The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 35: Chapter 35

-Oliver-
Jaden was really upset. On Friday, I could feel how anxious he was, how much my existence bothered him. I spent the weekend at home, playing with the kids and helping the caretakers, but I couldn't stop thinking about Jaden even for a moment.
On Monday I decided to stay as far away from him as possible in the hope that he would understand I didn't want any harm. For some reason that only made him even more upset.
And then it got weird. I could feel him coming closer to me during lunch, while I was reading a book right outside of the library. I assumed he just had a class somewhere near me, and I was about to move away, but he just kept coming closer.
I waited to see if he was ready to talk to me now, but instead of coming straight to me, he stayed behind the corner. I wasn't sure what to think of the situation. He was clearly curious about me, but he didn't seem to have enough confidence to come to me. Why? What on earth made me so scary to him? I was just a miserable tiny human, and he was a werewolf!
I saw him peeking at me from the corner of my eye. I kept my head down and pretended to be reading. I still had no idea what to do with the situation. It was so crazy! Nothing made any sense.
But he sure was being adorable. I probably shouldn't have used that word for him, but still. He was so darn curious but afraid at the same time, like a wild wolf puppy who saw a human for the first time.
Oh, and when our eyes met, and he immediately made a run for it... I had to bite my lips in order to not laugh out loud. I had stepped into some kind of loopy land, hadn't I? What on earth was going on?
I was sure that would be the last I saw of him for a while, but then he came back, and his attitude had changed. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, acting all studly and mighty, giving me a glare that said, 'I am the big bad beast in here!'. And when I said hi to him, I could almost see his confidence leaving his body. He seemed so spooked that I wanted to tell him I wasn't going to hurt him, that everything was all right, but I kept my mouth shut.
I decided it was safest if I just pretended to be reading. He was so close to freaking out and I didn't want to push him. And it worked! I heard him taking a deep breath, and he started to relax a little, before he started walking to me. What a brave little puppy.
And when he said he would be waiting for me by the entrance, I was sure neither of us knew if he was really going to do so. During the rest of the day, Jaden had short moments when he was about to freak out, so I was fairly sure he wouldn't be waiting for me.
But he surprised me. And by the look on his face, he had surprised even himself.
I stopped close by to put my gloves on, trying not to stare at Jaden, who was standing by the door, keeping his eyes on me. He was not comfortable. I knew he wanted to run away again, but he still stayed. He looked at the door a few times, like making sure his escape route was still clear.
Once I was fully dressed to face the winter, I walked closer to the door. Jaden stepped outside, and I followed him in a slower pace. I thought we would talk outside in the schoolyard, but instead, Jaden continued walking to the gates. I followed him with a hundred questions in my head, but I wasn't close enough to ask him anything.
Once we were out on the street, Jaden started walking towards the center of the town, so I kept following him. I couldn't believe he was actually letting me close to him. And... I couldn't believe how much I had missed his company.
"I should apologize," I said, when he clearly wasn't going to start the conversation. He slowed down, and shoved his hands in his pockets before taking a short look at me. "For trying to name you Muffins."
"You'd better! Tilly and Arch are still –" he snapped his mouth shut, and turned to look away from me.
"Sorry," I said sincerely. "I meant it as a joke... Of course I wouldn't give a wolf that name."
"And you still went and named me Wolfie," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Well excuse me for not being good at giving names," I chuckled.
"So, Fang? Spike? Ripper? No?" he spoke. "You went with Wolfie."
"I am truly sorry that I offended your masculinity," I said, trying to hold back my laugh.
He gave me the stink eye. Then he turned to look ahead of him. I, on the other hand, kept my eyes on him. We walked slowly in silence for a moment. I wasn't sure if we had a destination or if we were just walking around aimlessly, but I enjoyed it. I really liked his company, no matter wolf or human or a mix of them both.
"You said you wanted to talk," Jaden said after a while.
"Yeah, but... I don't know where to start even..." I said with a shrug. I wanted to ask why he was bothering with me, but it was my turn to lose courage. I... wasn't sure if I wanted to know, to be honest. "I'm just glad that I know I'm not crazy," I chuckled shortly.
"Yeah, well, this is real..." he muttered. "I'm sorry we're not aliens, but this is real. We are real."
