Healing His Mate

Chapter 22

Aaliyah POV

Relax.

I hear his voice run through my head as if it belongs there. The comforting feeling of his mind calms my anxiety as he erases the memory of my latest nightmare.

"I'm sorry," I apologize, knowing he must not be sleeping much when I'm screaming awake every night.

"What did I tell you about apologizing to me," Aaron kisses my temple as he pulls me closer to his chest. We are on the couch where we had been watching a movie after lunch. I wanted to cuddle for a while since I knew that he would be leaving for a shift in patrol soon.

The last couple of weeks, Aaron and I have fallen into a routine. We spend every day together walking around the pack or enjoying our new home. Thatcher and Zach hang around too so they can get used to their new roles.

It's been calming to have a familiar family structure to the day. Aaron rarely leaves my side and learning the pack lands has helped me to feel more secure. Although the nightmares refuse to stop, I can feel my mind and soul healing.

Aaron thinks my healing is because I'm finally somewhere safe. I think it's less the place and more to do with him.

I never knew I could feel so close to someone. Aaron marked me weeks ago, but it feels like I've been with him my entire life. He's my safe place. He's healing me.

When he marked me, he started to feel all of my emotions. With how riddled I am with anxiety and fear though, it's made him and his wolf even more overprotective. With how little they leave my side, I was shocked this morning when he told me he had a patrol shift.

I feel tears fill my eyes as I think about him leaving me.

"Nightmare gone?" his husky voice whispers into my ear.

I nod my head as I continue to hide my face in his throat. I don't want him to see me on the verge of crying.

"Then why are you crying?" he pulls my face away from his skin and raises my chin up. My eyes clash with his deep orbs as he searches my gaze for the answer to his question.

"It's not the nightmares," I whimper softly.

"Then what?" he questions. I can feel his wolf's anxiety rise as he tries to figure out what threat is facing his mate. Sadly, this isn't something he can kill.

"You're going to leave me," the words barely leave my lips before he is growling low.

"Never."

One lone tear runs down my cheek before I can stop it. His confidence and defiance in that one word breaks my heart.

I don't want to be clingy with our bond, but I don't feel safe unless he's here. I need him with me.

"Why would you think I would leave you?" he leans forward and kisses the stray tear away.

"You said this morning. You won't be here tonight," my voice breaks.

"My patrol shift," his answer is subconscious as understanding passes through him, "I'm not leaving you, angel. I will never leave you."

"But you won't be here tonight."

"I was supposed to start with a day patrol so my mom could stay with you, but Samson's mate went into labor early," he explains to me, "It's been amazing having it just us lately, but we talked about this. You know I'll be slowly taking back my responsibilities before I become alpha."

"I know we talked about it," I tell him dissatisfied, "I just didn't think it would have to start today."

"I know," he gives me a small smile before kissing me quickly. The second his lips touches mine, I feel a wave of calm wash over our bond, "And I wish it wasn't today either, but it has to be someday."

I bite my bottom lip nervously as one of my fears surfaces, "What if I have a nightmare tonight? You won't be here to save me."

"I already talked to Zach and he is splitting the shift so I'll be back around midnight. Thatcher is coming over to watch over you while I'm gone. You won't be alone and if you need me at all, I will be here."

"I don't want to be a bother," I tell him, my emotions all over the place, but I know I don't want to need Thatcher to babysit me just because I can't handle Aaron not being with me.

"Hey! You are not a bother," he scolds me as his hands cup my face, "You could never be a bother."

I nod my head as I try to get my brain to accept his words, "Okay."

"Not just okay, angel. You are my mate," he argues with me, "You aren't just the most important person in my life, but you are the most important part of my soul. Whenever you need me, I will always be here with you."

The flood gates release as a sob escapes me. I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him as hard as I can. His lips move against mine as we pour as much passion as we can into the kiss.

When we finally break apart, we are both breathing heavily and clutching onto one another.

"Tell me about your fox pack growing up," he says, leaning back so we can talk.

"Are you trying to distract me from you leaving?" I lift my lips slightly in a small smirk.

He just smiles at me, "Maybe. Will it work?"

He leans forward and kisses the smirk off my dimple, "Until you leave, yes."

"Good. So tell me about you. What was growing up like?"

"For most of my life, it's just been me and my mom. We left Ireland when I was around seven, so I don't remember living around other foxes too much growing up. Since there aren't any fox skulks left, my mom and I moved around different wolf packs. But I've never really fit in," I tell him.

"Why not?"

"Foxes and wolves have never really gotten along, and teenage wolves aren't exactly known for being inclusive," I try to be as honest as I can without showing how much it hurt for every wolf pack we lived in to hate my mother and I.

"Teenagers suck," he growls.

I giggle at his anger for me, "It wasn't all bad. I made some friends growing up, but it wasn't just not being a wolf that the packs found issue with."

"What do you mean?" Aaron asks.

"Did you ever question why fox shifters are so rare?"

He shrugs his shoulders slightly as his brain comes up blank for the answer.

"Hunters have spent the last few decades systematically killing all of us. Each pack we stayed with thought that protecting us would lead the hunters to them. They were afraid."

"You said you moved around a lot. Is that why?" he asks.

I nod my head, "My mom didn't want us to live somewhere we weren't really welcome. We tried to make a home, but we weren't apart of the pack. Not really. We weren't the pack's responsibility to protect."

"I'm sorry you never found that home growing up, but our pack has never turned away any shifter who wanted a home. Wolf or not."

"Don't be sorry. I did find it," I whisper, "This is home."

"Aaliyah," he says my name like a prayer as his smile radiates through me. Pride fills my veins as he says, "This is home, angel."

"Home," I kiss him again and lose myself in his touch as I try to forget him leaving me tonight.