The Alpha's Wayward Mate

Maverick had used much of the morning to hopefully gain ground on his runaway mate. He kept going through what he wanted to say to her when he caught up with her.

He did not understand why Scarlett ran away. Maverick was not considered a brute, though he looked like one.

'Maybe she was afraid of your build. My sisters are always telling me that I scare the opposite sex sometimes."

Maverick chuckled as he recalled appearing at a watering place one after another to see a little old woman trying to heft a large clay pot full of water. He had wandered over and asked if she needed help. The woman had been so startled by his appearance and size that she had shrieked and fallen into the water.

Maverick had, of course, fished the sputtering little woman out and apologized profusely for his clumsy greeting.

The woman had told him it was quite alright and that he had startled her by suddenly appearing at his side. She had gratefully accepted his help.

He couldn't help frowning slightly as he thought of Scarlett. "I don't want her to fear me." Maverick spoke out loud to his horse because he was the only one there to listen to his ramblings.

Titus just snorted, as if to say good luck with that. Maverick laughed and patted the animal on the flanks. "Thanks for listening, old man."

Titus reached around and tried to nip his leg in retribution. "What you don't like is me calling you old." Maverick smiled down at the animal as it shook its head in answer.

They went back to traveling in silence for a while longer. It wasn't until he heard something in the distance that he sat straight up in his saddle. He couldn't be sure, but it sounded like a voice.

Maverick stood perfectly still, bringing Titus to a stop so he could listen better. His head wiped to the right when he made out the voice again coming from the direction.

He moved his horse in the direction of the sound. As Titus and his rider rounded a bend in the room, he took in the scene before him. There was a female in a cloak trying to remove something from her horse's shoe.

Maverick felt the tug, and he knew immediately that he had found her. She must have realized it because he watched her whole body stiffen in an instant.

Slowly and carefully, he dismounted from his horse. Maverick approached his mate as he would a timid fox caught in a trap. In a way, that is exactly what Scarlett appeared to be to him.

"Hello Scarlett." Maverick murmured gently as he took a step toward her. He watched as his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"You have already found me. I should have known it wouldn't work."

Maverick paused in his approach. The question that had been plaguing him since he found her had vanished in the middle of the night.

"Did you think I wouldn't look for you, Scarlett? You are my mate. I feel it, and I know you feel it too. Why did you run from me?"

Maverick watched her hang her head. Whether it was in shame or defeat, he was not sure. His next words, though, made him realize it was a different emotion all together and one he had not expected.

"My family came to hate me for being mated to you. They turned their backs on me for something that I had no control over."

Maverick watched her shoulders begin to shake, and he felt his heart melt for her. To lose everything you knew and cared about through no fault of your own. He couldn't imagine the depths of her anguish. Maverick could almost forgive her for running away.

Moving carefully up behind her, he laid a hand on her shoulder. "I am truly sorry for what you suffered, but running away will not solve anything. You know that, right? You can't outrun fate."

She nodded in response. Whether she was truly agreeing with him or just placating him, Maverick could not tell, but he let it go because he knew they needed to fix her horse's foot and get on the road.

"What seems to be the problem with your horse?" He inquired soothingly, both to the beast and the female.

"She has a rock stuck in her foot, and I can't get it out. I don't want to hurt her, but I don't know what I am doing. We had a stable master for such things."

He watched, sighing in frustration. Maverick leaned down to inspect the horse's foot. "Would you like me to take care of it?" He spoke softly, believing that if he were any louder, he might spook her into fleeing him once more.

"Would you please? I fear I am going to do more harm than good." Scarlett looked relieved at his offer to help.

"Go hold her head so she doesn't try to bite me. I might have to dig a little, but try to keep her as still as possible."

Scarlett did as he requested, holding the horse's reign's. Maverick worked on the rock's hoove.

After a few minutes, the thing popped out with the pressure of a flat stick that was not too sharp but enough to wedge beneath the rock and free it.

Maverick gently set the horse's foot down. "It's all better, isn't it?" He murmured softly to the animal while fully aware of the eyes of the woman near him.

"What is his name?" Maverick inquired curiously, trying to find topics to keep her comfortable. In her silence, he turned to look at her in confusion, and it dawned on him that maybe the beautiful beast in front of him had not been given a name.

"He doesn't have a name, does he?"

Scarlett shook her head. "My parents never believed in naming things." She admitted it to him while blushing.

"I see." Maverick really didn't, but he didn't wish to say such a thing to her; he was not sure what to make of her family. Never had he met such narrow-minded, strange people. He could only hope that Scarlett was not the same. He decided to put it to the test with his next question.

"Would you like to name him now?"

Her eager nod was all he was looking for, and Maverick couldn't help the small smile that graced his face at her enthusiastic response.

"I have always wanted to call him Caspian. After the king of old."

Maverick nodded, feeling that they just took their first steps towards something important in their bond. He only hoped she felt it too.

"Caspian is a good, strong name for one such as he." He agreed kindly. The look she bestowed on him made his heart thump painfully at seeing it. It was a smile so bright at his slight praise that it lit up the surrounding area.

'Heavens help me, this woman is way too stunning. She has to know how lovely she is, right?'

Somehow, Maverick strongly doubted that she knew such things. From what he gleaned about her family, she was merely meant for breeding stock and a hopeful higher position in the higher archery, or whatever it is her parents wish her to bring to them.

'What a horrible way to live.' Maverick promised himself that he would never let her feel that way again and would show her what a family really meant.