Pureblood (Pureblood series)

by Ellysia Fields

  “I’m sorry, I wasn't fully awake yet and, um, yeah I’m not used to having to guard my feelings,” he apologised. He looked at her again, seeing the reaction she had on her face was a mixture of fear and confusion. “It’s okay now. I’ll get the hang of this, and it’ll all be-”

  “What happened?” she blurted, stunning him a moment.

  “You– you don’t remember? Anything?” His voice was heartbroken and it shattered her a little.

  “I remember the bond, and running, and being with the pack, but everything blacked out when we got back...here.” Her cheeks must be glowing with how hot they felt. She hadn’t been with anyone since her ex, so she was still a little inexperienced and shy.

  “Oh, well I guess it’s good that you remember most of it, and I guess that's why you acted like a wolf and liked– well, that’s not important. The important thing is you accepted. The bond is complete, now we can never be separated again.” He reached over to her, intending to pull her into his arms, but she backed away further.

  “We’re both naked, I’m not ready…” She closed her eyes, her wolf rising up again, wanting to pull closer to him, wanting to be claimed again like last night. It was glorious and wonderful and- “No!” she shouted without meaning to. Nick snapped up from his own thoughts, or maybe from hers, reaching over farther and touching her cheek and nothing else.

  “It’s alright, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I will wait for you to be ready, I promise, no matter what our wolves want.” He said calmly. His words along with the warmth spreading from his hand soothed her to her core. Her wolf quieted, an image of her curling up forming in her mind. Elizabeth looked down at herself, then over to Nick's strong, muscular chest and arms, down the curve of his exposed side to where the sheet barely rested on his hip. Her cheeks blazed.

  “Enjoying the view? Because I know I am,” Nick teased with a smirk, his crimson cheeks paired nicely with his steel grey eyes.

  “Maybe I am, maybe I’m just wondering when you’re going to get dressed,” she snarked as she pulled the sheet more to cover her cleavage. The movement, however, caused the sheet to move for him too, showing a bit more skin than she could handle, so she turned her face into the pillow as he laughed heartily. She felt him get up off the bed, so she kept her face covered until he cleared his throat.

  “I’m dressed now and I’ll wait for you outside, we have to discuss a few things.” He walked outside and shut the door, allowing her to get up and get dressed quickly.

  When she opened the door, she found him sitting on the couch waiting for her. “What do we need to discuss?” she asked.

  He looked up at her entrance, sighing softly. “I want to start by telling you that you know I lo– care for you very deeply, and that will never change.” He waited for her responding, if hesitant, smile before he continued. “I know this must be very confusing for you, so I’ll try to make myself as clear as possible. Normally, when a pair of wolves experience their first Full Moon Ceremony together as a mated pair, their first step is to move in together. Announcements to the Alpha and the pack are also a part of it, just as your new status within the pack.”

  “New status?” She questioned. She had moved to sit on the couch, some small amount of distance between them.

  “Yes, Liza. Now that we are… together, you hold nearly the same respect as me. You’re no longer one of the lowest in the pack, now you hold almost equal power to a Beta yourself. Darren and Terry have mates, I can introduce you to them soon so you can get to know them. But always know that I am here for you, first and foremost, even above the Alpha.”

  She could only blink a few times, trying to comprehend that everything about her life she knew since her change, was changing again.

  “So, that’s it? I get no further choice in this? We’re just together?” she asked, leaning back into the couch to stair at the ceiling. She was trying to absorb it all and having a hard time at it.

  “You made your choice last night. Liza, after sharing the -everything- the bond is complete. We are a mated pair now. You are mine just as I am yours. We’ve basically already been living together so not much of that will change. I will still give you as much space as you need, but I want you staying here with me where I can keep you safe.” He lifted his arm up, brushing the back of his knuckles along her jawline, as he tried to convey so many emotions through that simple touch. “All the telling and pack stuff is secondary to something even bigger. Our bond is like a human marriage, but also so much more. We have a deep connection, in here and in here,” he first pointed to his head, and then his heart. “If anything were to ever happen to you, I would know in an instant because I could feel your fear, your pain, as if it were my own. And I would find you, always.” The depth of his emotions in his voice, the soft assurance of her safety brought a tear to her eye. No one, not even her ex had ever said such a thing to her, to always find her and be there for her in her times of sadness. His hand cupped her face as his thumb brushed the tear away. She leaned into his touch, one hand reaching up to grab his wrist.

  “I do love you,” the words spilled out without a second thought, shocking both of them, “but I’m still not sure. It feels like we’re moving too fast, like I can barely catch my breath. Last night, from what I remember and what my wolf is telling me, was amazing. Even as I sit here, I feel whole, complete like never before. And it’s kind of upsetting, scary even.”

  “I have waited for you for centuries, Liza, and if you need a few more days to take things slow, I’ll do that but… I still want to finalize things with the pack. I still want you to stay here, so I can protect you. What if Jeremiah tries to attack you again?” His voice started soft, but when he finished the last, there was a strong sense of worry there.

