The Alpha's False Mate

CHAPTER 10: Cloette's New Reality

L.ust ripples in my blood, interlaces on my bones and twists around my nerves. I want him like I’ve never wanted anyone before. I need him like every beat of my heart. Our lips are literally a millimeter apart from each other when he moves his head back. He grabs my wrist and pulls it away from his jaw then pins it into the door behind me. His grip is unkind, his stare is uncaring and his presence is unpleasant. Is he mad?

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asks.

His voice doesn’t have the slightest intent to conceal his displeasure. I try to slide my wrist off his grip but his grip only tightens. I try to look away but his free hand clutches my chin, causing me to level my gaze back to his.

“I-I uhm… I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

My voice cracks a bit, unable to control the expanding unrest in my chest. When that unrest evades any form of hesitation, I add,

“There’s a strong pull that I've been feeling towards you ever since I woke up. It's scaring me, but I can't hold it back."

The intensity in his stare dwindles. His tensed shoulders and jaw loosen, so do his grips on my chin and my wrist. He knows something that I don’t, but I see right through his eyes, he wouldn’t… or perhaps he couldn’t tell me what it is. He steps back, giving the both of us some space.

“I’ll have an omega visit you,” he says.

Though I don’t understand what he means, I listen. No! In fact, I just stand, frozen in place. I hear him but that’s as far as it can go. No explaination he says makes me understand what's happening.

“You’ll stay in this place until you get used to controlling your wolf. You’ll learn some skills, especially on how to defend yourself from an enemy.” He pauses to study me before continuing. “Once you’re ready to confront your new reality, you can go back to my hotel and work. Don’t worry about your salary and your father’s financial assistance. You’ll get them.”

He walks forward, but before he could walk past me, I ask,

“Could you just at least… tell me… why do I feel this way?”

When he opens his mouth, I interrupt, “And please don’t tell me that it’s because I’m now a werewolf!”

He tucks his hands inside the pockets of his pajamas while contemplating on how to counter my demand. He's calm, unlike me. After a moment of shooting a stare to each other, he responds confidently,

“Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s the only reason.”

Silence coats the ballooning tensity in the ambiance. My hands clench then quiver. Mr. Acosta notices but dismisses them. Without another word, he strides out through the door, leaving me confused and vexed.

I spend the next hours rolling on the bed, trying so hard to create my own explanation that's rational to believe. Later that evening, knocks come to the door then a woman enters. She wears a white apron over a light pink cotton knee-length dress. Her dark hair is gathered into a braid which dangles on one shoulder. She’s pretty if you’d ask me.

“Hi! I’m Micah, an omega assigned to you by Alpha Lavine.”

Alpha Lavine? I’ve heard that before. I think thoroughly about it and it doesn’t take a while to remember that Kobe Chua once called the gray wolf Alpha Lavine.

“Is Alpha Lavine Mr. Lavine Acosta?” I ask.

“Yes,” she answers, nodding.

I grow silent. My head aches. Perhaps due to too much implausible information that’s swamping me.

“Please take a shower,” Micah says while extending one arm to the direction of a door which is obviously the bathroom’s. “When you’re done, I’ll escort you to the dining area. Alpha Lavine said that you haven’t had dinner yet. You need to eat as much as you can so your body will easily cope with your transition.”

“Transition… to being a werewolf,” I say sarcastically, still not fully convinced.

I’m not sure whether Micah couldn’t observe my annoyance with all these werewolf stuff or she’s just gifted with untiring enthusiasm. Her smile doesn’t depart from her thin lips and her voice is high and squeaky with a sing-song kinda like tone.

She replies, “That’s right. You’ll feel and see weird things in and on your body. But no need to worry coz I’m here to help!”

Her offer makes me wonder if I should ask her the question Mr. Acosta refused to answer. Should I bite my tongue and just learn about it along the way or should I find out now? While still deciding on what to do, my inquisitiveness suddenly thrusts off my mouth without reserve.

“Do werewolves feel a powerful desire to be wanted by someone?”

Micah gawks at me. I should have worded my question better but it’s too late now, coz I already asked it and she already heard it. Her expression prompts me to tell her about the issue surrounding that question.

I say, “I felt that to… someone after... well,… waking up.”

She walks closer to the bedside with a bathrobe hanging in her arms. She then responds, “Werewolves have far greater senses than humans. And that includes not only our smelling, hearing or seeing but also our feelings. Imagine liking someone when you’re still a human. A human can hide or even deny their feelings, but a werewolf can’t because it’s too strong to do so. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t control our emotions.”

