Chương 263: NOW WHY DIDN'T I?

Savy was in her bunk when I got home. In the exact same position as I had last remembered seeing her. The only difference was that the pile of manga on her bed looked taller.

"I'm sure there's a weight limit to the upper bunk," I told her. She looked up from her open book and took a quick glance at me.

"Were you just walking around the packhouse with Apollo?" I ignored the fact that Savy had presumed to be on a first-name basis with Sir Sparklalot.

"I had to show Harvey and Ben so all my Betas would know where the ring is hidden."

"You could have carried him in a bag," Savy said. Oh. True that. I put Sir Sparklalot into bed and picked up my homework from the dresser. I was tired enough to put myself into bed too, but I hadn't done my homework. Minimally, I needed to check what I had to hand in tomorrow... And pack whatever workbooks or reference textbooks I needed to get it done on the train to school. The top of my dresser was full of files and books. Next to it was Savy's dresser, which had accessories and a stack of manga.

I'm not sure where Savy kept her files or books. I had never actually seen them. For all I know, Savy didn't have any school books. Back to my dresser, which wasn't exactly a mess, but it was overcrowded. Killion had tried to use bookstands to keep them up, files and bigger books in a row at the back, and another half-row of shorter books up in the front, and then my school bag. My uniform hung pressed and ready on a hat stand next to it, along with my coat and scarves, etc. We really needed more space.

We had paper bags of clothes and unopened shopping, boxes of books (all of them manga), and I'm not sure what else, lined against the wall. I think at some point, Ki ran out of storage space and gave up unpacking. Hang on, didn't everything we had burn down with our home just last week?

"How did you accumulate this much manga in one week?" I had to ask. I mean, the clothes I understood with the rampant shopping that was being done. Beta Lucas had needlessly worried that my Mum would not be able to shop much in the "Apparel Department," but manga?

"They're Haylee's. Beta Gerald and Harvey have been helping to bring them over bit by bit," Savy informed me.

"Lizzy's reading them too. When she's done, Ben loads it into Harvey's truck for him to take back."

"You are using Betas as your manga delivery service?" I couldn't believe they'd do it, even Beta Gerald too? Savy cackled at that.

"Why not?" She dropped her manga over the ledge of her bunk.

"Oh, don't lose my page!" I automatically caught it, quickly sliding my hand into where the book's largest opening between the pages was. I checked the page and then realized I wouldn't know if it was the right one. Wordlessly, I handed it back to Savy. She looked, nodded her approval at the right page, and grinned.

"Am I using the future Alpha as my bookmark?" Grrr... the cheek!

"We're planning on opening a manga club at school. It's going to be like a library and a cafe combined together," Savy told me then.

"Plus, just between the both of us, I'm doing research."

"Research?" I asked. Savy nodded.

"These manga books contain a lot of information about human courtship and love. It's very different from how wolves mate. I was thinking that since my mate is human, perhaps I might even have to pretend to be human first, until he falls in love with me..."

"Why not just tell him you're a wolf from the start and that he is your mate?" I interrupted because her plan sounded like it was going to be a long-winded and very roundabout method bound with complications and misunderstandings.

"Because it's not that simple..." Savy sighed and tossed her soft blond hair.

"Okay, like your mate is a Lorent wolf, right?" I nodded. Right.

"And the Lorent Pack has a very distinctive culture, right?" Savy asked. I nodded again. Right.

"So doesn't that make you want to learn more about that culture and understand your mate better?" Savy asked. I paused.

"I can understand him just fine." It was true. We both spoke English. He's convinced I'm stupid, but I knew that's only because he was a dumbbell. We were mates, and our mating bond gave us a mindlink that was so strong, I could sense his feelings through it. Although he had shut it off—he often did when he was not around. I imagine it was to safeguard from vampires. See? I totally understood him.

"Sam, you have found your mate, but have you found love?" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Found what now? My face crumpled in confusion.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Savy." Savy cackled.

"Never mind." What? Was she thinking I was slow? Grrr...

"No! Don't never mind me," I protested at once. I was done being slow.

"It's complicated," Savy warned.

"Try me." I crossed my arms, still annoyed that I was in the "slow" category. Let's hear it. I was done being slow. Wolfie, get out here and use all the Wolfie wisdom you got. Maybe when our powers combine... well, you know what they say, "Two halves make a whole." Whatever Savy was about to say, I was about to understand it.

"Okay..." Savy said, as if trying to think how to explain something to a young child. Well, that will end soon!

"You know, when I meet my mate, I don't want to, like, kiss him at first sight. I want to get to know him first, and let him get to know me," Savy said. Who understood that? Raise your hands. You are all big show-offs! Savy sat up straighter, so I knew she was telling me something serious.

"My first kiss is going to be on a Ferris wheel with fireworks in the sky."

"You'd have to go at night then," I informed her.

"No, Sam, you don't get it!" Savy sighed.

"I mean, when I'm with my mate, it wouldn't be just because of the mate bond. It would be because of love."

"Because he is a human and that's how they connect?" I hazarded a guess. The Ferris wheel and fireworks must be a human thing.

"No, I mean, yes, my mate is a human, but no, even if he were a wolf, I want to fall in love with him," she told me.

