Dominant Species Ch. 44-45

Silvia took a glance behind, seeing the destruction. "No survivors?"

"No." Mitch squeezed the steering wheel. "I had friends here, the kids from this town go to the same high school I did. The ground is so rocky, none of the houses have basements; they are all built on piers or slabs. I guess there was no place to hide when the radiation came." He looked back at the kids who were still sleeping. "That's the last civilization for fifty miles, until we get out of the Bitterroot Mountains. If you need a nap, go ahead."

"No, I'm good." She looked back, verifying to herself her kids were asleep before she looked at him. "Mitch, can you answer some questions for me?"

"Sure, I'd love to."

"Do you have a mate?"

He looked down before his eyes went back to the road. "No, not yet. There was a girl I knew in high school, I prayed to Luna that she would be my mate, but when I came of age, there was nothing. I've searched the other packs since then, like the others my age."

"You have to be a certain age to recognize your mate?"

"Yes, you know we have our wolves from birth, but until you hit puberty you don't gain the ability to recognize him or her. The lucky ones, they know right away. Others... they wait and wait. Donald had been looking for thirty seven years, he'd given up before he found you."

She looked at her feet and thought for a moment. "He thinks he's my mate, how can he be so sure? I mean, I was married, have kids, I loved my husband. He was supposed to be with me forever."

Mitch tapped his fingers on the wheel as he thought of how to respond. "Your wolf knows immediately, it's a gift Luna has given us so we can find each other. The scent of your mate, I hear that you recognize it immediately." He looked at her, catching her eyes. "Luna doesn't make mistakes, he IS your mate. All that other stuff? I don't know, maybe we don't get to know. Humans are different than us, you find someone you like and love comes later. For us, we love our mate before we meet them, because we know they will be perfect for us."

"Other than the smell, how do you know?"

"Well, I'm just going on what I've been told, obviously. You feel drawn to them, you and your wolf become extremely possessive and protective. When you touch them, it's different- like pleasurable little shocks. Your mate can sense your emotions, can calm you down with a simple touch. Watching my parents, you just see how... how connected they are. It's what I dream of having someday, that woman who is everything to me."

Silvia closed her eyes, thinking back to when they met and she shook his hand. Tingles had run up her arm, she had to force herself to let go because it felt so good, and when she did there was a sense of loss. Even now, she felt guilty for leaving him, like something was missing.

Maybe, she thought, maybe there was something to this. Then she started thinking about everything else that was going on and she knew that she just didn't have time for this.

"Donald said that if I wanted to, I could reject him as a mate. What happens then?"

Mitch let out a breath slowly. "IF you were to reject him as your mate, the pull you now feel for him would go away. Since you are human, you could go on with your life as it was before."

He didn't say more, but she could tell he was hiding something. She thought about it for a while, then figured it out. "You said since I was human. What... what happens to a wolf whose mate rejects him?"

His eyes got wide, he shook his head.

"No, Mitch, you tell me. What would happen to Donald?"

"Up until you meet your mate, you have that drive to find them. If they reject you, it's just as if you were mated and your mate dies. A part of you dies with it. The loss, the pain, they can be too much; many cannot go on because their hope for a better life disappears. If they don't kill themselves, they kind of waste away, and eventually their wolf- and them- dies."

Silvia mulled it over. "So I'm pushing him to suicide?"

"NO... not yet. You haven't rejected him, you just haven't accepted him. He and his wolf, they still have hope you will come back to him. It's not easy, though. What you feel, it's a thousand times stronger for him. The Alpha had to order him to stay away, because his wolf didn't want you to leave." He looked over at her again. "Please, I'm begging you. Don't reject him without giving him a chance. He's a great man, he wants you and your children to be his own, he will never hurt you, never leave you. We all know that your life has gone to shit recently, but he will be there for you. He'll always be there for you." He put his eyes back on the road, hoping she would stop talking about rejection, it pained him and his wolf to see someone tossing aside the greatest gift any wolf can get.

It was a few minutes before Silvia spoke up again. "Would I have to become a wolf to be his mate?"

"No, you're already his mate. I don't know of any human who hasn't taken the change, though. There are too many advantages to taking it; better health, longer life, strength, senses. Also, you can't get a Pack link or mate link without being a wolf."

"Link?"

"Yes, mental communication. It's what allows us to communicate with each other in wolf form. With your mate, it's more than just being able to talk into their mind and hear them. You can also feel their emotions, send each other mental pictures. It's part of what makes mates so close, when you know how they feel, there's no miscommunications."

The drive had been going so well it was a shock to him when Donald linked him. "OK, you guys just passed me. Don't get too far ahead, maybe stop before coming out of the mountains."

Mitch linked right back. "That was quick, you're getting slow old man."

"Yeah, you try running fifty miles through the mountains when you've got thirty more years on you, pup."

He drove on, leaving Silvia to her thoughts. He was focused on the road ahead, and when the driver's side front tire blew out he was taken by surprise. Hitting the brakes, he fought to steer the car to the side of the road; there wasn't much of a shoulder, and it dropped off sharply from there. He let out a breath when they came to a stop, the right front tire nearly off the road. "Everyone all right?" Silvia nodded, checking her kids, and Mitch started to get out of the car.

BANG!

The shot startled them all, and Mitch fell backwards, blood spraying from his shoulder as he rolled on the road.