"You are not going to give me any slack, are you?" I smirked. "I'm sorry I thought you were aliens."
"You'd better be," he scoffed, but then he took a short look at me. "You sure are taking this well. People usually freak out."
"Is that why you freaked out?" I asked, earning myself a nasty glare. "Sorry. And I don't know... It just feels like I knew already. I've spent hours and hours reading books about fantasy and supernatural beings and I always thought that was how things should be," I explained, even though it didn't explain anything.
"Hmm..." he breathed out. "There's loads of people who know about us, so you've probably heard of it before..."
"So, it's possible that I already knew it as a kid, but I forgot all about it?" I asked carefully. "Because that's how I feel. Like I just... forgot..."
"Could be," he shrugged. "I know you are one hundred percent human. There's no doubt about it, but that doesn't mean you don't have abilities."
"What? Me?" I laughed. But then I stopped. All these weird things that kept happening around me... Could it be possible? "I haven't made anything weird happen though. Ever."
"You said you could hear my voice, calling for you," he said and stopped walking as well. "I'd call that weird."
"But that's the only time it happened," I told him. "And I thought it was a werewolf thing..."
"Well, it's not – even if you're supposed to be my m-mm," he snapped his lips shut.
His energy was shifting fast now – he had been relaxing little by little, but now his anxiety was kicking in fast. I was his what? Whatever it was, that was clearly the reason why he was so uncomfortable around me.
"Oh," I muttered, and continued walking. "Am I some kind of mind reader then?" I asked mainly as a joke, hoping he would calm down now that I was giving him more space. I really didn't want this walk to be over so soon.
He hesitated for a moment, but then, his restlessness seemed to start fading again, and he followed me.
"I'm... not sure..." he spoke hesitantly. "All I know is that it's normal only for vampires."
"So, there are vampires?" I asked to keep the conversation going.
"Uh-huh," he nodded as he caught up with me.
"But I'm not a vampire?"
"Are you thirsty for blood?"
"Nope," I shook my head.
"Then no, you're not a vampire. I told you – you are a human. I would smell it if you were not."
"Right," I muttered, trying to let his words sink in. I was ready to accept werewolves, but I really didn't believe I could have any kind of abilities. I mean... But then again... "Why did you have to say I might have abilities? Now I'll go crazy again thinking about it," I laughed shortly.
"You are taking it surprisingly well," he said, peering at me.
"Because I'm pretty sure I don't have any special powers," I said truthfully. "I think I would've noticed it by now."
He just shrugged, and we continued walking. I tried to imagine myself with special powers, but that image was way too awesome, so I had to push it out of my head before I could disappoint myself.
"Aren't you going to ask what I was about to say?" Jaden suddenly spoke, and I let out a short laugh.
"Ohh, I was avoiding it, so you won't run away," I told him truthfully. "You're surprisingly skittish."
He let out an annoyed growl. "I'm not skittish."
"Uh-huh," I uttered, looking at him under my eyebrows. "Sure."
He squinted his eyes at me and turned to look away. I could tell he was embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it, I was just shocked that I made you uncomfortable. I mean, what chances do I have against a full-grown werewolf?" I chuckled, and when he didn't reply, I continued with a more serious voice, "Although I'm starting to believe it had nothing to do with my physical appearance or abilities."
He didn't say a word to me. Not at first. We continued walking forward in complete silence. I had the feeling there was something he wanted to say, so I gave him time to decide if he wanted to tell me about it. Eventually, he took a short glimpse of me.
"There's just that... I feared you'd change... once you knew," he spoke quietly.
"Oh... But then I need to ask, why did you start hanging out with me?" I spoke, hoping he wouldn't run away. He didn't. But he wasn't replying to me either. "Okay... Uhm... There was this moment, a while ago, when I looked at you, and you looked at me, and I felt... It was really magical. It happened on my sixteenth birthday."
He stopped walking, so I stopped too, and turned to look at him, but he wasn't looking even in my direction.
"That's a werewolf thing," he spoke quietly and reluctantly.
"You don't need to explain if it makes you uncomfortable," I spoke just as quietly. "I just wanted you to know that I noticed it, because after that, you started hanging out with me."
He let out a deep breath. "You're supposed to be my mate."
I could only stare at him.
"Your... what?"
"My mate," he repeated.