Chapter Nineteen
Jillian
Dean was my mate. There was no more question in my mind about it. Even before I knew that we could speak into each other’s minds, I knew it. The way my heart tried to beat out of my chest when he was around. The way my wolf preened and paced inside me the first time I saw him.
How much I lamented his distance anytime we went to bed—in separate beds.
My wolf whined and pawed at me, trying to get to him, needing him near.
I craved his touch.
I was in trouble.
I bent down under the beating afternoon sun, picking weeds from around the base of the budding heads of cabbage, lost in my own thoughts. Dean was across the field, chopping wood again. I couldn’t see him from this vantage point, but the noise of his axe hitting the trunk of the fallen tree over and over boomed through the fields. It seemed to echo and gave me some solace.
My mate was near.
The thought brought a smile to my face—I had to reach up with my dirty hands and touch my cheeks to verify. I seemed to smile a lot since he showed up.
“Back to work, Jillian.” Ruston didn’t look at me when he spoke, just barked out orders. I barely refrained from rolling my eyes. Since four in the morning, all I’d done was work, trying to satisfy a pack who didn’t care about me—yearning for their approval or something. I’d stopped trying to figure out why I desired to please these people a long time ago and just went with it.
After all, what the hell else was I going to do?
“We finished the work in the east fields and were sent here to help.” A group of people had come from the other side of the pack lands. When your work was done around here, you went and found more. We worked for the pack, not just in whatever specific job we were given. It seemed like the back-busting payless employment never ended.
I allowed a look up as I scooted, on my knees, from one head of cabbage to the next. The group of pack members was about twenty which should help a lot on this side. My energy levels were waning, but as I looked ahead to the next twenty feet of rows ahead of me, I knew I needed to get a grip on myself.
Energy or not, I had to get my work done, no matter the lack of rewards.
“Hey, Ruston sent us over here.”
I sat back on my haunches and let out a sigh. I already knew these two pack members were recently arrived, but the fact that they were talking to me proved it. Left with few options, I chose to give them a thumbs-up.
One of them smiled at me, and my heart stomped all the way down into my toes.
My wolf panted inside me, wanting to get out.
Just like she had with Dean.
With a curt nod to the man, I demanded my eyes and concentration fall back to my work. I focused my attention on the sounds of Dean in the distance, chopping wood. My wolf lay down inside me, not really pleased with my dismissal of the man who now worked directly across from me, but she could just stuff it.
What a selfish wolf, trying to nail down more than one mate.
How the tides had turned.
Dusting off my knees, I looked up to see Dean crossing the fields, his axe laid lazily on his shoulder as he whistled. My chest swelled with the inside knowledge that he was mine. He and I were mates, and that meant nothing and no one could take him away from me.
Finally, I had somewhere to belong.
“Ready?” he asked with a smile, before putting his axe over his shoulder. I nodded and fell in line with his steps toward the cabin. We left our clothes at home and set out to get what I had in mind for dinner.
But I would have to hunt for it first. I gently touched his hand before shifting as we strolled deeper into the forest. In less than an hour, I’d taken down a deer. I would share most of it with the pack, but in the meantime, I would make a special dinner for my mate.
My mate.
What a giddy and stomach-pulling thought.
“What the…” he said as I dragged the carcass, already stripped of its skin toward the cabin. “You hunted this?”