A Warrior's Love
Chapter 3: I am your mate

(K’aalógii: butterfly in Navajo/ pronounced: Ah-loogie).

Wyatt Stone stood just inside the bedroom doorway. He continued to look at the lovely woman who was his mate as she watched him in return. He knew deep down inside him that he couldn’t have asked for a better mate.

Jeff had told them him and his family so much about Becky that he now felt as if he had known her for years already.

She was such a tiny thing compared to him. He was six feet and four inches, tall for a Native American, but still shorter than his Uncle. Becky on the other hand, couldn’t be more than maybe five feet four inches.

He could see her curves in the snug shirt Becky was wearing, and it had him wishing to run his hands along them. His body was full of hard muscles created from years of hard training.

Her hair is long, blonde, and straight. His hair was long, but so dark of a brown it looked black.

Her beautiful eyes were green, whereas his eyes were dark brown.

Her features were almost pixie-like, with clear peachy colored skin. His face was masculine, almost hawkish with his sharp jaw and high cheekbones. His skin was a darkly tanned with a reddish tint to it.

She was the exact opposite of him in every way, yet still his perfect match.

Bringing his eyes up to meet her gaze once more he realized she was watching him nervously. Wyatt decided it was time to break the silence. So, sitting down on the edge of the bed, he told her solemnly, “I am the lead warrior of the Stone Pack, and I am your mate.”

Becky continued to watch him as if he might attack her at any moment, which worried him. Does she not know that hurting your mate was against everything I believe in as a wolf? I would cut off my own hand before I would raise it against her!

When she did speak, her voice was so soft he barely heard her.

She asked, “How do you know I am your mate?”

“How do I know?” Wyatt repeated, wanting to make sure he’d heard right.

Becky nodded.

“The way all wolves know,” Wyatt answered simply. He then asked her, “Do you know much about a wolf replaceing their mate?”

“Not really,” Becky answered, looking embarrassed. She then went on to explain, “I think papa tried to explain it one time but... well, since I’m not a werewolf I saw no real need to know.”

“I think a lot of it is almost magical, and some of it is instinct. I knew as soon as we crossed over the Bannon pack’s border that my mate was here. The further we rode inside the borders, the stronger the feeling became. I also knew, when we pulled up in front of this house, that my mate was inside it. However, I had no idea if it was you or if my mate was a friend of yours that was visiting you,” Wyatt told her as he carefully watched her reaction to what he was telling her.

Becky ran her palms up and down her thighs, as she semi-rocked her body. Finally, she stopped to glance at him. She then swallowed hard, before turning to stare at the floor before saying, “So... did you...?”

Wyatt was almost sure he knew what was on her mind, but he waited for her to complete her thought.

Becky began to rub the knee of the leg she was missing part of, swallowing continuously.

Finally, seeing she wasn’t going to say anything, he asked, “Did I what?”

“Did you hope it wasn’t the crippled human girl?” She whispered.

Wyatt gave an internal sigh, I’ve not good with words, never have been. I’ve found it is so much easier to just stay silent then to worry about putting my foot in my mouth. This is my mate though, and I can’t treat her the same way I treat others, with a stoic silence. No, I must at least attempt to explain, even with the knowledge that my words could either make or break our relationship before it even gets started.

So, breathing deeply to calm himself, Wyatt began, “The whole two months Jeff was with our pack, all he could do was talk about his ‘little monkey’. He talked constantly about how brave and strong she was. How she had overcome her clumsiness to become a great runner, how she was almost as fast as him. I will be honest, at first, I thought he spoke of his mate because there was so much love and pride in his voice, I think most everyone else thought the same.”

Becky’s eyes were wide, her nose now wrinkled in disgust, as she turned to look at Wyatt. She then blurted, “His mate? Eww!”

Wyatt chuckled slightly before saying, “Yes, his mate. When I asked Jeff if that was who he spoke so highly of, he just laughed and said, “no, I’m talking about my adopted sister”. I told him that such a brave girl would make some man a wonderful mate one day. He got this sad look on his face and said that you were “special”. When I asked him why he told me how you had lost your leg. He told me of how you believed yourself to be broken.”

“I am broken Wyatt, I’ve known it for a very long time. I also know that a werewolf needs a strong mate. I am anything but strong,” Becky informed him as tears once more filled her eyes.

“No,” Wyatt said as he shook his head in disagreement. He then told her, “What I need is someone who will love me even when I’m being unreasonable, and I will be unreasonable a lot because of the warrior in me. You see, as a warrior, my wolf is strong and sometimes... harsh to those around me. He needs someone to bring out the gentle side of him, and I believe you could do that for him.”

