell you?" I was going to kill Jacob!
She shook her head. "No. I mean, probably yes. But not with words."
"Love, put us out of our misery and tell us how you know?" I asked, almost begging.
"You are not exactly conspicuous, you know?" She smiled at us again. "You'd do all these little things that separately didn't mean much, but when put into context, I just put two and two together. You'd bring me food before you got anything for yourselves. You constantly check on me; you're always looking for physical contact. It was little things all put together. You behaved the same way Jared did with Kim and Jake with Angela." She shrugged like her revelation was just a daily occurrence and not literally life-altering information.
I was speechless. She was right. I always made sure she had food before I grabbed something for myself. I constantly watched her, texted her daily, and looked for a way to touch her without freaking her out.
"How long have you known?" Sam asked. Something in the way he asked the question and the way he was looking at her rubbed me the wrong way. But she met his stare and didn't back off. She was not scared or intimidated.
She looked at me and then at him. "A week or so."
To me, it didn't really matter how long she's known. It was still a conversation I wanted to initiate on my own with her. The fact that we were doing it together was because keeping it a secret was creating misunderstandings, and since we couldn't see each other every day, distance sucked. We needed to reassure her that all those factors that were obstacles were not getting in the way of us.
But I knew Sam and Bella had fought. Sam had hidden Leah's and Seth's phasing on purpose, whatever his motives were, and she didn't take it well. I knew they'd patched things up, but apparently, Bella knowing for a week, was now rubbing Sam the wrong way.
I observed the two of them. Leah and Seth's phasing was almost five days ago, and Sam roped Jake into playing Alpha after Leah and Seth phased just two days ago. There was one day he didn't join us in our daily videochat, which I assume is when they talked and patched things up.
So, If Bella knew for a week that we were mates, her knowledge came before Sam came clean about the new wolves. I don't know how long exactly she'd known since she said a week and so, but it was clear that Sam didn't like it one bit.
Well, tough luck, my friend. If you want a dumb mate, you'd need to reincarnate and look for your dumb mate. Ours was fucking smart.
Bella bit her lip and played with the hem of her shirt, twisting and untwisting it. She was nervous, and it wasn't helping that Sam was basically glaring at her, even if she wasn't intimidated by it.
"Why didn't you say something if you've known for a week?" He asked, and I wanted to congratulate him for sounding way calmer than he looked.
As expected, Bella's go-to response was telling him to fuck himself. Sam sighed, frustrated.
She crossed her arms and glared at him. "You know what it means, I didn't. You knew and have had months to think about it and process it. I deserved the same treatment. I needed to process my thoughts. And I wasn't even 100% sure my assumptions were right until five minutes ago."
Sam looked at her and nodded, knowing she was right. Her speech was primarily directed at Sam, but I felt it in my heart, too. I was also part of this trio. I could have told her my part, and I also chose not to tell her anything.
"You're right. I'm sorry. It was unfair to say that."
We stayed silent for a few minutes. It was heavy and uncomfortable. Bella was tense, and her back was ramrod straight, nothing of her usual relaxed attitude.
Seeing as Sam was doing more harm than good – seriously, he can de-escalate a fight and manage a large pack of teenage guys without an issue, but sit him in front of Bella, and the dude would put his foot in his mouth 90% of the time – okay, not that often, but often enough. However, I had faith in him. He was smooth when he wanted to be. And Bella was smitten with him, so she would give him a hard time, but not hold it against him.
"Okay. So, you're our mate. Do you know what that means?"
"That I'm yours?" She asked innocently.
I smiled. She was not that far off. "Basically, yes. But it means we're overprotective of you, and we're more in tune with you than with any other girls mated to the other guys. We'll physically look out for you, and eventually, in theory, we'd like to have pups with you."
Her eyes widened, her cheeks reddened, and her arms uncrossed, falling to her sides laxly.
"That's a lot."
"But it's not all." Sam seemed to have recovered his speech abilities.
"It's not?"
"We fell in love with you, sweetheart, weeks after we figured out you were our mate. So, we're not only looking out for you physically. We want you to be emotionally happy and mentally happy and healthy. We want to be your support system if you're feeling happy or overwhelmed. Yes, we want to ensure you're eating, and we'll do it before taking a bite of our food. But most importantly, we love you."
I nodded in support. "We really do love you, baby."
Now, her reddened cheeks had tears going down them. I wiped them away. "We'd love to take care of you however you want."
From the few things she's shared about her mom and her life with her, Bella was always the one doing most of the parenting, and even though I can't picture the Chief acting irresponsibly, from what Bella has shared, she's been more adult around his house, too. She deserves someone who looks out for her and spoils her rotten but doesn't take away her independence. It's a long road, but one we're 100% willing to travel with her.
Being her mate, or her being my mate – to me, it was the same: she was mine, and I was hers; it made me inch closer to her, like a push in her direction. My whole life had been chaotic. My mom was not the kindest person there; my dad had his own issues, too, and I wasn't easy to handle either as a human or as a wolf. But she made me feel seen and understood. Did I pay attention to her more after knowing she was my mate? Yes. But finding a mate does not always guarantee you'll fall in love with them. There have been countless instances in past packs where mates had been just mates, not partners or lovers. If I had wanted to continue down that track, I would have easily just accepted the mating, and that's it. But I craved what Billy had had with Sarah and what Harry and Sue shared. So, I decided to give the pale face an opportunity.
"It's a bit overwhelming." She murmured, looking between Sam and me.
I nodded. "I know, sweetheart," Sam said. "We don't want to pressure you into anything. But we both thought you should know. I don't want any more secrets or misunderstandings between us."
She smiled softly. "I'd like that."
"Do you have any questions?"
She thought about it for a few seconds and shook her head. "Not right now. I'm just glad I wasn't imagining things and that you're here. I've missed you a lot."
I kissed her cheek, and Sam sat on her other side. "We've missed you too."
Her smile was brighter and bigger this time. "So, I have the two of you to contend with now."
Sam nodded. "Double the fun, the overprotectiveness…"
And the orgasms. Though I didn't say that out loud. There's a time and place for everything.
