Adrien's Mate

Twenty years ago Seth I have never been summoned to the alpha’s office before. I have never talked to the alpha or even seen him for more that a second in the crowd on the few occasions I happened to find myself near his part of the compound. Half breeds like me usually are not allowed near him and we are always told to mind our own business and not to approach him. We lower our heads down when he passes us and never, never look the important dogs in the eyes. I am pretty good at that, lowering my head I mean. I learned it a long time ago when my stupid curiosity got me beaten down bad a few too many times and now I am more than aware what my place in the pack is. Naturally, I stick to it. It’s not that fun being around them anyway, the alpha, the beta, their mates and their warriors. Big men like them scare me. I am fifteen years old, yes, but I am all skin and bones and my head is too large for my shoulders, and my limbs are too long, so even the omegas pick at me most of the time. I am not an omega though. My mom is one, but not me. I am lesser because my dad was a human. So there is that. That’s why I am truly surprised when the alpha called for me today. It’s a foggy day in the end of February, and I am cold and miserable as I stay in my thin jacket in front of the large pack house, waiting to be asked inside for the supposed audience with our alpha, Jango Moretti. Even though it’s freezing cold, my palms are sweating, and my heart is beating like a drum in my chest. I can feel my stomach dropping lower to the ground with every dreaded second that brings me closer to the moment I will have to meet the big boss. I fear him. The alpha, I mean. I’ve heard of him beating women and taking them against their will in front of everyone’s eyes. He’s also loud and a bully who mocks everyone who’s too weak to fight back, which is basically… everyone around here. Imagine what he’d have to say to someone like me. A mutt with an unknown human dad and an omega mom who hates his guts. The minutes tick by but no one comes to take me to the office and I let my eyes roam warily over the muddy facade of the large building next to me. I have never been inside the large pack house before. It is ugly and looks like one of those prisons with maximum security on TV but I think it is warmer than our trailer in the outskirts of the compound. Well, I can’t be sure if it is warmer. Who knows if that’s not only a myth people like me tell ourselves when we dream of being inside this place - lies they tell each other to pass the time. Imaginings. My eyes trail off to the large dirty windows and the chimneys which are puffing thick grey smoke that dissolves in the air and stains it with the smell of burning coal. I hate this place. I hate it even more during the winter. Everything smells of fire and piss, and unwashed bodies, and it is so much worse than the summer. At least during summer I can run off to the river and pretend that I live there. I can bathe as much as I want in the river and even imagine I live there. But when it’s cold I don’t go out much. My mom says I don’t have enough meat on my bones to keep me warm and that’s why I am always freezing. Then again it’s not like she’s doing much of a job putting food on the table, and therefore meat on my bones. Not to mention we don’t have heat even in the trailer and my clothes are thin and worn down most of the time. Hey, who am I kidding - all of the time. “Hey, Radke, in!” The ten year old omega girl slips her head through the door and motions me to move. She says my family name like a curse and I shiver with hatred because I hate it too. It’s my human father’s name. He gave it to me when I was born and then left us. Shivering and trying to step on my left foot as little as possible because my shoe has a hole in it and some snow has already entered inside and melted rapidly. Every time I step it makes a squeaky sound that makes me tremble with repulsion. Inside, the pack house seems dark and gloomy just like its surrounding compound. My heart is beating even heavier now and I want to bolt back. The impulse to run is overwhelming but I grind my teeth and force myself to move further. You don’t escape in the other direction when the alpha himself summons you. My mom said so. She got really excited when she heard about it and she ushered me out quickly, her face lighting up as if she expected this meet up to solve all of our problems. I don’t think so. This whole business stinks from the get go. Still, my feet carry me up the stairs, the damn shoe squeaking every step of the way. The alpha’s offie turned out to be on the second floor. It’s the first door on the right and it seems like the only one that looks somewhat decent. The rest of the door down the hall are all rusty with peeling paint and there is mould on the ceiling. Somehow as I look at it