"And I want him to fall in love with me."

"How are you going to do that?" It's not easy for a werewolf to fall. We were very agile creatures. Okay, no, I know it's not that kind of fall. It was a joke! Did you think I was slow too? No, don't answer.

"Dates! I'm going to go on many dates with my mate," Savy said.

"And I'll dress cutely, and through shared experiences and conversation, we will build a love together that is stronger than any mating bond." Savy was right, that was complicated. How could any bond be stronger than a mating bond? And if there was a stronger bond, why would anyone want it? The mating bond I had with mate was already the strongest one I've ever had with anybody. It was damn troublesome too.

Unlike normal mindlinks where you had to push the words, thoughts, I had to be very careful not to accidentally blast emotions into it, plus I knew that I was always seeping a little out through it. I tried to stop completely, but every time I was tired or angry or hungry... It would be the first link to unseal. I had to admit, mate was a lot better at keeping the mindlink shut than I was. Either that, or he was far more careful. I would be, if I were surrounded by Vampires.

The mating bond was intrusive that way... It allowed mate access to my thoughts at will. I mean, not just the things I sent via mindlink, but my inner thoughts as well. Might as well let him read my diary, huh? So I had to be very careful to keep it sealed. I supposed it worked both ways, so I had been careful not to pry into his mind, just as he had not intruded into mine. There was also that thing about our wolves. I suspect Wolfie could go to his wolf at will too. As in, at Wolfie's will, not mine.

And it's no secret that he could siphon my wolfie's power to dream travel to me at will. And I could also siphon his wolf's power to heal instantaneously. Besides the Alpha, the mate was the only one who could force open a mindlink too. Well, actually, Ben had done that too. Maybe the Beta linked by bloodline was another exception. Ki and Harv definitely couldn't, because sometimes they seem to wish such a thing was possible.

"Sam?" Savy sighed.

"Whatever weird thing you're thinking, isn't it." What? Hey! Give me some credit, or at least just a moment to think. What the hell!

"It's okay if you didn't understand. I didn't expect you to anyway." Savy leaned back into her pillows.

"Maybe that's why it's so much easier to talk to you. Thanks for listening." Wait, what? No! I'm not done processing yet! Wolfie, help me here.

"It's not that I don't understand (although I don't), but what makes you think love is built that way?" I asked. Savy smugly passed me Volume 1 of manga.

"Here, try reading this. The main character in this one reminded me of you." I looked at the book in my hand.

"Sam, even you must have thought about meeting your mate in real life, or your first kiss, right?" Savy asked. I remembered imagining Rebel crashing through my window, or being k.. k... kissed in his car, and felt the heat color my cheeks. Savy lit up at that.

"What will it be like? Where would you be?" My first kiss? Like on the balcony under the full moon during our betrothal ceremony... that didn't happen... Because NOTHING HAPPENED.

"Well, you can research too," Savy told me.

"Mangas are very useful guides to love and life." She had to be kidding me. How could a comic book contain the answers to love and life? I found the reference text I was looking for and pulled it out, almost toppling the files over, but I managed to catch them and push them back up onto the dresser.

"Tomorrow is a school day. Don't stay up too late," Savy told me before resuming her manga reading.

"What about you?" I asked sourly.

"We don't have school tomorrow," Savy told me.

"We are observing Grandpa's passing. The students have to go down to school to help out in the afternoon, though. Grandpa's memorial service will be held in the evening," Savy told me. Oh. I checked my phone calendar. Yup.

"Alpha Silas' Memorial Service, 8 p. m. at New Leaf Academy Auditorium." I fidgeted with my phone, wrestling with the settings till it turned on my notifications again. Nothing made me feel more outdated than using my phone, and I was like 15. At this rate, I would be fossilized by the time I was 18. Never mind, if it gets too bad, I'll go back to the Colored Mountains. Brilliant. No, wait, the Colored Mountain would have its own tech, right?

I didn't really want to learn another suite of office and operating systems. What if I couldn't even figure out how to work the toilet bowl—did they even have toilet bowls? It's not like there would be ancient Lycan texts about their sanitary systems and practices...

"Looking at you, it's obvious that you're thinking something weird again," Savy sighed. I flared at how easily she read me.

"Go back to your research," I replied a little huffily.

"I'm busy." I put the reference text and homework into my bag. Then I put in the manga that Savy passed to me too. Wouldn't hurt to try. Maybe it would cure my slowness. Because I don't get it. Mate is my mate, and I am his. What have Ferris wheels and fireworks got to do with anything? But this must also be the mating bond at work, because as I thought of it, I felt that if there was a way to make mate love me, I would do it.

It sounded desperate, and I hated the way the mating bond made me so weak, but I really wanted mate to love me. Gah! WTH. Stupid mating bond! Hahaha, I'm the Alpha. I've got better things to do than worry about seducing my mate or whatever girls do to make a guy fall in love with them. He is my mate. I will love and protect him. That's all there is to it. {I miss mate} Wait, no! No, I don't. That was Wolfie. Hahaha. Stupid mating bond. We'd just end up arguing anyway. But yeah, I miss him too. Stupid mating bond.