• Chapter Six •

|H A L E ' S P O V|

"Yeah? What is it?" Hale asked.

"Well, as I was giving your mate a checkup I noticed that his claws seemed more battered and overgrown for a wolf his age and that his teeth seemed more jagged and rougher than usual." Emerson began. "Normally, this only occurs to werewolves who choose not to shift or to wolves who haven't shifted in a long time."

"What are you getting at Emerson?" Hale asked impatiently.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is that your mate hasn't shifted in over ten years," Emerson stated, causing Hales eyes to widen in surprise.

"My mate hasn't shifted in over ten years?" This question earned a small nod from the doctor.

"I'm also starting to suspect that he is starting to forget about his human side which is seriously bad," Emerson said concernedly.

"Why?" Hale asked.

"Well, if his human side continues to get ignored and neglected, it will slowly begin to fade away until it is no longer apart of him. Once his human side is gone he would no longer feel the bond the two of you share and he will turn into a regular, wild wolf," Emerson explained, which made Hale's stomach drop.

"Do you know how long I have until his human side disappears?" Hale asked worriedly.

"I'm not too sure, to be honest, but I do suggest that you help him shift as soon as possible," Emerson advised.

"Okay." Hale nodded his head at the order.

"Well, anyway I'm going back in to see him do you want to come along?" Emerson asked.

"Uh. S-Sure." Hale answered before letting our a forced cough, hoping that Emerson didn't hear his small stutter.

He did.

Hale wasn't going to admit this, but he was beginning to get nervous since this would be the first time he would see his mate conscious. His palms were already beginning to sweat before they even made it to the door and once they did make it to the door his heart was beating twice as fast than usual. He didn't think he could get any more nervous but he was proven wrong when his lungs decided to stop working for a mere second when he saw Emerson's hand beginning to open the door.

The current occupant of the room turned his head at the sound of the door being opened and saw Emerson standing next to a taller figure. The wolves hazel eyes immediately began scanning the newcomer's body from head to toe taking note of his large form and broad shoulders, before finally meeting Hales dark brown orbs that had already been staring at him. The pair found themselves trapped under each other gaze, neither one of them wanting to look. Hale felt like he could've stared at the wolves for hours on end but sadly the wolf had begun feeling shy and moved his eyes downward which broke whatever trance Hale was in.

"I - uh - forgot to ask you this, but what is his name anyway?" Hale asked as he slowly walked up to the timid wolf, never looking away for one second.

"How am I suppose to know? He's in his wolf form, he can't speak even if he wanted to." Emerson said plainly as he leaned on the doorframe.

"Oh, right..." Hale frowned. "But, maybe I could try to find a way for him to tell me it - Hey, Emerson do you happen to have a pen and paper I could borrow?" Hale asked, looking at the doctor.

"Uh, I think so." Emerson pushed himself off the doorframe before looking around his desk area. "Aha! Here you go." Emerson handed Hale a clipboard that had three blank papers on it and a pen that he had stuffed in his coat pocket.

Hale thanked the doctor before making his way back towards his mate and sitting down on the edge of his bed, making sure that there was a comfortable distance between the two of them since he didn't want to scare the small cutie.

"Hi there, my name is Hale Wilson. Do you know what your name is?" Hale asked in a soft voice.

The wolfs eyes darted upwards for a split second to met Hales one before looking back at the ground and giving a barely noticeable nod.

"Perfect! Can you try to spell your name on this, please?" Hale asked as he placed putting the clipboard down in front of him and giving him the pen.

The wolf nodded his head again, picking up the pen with his mouth before beginning to write on the clipboard. Hale could tell that the wolf was trying his best to write on the piece of paper by the cute look on his face but he also knew that it would've been a long time since the small thing had written anything.

Once the wolf was finished he let out a soft bark before nudging the clipboard towards Hale who turned it around excitedly, wondering what his mate's name was but when he looked at the paper all he saw was a bunch of squiggly lines placed everywhere.

Hale couldn't help but smile at the piece paper in his hand. To someone else, it would've looked like something a two-year-old would've drawn but to him, it looked like a masterpiece that needed to be hung up in a museum or simply on their bedroom wall.

"I should've known this would've happened." Hale chuckled to himself, taking the used piece of paper off of the clipboard and then folding it up delicately before putting it into his pocket. "You don't happen to have any great ideas do you?" He asked, looking at Emerson who had been silently watching the show.

