Ice Melts, When It's Hot Ch. 02

Maxwell's Pov:

This was, undoubtedly, the worst night of my life.

I have no idea how I, the King Alpha, the strongest, best looking, best fighter, a future warrior even, got stuck with such a scrawny, bitchy, virgin who didn't even want me. Maybe that's a little harsh but I was angry about it. Although, more than anything, I was hurt. Both my pride and my ego were wounded by Willow's persistent rejection but the hurt cut even deeper than being so severely humbled.

I'd hoped that being mated would fill the hole in my heart that had ached ever since my ex, Jenny, had broken it. I had been young and stupid and hadn't cared at all about having a mate when I met her four years ago. At first, she was just some random beta, but she ended up becoming my Mistress in a way. She also taught me the ins and outs of being a Dom. At times, we even dommed her subs together, but usually, I watched. When she was done with whomever her slave for the day was, we'd fuck. Eventually, I caught feelings for her. I'd wanted to ask her to be my Luna, despite knowing I was already promised to another. At the time, I didn't care about tradition, I wanted to follow my feelings! However, before I could claim her, I caught her flirting with the town rogue.

I never told her that I caught them, or that I saw them kiss briefly, before he left her shop with a few lengths of rope, but I never forgot and my feelings were crushed. Eventually, she noticed that she was getting less and less attention out of me. I barely even fucked her anymore, crowding out the time I'd given her with subs of my own. We ended up breaking things off, officially, a year ago. I saw her flirting with another guy and I realized I didn't even care what she did when I saw them together. To me, that was a sign. Things were just over. To be honest though, my heart hadn't been in it for a while and by the time we'd finally made the end official, I was ready to move on.

Three months ago, I'd gotten word that my mate had come of age and that our union would be happening at the next Harvest Moon. From the moment I heard the news, a complete shift happened within me. I refused to take on any more subs and ended relationships with the ones that I did have, making sure they had others to take care of them. I stopped having sex altogether and I even stopped from masturbating, all in an effort to save what I could for my mate. Part of me felt guilty for having so much experience without her. However, I swore to myself that I'd never be with another once I was mated. I would be faithful to her and only her. I would love her forever and I knew she would love me. After all, what wasn't there to love?

Then, today, the day I'd thought about for months, finally arrived. Although it came with a few... surprises. The first one came the moment my beautiful omega walked down the center isle that the pack had made for her. At first, there wasn't enough light to make out her form but I could smell her. The scent was heavenly. She smelled of cinnamon, vanilla, santal and ice but beneath that there was something more, something strong and fiery. The perfect scent for a luna to have and I felt all the more pleased with the idea of being mated. Then, I finally saw her, or rather... him.

I never expected my mate to be a boy. He was breathtakingly gorgeous, to be sure, but he was still male. I'd always pictured my mate to be female and the change in reality threw me off a little but... I was bisexual, so I really didn't mind. If the moon goddess thought I needed a man at my side, who was I to refuse her... and my parents, ruling? As he walked closer and closer to me, I could feel my wolf reaching out to to him, welcoming him into our subconscious, but his wolf refused. I frowned to myself as the boy, Willow they called him, came to stop before me. I tried to meet his eyes and for a moment I did. They were cold. Frozen over, without any sort of emotion attached to them. Then he blinked and looked away from me, refusing to make eye contact for the rest of the ceremony.

I began to feel uneasy as things progressed. My wolf attempted to win his over but the more he tried, the more the boy's wolf refused to even show himself. It made no sense. Literally any omega in the entire pack would be happy to be mine... they all adored me. So why didn't this one? Sure, we didn't know each other or anything yet but I still wanted to please him and make him happy. So why didn't he seem to reciprocate the feeling?

Towards the end of the ceremony, the omega's father reached out and handed me "the key to his son's virtue", which I instantly hated hearing. However, I barely had a chance to respond when someone yelled, "Someone's finally gonna thaw out the Ice Princess!" as the rest of the pack chuckled nervously in response.