I feel glad for our trailer. It’s clean at least and it looks as decent as possible. I am in charge of keeping it neat and tidy and I actually like it. It calms the voices in my head when I get to scrub some dirt off the floor or the oven. Gives me something to focus on. The omega girl, whose name I don’t even remember because I have barely seen her, or interacted with her or any other of the kids around, knocks on the fancy white-ish door and after a gruff ‘come in’ she bolts down the stairs leaving me alone to fend for myself. I reach out and press on the door handle, my heart running ten thousand miles an hour as I open the door and just freeze there, staring at the man behind the desk. Alpha Jango Moretti looks young, no more than thirty years if I could guess. He’s attractive in a way with his fair face and broad shoulders. His pitch black hair is sleeked back with too much gel, and his olive eyes gleam with evil satisfaction in my direction as he motions me in. I don’t trust this man. There is something predatory in his sly smile and the way his eyes shine with mockery does not sit well with me. I have been bullied enough in my life to know a bully when I meet one. And I don’t have to have heard of all the bad things he does to people on a daily basis to know this guy is pure evil. Stilll, I have to follow the order. He’s my alpha whether I like it or not, and with trembling hands and a hammering heart, I step inside. “Please, sit down, Mr. Seth Radke,” he tells me in a steady mocking voice and I feel my face turns red rapidly, the color spreading up to the roots of my hair. As I follow the order and take the few steps towards the free rusty chair in front of his preoccupied desk, I try to ignore the chills creeping down my spine. It’s easier said than done. This man, he’s dangerous and he is planning something. I don’t know what, I can’t even imagine, but my thundering heart never lies. Breathless, eyes wide and completely dumbfounded, I sit on the edge of the chair. As the alpha scrutinises me, I feel like one of those bugs we dissect during biology - exposed, observed under a microscope, split open, helpless. He has not done anything to me, not yet, but I am already paralysed by fear. The alpha walks around the desk and leans on the edge, just inches from me. He crosses his legs casually, his entire posture relaxed but I can’t miss the condescending way he looks at me. Like I don’t matter. Like I am here to do whatever the hell he wants me to and then be discarded like trash. My hands curl into fists on my lap and he does not miss the motion. I can feel his lips curl into a predatory smile and the gut feeling that something is very, very wrong does not want to leave me. “Look at you all defiance and fear,” he says with his mocking tone and reaches down to touch my face.  My heart skips a beat and it takes everything I have not to flinch at the contact. His hands are gruff. The heat, the embarrassment, they spread like wildfire all over my body and I am blushing again. He chuckles, thinking it is because I like him touching me. Or maybe he likes making people squirm, I have no idea. “Do you know why you are here, boy?” The alpha asks and now there is something else added to the mockery in his tone. Something deep and carnal, and no, I don’t like it. In the silence that spreads around us, his fingers roam down my neck, my shoulders. He is looming over me, hands greedily kneading on my flesh through the thin shirt I wear, making everything in me twist with repulsion and fear. I want to scream but I can’t. I can’t make the damn lump in my throat go away and I can’t move. I am practically paralysed by fear because I know. Deep down I finally know why he asked for me. I know why my mom sent me to him so eagerly. I don’t say it because my lips feel like they have been sealed together. He grabs my shoulders and urges me to get up from my seat. And I do because I don’t know what I am supposed to do. I don’t want him touching me but I am scared. So damn scared. My heart is beating with a thousand miles per second and my vision is clouding rapidly. A second later the alpha pushes me down to the desk, forcing me to lean on top of it, my butt exposed to him. I want to do something, to push him away, to tell him to stop. I am paralysed. No words come out of my lips. My heart is beating like a drum in my chest and I can’t hear my own thoughts, frozen with fear. I have never been a talker but right now it seems like I have gone completely mute. He reaches to my front and pulls my sweats down. I squirm. I stumble. A faint ‘no, please’ escapes my lips and he laughs it off. I try to push his hand away but he’s stronger, older, and pins both of my hands to my lower back, holding me in place. I start twisting but I don’t have enough strength to push him away. I can’t. My feet stumble and I loos my ground. Tears bream my eyes as bile rises in my throat. He laughs at me again but doesn’t stop. And then grabs me. A black curtain falls in front of my eyes as anger rapidly spreads through my body. The moment his hand reaches up to my mouth, I bite down. Strong, vicious, drawing blood. I bite down to the damn bone. The man on top of me shouts and curses as he shoves me away.  