Emerson thought for a split second before giving Hale an answer. "Well, you could just write down the alphabet on a piece of paper and have him bark whenever you point at a letter he wants," Emerson suggested with a small shrug.

"That's a great idea."

"I know," Emerson smirked slyly which earned an eye roll from Hale.

Hale then picked up the pen from early and began writing down the alphabet. Once he was finished he turned the clipboard around so his mate could see what Hale had been working on.

"I'm going to point at each letter and if I land on a letter you want just bark, okay?" The small wolf let out a bark letting Hale know he knew what to do. "Great."

- - -

A couple of minutes passed and Emerson's idea seemed to be working really well. Hale already had the first letter of his mate's name which was; E and had just finished working out the second letters which was; T. Soon after that he found out that the third letter was; H and once he saw those three letters together he instantly knew that his mate's name was;

"Ethel!" Hale exclaimed. "His name is Ethel!" Hale expected to see his mate wagging his tail and jumping up and down out of excitement for figuring out his name but once Hale's eyes traveled to his mate, his mate was only starring at him with a 'what the h*ll' look.

Emerson snickered before asking, "Isn't that a girls name?"

Hale eyes widen in realization before he mumbled, "I - uh - just realized that, now," Hale let out a small and awkward laugh as his cheeks turned a vibrant shade of pink.

"Try again maybe you'll get it right this time." Emerson teased. Hale faked a laugh before flipping him the middle finger which emitted a chuckle from the doctor.

"Anyway, the only other name I can think of right now is...Eth...an?" Hale asked unsurely but once those words left his mouth his mate suddenly sat up in shock and looked straight into Hale's brown eyes with his wide ones. "Is that your name? Ethan!?" Ethan let out an excited bark as he nodded his head up and down, which answered Hales question.

"You've cracked the case, Wilson and now the mystery is solved."

Hale eyebrows scrunched together slightly before he asked, "Have you been watching Sherlock Holmes again?"

"Heck yeah! I've already halfway through!" Emerson exclaimed.

"Uh...Anyway, when can I take Ethan home?" Hale asked, changing the subject.

"He can leave once his medication arrives," Emerson answered.

"And how long will that be?"

"Not that long. In fact, they should be here in a minute or two." Emerson stated.

"Great," Hale says as he smiled down at Ethan who had his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth.

Once Ethan's medication arrived Emerson told Hale that his legs should heal within a week or two, depending on how good the medication reacted to his wounds before allowing Hale to take Ethan and go home.

They were driving home with the radio playing some random pop song when Hale noticed that Ethan was staring at him rather intently.

"Is something wrong?" Hale asked as he softly pets Ethan's head before returning his hand to the wheel.

Ethan just shook his head silently and continued staring at him shamelessly which made him slightly nervous for some reason.

"Uh, look we're here." Hale coughed awkwardly as he pointed towards his large two-story house which was placed near the tree lines.

Hale watched as Ethan stood up onto his two uninjured legs and looked at his house with amazement. Hale chuckled lightly before parking the car and jumping out quickly. He grab all of Ethan's things, which was just a small bag filled with his medications before going to hus door and picking him up, like he weighed nothing, and bringing him inside.

"I'm back!" Hale shouted as he slammed the door shut.

He walked into the kitchen and placed Ethan's things down on the counter before heading into the living room to introduce his mate to his beta and his beta's mate.

"Hey, guys - seriously! Not on the damn sofa!" Hale shouted, covering his mate's eyes as he sees his beta and his mate both half-naked on the sofa with their lips locked together and their bottom half grinding on each other like there was no tomorrow.

Thankfully, Liam pulled away from his mate after hearing his Alpha complaints and breathlessly asked, "You're back already?" He wiped his lips free of saliva before topping halfway when his bright blue eyes saw the familiar wolf in his arm. "Oh, I see you've found your mate." Liam started petting Ethan's head before Hale flicked them away.

"I don't want your s*x covered hands touching my mate," Hale growled as he glared at Liam who only chuckled while putting his shirt on before getting off of Jared who then put on his own shirt.

"What happened to his legs?" Liam asked in concerned once his blue eyes landed on the bandages that were wrapped around the small omegas legs.

"Some wolve hunters found him and shot him in the leg with a silver bullet while his other leg got caught in a bear trap that they had set up," Hale explained.

"Ouch." Liam winced as he imagined the pain the poor omega had to go through. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah. I have his medicine and everything so he should be fine."

"That's good." Liam smiled before asking. "Anyway, what's his name anyway?"

"Oh, Ethan."