Not Easy

‎“What is going on here?” I called out, my voice sharp and firm. Every head turned toward me instantly.

‎I recognized one of the girls, Anna, she used to mess around with Mike back in the day, and even though that ship had long sailed, she still acted like they were a thing. Her expression faltered as she saw us, but she quickly schooled her face and strutted over, dragging her little posse with her.

‎Everyone probably assumed I was headed straight for her, or maybe about to scold someone for causing a scene. But I walked right past her without sparing a glance, and straight to him, my mate.

Josh and Mike held back, positioning themselves like silent sentries. One to keep the girls from fleeing, the other to keep them from interfering. They thought this would be quick. Hell, I thought the same.

Walk over, reject them and have no regrets.

That was the plan, but now that I am in their presence , that plan felt like a distant lie.

‎The hooded figure was crouched on the ground, hurriedly gathering up scattered sheets of paper. There was something about how quietly they moved, like they were used to shrinking into the background or used to being hurt.

‎Up close, the scent was stronger, intoxicating. My mouth watered and my fingers twitched with the urge to reach out, to touch and claim. Blade thrashed wildly in my head, snarling and demanding control, but I shoved him back, gritting my teeth, now was not the time.

And then I saw him clearly, my mate was a guy. A small, fragile guy with hood shadowing most of his face, but not enough to hide the way he flinched at the sound of footsteps nearby.

'It doesn’t matter if mate is a guy, girl, or tree. He is ours,' Blade purred with pure satisfaction in my head.

A tree? What a weirdo. Just days ago, he wouldn’t shut up about how he liked his girls curvy and loud, now he was ready to imprint on a literal oak if it meant claiming our mate.

'How can we accept this?' I pushed back, the panic rising like bile in my throat. 'What about the pack rules? The legacy?'

'Forget irrelevant things,' Blade snapped, his energy pulsing with barely restrained frustration. He had always hated those rules, grumbled about them constantly, saying they were outdated and unfair.

'And what about Lillian?' I argued. 'Didn’t we both agree she would make a damn fine Luna? That she could make us happy?'

There was a short pause before Blade growled low.

'She might’ve made a good Luna, but she was never ours, I am sure she would understand. Now, either talk to him or leave all the talking to me.’

He was not just excited, he was impatient, and ready to pounce if I so much as hesitated. I had to clamp down hard. If I didn’t, Blade would end up scaring the boy, and probably traumatizing half the school while at it.

I stared at the top of the boy’s hood. He was still hunched forward, quiet, fragile. A part of me whispered that maybe this would be easier because he was a guy. That the rejection would sting less. That I could walk away before it got worse. But Blade wasn’t having any of it.

‘Don’t even think about it. You walk away from him now, and you will regret it for the rest of your life.’ he growled low in my mind

I clenched my jaw, frozen in place, aware of everyone's gaze but too tongue-tied and mesmerized.

His scent was doing something to me. My heart thundered against my ribs, while my brain screamed all the reasons this wouldn’t work.

But my body wanted to hold him. Pull him close and protect him from everything and everyone, including myself. What if he thought I was just another bully and with those girls?

He had just been cornered and humiliated and didn’t need a giant stranger grabbing him out of nowhere.

‎He kept his head down, never once looking at me. I crouched beside him, helping collect the last few papers. His hands trembled slightly as he reached for the ones I held out.

‎I wanted to ask if he was hurt. ‎I wanted to pull him into my arms and promise him nobody would ever lay a hand on him again and ‎I so badly wanted to rip those girls apart for daring to touch him.

‎But all I managed was a soft, “Are you okay?”

‎He flinched at the sound of my voice, and my chest clenched painfully.

‎The intention to reject him and get things over with was fast slipping through my fingers.

I'll do it after I make sure he is okay, when I know he’s safe, I told myself, but even I didn’t believe that anymore.

Because deep down, I knew, I wouldn’t do it, not now, not ever.

‎“Hey,” I spoke again, quieter this time, trying not to scare him off. ‎“Don’t be afraid. No one would hurt you again.”

‎The boy pause, his fingers gripped the last of his papers too tightly, as if he feared I might snatch them away or laugh at him like the others. His shoulders were curled inward in a defensive hunch, making him look even smaller.

‎‎He looked up, just for a second and the moment our eyes met, it felt like the world narrowed down to just him, those eyes, soft, unsure and questioning held no malice, just a quiet kind of pain. My chest tightened, everything that had felt off for weeks suddenly clicked into place.

‎This was it.