My blood boiled and I would have yelled at the offender but then I noticed the slight tremble in my future mates stiff lower lip. It was gone after a brief moment but I'd still seen it. I wondered if my mate would be bothered if I made a public scene out of this. Deciding to ere on the side of caution, I scanned the crowd and made a mental note of who had shouted that mocking cry. I'd already decided that, once our honeymoon was over, I would punish the offender. Nobody hurts my Luna. Ever. Moments later, it was time to kiss my mate and I tried to show him just how much I would adore him through my kiss. Much to my dissatisfaction, his return kiss was chaste and left me wanting. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure that he wanted more of me in return. My confidence was a tad shaken, I'll admit, but I never expected for things to get so progressively worse.

From the moment he arrived at my home, I felt like the omega wanted to run away. I did my best to be light hearted and gentle with him. When he seemed excited to consummate our relationship, I thought that maybe things would end up alright. What I did not expect, was for my mate to completely and totally refuse my touch. I could have never predicted the intense fear that he'd so desperately tried to conceal from me; seeping through when I tried to touch his perfect, tight, unused hole... and the rejection hurt. It was an echo of the same pain I'd felt when I realized Jenny could never be my Luna. And now.. now that I had my true mate, he didn't want me either. What's worse, he was afraid of me.

I groaned pathetically, feeling sorry for myself. I should be blissed out of my mind with an omega full of my seed right now, tied together on my fat knot... but instead I wanted to cry and give in to my own pity party. What had I done to deserve spending the first of my mated nights, alone?

I spent almost ten minutes lost in my own misery when I heard sobs coming from the direction of my bathroom. Stunned out of my self pity, I stood quickly and walked down the hallway, towards the bathroom door. I quietly pressed my ear against the thick wood and the sobs became even more clear, along with a few quiet words.

"Disgrace... failure... disappointment... punishment."

Try as I might, I could not understand all of my mates words. The ones I could hear, wounded me, filling me with guilt over my own self absorption. I didn't understand what my omega was so upset over and my wolf whined at me, telling me what a bad alpha I was. He wanted us to break down the door so that we could comfort the boy but I knocked instead, bracing myself for the omega's biting tongue.

"Willow? Can you let me in?" I called out softly, not wanting to scare him.

The door swung open immediately, much to my surprise.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered, hiding his cock with his hands as he spoke. He refused to look at me and I could scent the faintest hint of fear while he struggled to silence his cries.

I wanted to hug him. I wanted to hold him close and tell him that everything was alright. I also wanted to take him to my bed. I wanted to make love to every part of his innocent body, chasing the fear away with my lust for him. I wanted him on his knees before me, worshiping my body in return while I fucked into his throat... I wanted to become fully bonded to him, one soul, one mind but... I kept my hands to myself. It was beyond clear to me, as he nervously shifted his weight in an effort to hide more of his body, that he was not ready to be physical. I only hoped that one day he would be but for now... my mate needed something else. He needed a friend.

I took my dress shirt off and wrapped it around his shoulders. Willow looked up, confused, but quickly wrapped the fabric around his body, covering as much skin as he possibly could from me.

"Are you going to punish me before bed?" He asked in a monotone voice, eyes dropping back to the ground. I was surprised by how steady he sounded, despite the fact that he hadn't managed to stop crying.

I wasn't sure what the omega meant by that. The only time I punished my subs, it was of a sexual nature. My mate clearly didn't want to have sex with me, so how was I to punish him and what for? He hadn't done anything but have an attitude with me because he was a scared little virgin. That was hardly a punishable offense.

I raised my hand to touch his face, wanting some sort of contact with him, but he flinched away the moment I did. I stopped the movement instantly. I knew right then that someone had made a habit of hitting him and I felt my blood boil. Who would dare to raise their hand against a future Luna? Whoever it was, deserved to be the one punished, not my cowering mate.

"You haven't done anything to be punished for," I firmly told him, not sure how to comfort my mate without crossing his invisible boundaries.

"My father didn't... say anything to you?" He asked cautiously, as he inconspicuously wiped his tears away with the sleeve of my shirt.

