Chapter 17

Jasper Hartford’s POV
Lizzy has been different around me since last night when her friends crashed our date. She still kisses me but there is a hesitance that wasn’t there before and it is terrifying.
When I think back to the way she looked at me after kissing me goodnight last night I feel sick. I hate seeing her look so worried but know that I am the one who made her feel that way is ripping me apart inside.
I know she can’t reject me until her wolf is awake but even the idea that she might be thinking about it sends both me and my wolf spiralling into despair. I have to show her how much she means to me. She is the most important thing in my life and she needs to know it.
After spending a couple of hours sulking in my room I decided that I needed to come up with a better plan. I still had some time before I had to be at training so I arranged to meet my friends at the nearby coffee shop.
It only took me a few minutes to get ready and walk there but Adam and Nico were already there when I arrived. Nico was trying to chat up the barista while Adam sat on a table nearby scrolling through his phone. He set his phone aside when he noticed me walking towards him.
I sat down at the table opposite Adam. Nico was clearly striking out with the barista so he cut his losses and joined us at the table. I wanted to make a joke about how badly he messed up with the barista but that would only open me up to worse when I told them about Lizzy. He was going to love this.
“How is Liz?” Adam asked.
I felt a rush of jealousy, I couldn’t help myself. I know that he is her gamma and it is only natural that he would want to check up on her but I can’t stop the way it makes me feel. If I could I would have her in my arms constantly so nobody could steal her away from me.
“She is fine, she is still trying to get used to being my mate but that is to be expected I suppose.” I replied.
Particularly after how badly I have messed up with her in the past. Maybe I should be glad that she is only being hesitant, if she wasn’t so forgiving she would be actively pushing me away right now. I am not sure I could take that.
“Have you marked her yet?” Nico asked.
“You know that is against our laws until she turns eighteen.” Adam said, rolling his eyes.
“Well you must have screwed her at least.” Nico said.
I could tell that Adam was pissed off with the way Nico was talking. Heck, I was too. His attitude never used to bother me before but now I had a mate I could tell how wrong it was. I felt sorry for whoever his mate turned out to be. If he didn’t end up rejecting them as he always threatened to do then they would have to put up with attitude. That might even be more painful than a rejection.
“I have to take it slow with her, she’s shy.” I said.
Nico laughed.
“Is that your way of saying she turned you down.” He said.
“I am trying to win her heart, not just claim her body.” I growled, causing a few people to glance in our direction.
“What is the point when you could click your fingers and get any unmated woman in this pack to drop their pants.” He said.
He laughed again. The guy really needed to learn to read the room because both Adam and I were fuming. I could feel my wolf trying to push his way forward in my head. He couldn’t stand that Nico was disrespecting our mate.
‘Too right, let me out so I can rip his damn throat out.’ Garnet said.
As much as I wanted to take my wolf up on his offer I knew I couldn’t. The moment I let my wolf take control, even just in a limited way it would be clear to everyone that my wolf didn’t have an alpha aura.
Even if I managed to diffuse the initial shock there would be rumours. There is no way anyone in this room could keep that kind of gossip to themselves. It wouldn’t be long before the whole pack knew. I know that I wasn’t going to be able to keep this secret to myself for much longer but I needed to control the way the truth came out. That was a problem for another day.
I took a couple of deep breaths to steady myself and more importantly my wolf. Once I was feeling more calm I turned my attention back to Nico
“You will understand when you meet your mate.” I said.
“This is exactly why I don’t want a mate. You have changed, you aren’t even the same person anymore. It wasn’t too long ago that you were making bets with me on how many women you could deflower before graduation.” He shouted.
Now everyone in the coffee shop was staring at us. I know I had a bad reputation before but this was only going to make things worse. I just had to hope that this wouldn’t make it back to Lizzy somehow.
Nico stood up and glared at me, leaning over the table towards me. He was trying to provoke some kind of response out of me but I wasn’t going to give it to him. I couldn’t afford to let him provoke me.
“That was wrong of me and I know that now.” I replied, at least I sounded calmer than I felt.
Nico let out an exasperated sigh before walking out of the coffee shop. Adam and I watched him walk away. I felt bad for him, we had always been such close friends. It is just a shame that he couldn’t accept that things would be different now.
There is no doubt in my mind that once he recognised his mate he would understand why I was acting the way I was. Then we could go back to being best friends and laugh about the time that we fell out over nothing.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Adam asked me once Nico was out of sight.
“What do you mean?” I asked. I hadn’t told them that I wanted to talk about anything in particular, I only said I wanted to meet them.
“I know if I was lucky enough to meet my mate there would be nothing that would be able to pull me away from her. So I assumed that when you said you wanted to meet it must be important.” He said.
I couldn’t fault his logic. Adam had always looked forward to finding his mate, he was so disappointed when he turned eighteen only to realise that his mate wasn’t in our pack. I am sure that he will find her one day and worship the ground that she walks on but until then maybe I could benefit from his romantic nature.
I told him everything. About how reserved Lizzy was being, her friends crashing our date and her behaviour afterwards. Adam listened to everything I was saying patiently and asked me a few questions.
“It sounds like you have been going about this all wrong.” Adam said after I had finished.
“How so?” I asked.
“You are treating Lizzy like she is one of the girls that chase you around all the time.” Adam said.
“I don’t know what you mean.” I replied.
Of course I knew she wasn’t like any of the women that I was used to dealing with. I wouldn’t have taken them out on a date and I wouldn’t have tried to win them over. I told them from the start that it would just be sex, if they ever thought it would be anything more then that was their mistake.
“The girls that you are used to want to be seen with you to improve their standing in the pack. Liz isn’t interested in that kind of thing. She is a little shy after spending years trying to keep away from the rest of the pack.” He said.
I could feel the same jealousy from earlier rearing its head again. He knew more about what my mate was thinking than I did, I didn’t like that. I could feel my fist clenching and muscles tensing, I wanted to jump over the table and wrap my hands around his neck.
“Whoa alpha, calm down. I am not trying to steal your mate, I only want to help the two of you.” He said.
“Sorry, I can’t help it.” I said.
The possessiveness was getting worse. I have always been possessive over Lizzy but ever since I started feeling the effects of the bond it was getting a little out of control. The worst part was, I knew that it was only going to get worse until I marked her. Maybe I could take the edge off it if she would let me scent her. However judging by how nervous she got from kissing me, I don’t think she would be comfortable with me rubbing against her like that any time soon.
“That’s ok but as I was saying. You need a different approach.” He said, I could tell he was still concerned even though he was trying to change the subject.
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“Spend time with her somewhere you can’t be disrupted by other people. I think she will feel more comfortable that way.” Adam suggested.
I nodded my head in agreement.
It was definitely worth a try because everything I tried seemed to make her run away from me. Maybe with Adam’s help she will be in my arms very soon.
I got up and walked towards the barista. I needed coffee urgently. There was still some time before training for me to think about the perfect plan to win her over but to do that I needed to make sure I was thinking clearly.