Keith looked at me for a moment. He sighed heavily and moved over to me. He sat with me, pulling me close to him. I snuggled close. This is what I wanted right now. Just to hide in his arms.
“You knew there was a chance it wouldn’t be him. If I remember correctly, had told me you didn’t think you would end up together,” Keith said as he kissed my forehead. He became quiet for a moment.
“I never told you how I met Sophia,” Keith said.
He didn’t look at me. He hardly ever said her name. Let alone tell me about how they met.
“She hated me. She was in a pack out in the West, and I was here. When her scent finally hit me two years after my twenty-first birthday, I started my search for her. I believe that fate leads us in the right direction sometimes.”
He looked at me pointedly. I turned away.
“She was in love with someone else. They had been dating for many years before I came along. The West packs are different, they date, and they believe that because of their relationship with the witches they can get them to change their mate. Anyways when I showed up, Sophie immediately ran from me. I had to chase her through a couple counties before I finally caught her. When I did, she told me she didn’t want to leave. She pleaded with me to forget her and return home.”
Keith stopped and looked away from me this time. I bit my lip hating the pain I heard in his voice. He had lost her a few years before finding me. None of us spoke about it, but the pack knew that if he hadn’t found someone to live for, at that time he probably would have gone mad without his mate. I was what saved him from that. And he had saved me too.
“It is one thing having the idea of your mate waiting for you, hoping they would have the same pleasure in finding you as you found them. But to have your mate first run from you, then plead that you leave because she loved someone else...”
He left it at that, but I knew what he was saying. He was heartbroken. The woman was supposed to his, and he was supposed to be hers. But she had rejected him before even giving him a chance.
“I left at her request. The next two years after that were torture. And I finally gave up and I wanted to head out to find her again, when she found me. She said that she never felt as whole as she did when I was there. That she wanted to give us a chance.”
He paused again. I think this time he was organizing his thoughts. He had that scrunched look on his face he got whenever he was trying to explain something important to me.
“Life without your mate,” Keith’s voice caught. I leaned over and grabbed his hand in mine. I remained quiet allowing him to compose himself.
“You should give him a chance.”
Keith stood up and kissed me once more on the forehead and headed out of my room. He had given me a lot to think about.
No one bothered me for another couple hours while I thought. This was the only real home that I knew. But it wasn’t unusual for the female to follow the male back to their pack. There, I am sure, were times when it was the opposite, but that was rare. And I didn’t have any high ranking in the pack. I wasn’t an Omega; I most certainly was not a Beta or Alpha.
I had to stop hiding. I got up and dressed. I headed out of my room and Yellow Eyes stood with his arms crossed and his head down a little. He had a dangerous looking scowl on his face, and our gazes met mine. He looked beyond pissed off. His muscles were shaking with the urge to shift. I had seen it in Griffin and the other boys growing up. I took in a huge breath and stuck out my hand.
“We haven’t been formally introduced, I’m Colette, and you are?”
I waited. Yellow Eyes didn’t move his arms from their resting place in front of his chest.
Well this was going to be more fun than I thought.
“Please?” I asked. I offered my hand again, emphasizing the fact that I was standing there like an idiot.