I finally understood what being in the presence of a true mate felt like. It was nothing like I’d imagined, and everything I hadn’t known I was missing.‎

‎I’d heard the stories, the myths passed down about the infamous mate bond. But nothing prepared me for what it actually felt like. This wasn’t just some mystical pull or magical instinct, it was a soul-deep certainty. An aching void that I hadn’t even known existed suddenly vanished, replaced by a strange, quiet peace that settled into every corner of me. Blade let out a deep, satisfied growl of contentment.

Ours.

And then my brain remembered something I seem to have forgotten, wait, what about rejecting him?

Now that he’s a male, shouldn’t it be easier? So why does this feel so right?

What about the pack rules? The traditions my grandfather bled for? The legacy I swore to uphold? Right now, I am a mess of emotions. Awe, relief and fear.

I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to go against centuries of tradition, but looking at him, even with his face still hidden, I knew one thing for sure, I wasn’t walking away.

I had never felt anything like this before. It wasn’t just lust or curiosity. It was something real, raw and unshakable. The kind of pull you don’t question, but surrender to.

I am aware everything would change from here. Things would get complicated, ugly, even. I knew the whispers that would follow, the judgment, and the rejection. A male mate wasn’t something the pack would ever accept. Hell, I am not sure if I fully understood it myself.

I used to think I loved women. I did love women or at least, I thought I did. But none of them ever made me feel like this, not even Lillian.

This little guy was mine. Fragile, guarded, and scarred, but mine. And I won't give him up for anything, not for the pack, not for the elders and not even for my father.

That tight, aching knot that had sat in my chest for weeks finally started to ease, unraveling slowly into something warm and peaceful.

Whatever storm was coming, I am ready to face it. With him beside me, I know I can handle anything.

"What’s your name?" I asked, voice gentler than I expected.

For a moment, I didn’t think he would respond then he looked up.

His eyes, soft and painfully beautiful met mine, and I swear my heart forgot how to beat. How could a single glance carry so much weight?

All I really wanted was to reach for him, pull him close and claim him right here, in front of everyone. Let the world see that he was mine. That no one would ever touch him again.

But I held back. He was already terrified. And from everything I had seen and everything I had felt, he wasn’t like us. He was human.

How would he even begin to understand what it meant to be claimed or to have a mate? This needed patience, he needed gentleness. Even if my wolf was pacing like a caged beast, desperate to mark him and call it done. I stayed still, praying he’d let me in, if even just a little.

“Didn’t you know, or are you just pretending not to?” one of the girls sniggered, her voice laced with malice.

My anger surged higher, hot and choking. I was already beyond pissed, but this smug tone, this insinuation means they knew something about him.

I gritted my teeth, forcing my claws to stay retracted. Not in front of him.

I glanced at my mate curled in on himself like he wanted to disappear. He didn’t deserve to witness what I was about to do. He didn’t need more reasons to be afraid.

But, I would deal with those girls, just not right now.

Josh stepped in before the growl rumbling in my chest could break free.

“What was that supposed to mean?” he asked coldly, voice low but sharp enough to cut.

I could feel the barely restrained fury in him. The tension rippling through them. They might not have been as directly involved as I was, but they were still my wolves. And this utter disrespect toward their future Alpha wasn’t going unpunished.

The girls looked at each other, uneasy now. As they should be.

“I’ll ask once more,” I said, my voice like ice, my gaze never leaving the one who’d spoken first. “What do you mean?”

“Look, everyone in school knows he is..." Anna said, walking closer and tossing her hair like she thought she was being charming.

“He’s dumb. In all the ways a person can be dumb.”

Then she and her friends burst into laughter like it was the joke of the century, shrill and cruel.

Blade roared in my head, begging to be unleashed. He wanted their mouths ripped off, one by one. And honestly? I wasn’t far behind. But I had something much worse in mind, something far more exciting and fun. I was just about to send instructions to Mike through the mind link when I felt a small, hesitant tug on my sleeve.

I turned and my mate quietly handed me two folded notes before stepping back like he was afraid he had done something wrong.

My heart clenched. Did I scare him? I hadn’t even raised my voice. Was that how fragile he thought he had to be around people?

I opened the notes.

The first one read:

MY NAME IS MAX

and the second:

I AM LATE FOR CLASS

I exhaled, the tightness in my chest easing slightly. So that’s what it was. I had almost lunged after him, thinking he was running away in fear. But he was just being responsible.

Still, watching him disappear into the school with his shoulders hunched and steps too quiet, I knew one thing for sure:

Now that he was out of sight, it was time to deal with these brats.