The alphas son, p.8
The Alpha's Son, page 8
“Sorry,” I say, suddenly feeling awful. “That just sounds like a lot of effort.”
Eleanor perks up, shaking out hair straight, black hair and correcting her posture.
“It might seem extreme but I’ll be that much closer to finding my mate.”
“I guess I just thought mates were like, meant to be and all that. So, like, if it’s meant to happen it’ll happen. You won’t need to force it.”
Eleanor looks darkly at her unfinished breakfast once more.
“I guess it just means more to some people than others,” she says, barely audibly.
“You got that right.”
I turn my attention back to the increasingly soggy short stack in front of me, but I can feel Katie’s penetrating stare.
“I...have to go,” Eleanor says, picking up her plate and pushing her chair back. “I have volunteer duties.”
“No wait, stay,” Katie says, sympathy making her voice go all high pitched. “Please, Max was just being a jerk because he’s not keen on finding his mate yet.”
‘Yet?!’ More like ever!
As if she can read my thoughts, Katie turns to me. Staring like she’s about to shift and bite my face off.
“Um sorry, Eleanor. I didn’t mean to be rude, I just didn't sleep well.”
“I really should be going anyway, there’s a lot I still need to do to get ready for tonight.”
With her eyes on the floor, Eleanor shuffles off to her duties.
Katie slaps my arm. “Why did you have to upset her like that?”
“I’m sorry, I haven’t had any coffee yet.”
“You’ve been weird ever since we got here,” she says, lowering her voice so the bro twins can’t hear us. “I know this isn’t your dream scenario but can you stop ruining it for other people?”
“I haven’t been ruining this for other people. The only reason I came here was because you wanted to do it and I’ve gone along with everything we’ve had to do without complaining once.”
“You think this is what not complaining sounds like?” she hisses and I stop to think for a second. Maybe I haven’t been ruining the festival for everybody, but I haven’t been making it fun for Katie either.
I open up my mouth to begin apologizing but she’s on a roll now. “You may think finding your soulmate is a big joke but to some of us it’s serious.”
“I never said it wasn’t serious,” I mutter.
“No, you just made it clear that you don’t give a shit about it!” Katie’s voice has risen from a stage whisper to the cusp of shouting. Her face is red and she looks like her hair is almost about to fly off, releasing the build-up of steam from her brain.
Todd and Simon have stopped flicking tater-tots at each other with their forks and are staring at us.
“Katie, calm down…”
I’ve chosen the exact wrong thing to say to an un-calm person, but Katie isn’t the type to flip her lid. She stops looking at me and turns her attention to the middle of the table. Her chest rises and falls with intentionally deep breaths. Her face is redder than before, the flush in her cheeks rising in splotches. Tears are welling in her unmoving eyes.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I had a weird night and I’m not on form…”
“You had a weird night,” she says, shaking her head slightly. “What’s your excuse for yesterday then?”
“Yesterday?”
“When you dropped me for Aisha without a second thought.”
“I apologized for that. I was just excited to meet her.”
Katie huffs and finally turns to face me. Her furious expression drops away and I see the sadness that’s been fueling her anger rising to the surface.
“Is that all?” she asks, her voice cracking.
“What do you mean?”
“Tonight when we take part in the Mating Run, who would you rather discover is your mate? Her or me?”
My pancakes churn in my stomach as Katie’s question reverberates in my ears.
‘Her or me?’
The honest to the Moon Gods truth is I’ve never really thought about who my mate might be. I guess I’ve never thought about Katie in that way. We’ve been friends forever. We know each other better than we know ourselves. I’ve never even considered it.
Clearly, she has.
When it comes to Aisha the thought might have crossed my mind. But just for a second, like watching from the platform as an express train speeds through the station.
Aisha is cool and good at ballet, if I had to wind up with a stranger for a mate I’d want it to be her. But I wouldn’t hate it if Katie and I turned out to be mates either. It would just be weird because she’s family.
Katie stares at me demandingly as I think this over, and somewhere in my expression the truth––that while I don’t particularly want to wind up mated to either of them, I’ve never even considered it an option with Katie––must shine through.
“I see,” she says as the light in her eyes, the warmth that’s always made me feel at home, disappears.
“Katie…”
“Don’t,” she says, pulling her hand away as I go to touch her. “Maybe I’m the idiot for wanting something from someone who has no clue. Or maybe you are.” She looks me dead in the eye. “Because at least I’m not pining over some prima-ballerina who is so far out of my league she’s not even playing the same sport.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Everyone knows that Aisha is going to end up mating with Jasper. It’s obvious.”
“What?” This new information seems to have come out of nowhere. Even though I know Katie is lashing out, trying to make me feel as bad as she is, something inside me lurches forward, an aching feeling I can’t explain.
“Aisha is going to be mated to Jasper and you’ll just have to deal with whichever unlucky girl gets stuck with you.”
“No, she isn’t!” The words flow out of me like an evil spirit, a demon I can’t control. I slap a hand over my mouth but it’s too late. The nasty sprite is out.
