Extinguishing Wildfire
Chapter 3: Ironic

Aaliyah

I can’t believe I let that happen. Holy crap! Who was that out there? Because it certainly wasn’t me. I have never been the girl who cried or got lost in the way someone looked at me. At least not until today! What is wrong with me?

I’ll admit that as far as kisses were concerned, it was the best I had ever had in my life…and Jordan was definitely nice to look at.

‘He was more than just nice.’

‘Now, you talk to me. You’ve been practically mute for the past two months.’

‘You let me go on a run with my mate, so I guess you deserve a little something from me.’

‘Are you kidding me!? You had me acting like we were in heat.’

‘At least if we were in heat, you would have let him have us. Those last two heats were pretty miserable. You just had to be gone the one month when there were two full moons!’

Once we met our mate, female shifters went into heat every full moon until marked, then the heat happened just twice a year. Usually in the spring and fall. I had gone through it twice while I was away, and while what I felt was pretty painful, I didn’t get the full effects of it.

‘You’re being dramatic. Dr. Kelly knocked me out, so we barely even felt anything.’

‘Says you, I was hurting from missing my mate. Now that I’ve met him, there’s no way I’m letting him go.’

‘Hope! I haven’t decided about him yet. You can’t get too attached to him.’

‘I’m already attached. I have been since we met him. You can’t reject him, it will kill me.’

‘Hope…’ I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t want to hurt my wolf, but I also knew I wanted to follow my dreams, and that plan didn’t include becoming a Luna.

I let her recede to the back of my mind and quickly showered before heading down to meet my brothers for lunch.

I saw Isaiah already at our table but not Kedrick. “Hey, little sis, Kedrick was still on the phone. He won’t be able to come down, so it’s just the two of us.”

“Oh, anything interesting?”

“Yeah, actually, it sounds like he’s about to get another pack on our side.”

“That’s great! He’s been doing so much with all of this. I’m proud that he’s doing this for all of us wolves.”

“Yeah, he’s doing great. I really think it’s all going to work out for us…” He paused as if wanting to say more, and he tapped his fork on his plate. “Hey, so…” And I was right, little sisters are so good at reading their big brothers.

He cleared his throat and tried again, “So, I have to tell you something.”

“Ok, yeah, what is it?”

“Well, when I took that trip down to Brown Claw, we did some surveillance at Cobalt Falls, and I found my mate.”

“Wait, what!? Are you serious? Where is she? Why isn’t she here?” As soon as I asked those questions, my mind went to the worst. It had been a while since that trip, so why wouldn’t his mate be here with him…unless she rejected him? My heart dropped to my stomach. My brother was one of the best men I knew, who in their right mind would reject him?

“Well, she’s from Cobalt Falls. I saw her from far away, and she didn’t scent me. I’m hoping Kedrick’s plan works, and then I can replace her again once we defeat Wildfire.”

“Oh, Zay, that really sucks.” He looked so sad. I hated this for him. “Did you just scent her, or did you get to see her?”

“Yeah, the guys told me her name is Rebecca, and I got a glimpse of her from far away. She’s beautiful.” He smiled at the memory.

“I can’t wait until you really get to meet her. I’m sure she’ll be perfect for you. There for a second, I was scared you were going to tell me she rejected you.” I shook my head.

“You know, that does worry me a little as I haven’t actually met her yet, especially with all that happened with Jordan. The boys assured me she would like me, though, so I’m just going to focus on the upcoming war so that I can get to her.”

His mention of Jordan made my heart clench. “That’s good, Zay, we’ll end all of this soon, and you'll get your mate...What was that you said about Jordan, though?” I tried to sound nonchalant, but my heart was beating like crazy.”

“Oh…” His face went white for a moment. “I was supposed to keep that to myself…but I trust you, and you’ve always kept my secrets. You have to promise not to say anything, okay?”

“Of course, my lips are sealed.”

“Jordan found his mate and got rejected the weekend of Oren’s birthday. His wolf ended up going into a rage that night, and the poor guy has pretty much just been channeling all his hurt into training. To be honest, I’m not sure how he’s even keeping it together, especially after losing his parents. The guy must be hella strong to still be going, but I guess it helps that he’s got his sisters to take care of now.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, unable to speak after what he’d revealed. I know he ran off and shifted that night we met, but I thought he had just gone for a run to cool off…then the whole thing with his parents. I wonder if they were close.

“I see the gears in your head turning, but don’t be sad, Liyah. We’ve all been taking care of him and the other guys. It’s been a rough few weeks for them all, and while we can’t get his parents or mate back, we can help get him his pack back…and in the process, we get peace for all wolves. I do feel a little bad, though, doing all of this so that I can get my mate when I know he won’t get his.”

