Chapter 10 : A Lost Mate

Gabriel’s POV

Who the FUCK did this guy think he was?

It was a dangerous thought for me to have at the moment, but I couldn’t have cared less, especially with the scene I stumbled upon after Gael hadn’t checked in like he said he would when he went to that party.

A party that seemed almost out of control with how big and loud it had gotten.

A round of rock paper scissors between Missael and me that I lost had me putting on shoes and heading out, following the noise to round up our stupid brother before he got us all into trouble.

Father was already upset with us for forgetting to call after getting swept up in the whole ‘mate-not mate-mate?’ thing that was going on with all of us and he was getting suspicious because of that.

That meant that Gael wasn’t supposed to be causing trouble and forgetting to answer his phone. He was supposed to check in and reassure us that he wasn’t causing trouble or was in trouble—and not doing so probably meant the exact opposite was happening.

So, since I lost to paper, the rock I threw was going to go straight into Gael’s cheek if that little shit really brought our father down to campus with his tomfoolery.

With everything else going on, all the classes, all the drama, all the worry about our mate/not mate, I felt like the stress of it all was going to boil over and kill me.

Looking around though, there were too many people, too many sounds, and too many smells to easily track down Gael in the sea of bodies. It was already late enough that people were stumbling drunk.

“—was good, so leave me alone.”

Despite all the sound though, one pierced through, easy to pick out from the crowd and I turned… and there she was.

Eleonore, whose hair was falling around her like a halo, her skin exposed without her sweaters and jeans, looking soft enough to bite, and… she was alone.

Immediately I noticed that she was flushed, cheeks rosy but the rest of her pale, a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead and her eyes slightly dilated. It painted a bad picture. These parties could easily get out of control, Gael had told me enough about some of the drugs he saw at them.

Did she get drugged?

“Hey, I was just trying to be nice, you look like you need some help.”

Someone spoke to her and despite the words, the tone was wrong, irritated, bleeding into anger and I bit back a snarl as some guy reached out to grab her. A random unimportant man who would dare to–!

“I said no.” There was a fire in her tone, something beyond the fear and the distance she usually seemed to keep between herself and the rest of the world, beyond the worries. A fire. And that man reached out to try and crush it.

Before I knew it, I moved. Before I realized it, I grabbed his wrist. Without hesitation, I threatened to break it.

“She said to back off, and if you don’t I’ll make you.”

As the oldest of three brothers, even only by ten minutes, I lorded it over them almost viciously. But being the oldest came with responsibilities, as with being the firstborn, and with those responsibilities I was supposed to get into the least amount of trouble, be an example, and all that.

I was a very good example though, because I was going to remind this man that no meant NO.

“Hey, back off man, I was just—”

“Just going to leave,” I stressed, punctuating this by squeezing tighter, the bones almost cracking underneath my grip. “Right?”

“Y-yeah, that’s—that’s exactly what I meant now that she’s got her friend with her.” He managed to stutter out, groaning in pain, and after a few more seconds I let go.

“Great. Goodbye.”

The man couldn’t get away fast enough, a bruise blooming on his wrist, varsity jacket flying behind him, and I hoped he didn’t play any sports that required the use of his hand.

After taking a moment to calm down, and bury my anger so as not to scare her, I turned to look at Eleonore. She wasn’t running, though I think we both knew she wouldn’t get far in her state.

Her gaze was a bit hazy, but she recognized me, yet… she didn’t seem to be afraid this time.

“…Thanks,” she murmured, looking away from me, but I didn’t hold it against her. Our last meeting hadn’t really gone in my favor.

“…I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated, and that wasn’t how I had wanted to start a conversation or even what I wanted to say, but now that it was out there I continued to speak. “For how I treated you when we first met. You didn’t deserve that, and I regret what I did.”

“Why did you?”