Wyatt then gently cupped her cheek and looked directly into her eyes. There he found her fears battling with hope. He wanted the hope to win, so he softly and gently kissed her. It was barely a brushing of his lips against hers, but it felt so good to feel her soft lips upon his for the first time. It made him crave more of her lips and her sweet flavor.

Hearing Becky gasp slightly, he backed away to once more gaze into her eyes. What he saw there had him rejoicing because he realized that the hope had won. So, he asked her, “Tell me why you cried so hard earlier.”

Becky took a deep breath, her cheeks now flushed as she replied, “I think it hit me... again that my parents are really gone.” She then made an almost strangled sound, a tear running down her cheek as she told him, “I know they’ve been gone for nine years now, but today, the day I met the man I’ll spend my life with...” Her voice broke as her battle with her tears was lost. Putting her hand over her mouth, she tried to muffle the sobs as they burst from her.

Wanting to comfort her, his wolf whining within, Wyatt drew her into his arms and onto his lap. He then murmured in her ear, “It’s okay to grieve my little K’aalógii. My family has been gone from me for fifteen years, yet I still replace myself wanting my father’s advice, or to taste my mama’s cooking.”

Becky wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip as she lay her cheek on his. When her sobs slowed, she once more began to speak, saying, “Jeff told me that if you don’t see what a treasure, I am then you don’t deserve me. He then added that he would personally run you off.”

Wyatt growled low, I’d like to see him try!

“My daddy was a gentleman. He always opened the doors for me and mommy and... and that day when he opened my car door, I asked him if my gentleman would do that for me. He said...*sob*...he said, “if he doesn’t, then he obviously doesn’t realize how special you are, so he doesn’t deserve you and I will run him off real quick like”.”

“And Jeff used almost the exact same words today,” he murmured, finally understanding, as he felt her nod.

“Something inside of me broke Wyatt, because at that moment I realized that you and my daddy will never meet. I also realized he won’t be here to question you, to deem you worthy or unworthy of me. He won’t be here to warn you about the shotgun in the closet and warn you about how he isn’t afraid to use it if you ever make me cry. He won’t be there to walk me down the aisle at our wedding. It hit me that he won’t be here to do any of those things a daddy does when his little girl replaces love,” she cried out as she pulled back. Cupping his cheeks in her hands she finished with, “My mommy won’t be here to help me pick a gown, or cry at our wedding, or tease us about grand-babies! Yes, I still have Papa and mom, but it isn’t quite the same no matter how much I love them.”

Wyatt saw the pain in Becky’s eyes as she realized how much of her life her biological parents would miss out on. He couldn’t do anything about them being gone, but he could try and comfort her the best he could. So, he gently kissed her once more before he pulled her head down to rest on his shoulder. He then began to gently rock her.

Within just a few moments she had calmed down and let out a deep sigh.

“Are you hungry my sweet K’aalógii?” Wyatt softly asked after kissing the top of her head.

Straightening up in his lap, Becky wiped her cheeks and nodded.

So, he stood up, holding her tightly in his arms, and headed for the door.

“Wyatt, I need to dress and put my leg on!” Becky said as she wiggled around, trying to get down.

Wyatt shook his head. He was not ready to let her out of his embrace, she felt too right in his arms. So, he told her, “I will carry you down.”

“But...”

“Do not argue K’aalógii, I wish to do this for you,” Wyatt murmured gently.

With a huff, she lay her head on his shoulder and he walked down the stairs with her held tightly to his chest.

“It’s about time you got here little monkey! Mom wouldn’t let me eat until you did,” Jeff grumbled.

“That’s because you would have eaten your food and your sister’s too,” Mom said as she turned from the stove to look at Wyatt and Becky.

Becky blushed when her mom raised an eyebrow at her being carried in by Wyatt.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting this,” Mom said as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the kitchen counter top. She then asked, “Becky, would you like to explain to me why he’s carrying you?”

“He’s my mate,” Becky whispered.

“Yes. I’m well aware of that fact because Jeff told me when he came downstairs. However, that doesn’t explain why you had him carry you in here when you’re perfectly capable of walking.”

Becky looked down, unable to hold her mom’s gaze, and fiddled with a button on Wyatt’s shirt. Mom’s words reminded her of how she would scold her when Becky talked Jeff into carrying her around. She had always been a bit clumsy as a child and the prosthesis had only amplified that issue. She’d soon learned how to con her brother into carrying her. That was how she’d ended up with the nickname ‘little monkey’.

