Mia's Path
Something else

DRAKE

I walked behind them on our way back. Mia was still pissed at me, of course, I could feel the rage flowing off of her in waves. It wasn’t like I had done it on purpose, it was an accident! Raina scared de shit out of me at that moment and I didn’t know what to do. But apparently, I did the only thing I shouldn’t have done. I dropped Mia on the lake. And on top of that, she got hurt. It was all my fault. At least Raina made herself useful and healed Mia right away.

I must admit that I got a bit too distracted when – without a second thought – the first thing Red did was to take her top off and put the fabric on her wound. Sure, it would help stop the bleeding, but that was not the part that distracted me. Oh no, it was the water droplets running from perfect neck down to her smooth round and perky breasts, hiding on the almost see through cotton of her bra. Yeah, that gave me some pretty dirty ideas right there.

What was wrong with me? I shouldn’t feel this attracted to that woman. First of all, she was a virtual stranger to me, I knew nothing about her besides her name, and even that could be a fake name. Second of all, she almost killed Kyle and put all my pack in danger. Danger that we might not be clear of it yet. And worst of all, even if I felt attracted to her in any kind of way, now was not the time to act on it. She got hurt because of me and I could do nothing to help. I felt disgusted with myself, letting my mind wonder that far in a situation that it shouldn’t have.

By the time we made to the hospital entrance I was pissed with myself, Mia and Raina. The two of them chatted all the way back, happily, like they were friends for years, not just a few minutes ago acquaintances. And, by the way, Raina was the root cause to Mia’s fall into the lake, nonetheless, may I add. But that didn’t seem to bother her at all, the anger was pointed only at me. Speak about unfair. I didn’t come in; I didn’t feel like I would get Mia on my side again for a while. The guards on duty - keeping one eye on Mia - would make sure she got to her room safely... I mean, secured. Safely? You got to be kidding me. Secured! She couldn’t run off without giving me more answers, that’s all.

I released a heavy sigh as I walked the rest of the way to my office. When Raina startled me in the lake, I felt like the kid that got caught with the hand into the cookie jar. Like as I was doing something that I shouldn’t be doing. And maybe the feeling was right, maybe I shouldn’t have let those big doe green eyes pull me in like that. Still, there was that magnetic feeling always drawing me closer to Mia.

You should have kissed her. Silver grumbled in my head.

Yeah, sure, buddy. And that would have been before or after I dropped her? She wasn’t into me either way. I replied dryly. Sometimes he could be dense.

Obviously before you dropped her, you dumbwit. He snapped at me. She leaned in, she wanted to kiss us. He whispered.

I scoffed at that. She didn’t lean in.

Wait, I did feel her lips graze mine for a second before Raina ruined everything. So maybe she did lean in. Silver was right, I was a dumbwit who should have just kissed the girl and ignored the subtle noise behind us. I, for sure, would be much happier now if I had done that. Silver snorted in my head and went to the back of my mind to ignore me.

I ran my hands through my face and released a long sigh. What was happening to me? I was more tuned than that, but she had a gift to throw me off my game. I shook my head and the thoughts of the redheaded woman out of my mind. I needed to focus on work for a while.

Hours later I was immersed in work and didn’t even noticed Kyle entering the office, if he had said something I had no idea. But when he opened the Tupperware, and the delicious smell of food invaded my nose I finally noticed him. He had a smirk on his face and was waving the food in front of my face. With a growl I got the Tupperware and the fork he offered and attacked my lunch.

“I had a feeling you were gonna forget about lunch today when you sent me off to train the warriors, but I thought it would be for something better than paperwork, bro.” Kyle chuckled.

With my mouth still full I snorted at him, and some food might have escaped my lips. Might have. He scrunched up his nose at my manners, or lack of. I couldn’t care less about it. “What the heck do you mean by that?” I asked with my mouth full.

“Nice, D. You are certainly a gentleman.”

I swallowed my food before rolling my eyes at him. It was uncanny how much he liked to pick on me sometimes. I’m his big brother, I should be the one doing that, not the other way around. Maybe I should rectify that. “So, what do you mean by you knew I would forget about lunch? Lunch is my favorite meal of the day!”

“All meals are your favorite meal of the day, Drake.”

“Yeah, so?” I shrugged.

“I just assumed you would be getting busy with a certain someone, that’s all.” Kyle said nonchalantly.

“And why would I do that?” I asked narrowing my eyes at him. I suspected that he had a secret agenda with that conversation.

“Why wouldn’t you? She is attractive and... ”

“And she pisses the fuck out of me and I her. I was being nice so I could get more information out of her. I can feel that she is hiding something from us.” I said, maybe a bit too quickly, but Kyle didn’t seem to notice it. He shrugged.

“So, you are not interested in her?” he insisted.

“No, Kyle. I AM NOT.” I screamed at him out in frustration. What was his problem today, anyway.

“Okay, okay.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. “So, it would be cool if I made my move?” He asked slowly, looking at me hesitantly.

Move? What the hell is he talking about?

Oh.

“Is this about Layla?” I hated to talk about that, but what else would it be about, right? He wasn’t really interested in Mia, was he? His face darkened a little. It was like I could see the heavy stormy clouds closing in on him. Layla was a very delicate subject and very rarely spoken about. Layla was Kyle’s mate. ‘Was’ being the soul point of it. He sighed and I could see the sadness in his eyes.

“Isn’t it always?”

“So maybe you are rushing into things a little with Red?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” he sighed. “But Mia is the first woman to spark any kind of interest in me since... her.”

Don’t even think about it! Silver growled in my head, already knowing what I was going to say. She’s MINE!

That made me pause.

Mine? Is she our mate, Silver?

He hesitated. He couldn’t be sure for some reason, which didn’t make any sense. He should be the one that had no doubts at all, and yet again, he couldn’t be sure. Why? Was there something wrong with us?

I hope not. He whispered and tucked away. He was as frustrated and lost as I was.

“Silver is possessive of her.” I breathed.

“Oh. Wow. She’s your mate then.” Kyle said a bit stunned, but his words sounded more like a question. A very good question that I couldn’t answer or get out of my mind.

“No. I don’t think so.” I sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. “I don’t know.”

“Do you feel the pull?”

“I feel something, clearly. Just don’t know what.”

“If you don’t feel the pull then she is not your mate, simples as that.” He stated like it was the most simple and obvious thing in the world. “But you can still feel attracted to other women, man. You haven’t met your mate yet.”

Kyle was right, I should stop trying to complicate things. No pull, no mate. So, I just had a thing for redheads, it seemed. No biggie. Mia was a beautiful woman, no doubt anyone could see that. And maybe I liked that she was hard on me and didn’t walk on eggshells around me. She had a mind of her own and that was incredibly attractive.

At the same time, if she wasn’t my mate so what was the point in even being attracted to her? It wouldn’t be fair to her or my mate, for that matter. I wasn’t a teenager anymore, getting involved with someone meant something more. I wanted something more out of life at this point. But did I want that with Mia? Would I choose her over my soulmate?

Maybe. Silver whispered again.

“So where does that leave us?” I asked with a sigh.

“In a brotherly competition, I suppose.” Kyle answered with a chuckled.