“I don’t get out much if you can believe that,” I said, my joke falling flat, but it was the truth. We were the heirs to one of the largest packs on the northern continent, we were going to inherit a lot of responsibility but a lot of power. The Crescent Moon Pack had a lot of enemies, even among humans, so most of our relationships, gatherings, and trips stayed within the pack.

We went to school, of course, and we had friends, but we always had to be careful, just in case.

And unlike Gael, who wanted to go out and make friends with strangers, I was fine with that and Missael didn’t like the overstimulation anyways. That didn’t change the fact that there was a reason to be careful, be protective.

They were my brothers, so when something happened, I worried.

“I was worried. About my brother. I didn’t mean to take that out on you. So, I’m sorry.”

She stared at me, surprised, and this really wasn’t the place to do it. She was probably high and tripping and wouldn’t remember this at all. But being here with her, like this, where we stood under the tree untouched by the rest of the world around us. It felt… vulnerable, a bit raw, and opened up like my feelings couldn’t wait.

I regretted scaring her, acting like that. I shouldn’t have reacted like that, with anyone, and it was made worse by the fact that Eleonore hadn’t really done anything wrong. She was just trying to go to school and deal with the rest of the world, just like we were.

“It’s… fine.” She said, finally, blinking slowly before a small smile formed on her lips, her body relaxing, just a bit. “I guess I… I worried for nothing too.”

That little bit of relaxing seemed to do it because the next moment I was lunging to catch her before she could hit the ground.

She was light, so it was easy for me to bundle her up in my arms and hold her, cradling her close, careful of her head. And then it hit me that I was holding her, and I tilted my head back so I wouldn’t be looking at her.

Goddess, have mercy on me.

“Alright, Charlie’s been lost to the crowd and a crap ton of bribes, but she’s with Ryan. We can leave her here, so we are good too—Oh holy shit, Gabriel?! What happened?”

And there was my brother, rushing over, having obviously been looking out for Eleonore, and despite how he was one person, I was angry that he fell flat at protecting her.

“What do you think?” I growled out, almost snarling at him and Gael winced, practically wilting.

“I—I was gone for two minutes.”

“Two minutes too long, she’s obviously on something—what the hell happened?”

“Pot brownie.”

“A pot brownie wouldn’t do this.”

“It was a lot of pot brownies.” Gael corrected and I gave him a look, making him go quiet for a second. “Charlie wasn’t answering her phone and she came with Ellie. I wanted to bring her back right away but Charlie wasn’t answering her phone so she wanted me to at least check on her before we left–”

“Gael–”

“You know I wouldn’t have left her otherwise but I stayed with her for most of the party and her reaction was getting worse. That is why I also needed to find Charlie, to check if she had any medical history that might’ve caused this—which she doesn’t by the way, and—”

“Enough Gael,” I cut him off. “Just… enough. It got out of hand, you messed up, but she’s fine. Now let’s bring her back. Do you have her keys?” I was mad, of course, I was mad. Eleonore’s safety should’ve been a priority, not checking on her friend who obviously wasn’t being a very good one.

After what I just stopped I was irrationally angry and wanted to take it out on my brother, yell at him, blame him, but really, what was he supposed to do in this situation?

I handled it, it was fine…so why didn’t I feel fine? This wasn’t the first time something bad almost happened to us or someone we knew but this was different. This time it was different and I felt like I was out of control.

I needed to focus on the bigger picture, not my feelings, not right now. Eleonore was out cold in my arms from drugs and Gael was acting like I kicked him as if he was a pup instead of a wolf. I needed to get a hold of myself and act like the leader I was supposed to be.

“No, she left them at Charlie’s place, they were gonna have a sleepover after this.”

“Alright, then, did you get Charlie’s keys?”

“…”

“…Goddess above, Gael.”

“Hey, I was panicking!”

“And it did no one any good… alright, come on, we’re heading back to our place.”

“What?”