I use the short moment to turn and kick him in the gut with all the strength I possess. I stumble but somehow my knee manages to hit his chest. The alpha curses, his breath pushed out of his lungs from the kick but his momentary distraction is all I need. My heart is about to explode as is my brain as I stumble out of the room, pure animal fear gripping me as I run like crazy. Leave me alone Leave me alone Leave me alone I don’t know where I am going. I don’t know who I stumble upon. Tears are streaming down my face and I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe! My lungs are on fire. A black curtain is falling rapidly in front of my eyes. I don’t know how I got back to the trailer. I scream to my mom to lock the door and she stares at me with wide eyes, mumbling something I don’t understand. I am too busy to run and hide under the kitchen table. Hoping he won’t find me there. Hoping he won’t look. Silence falls all around me. A shadow looms over my head and my mother moves the table away. I tremble. My hands snap to my ears and I try to block the noises she makes but she’s not having it. She pushes my hands away. Her face looks contorted with anger. Fear? I am not sure, I am not very good at reading people. Her lips are moving and I can hear her but I can’t understand what she says. I want summer. I want at the river. It’s safe there. And warm. I am so damn cold right now. “What happened?” My mom asks again and this time I register her words. My heart flips in my chest and nausea rises inside me. The next thing I know I am throwing up on the floor. She looks at me like I have grown a second head. When I lift my eyes to her, she is so damn pale she looks like a ghost. Maybe she is one. Her hands grab me and push me up to my feet. She is speaking again and I have to reach out from the darkness gripping me to understand what she is saying right now. She’s shaking me. “… have to leave! Go!” Her words slowly creep their way inside my brain. My eyes widen at her. She wants me to leave? But I didn’t do anything wrong. That man attacked me. He tried to… bile rises up my throat again at the memory of his hands on me. Mom doesn’t want me anymore. I shake my head in confusion. “He’ll kill you, you have to go, Seth!” She shouts this time. My eyes brim with tears. And then her face contorts with disgust and anger. She pushes me away and my back hits the window. “Get the f*uck out of here, you useless mutt! I don’t want you anymore! You had one simple task, one simple thing to do and you failed! Leave my house now! I don’t f*ucking want you!” My throat suddenly feels dry. My entire body feels dry. Dry fear. Dry cold. She’s not a good mother. I know it, I have always known it. But as she steps back and a second later spits on me, I now I have no mother at all anymore. I have no one. Sarah reaches out to me and grabs me by the collar of my thin shirt and then drags me out of the trailer. I don’t fight her. I am numb. Dry. She pushes me out and locks the door behind me. I don’t beg her to let me back in. There are no more words left in me, no more fight. I stumble out of the compound, determined on going to the only place in the world that feels safe. The river. But I am shaking and my vision is blurred and the fog is everywhere now. Still, I walk. I walk and walk and walk until it gets dark. I can’t feel my feet. I can’t feel anything anymore. I am in a field now and the sharp moonlight above my head makes it all seem surreal. The fog is gone but the temperature has dropped drastically. As numb as I am I barely register it. I am here to die anyway. If the cold doesn’t kill me, the alpha and his warriors will. I fought him and hurt him and you don’t do that to the alpha without repercussions. I hear the rev of engines somewhere near me. And then someone is moving in the darkness towards me and I am not even surprised. I am lying under a tree, curled into myself not even trying to chase the cold away. Heavy steps reach me, the sound of the snow scrunching underneath them makes me shiver with disgust. I hate that noise. “Hey, boss,” an unfamiliar voice reaches me. I don’t react. I can barely see. I don’t know these new people and I am tired, so damn tired. “Look at what I found. A mutt.” Someone else comes to the tree too. The new guy crouches to see me. He doesn’t reach to touch me though. He just stares and I can feel his lips curl into a smile as he speaks right to me through his predatory smile. “Hello, Mutt. I’m Bastard.”