The beast and the blessed novel by Ashley Breanne novel Chapter 120

Fifteen: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V.

"Do I need to ask if you're okay, or can I assume by your smell that things went well?" Holden asked with a grimace, but there was disappointment on his face. He moved away from me subtly, but I didn't have it in me to feel guilty.

Tobias said I was his.

I had nothing to be mad about ever. The world could burn around me, and I would still be happy.

"I'm better than okay, but you might not be." There was a slight skip in my step when I looked over my shoulder and saw Tobias hadn't left the conference room. He would need a minute to calm himself down, and I bit my lip as I thought about turning around and walking right back in there to claim him as mine too.

"What the hell did I do?" Holden pulled open the door to the dining hall, and a few people looked taken aback by the smile on my face.

Natalie raised her eyebrows at me, and Killian curled his lip when I walked past, no doubt smelling what I had just been up to.

"He's going to kill you," I practically sang happily, but Holden did not look amused. I looked up as Tobias entered the room, his eyes immediately landing on me. It made me happy when he filled up his plate and began eating this time, but I knew he was listening to everything I said.

"For interrupting?" Holden asked, and I laughed when he looked from me to Tobias.

"No, I think it was good you did," I smirked when Tobias growled. I would have loved to have him take me right then and there, but more than that, I wanted to be sure he wanted all of me. He had no problem ignoring my advances for months.

I wanted to be sure that he was interested because he wanted me and not just because I stopped throwing myself at him. He would have to earn it, and I looked forward to the fun we were about to have together while he did so.

"So, cheesecake?" Holden asked, and I looked back at him to see him staring out over the rows of tables with pack members talking and laughing. I knew what he was really asking, and I nodded. Friends.

"Cheesecake," I replied, my smile falling as I looked at him. He looked worried and sad, and I wondered what was going through his mind. He had a mate that was waiting for him. Once he turned nineteen, he could find her, but he didn't seem excited by the idea.

"Does this mean we aren't going dancing tomorrow?" He lowered his voice but could still be heard by anyone who cared enough to listen.

I met Tobias's stare. His brown eyes had remained black since our rendezvous in the conference room, and his hand was tight around his fork, his knuckles white.

"That's still happening. I'm looking forward to it."

It made me smile wider as Tobias stabbed his fork into the wooden table before standing up and leaving the room. He wouldn't be coming back tonight. I had pushed his buttons and was looking forward to my punishment.

"You're really going to get me killed, aren't you?" Holden asked as Killian and Natalie stood to excuse themselves from the table.

"Don't be a baby. Fight like a man!" I insisted, standing as well, eager to get back to my tower for the night to take another look at Rona's blood now that I was calmer. I also didn't like that the council had stopped eating in the public dining hall and chose to spend each night eating alone in their rooms or the private dining room. It was suspicious.

I would have joined them if I didn't hate them. I could have tried to get them to spill everything they knew about what was happening or what would happen. Until I got to the bottom of the magic on the mountain, I would not trust any of their pledges to join us.

Holden held his arm out to escort me from the room, but I shook my head. If Tobias was going to kill my new friend, he would have to wait until after we went out tomorrow. I wanted to go dancing.

"Can I at least walk you back to your room?" Holden asked, and I stared at him momentarily before nodding in agreement.

We were halfway there when I broke the silence, hoping he would give me some answers after I had told him about my love life. "Why are you so scared to find your mate?"

"I am not scared to find her. I'm worried about what situation she will be in when I do.’ He lifted his arm, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck as he tilted his head from side to side.

I was buzzing with curiosity. Most wolves were over the moon about the prospect of finding their mate, but Holden wasn't, which was unusual.

Beyond Killian, I hadn't known anyone else to be resistant to the bond with their fated mate. "What makes you say that?"

Holden let out a pained, almost dark chuckle, and I watched as the happy boy turned into a man. One filled with pain and exhaustion, hiding behind the fagade he wore the rest of the time. "I can't know for certain, but I might have already found her. There was this girl growing up. She was the brightest thing I had ever seen. Always smiling and laughing. I wanted to be around her all the time so that she could share some of that happiness with me."

He slowed, and I matched his pace to let him speak. Clearly, he needed to talk about it. "She had this boyfriend that wouldn't let anyone near her though, so I never got my chance. When she was seventeen, she got pregnant, and her light dimmed. When she turned nineteen last year, I thought that she would find her true mate, but she never said anything if she did."