“So it’s true?” Katie says. “You’d rather end up with her, a stranger, than with me?”
I have no idea how breakfast with Eleanor has turned into the biggest fight Katie and I have ever had. But here we are.
“That’s not what I meant…,” I say, but Katie’s fragile facade is already cracking. I’ve seen her like this before. When our ballet teacher shouted at her for not bending her knees enough. When her first boyfriend, Eric Peterson, broke up with her in seventh grade. Her lips start quivering, a funny wrinkled pattern appears on her chin, her eyes turn pink.
My best friend is about to cry and it’s my fault.
“Katie––”
“Stop…”
With a speedy determination, Katie begins marching toward the door. I don’t even understand how I’ve managed to upset her so badly. I have no idea why the idea of Aisha and Jasper winding up together set me off. Honestly, I couldn’t care less. So why did I snap?
I look across the table at Simon and Todd, who are staring like I’ve just crashed my car and it’s leaking oil.
“Go after her, dude!” Simon says. In a second I’m on my feet, chasing Katie out onto the gravel forecourt.
By the time I make it outside Kate is already at the edge of the forest and showing no signs of slowing down.
“Katie!”
I manage to catch up to her and go to take her arm but she pulls away from me.
“Leave me alone!” she yells before stomping off through the underbrush.
Out of breath and thinking it might be best to give her some space, I let her go.
Whenever we’ve fought before it’s always been about silly trivial things–a broken toy, an unshared muffin–but this feels different. Less of a tremor and more of a city-levelling earthquake.
Katie doesn’t look back as she disappears amongst the foliage.
I just hope we’re able to rebuild.
Swimming with Wolves
Deflated after my fight with Katie, I walk zombie-like back into the dining hall and sit at my half-finished stack of pancakes.
Todd and Simon are on their way out, offering a “sorry bud,” and a “too bad, bro,” on their way.
I slump into my chair and turn up my lips at the pile of food in front of me. It looks like a gross pile of mush to me now, so I push the plate as far away from me as I can.
“Morning, dude,” I hear Aisha say. She’s approaching the table carrying a full plate of waffles. “How’s it hanging?”
She stops in her tracks when she sees my expression.
“Oh, not good, hey?”
She slips into the chair next to me, Katie’s chair, and puts a reassuring hand on my knee.
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“Katie and I had a fight.”
“Riiight.” She nods like a therapist. “Do you want to tell me what it was about?”
The irony that our fight was sort of about Aisha and now she’s the one trying to comfort me is not lost.
But it wasn’t really about Aisha, I realize. She’s more like a symptom. The truth of the cause sits in my gut like a lump of stone.
“Mates,” I mumble.
“I see,” Aisha says, crossing her legs, making herself comfortable. “Does she want to be your mate?”
“I think so.” Finally, it’s all become clear to me. The reason Katie reacted the way she did yesterday when I asked Aisha to go canoeing. The reason she was so excited for us both to go to our first festival together. I’ve been so ignorant, so willfully blind. But I guess I just didn’t want the friendship to change...or end.
I’m worried it has.
“And you don’t feel the same?” Aisha asks slowly.
I shake my head.
She sighs caringly. “It’s tricky business this mating stuff. And the blue moon messing with everyone’s hormones doesn’t help much either.”
“You got that right.”
She grins when I’m finally able to make comprehensible words.
“There he is!”
But her joy is somewhat premature. I feel awful. Not only have I been ignoring the clear signs Katie has been giving me, I’ve also been so insensitive to her feelings that she’s had to run away from me, into the literal unknown. I slump back into my chair and wonder if I’m about to cry too.
Aisha appraises me, puckering her lips and squinting.
“I know what will cheer you up,” she says.
***
Fifteen minutes later we’re standing in our bathing suits at the edge of the river.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I say. “The water was freezing when I fell in yesterday.”
It’s a gloriously sunny day, the sky is a bright cartoon blue, the few puffy clouds look like cotton candy, the trees are emerald and the water does look delightfully refreshing.
But the icy sting of my unexpected dip is fresh in my mind.
“The water is warmer here,” Aisha says. “It’s more stagnant.”
Great…?
The swimming area is a designated section of the riverbank a short distance behind the cabins. There are wolves splashing about in the shallows and a few further out. Some are swinging from a hanging tire and launching themselves into the water.
It can’t be that cold if they’re all swimming in it.
“What better way to wash your blues away,” Aisha says in a sing-song voice.
I stand frozen glancing along the shoreline.
Colorful beach towels dot the pebbly shore like rectangular flowers. The sweet pine scent of the air fills my nostrils and helps begin to clear my mind.
Maybe she’s right.
“If a quick dip can’t shake that gloom off your shoulders I don’t know what will.” Aisha smiles and begins walking toward the water.
She’s wearing a black bikini, her athletic body is shining in the sunlight. Compared to her I feel like a marshmallow, soft and pale.
“First one to the platform is an omega,” she calls over her shoulder, picking up speed. Out in the middle of the lake is a wooden platform, with an algae-covered ladder attached to the side.