  “That was just because of the full moon, you can’t blame him for that. He wasn’t fully in control of himself,” she found herself defending him, which was a little surprising since he attacked her.

  “He attacked you, I can't just let that slide now. If he attacked once, there is a chance he may do so again.” She could see the inner wolf rising behind his eyes, and felt the heat from his hand increase as he pulled it away from her face.

  “You have to because I want you to!” she snapped. “Look, if you want to do this your way, fine but don’t get mad at Jeremiah because of something he couldn’t control! He’s normally so calm and nice around me, but something in him just wasn’t normal.” She gripped his shirt, trying to convince him. He looked into her eyes, searching for the truth in them before sighing and running a hand through his hair. His wolf settled down, but only a little.

  “Fine, I’ll let it slide this time, for you. Let’s go tell the Alpha about our bond, then we can go start moving your stuff.” He turned and moved toward the door. Him being even that far away hurt her a little, she realized, as her wolf started clawing to get out and take him back to bed. She wondered if this feeling would ever go away. “If you’re worried about whether that pain of being apart will ever go away, no, it won’t. But it will become easier to manage, it’s just strong now because we are newly bonded.” She blushed hotly at the term and turned away as she approached him. Seeing her red cheeks caused him to chuckle in happiness.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “What?! Is that where you vanished to last night?” The funny thing was that both Camila and Beatrice had the exact same reaction as she walked with her friend to the dining hall.

  “You should have seen Beatrice’s face, I thought she was gonna pass out or something,” Elizabeth laughed, hiding her pain from being so far away from Nick. Beatrice had asked several times if they were sure and, after they had confirmed everything a third time, she started to get angry. Nick stepped in and stared her down, effectively ending the conversation.

  “So the rumor was true, she had a thing for Nick. Serves her right for treating you like that all this time. I always thought that all the attempts to keep you two apart would come back to bite her! I’m glad
to see you both so happy though, but I’m still wondering if you’re okay. I know this has been quite the adjustment for you, being Turned and all,” her friend said carefully, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  “I’m alright, I guess I’ve liked him for a little while now, and just didn’t notice it with everything going on. He promised to take things as slow as I needed, and I really believe him.” She smiled, remembering their conversation earlier. She cleared her throat and returned her attention back to her friend. “But I’m worried about you. How are you handling yourself after the…”

  “The attack? It’s okay, you can say it. I’m fully healed physically, but I still get nightmares sometimes. Edward and Jen have really been helping me with that, so I’m getting better. But I don’t wanna talk about me, Liza, I wanna know all the juicy details I missed! You’re gonna share at breakfast right?” Camila nudged her friend’s side with her elbow, causing both to giggle like school girls.

  “I’d tell you, but I don’t really remember much and I gotta meet Nick outside soon,” she explained, rolling her eyes at her friend’s look.

  “Oh? Going back to relive last night already, huh?” Camila teased. Elizabeth pushed her friend toward the open dining hall door.

  “No, we were put on a quick patrol. Well, Nick was, but I get to tag along because…” She glanced sideways, blushing a little.

  “Because you’re mated!” Camila finished for her, slowly if excitedly. She bounced up and down a little, causing her to bump into someone. “Oh, sorry I didn’t-” she stopped, eyes widening.

  “Sorry, Camila. Liza, did you say you were mated to the Beta?” Jeremiah looked shocked as he looked at Elizabeth. Camila cowered away from the male, leaning into her friend. Elizabeth wrapped her arm around her friend, seemingly not as healed as she thought.

  “Yeah, Nick and I are pair-bonded now. Don’t worry, I told him you attacked me last night because of the full moon, not anything else. I hope you're doing better now, though?” She asked, weariness in her tone as she watched his movements. He must have sensed something about her she didn't fully grasp yet as he backed away slowly.

  “Hey, it’s fine, calm down. I’m not gonna hurt either one of you, it was just an accident. I’m gonna head to breakfast, see you both later?” She watched him slink submissively into the dining hall. Camila started to regain herself once he was out of sight.

  “Thanks, Liza. I don’t know what happened, I just...froze,” she tried to explain. Elizabeth smiled, pulling the girl into a hug.

  “It’s alright, you have nothing to worry about anymore. Nothing will happen to you again as long as we are here for you,” she assured the smaller woman before stepping away to allow her inside. Those who watched the exchange greeted Camila kindly. Seeing her friend would be able to eat in peace, she turned back toward the way she had come to find her mate.

  She met Nick at the entrance, smiling broadly and hugged her tightly. She inhaled deeply, smelling their mingled scents surrounding her, calming her. She felt his chest rumble in a soft chuckle as she drew her eyes up to meet his.

  “You seem happy. Did something good happen while you were away from me?” His eyebrow quirked up, intrigued.

  “Sort of. Camila got a little panicked seeing Jeremiah today at the dining hall, but I stared him down and he submitted. Is that what you meant about my new standing?”

