Chapter 9

As soon as Raphael and James reached the town where Brooke lived, they found a used car lot, and bought a car for James, and Thomas. Who was still unconscious, to drive to Victoria as fast as he could. And tell the Alpha about the Elf situation.

Raphael had something else to do.

James didn't ask where Raphael was going. He had a pretty good guess.

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Raphael went back to the house where he had first met her to pick up her scent. He went to the front door, where it was strongest and got a pretty good lead.

He followed the road, and soon found himself back in town next to the used car lot. 'She lives very far away from her work.' He thought to himself as he ran down the street.

No one noticed the huge, silver wolf barreling down the street.

Raphael arrived in a suburban area with a few parks around. Her scent was very strong here. 'Must be her neighbourhood.' He thought.

He followed her scent to a blue two story house, with a big backyard.

He jumped the broken down fence surrounding their yard, and neared the house. He walked towards a bright green door that had stairs leading down to the backyard. He heard voices coming from inside, none of them hers. But he could smell her, and her cinnamony scent. And he could also tell that the rest of the voices were her family's.

One of the males, probably her brother, was talking about how a friend of his had gotten a new game, and how it had crashed on him. They all laughed, but he couldn't hear her laugh. His wolf whined in sadness at not hearing their mate's laughter.

They eventually quieted down and it sounded like they had left that room. Then he heard her, "I'm gonna go get changed into my pjs, it's already 10:00. I gotta work tomorrow." Then he heard footsteps descending stairs inside. 'She lived downstairs?' He thought slightly upset that his mate lived in a basement. His wolf growled a little, also displeased with the thought.

He walked to a window where the light had just come on, and he saw her room. It wasn't dank and dark like he'd previously thought. It was small but well lit, the walls were a light purple, and there was a bookshelf filled with books and other things. There was a twin size bed in the left corner, and a dresser in front of it. There was a red table that was covered in paint, he saw a blank canvas and paint brushes strewn about on the table, 'Does Brooke paint?' He wondered, there was also plants on the wide windowsill, some of them looked dead but a few of them seemed alive.

He'd gathered this in just a few seconds. He waited for her to see him, but she looked like she was in deep thought and closed the curtains. He grunted in frustration. He waited a couple minutes before tapping on the window with his claws.

He heard shuffling from inside and then the curtain opened. She looked at him confused at first then she smiled with joy. He wagged his tail in happiness.

She opened the window and told him to go around to the back door. Which turned out to be on the other side of the house.

He got there, shifted, and waited for her to open the door. He heard footsteps smacking the ground and then the door opened.

There she was; her beautiful brown hair put into a new braid, her hair sculpted her face perfectly. Her eyes reflected his happiness of seeing her again, and her pink, lips were formed into a perfect smile.

He looked down to the rest of her body, she was wearing a black, long sleeve, v-neck shirt that showed her warm white skin covered in goosebumps from the cold weather or something else. Her low v-neck also revealed some of her cleavage and her collarbone, the black shirt clung to her waist perfectly, she also wore flowy blue pants, but his gaze didn't linger on her pants for long. His eyes returned to look at her full breasts which were poking out of her shirt.

She crossed her arms over her chest and He looked up to see her biting her lip, blushing. She looked too cute bright red like that. 'I'll have to do that more often.' He thought.

"How did you find my house?" She whispered.

"Oh, it was pretty easy, good 'ol phone book, and tracking your scent." Raphael smiled then inhaled deeply. She laughed he almost laughed back, but then he remembered the Elves on the island.

"Can I come inside?" He asked hoping that she'd say yes, they'd be safer inside. He didn't think that the Elves had followed him, but you can never be too safe when it came to them.

To his dismay he looked up to see her shaking her head, "Emmm, no. I mean, what will my parents say if they see a man," She held up her hand gesturing to him, "in my room? Especially one with golden eyes?" She looked away, worried about something.

He didn't really care about her parents or if they saw him with his mate, but she clearly did. So he said that it was fine and that they could sit out here. "Okay." She answered in a barely audible voice.

They sat down on a pile of old, wood planks. They were just five inches from each other, but he could still hear her fast heartbeat. 'She was nervous.' He thought.

He waited for her to speak first, she seemed like she had something to say.

"Um… are… are we… mates?" She asked stuttering. Again, Brooke blew his mind with how quickly her mind worked. He couldn't reply at first. She looked up hesitantly.

"How did you know." He said, a smile creeping up onto his lips.

"I-I guessed. I mean, I've read lots of books and it-it was the only way to explain what I was feeling." She said, clearly flustered.

"And, what were you feeling?" His asked, his voice husky and deep.

She blushed, not sure what to say, "To many things at once." She said quickly, then she started twisting her braid in her fingers.

He didn't know how to reply to her, so he just stayed quiet and watched her play with her braid. He could watch her play with her hair for hours, it was mesmerizing. But he needed to tell her about the Elves.

He took a deep breath, "Brooke." He paused and she turned to look at him. He heard her heart speed up when he said her name. He loved that, but he refocused, "There are Elves here. On the island."

She took a deep breath. He watched as she took that information in, she probably wouldn't know about Elves, all of the Elves that would be in her books, would be good, when in reality they were pure evil.

"Elves? Like, Lord of the Rings, Elves?" She asked. He shook his head, "No, these ones are pure evil." He opened his mouth to say, 'They can control your mind, and use twisted black magic.' But he decided against that and instead said, "You're in danger."

"What? How can I be in-" She stopped and sucked in a quick breath, realizing what the answer was, "it's because we're mates isn't it?"

He smiled sadly in reply, "Yes, it's because we're mates." He already loved his mate so much, he loved watching her facial expressions and seeing her mind work was fascinating. But he knew that what he was going to say next would probably break her heart.

"Which is why we need to get you off of this island."

"Get off this island?! Vancouver island?!" She whisper shouted at him. He could see her mind trying to process what he had just said.

"Yes." He said with a slight chuckle in his voice, he couldn't help it, she was rather adorable whisper shouting. She looked up, her soft, pink lips twisted in annoyance, man he wanted to kiss them.

"I live here Raph! I have a life here! A job, my family. I live here!" She was standing up now and nearly breaking their rule of whispering.

He stood up slowly and came towards her. He put his hands on her shoulders, but then decided to move them down to her arms. He felt her shiver slightly then stiffen. He waited for her to relax, he knew the matebond would work.

Her dark brown eyes finally met his gold ones, which were just inches from hers. He had craned his neck so they would be closer.

"You don't have to leave if you don't want to. You can stay, but I'll have to post a guard twenty-four/seven. And we." He paused, looking down for a second, "We wouldn't be able to see each other." He didn't want that, and he hoped that she didn't want it either.

"But Raph, what will I tell my parents? My brother will be furious if I just up and left, and my sisters would be hurt. My parents-" She stopped. Raphael loved that she had used his nickname. But he also realized how much she cared about her family.

"I. I understand." He said, his heart being crushed.

He looked at her and then looked at her lips. The urge to kiss her on those soft lips was stronger than ever. She looked up and their eyes locked. He saw a curiosity in them that was precious, and he wanted to devour her.

To his surprise she leaned forward and closed her eyes. Without hesitation he leaned forward and they kissed. Her cinnamon flavour exploded in his mouth, it seemed more spicy and intense and he liked it. He wanted to go deeper into the kiss, but he could tell that she was inexperienced, so he went painfully slow. She wrapped her arms around his neck, while her tongue explored inside his mouth. He put his hands on her waist as she was swaying.

Then she pushed him back wincing in pain. Then she fell to the ground.