"He said a lot of things to me and none of them were things that were his place to say," I answered, not wanting Willow to know the disgusting words his own father had said about him.

He blushed, "I don't need you to protect me," he hissed. "I can take any punishment you can give me! I've been trained for it."

I tried hard to keep from rolling my eyes. The boy was terrified of my hands on his ass. There was no way he could handle any punishment I had to give right now.

"I'm not protecting you," I told him, attempting to save his pride. "I listened to what he had to say and found that I didn't care. Nothing you've done in the past is going to follow you into this relationship. If I punish you, it will be because I think you deserve it. Other people do not get to decide how I treat my Luna."

He dropped his gaze and shuffled his feet nervously, as if he hadn't expected what I had to say.

"I... I'll just be going to bed then?" He asked softly, still looking at his feet.

"Do you want some tea or something? You're upset... I didn't mean to scare you," I offered but immediately bit my tongue when the omega looked offended.

"I wasn't scared," he snapped, stomping his foot a little.

"So... no tea?" I asked, hoping I could do something to comfort my mate. For at this point, I'd begun to feel completely useless.

"No! I don't want your fucking tea!" He growled before pushing past me. "I'm going to bed. If you don't like it," he glared over his shoulder, "Punish me." He growled, before slamming his bedroom door.

I sighed as my pride took yet another hit. I stood in the bathroom doorway for several minutes, trying to process everything. It seemed as if I couldn't do or say anything right. No matter what I did, Willow hated me.

I slowly trudged to the kitchen and set a kettle on the stove, deciding to make the omega a cup of tea anyways. My wolf and I needed to do something to make the boy feel more at home. Anything. Even if it was just something small, like this... if he would just accept the cup, then maybe there would be hope for us yet. Fifteen minutes later, a hot cup of black tea sat outside Willow's door on a porcelain saucer. After a moments debate, I also filled a small bowl with sugar and a small creamer with milk, in case the boy didn't take his tea straight. After I'd set everything up, I went to my room and grabbed the bouquet of blue roses I'd planned on giving my mate after we'd made love.

They were roses from my own garden that I'd began tending to when I found out that my mate had come of age. I had picked blue because I heard that was the color of my betrothed's eyes, and I thought they'd appreciate the effort. Now, I was almost anxious as I arranged the roses around the tea set. I didn't want the omega to take offense to anything I was doing. He was so sensitive and I was growing tired of being rejected at every turn. I gently knocked on Willow's door, fully expecting to be ignored and I was not disappointed. I informed the boy about the tea but he never made a sound.

I slowly made my way back to my room, feeling like a failure. I was meant to be the Alpha. Everyone envied my position and I was use to not giving a shit if a pack member liked me or not. But this... I placed a hand over my heart and the familiar pain of being unwanted throbbed against my palm. This was something I couldn't handle much more of. No one ever talked about how painful it was for an omega to reject their alpha... because it almost never happened. Omega's were hardwired to adore their true alpha's, even if the alpha in question abused them. But my omega... my beautiful, precious, innocent omega... he despised me. What had I done? I sat on my bed, alone in the dark, for several hours, and mentally let my wolf lick our emotional wounds from the evening. I didn't know how I would win my mate over. I didn't even know if I could and that thought scared me.

Suddenly, I heard a small creek and the light clink of porcelain. I peaked up from holding my head in my hands, my heart racing at the small sounds. I heard another creak, followed by soft footsteps and then the unmistakable hum of my microwave. Thirty seconds later, I heard light footsteps once more, followed by a soft thud. I hurriedly got out of bed and cracked open my own door, stopping before I made any obvious sounds. I looked over to where the tea service and flowers had been. To my disappointment, the flowers remained but... wait. One was missing... as was the tea cup.

I softly shut my door and crept back to my bed, thinking about what I'd seen. I finally allowed myself to smile. Willow had let me comfort him. I smiled wider as I slide beneath my blankets. Tomorrow was was new day. Tomorrow I would try harder. Tomorrow, maybe things would be better. With those thoughts of hope, I closed my eyes and drifted away in a dreamless sleep.