  “Yep, that is. You’re bonded with a Beta of the pack, the only ones who can order you around are another Beta and the Alpha herself. I’ll have to get Darren to watch Jeremiah once we get back, something is off about him but I just can’t put my finger on it.”

  “You mean paws right?” she teased. He glared down at her but she met his stare evenly with his despite him being a few inches taller than her. After a few moments, they both laughed as she walked out into the daylight of the forest. She couldn’t remember being outside during the day and wherever they were, the forest here was beautiful. The warm light shined off the pond near the entrance, turning the semi-clear surface to smooth glass without the slightest breeze to disrupt it. The pine and wild palm trees filtered much of the sunlight, creating cooler shadows in the bushes and underbrush. In some places, like back home in Maryland, it was cooling off but not down here. If not for the shade caused by the trees, the heat would be oppressive.

  “Well, let’s get to work. I know the area Beatrice said, so I’ll lead the way, but I want you to practice too,” Nick called as he jogged out towards their target. Elizabeth followed and quickly caught up.

  “Practice? What do you mean?” She spoke effortlessly, guess all that training had helped after all.

  “Tracking! I know you learned the basics from your tutoring, but now it’s time to see if you can do it. Start by trying to find the scents you know and filter those out. Search for the one you don’t recognize.” He explained. She started to sniff the air, but only smelled him. It lulled her mind, making her think she didn’t want to smell anything else. She shook her head, she had to focus. Nick wanted to test her, and she couldn’t fail her first real test. So she focused, blocking the calming scent of her mate and tried to find other scents. “Her mate.” She’d really thought that! Her cheeks heated up, but it had nothing to do with the jogging or the weather.

  “Hey, calm down, I can’t focus, Dear!” Nick called as he came to a stop a few feet from her. She glanced up, stopping as well and saw his cheeks flushed a bit too.

  “Ah, sorry! I could only smell you, so I…” she trailed off, not willing to admit to anything more.

  “It’s okay, I should know better. We’re here anyway, so try to smell now.” She looked around, nothing special stuck out to her as she looked around the small clearing.

  “What are we looking for again?” she asked. He sighed.

  “Last night while we were, um, ‘busy’ other members of the pack scented an intruder around this area. Beatrice put me on the case, but you had to tag along because-”

  “Because I’m bonded with you and she didn't want me writhing in pain in the med ward or worse. Yeah, she made that quite clear to me,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

  “It wouldn’t have been that bad, she’s just stressed out with everything that’s been happening lately. She doesn’t want to lose any more wolves like we lost Candice,” he clarified.

  “She’s the other female Beta, right? How long as she been gone?”

  “About three months now. I was actually out looking for her that night when,” he paused, trying to figure out how to continue. “When I found you.”

  Elizabeth blinked, startled. The night of her attack, her transformation, he was out looking for the missing Beta. They were quiet for a little while before Nick cleared his throat.

  “Hey, start sniffing, you’re not gonna get out of practice that way!” he ordered. She raised her eyebrow and he watched her. He would never really order her to do anything, but the tone he said it in was more like a firm reminder. She shrugged and closed her eyes, smelling and searching. She smelled him, but tuned that out and found others. Some she recognized and tried to put them aside too. They were older, but she managed to focus on one that was new. It smelled wrong and she wrinkled her nose, she didn’t like it.

  “I think I got it.” He smelled too.

  “Yep, there was definitely someone else out here. I’ll search over here, you check over there. Don’t wander too far or neither one of us will be able to focus!” He called behind him as he followed one trail leading off to the west.

  She huffed and followed another, smaller deer trail. Thinking this Feral may have been looking for food was a good plan, as she started to smell the scent again. She thought about calling out to Nick to help her track it down, but the scent was still weak and old, so it probably wasn’t anywhere nearby. She followed the smell, closing her eyes every once and a while when it got too weak to follow with them open. She didn’t know how far she had gone, sniffing the air but eventually she came across another more familiar scent. This wasn’t someon
e from the pack, but she knew it, so she started to follow it.

  She followed this trail for a while, getting stronger as she got closer to where it lead. Who said following scent trails was hard? It weaved around trees, back toward a familiar trail she knew well. The scent led down the same trail and wound its way near her house. In the back of her mind, she felt the pull of her bond urging her back to Nick, but if what she thought she was smelling was true she had to follow it. Ignoring the urgency and pain that started to give her a headache, she kept following the scent until she saw where it was coming from.

  Or rather, heard it.

  “Liza! Where are you! Please don’t tell me you’re dead!” It was Ginger, her strawberry blonde hair sticking out like a sore thumb out here surrounded by green. Clearly, she thought she was prepared for trekking out in the woods with her camo shorts, hiking boots that were obviously new, and a white tank top with a stylized diamond design on the front. Was she out here looking for her? Ginger swung her shoulder-length ponytail as her head swiveled towards where Elizabeth was hiding behind a date palm tree.