“I brought her down because I wanted to, she did not ask me to do it,” Wyatt told her mom with a bit of a growl in his tone.

Mom sighed, sounding irritated as she shook her head and muttered for them to sit down. She then proceeded to fix them each a plate, placing them on the table, before grabbing a jug of juice from the fridge.

Becky found herself having trouble eating because she knew her mom was upset with her. It caused a lump of worry to form in her throat as she thought about the lecture she was bound to receive later.

“So, Wyatt, would you like me to tell you why I call Becky ‘little monkey’?” Jeff asked, changing the subject to try and lessen the tension in the room.

Wyatt nodded.

“Well, when she first started trying to walk, she wasn’t very good at it,” Jeff began with a smirk. He chuckled as he said, “She spent more time face-planting then upright. So, being a good older brother that I am, I let her hang off my arm like a monkey when she walked. This helped her out until she learned to keep her balance.”

Mom snorted as she added, “Until she learned to talk you into carrying her. Then, she let you carry her around like you were a moving tree.”

“Ah Mom, she only did it a few times once she learned to walk with her new prosthesis,” Jeff muttered. He then added, “And it was only when she was really tired.”

Mom just shook her head and left the kitchen.

Wyatt turned to look at Becky as he pushed his empty plate away. He then commented, “Your mom really has a big problem with you being carried, doesn’t she? Why though?”

Becky looked at Jeff, but he just shrugged. So, she turned back to Wyatt to explain by saying, “I didn’t do well with the prosthesis in the beginning. I hated it, I hated the fact that I needed it. I hated that my parents were dead, and that I was left crippled. I became defiant to the point I had to be carried everywhere because I refused to put my prosthesis on. If someone put it on for me, I would take it off and sometimes I’d even throw it hoping it would break.”

“How old were you?” Wyatt asked.

“I was eight,” Becky answered.

“I would think that normal for a child that age,” Wyatt mused, looking sympathetic.

“I don’t know but... it made Mom so mad. I would scream at her that she wasn’t my mommy when she tried to make me keep it on and walk, but if Papa asked, I would try to walk for him.”

“So, you’re closer to your... papa?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah, I guess so, I’ve always felt a strong attachment to him, he calls it a wolf child bond,” she said, shrugging because she still didn’t really understand what Papa meant by it. “Anyway, he’s the one who found me after the accident that killed my parents happened, and he made me feel so safe and warm. I was always so cold, still am most of the time, and he was so very warm,” she whispered to Wyatt as her mind flashed back. She remembered how in those first days, Papa had stayed with her, rocking her and telling her how he was going to take care of her.

“So, what finally got you walking?” Wyatt asked.

Becky smiled at another good memory and replied, “Bacon!”

Jeff groaned and hid his face in his hands.

Wyatt gave Becky a strange look as he looked from Jeff to her. He then asked, “Bacon?”

Becky laughed as she said, “Yeah Bacon. Jeff was thirteen when I met him, almost fourteen. When he shifted for the first time at fifteen, I told him his wolf was the color of slightly burnt bacon. He didn’t appreciate it at all!”

Jeff snorted.

Becky just laughed at him.

Wyatt gave a grunt.

“Anyway,” Becky continued, “he told me I could only call him that if I started walking. He also told me if I called him that and didn’t walk, then I better learn to crawl because he wasn’t carrying me ever again.”

“So... let me get this straight. If she learned to walk, then she could call your wolf bacon?” Wyatt asked Jeff with an incredulous look on his face.

Jeff nodded, not even looking at them but concentrating on his eggs.

“It didn’t anger his wolf to be called a name such as that?” Wyatt asked then.

“At first I think it did but... well... I kind of bribed him with a plate of bacon. I told him bacon was the best thing in the world, so it made it an awesome name for an even more awesome wolf.”

Jeff pouted and asked, “So, you don’t really think my wolf is awesome? You’ve been lying to me all these years?”

Becky gasps, acting insulted as she said, “Of course, I do, he’s the most awesome wolf ever! He helped steady me, licked my scraped hands and knees when I fell. Oh, and he always whined in sympathy when I cried.”

“You do realize Jeff and his wolf are one and the same, right?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah I know, but in my childish mind, it was somehow different when Bacon comforted me then when Jeff did it,” Becky informed him with a shrug.

Wyatt was quiet for a moment then said, “Let me take you back to your room, the Alpha’s are ready for your brother and me.”

Becky held out her arms and when Wyatt picked her up, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Burying her face in his neck, she sighed with content. She had never thought it possible for her to have a boyfriend, much less a mate, yet here she was in his arms being carried.

She grinned, life was good!