Hope was whining in my head at my brother’s words, and the food I had been eating felt like lead in my stomach. I told Jordan I didn’t want to be with him because it’s what’s best for me, and I stand by my choices. As horrible as I feel after what my brother told me, I can’t let that sway my decision. Right?

′Yes, you can! Are you really going to tell me you don’t want our mate after that mind blowing kiss?′

‘Hope, that was just a moment of weakness.’

‘You were ready to be heartbroken over the thought of Zay being rejected but you so easily cast aside our own mate. How do you not see the irony in that!?’

“Hey,” My brother broke me out of my thoughts, “My next group starts soon, so I’ll see you at dinner. Do you have class this afternoon or are you heading to the clinic?”

“No, my classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today, I’m meeting with one of the doctors to see how we can best support them once we head to California. Kedrick also wants me to do inventory to make sure we’re ready to treat any wounded as soon as possible.”

“That’s a big job, little sis, but K and I are both glad to have you back. It’s too bad that it took a war to make you come back.”

We both headed out the door and to our separate destinations. I had been going to a college near Whispering Pines for undergrad, but I decided to take all online classes this semester so that I could come home and help my brothers. I already missed being on campus, but I knew my brothers wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t important.

It was a bit of a walk from the dining hall to the clinic, but I needed to clear my head and walks helped.

Hope was right, I was being such a hypocrite, worried about my brother getting rejected but then doing the same thing myself. I hadn’t even brought myself to actually reject him formally, so what exactly was I doing, just stringing him along like some kid's toy?

‘Worse, if you ask me. You might be stringing him along on your end, but I’ve been begging you to accept him and you’ve not taken anything I say into consideration. We’re supposed to trust each other, but how can I trust you when you’ll so easily toss aside our mate?’

The hurt was evident in her voice. I knew she was mad, but I didn’t realize how hurt she was by my actions. I was frustrating myself with all of this. I can’t even bring myself to tell my brothers what I did because I know they’d try to change my mind.

‘You’re being a coward is what. You’d rather throw yourself into a war than sort things out correctly with our mate…and you can tell me that kiss was a mistake all you want, but I’m your wolf. I can feel all of your emotions, and you enjoyed it just as much as I did.’

‘Hope, stop, that’s just a lot right now. We made it to the clinic, so just…we’ll talk about this later.’ I shut her off as I walked through the door and took a deep breath to settle myself.

She wasn’t wrong…about anything. I just wasn’t in the right mindset to talk about it now. I had a job to do, so I’d deal with it later and keep my focus on school and the upcoming war.

“Miss Jones, there you are. Let’s head to my office and talk there.” Dr. James, our newest doctor, freshly out of med school, took me into his office. He would be leading the medical staff for the war as some of our older doctors stayed behind.

“Please sit.” He pointed to the chair in front of his desk.

“Thank you, my brother sent me because he wants to make sure we are well staffed to treat any injured warriors but also staffed here at home when we leave."

“Hey, Sawyer— Oh, I’m so sorry.” A tall girl, with brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes walked in. Her eyes widened, clearly embarrassed by her interruption.

“It’s alright,” Dr. James waved her in, “I was about to call for you anyway.”

“Miss Jones, I’d like you to meet my mate, Hadley. She’s a recent transfer to our pack and has been volunteering with the clinic. She was an experienced warrior in her last pack, so I thought she might be able to help you with getting things ready as she knows what goes into war better than most.”

Hadley smiled shyly at me, and I extended my hand in greeting. “It’s nice to meet you. What pack are you originally from?”

“Oh, she’s…” Dr. James attempted to answer for her, but Hadley cut in.

“It’s okay, Sawyer.” She put her hand on his arm to calm him. “She’s Alpha’s sister, I’m okay with her knowing.” I hadn’t thought anything of it before as people move packs all the time when they replace their mate, but now I was intrigued. “I’m originally from Wildfire. My friend helped me escape, and I found my mate, so now Harvest Moon is my home.”

“Oh, you’re Gema’s friend! My brother told me about you. There’s no shame in where you came from, and if my brother trusts you, then so do I.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at me.

“Well, now that that’s out there, shall we get to work?” Dr. James directed the conversation back to supplies and manpower. Hadley and I agreed to meet and continue working on everything on Wednesday. She and Dr. James seemed the perfect fit, and I was glad to be working with them. I hadn’t originally planned to be back here for the semester, but so far it was going better than expected. I now had two new friends to add to my group of friends, and I knew I would learn a lot from both them and this experience with Wildfire.