“Charlie is, as you put it, occupied, which will attract unwanted and unneeded attention if we approach her with Eleonore in this state, we have no keys, and frankly, it’s far safer with us than someone else.”

“She’s gonna freak out when she wakes up, you know that, right?”

“…Yes, but if you could think of a better decision, I’d love to hear it.”

Gael didn’t say anything. I knew he couldn’t. Eleonore didn’t have any other friends we could call, and breaking into either girl’s dorm would look extremely bad for all of us.

The campus infirmary would put this down on her record if we took her there. From what Gael told us, she couldn’t afford to upset her family—which being drugged, no doubt, would, especially since they were weed brownies. It’d be easy to blame her for it.

At least with us, nothing would happen, and, yes, Gael was right. She would freak out, and she’d worry, only one of us was her friend while Missael and I were strangers that had already scared her, but it was still the safest option.

“…Fine, but you’re telling Missy this was your decision.”

“Fine. Now move it. We’re mad at you as it is, you were supposed to call in.”

“Forgot… I was busy with her.”

That softened the rage, but only a bit.

Missael was rightfully angry when we made it back home, one look at Eleonore in my arms and we were met with an angry and disappointed glare.

“I cannot believe you two idiots. Gael, I can actually, but you, Gabriel?”

“There were… very few options after what happened. Someone almost accosted her so—”

“You didn’t tell me that happened!” Gael whipped his head towards me, and I scowled.

“She passed out, there were other things to talk about. Besides, I chased him off.”

“Good on you, oh superior alpha male,” Missael said sarcastically as he started clearing the couch. “Now we have a girl who’s afraid of two-thirds of us who will flip out upon waking, and potentially stop talking to us because of said decision.”

“Could you have thought of a better one?”

“No, because I wasn’t there because you idiots didn’t call! Now put her down on the couch so we can let her sleep.”

“Sorry Missy…”

“I… it’s fine. I’m just angry about the situation and I know you would’ve chosen something else if you could have. It’s just… we still don’t know if she’s our mate.”

“Do you want her to be?” Gael asked softly as I sat Eleonore down on the couch and Missael tenderly draped a blanket over her, making sure she was comfortable.

“I hope she is,” Missael whispered, as if it was a horrible thing to say amidst all the unknown. All the unanswered questions between us. I didn’t think so though.

We had only gotten to know Eleonore through Gael but what we did know… she sounded… lovely.

“Alright you two, time for bed, lock the door and all that, we’ll give her some privacy—Missael, get the blinds.”

“But—”

“Gael, the last thing we want is to scare her more, so let her sleep, alone.”

“Don’t make it sound weird.”

“GAEL.”

“I’m going I’m going, Goddess, sheesh.”

I looked at Eleonore one more time before following my brothers. Despite what I said, though, I knew I wasn’t going to get much rest when she was so close. I’d try though.

At some point in the AM, I fell asleep, only to be woken up by an alarm, stumbling out of my room, Gael and Missael doing the same—and I realized it wasn’t any of our phones going off.

Our guest was awake, and she was doing exactly as Missael said she would, panicking. But it was more than that, and I understood why a second later when the scent hit me and I felt a jolt, a REAL jolt between us.

Mate. She was our mate, and all of our eyes were glowing, Gael’s included, and she—she ran.

One moment she was on the couch, the next she was across the room, the front door slamming shut, her shoes still by the coat rack, left behind in her panic and she obviously wouldn’t be coming back for them.

It was expected, it hurt and I…I was so numb I couldn’t feel anything but dread. We knew this would happen and still, none of us were prepared for it and now, none of us knew what to do.

“Don’t. Say. Anything, Missy.” Gael whispered, slipping into the bathroom, and starting the shower, his soured scent being hidden by the steam.

“I think Gael just lost his friend,” Missael said softly, aggrieved, rubbing his head and he HAD to have a migraine now from all of our emotions going out of control, and I spoke the words we all feared were true.

“I think we all just lost our mate.”