Howling at the Moons

CH 52: The Claiming of Yo (Part 1)

A/N:  Alright everyone - it's time. I hope it makes you squirm!

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PHANA'S POV

"W-w-what?" I stutter out. Did he really just ask me what I think he did? "W-what did you say?"

Yo looks very calm when he asks again, "When will you claim me, P'Pha?"

"H-how? W-when?" I must sound like an idiot, but I'm in a bit of shock right now.

He looks at me with a little bit of exasperation, "Do you actually want to talk about this right now?"

When I don't answer him, mostly because I still can't find my voice, he grabs my hand and pulls me to the couch. "Ok then, we need to cover this quickly, I don't know how long I can hold back the influence of the Mating Pull."

"You can feel the Pull?" This is not exactly how I imagined this would go, he's caught me completely off guard. So, I'm a little baffled as to how to move forward.

"Yes, finally! Thank the Goddess. You had me so worried I thought I was going to lose my mind."

"I don't understand." Yo has really thrown me for a loop here. "Why were you worried? About what?"

He looks down before saying quietly, "I worried about a lot of things... that you might not be my mate, that you might not want me, that you might reject me."

He thought WHAT?

"When you didn't claim me last year, I didn't know..."

"STOP!" He startles at my raised voice and looks up at me with wide eyes. "You've known since LAST YEAR?" If he answers with a yes, I might kill someone because that means I waited four months for nothing.

He looks a little guilty, "Well, I didn't really 'know'. I could only make guesses since I couldn't feel the pull yet. Is that why you waited?"

"Yes." Well the whole truth might as well come out now. "When I found out, your dad made promise to wait until you could recognize me as your mate too."

He breathes out a sigh in relief, before changing to looking completely frustrated, "Of course, he did. That's my dad in a nutshell."

"All right, spill it. How did you know? Tell me everything." I'm being impatient. I'm not mad exactly, but I waited all this time, driving myself crazy not claiming him. I tried so hard to keep this a secret like his dad and I agreed. To know now that is was a wasted effort, and wasted time I could have been with my mate is irritating.

"P'... to be honest, I knew you'd found your mate during the welcome event last year. I felt it through our link, I just didn't know... it was me. Then I was confused because I didn't feel you claim them. When Ming told me, your father called you home, instead of the truth of what happened, I didn't understand what was going on. I thought maybe he just didn't want me to know you'd found your mate, but it still didn't make sense to me since you didn't claim them."

"Why wouldn't Ming want you to know I found my mate?"

Yo blushes bright red and glances at me then away, "Because he knows it would've hurt me. He knows I've loved you for years, P'Pha. Since we were kids." He pauses looking down, and I let his answer sink in. He's loved me for years. My wolf is howling in joy inside of me.

"When you came back to school without your mate and no Mating Mark, I didn't know what to think. Then you started spending time with me. Sleeping over at my room... kissing me... touching me. I didn't know for sure, but I hoped. Every day I waited and worried and hoped."