Jeayan stared wide-eyed as she watched Roel come closer towards the three young shifters.
Both Erick and Hamish looked at each other and discreetly walked away, giving them privacy.
Sensing that no one was standing behind her, she whirled around and was surprised that her two friends had slipped away without a word to her. Feeling abandoned, she tried to calm her heart down.
However, Chiwa wasn't feeling the same way as her. Jeayan could feel her jumping around in her mind, getting excited. And this time, she could her Chiwa happily growling, 'Mate'.
Jeayan slowly turned around and was stunned to realize that Roel was already standing in front of her, looking down at her.
Their eyes met. Jeayan could feel the tenderness emitting from his eyes as he gazed down at her. She bit her lips nervously, clearing her throat. "Uh, Mr. Roel…" she began.
"Just call me, 'Roel'," he said abruptly.
She nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes. Uh, I hope I'm not being impolite by asking you this," she continued, her right hand gripping her left upper arm. She felt really nervous and even more pressured by his gaze on her.
He grunted, as if to give her permission to speak.
"Are you my mate?" she asked nervously, looking up at him from underneath her lashes.
Roel was quiet for awhile before he answered quietly, "Yes."
"But… why didn't you say anything? How long have you known?" she asked, feeling astonished.
Roel looked away and then back at her again. "I've known before you shifted. There is this feeling of wanting you whenever I see you. But you were still too young so I had to control myself. I don't want to pressure or scare you. I want you to live your life as a highschooler first. Relive in your youth before I can claim you," he confessed.
"Even when you found out that I once dated before?" she probed apprehensively.
Roel let out a rare grin, stunning Jeayan for a while because of his great looks. "I know you wouldn't date them for a long time."
Jeayan laughed awkwardly. It was true that she dated some young shifters her age and even some humans. But they don't usually last long because she always felt that there was something missing in their relationship.
Looking at Roel now, she just found out the reason why.
The two of them then went quiet for a couple of minutes before Roel spoke up once again.
"So, I will still be waiting," he said, his smile gone now. "As much as Calder wanted me to mate you right at this moment, I can wait. Wait until you finish with your school and ready for me."
He then leaned down and gave a peck on Jeayan's forehead, much to her surprise. He then said in a whisper, "Just don't make me wait for so long, my dear mate."
With that, he walked away, leaving behind a flustered red-faced Jeayan, who had her hand on her forehead, where he had kissed.
----
"Dem, but that was smooth," Erick commented as he watched Roel walk away from Jeayan. He was not surprised that Roel has a mate but he was surprised that his mate was Jeayan. Although, the age gap between them wasn't that big, they were a total opposite from each other. Jeayan was a cheerful and playful girl, who loves to tease and joke around. Roel, on the other hand, was quiet, brooding and serious.
Erick did not expect that Roel had known Jeayan was his mate for so long. It was no wonder why he never saw him date. Not even once. But then again, the triplets never dated before. In fact, Latham's first date was with his mate, Melody. Although Latham does flirt with other female shifters before he found his mate, he never dated them. Same as Noaz, who also flirts a lot but never dates.
Hamish nodded as he, too, watched Roel walk away.
Shortly after, Latham walked to the front of the crowd, with Melody standing behind him, smiling.
"Alright, you pups! Tonight, we will be strengthening our bonds with our wolves. Which means that each of you will have to shift and let your wolf get used to your body," he announced, his hands on his hips. "And if there's time, we'll probably have a mock battle for everyone.
All of you male shifters go to the right side of this area while the females go to the left side. The pack doctor, Melody, my mate will be overlooking the female shifters whereas I will overlook the males. If there's any questions, do raise your hand. Though, I'm sure that there's none since it's all self-explanatory," he continued.
When everyone kept quiet, Melody stepped forward and clapped her hands. "Alright. Let's go, everyone!"
The young shifters immediately separated themselves into two groups.
Jeayan stood in the front of the other female shifters, together with her friends. They were chatting and laughing as they awaited Melody's instruction.
It was more hectic on the male shifters' side as they were restless, pushing each other, joking around, becoming rowdy.
Erick laughed when one of them bumped into Hamish and cowered under the latter's deathly glare. Dex was nearby as well. He frowned as he watched Erick laughing, looking so carefree.
Although he was grateful for his help back then, he still couldn't accept the fact that he was weaker than Erick. Yes, the latter had Dane with him longer than Rollo was with him. And that was why they synced with each other more than anyone else. Yet, that doesn't stop Dex from trying to win over him.
When Latham had announced that there might probably be some mock battles going on, it got Dex excited as he wanted to test his strength against Erick.
Ever since the mission was over, he had been so disappointed in himself that he sneaked out almost every night to shift. At first, his father had been admanted about him going off at night, for fear that human beings might wander around and find a shifter around. However, after a while, he trusted his son to be safe, though, he kept cautioning him to be more alert.
Hence why he was confident this time.
Few minutes later, everyone, excluding Latham and Melody, was in their birthday suits. There were many awkward and embarrassed chatters as they were still unused to being naked in front of people.
Erick, who seems to be cool and collected, just stood there waiting with Hamish standing beside him. Apparently, they were waiting for Latham's next command. And once they were instructed to shift, there were sounds of bones cracking and growling echoed around the area.
Dane and Kaius looked more or less the same in their domineering height. The difference between them was that Dane has that white streak along its mane and that Kaius was a bit slightly shorter than Dane.
The two stared at each other, both sizing each other up. Apparently, it seems like these two shifters see each other as rivals and are attempting to test each other out.
However, before they could battle it out, Rollo, Dex's werewolf, has stepped in between the two of them, with a smirk on its face.
Ignoring Kaius, Rollo turned to Dane and said, "Why don't we have a battle right now?"
Kaius growled angrily at the snub that Rollo had given it.
Dane scoffed. "Getting all hyped up, aren't you? Trying to win back your dignity after the mission back then?"
Rollo narrowed its eyes at Dane and answered, "Although I am grateful for your help and support back then, it doesn't mean that I'm going to back down that easily."
Before Dane could provoke Rollo any further, Latham had shouted, "Enough! All of you will be in pairs and battle it out. I'd like to see the strengths of each of you. But remember! This is not a battle to the death! Again, I warned you! If there's any foul play, you can be sure that you won't be able to think of your next foul play as you will not be breathing your next breath!"
Shortly after, much to Rollo's disappointment, the shifter who was facing it at that moment was not Dane, but Kaius.
The two shifters sized each other up, looking from top to bottom.
Kaius let out a snort. "Disappointed, aren't you?"
Rollo scoffed back. "Even so. This won't stop me from pummeling you down."
"Let our actions speak than words," Kaius invited, already in attack mode.
"Let's go," Rollo said.
"BEGIN!"
Who will win? Rollo or Kaius? Who do you pick?