Aisha is already halfway down the shore. I refuse to be left behind, even though the thought of swimming out in that icy water is giving me severe brain freeze. I take off after her.
We splash our way into the shallows, the water shocking my body awake. When the cold, breath-stealing liquid is up to my waist I take a giant gulp of air and brace myself. I dive under head first, and come up gasping. The water is so cold it’s hard to breathe.
It’s definitely the same temperature as yesterday!
Aisha is already making strokes toward the platform, cutting through the surface of the water like a samurai sword. I kick my feet and try to remember my freestyle technique from when I took swimming lessons in elementary school.
It’s hard to gain any speed or catch my breath, but eventually I find my rhythm. I stroke as hard as I can, kicking frantically, and I make it out to the platform.
Aisha, who beat me by a mile, takes my hand and helps me up the slimy ladder. Cold water runs off me, dripping from my swimming shorts.
We take a seat on the decking, looking back at the other wolves still splashing about, and let the sun warm our skin. We’re further out than I thought. I feel like we’re so far away that we could growl our loudest growls and no one would hear us.
“Feel better?” Aisha asks.
“My head does feel clearer,” I respond and it’s the truth. Our little swim has helped me feel less like the world is collapsing. I know Katie and I are going to be fine. We’re best friends and we always will be. One stupid fight at a stupid festival can’t shake that.
“See, a little exercise will always shake the blues away.”
“Totally.”
“You wanna talk about what happened?”
Aisha looks at me like she’s ready to listen. I’m amazed. We only met yesterday and I basically fangirled majorly. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Aisha thought I was a complete wacko. But her big, princess eyes are full of genuine concern and I feel as if she wants to help.
“I guess I just always thought of Katie more like a friend...a best friend.”
“Well, that’s ok. If that’s how you feel.”
“But I should have been able to see that she felt a different kind of way. Or I should have made her feel like she could tell me.”
“Sure, but it can be hard talking about feelings. Even to the people you love the most. Hell, sometimes that’s harder.”
“It’s just...well, she’s so obsessed with mates.”
“Of course she is, she’s a teenage wolf.”
“I don’t think just because you’re a wolf you have to buy into the whole mate bond thing.”
“Yeah, well, what else would you expect from her? That’s what we’re all taught to be obsessed with. Look around, man. Everyone here is just hoping to find their person.”
“Sure.” Everyone on the beach is smiling, laughing, but then I notice something as well. There’s a strange scent on the wind. A mixture of sweat, salty and sharp, and something sweeter, something like wildflowers, tangy and enticing. Wolf pheromones. Everyone back on the beach, and probably all the wolves at camp, are low-level emitting their scent, designed to attract the opposite sex.
“I guess I’m not like everyone else,” I say, sighing and resting my chin on my knees.
“Maybe this isn’t all your fault then,” Aisha says, bumping shoulders with me. “If Katie knows you as well as you know her, maybe she should have known what matters to you and not pushed the whole mate thing.”
“Maybe.” Aisha has a point, kind of. But it’s not enough that I don’t still feel like trash.
Waves lap at the edge of our platform, sending water slopping onto the decking. The coolness against my feet and my butt is a nice relief from the hot sun beating down on my back. Aisha stretches out her legs, crossing one ankle over the other, and leans back on her hands.
“So you’re really not into the whole ‘mates’ thing then?” she asks, side-eyeing me.
“Nah,” I say and lean back so that our shoulders are next to each other. “I just don’t get it. I’m only sixteen. There’s stuff I want to do before I settle down forever.”
“Makes sense,” she says, nodding appreciatively.
“What about you?” I ask. “Excited to find your mate?”
“I told you I’m already mated to dance.”
“But what about tonight? You might find some guy during the Mating Run.”
“Not if I don’t plan on running,” she says.
Eleanor said that the run wasn’t compulsory. That wolves could opt out if they wanted. I assumed most people came here for the sole reason of joining the run. I guess Aisha isn’t like most people either.
“You’re not going to do the Mating Run?”
“Nope,” she says.
“Why not?”
Aisha tilts her head, squinting at me through the glare.
“Don’t tell anybody this, ok?” I nod eagerly. “I don’t want to find a mate, because I already found a boyfriend. A human boyfriend.”
“What…?”
My mouth hangs open.
“Does that freak you out?” she asks. “I know a lot of people think mixing the species is weird or gross, or some kind of betrayal or whatever…”
“No! Not at all! I think that’s cool.”
My parents raised me to believe that everyone was equal. My Mom is always going on and on about how there are too many male alpha’s running the packs, and my Dad always advocates for human rights amongst his colleagues.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound shocked. I’ve just never met anyone who’s dating a human before.”
“It’s not very common.”
“Or maybe I just haven’t met many people.” I smile and Aisha smiles back. I’m glad she felt comfortable enough to tell me her secret. Maybe it's just a side effect of our private island in the stream, but I still feel privileged to have been let inside her life like this.