If what Micah is saying is true, then I’m up-the-creek!

“With that being said, if a werewolf has a strong desire to be with someone, then that werewolf will consider that someone as his or her possible mate.”

“Mate?!”

I don’t intend to look irritated but that’s how I appear to be rather than sounding surprised which I hope Micah doesn't mind. She maintains her usual smiling face, so I guess she’s fine with how I reacted. I slant my sight to my lap when I think back to when Kobe Chua declares that I’ll be his mate. So it’s possible that, like humans, wolves wouldn’t reciprocate this strong desire. If I base it on how Mr. Acosta acted earlier when I attempted to kiss him, it’s not right to assume that he likes me back. Grazing any shame aside, I let my curiosity take the lead.

I say, “I felt that desire to Mr. Acosta.”

Micah jolts at my remark. Her hand flies to her mouth while her body inclines back. Since my curiosity isn’t bowing down against my embarrassment, I turn a blind eye to her reaction and continue to ask more.

“Do you think he’ll like me back if I show him my sincerity?”

She doesn’t respond, but that doesn’t stop me from getting the answer that I need. I wait with patience. She keeps shifting her sight between me and the robe on her arm.

“Tell me what I need to do. I’m desperate to be with him,” I say.

Her eyes discharge unspoken words that I know would only hurt me. When she starts speaking, invisible shafts penetrate my heart that it skips a beat or two.

“I’m not sure about that. There's been a rumor circulating around for a while now.” She pauses, glances at the door before bending down so she could whisper what this hearsay is all about. “Alpha Lavine already has a mate. They’re only waiting for the next Blood Moon to complete their mating process so that his mate will soon become our pack’s luna. However, none of us has seen his mate, not even his father. Some think that he’s just making up the existence of his mate.”

“Why would he do that?”

My voice isn’t too loud but Micah acts panicky while hushing me. This causes my brow to furrow. I ask the question again, only this time, in a whisper.

“So why would Mr. Acosta lie about… his ‘so-called’ mate?”

“He needs a luna to lead our pack and to bear more powerful werewolves. That’s the only way he could inherit his father’s rank as the main alpha of our pack.”

There are so many questions that I’d like to have answers to, such as the meaning of alpha, luna, omega and mating during the Blood Moon, but the information that Mr. Acosta might already be in love with someone else, is adequate for me to quit asking. I clutch the chest area of the nightgown I’m wearing when a pain thrashes my heart. What's this?! Beads of sweat occur on my forehead and neck.

“Are you okay, Ms. Cloette?”

I draw in and out long heavy breaths, releasing the unpleasant sensation within. It takes some time when a tiny ease surfaces in me. At the minimum, I feel much better.

“I’ll take a bath.”

I say that as an excuse to be alone and think things through. I climb down the bed while Micah hands the robe she’s been holding to me then drag myself to the bathroom which is located near the floor-to-ceiling window. Shiver runs from my soles to my legs when I step onto the cold dark stone-looking tiles. Soon after locking the door, I head straight to the black tub that looks more of a massive Chinese wok than a regular bathtub. While I wait for the water to fill it in, I inadvertently glance at the full-size body mirror on the side. I move closer to it so that I could scan myself. Ever since I met Mr. Acosta, I’ve sometimes become conscious with how I look. Well, that’s what girls do when liking a guy. As I amble closer to the mirror, my eyes narrow when I get a better sight of my reflection. Slowly, my hands pat my face, from my forehead to my lower lids to my cheeks.

“This can’t be real!” I murmur.

I close my eyes for a second, scratch them before opening them again. My mouth flings open at the sight of me as if there’s a brand new person standing in front of the mirror. My eyebags are gone, my cheeks are no longer as sunken as they were before and my eyes are brighter and livier. When I notice that my figure looks a little bigger than what I know, I hurriedly remove the nightgown and my underwear from my body. Astonishment and satisfaction knit through me, gaging me. My skin is pink and glossy, my bust and my backside are naturally augmented and my height seems a little taller than what it was.

“There's no way these are real.”

My gaze travels down to my left leg. It’s flawless and unscathed. I knead my fingertips on it. Why? I’m certain that Kobe Chua pierced his canines here. I can never forget the excruciating pain I felt. Though I’ve experienced and seen the changes in and on my body, I’m still unconvinced with what Mr. Acosta and Micha had told me just the same. I frantically open the cabinetry to find something sharp. This is the last straw to make me believe that I really am different now. I grab a razor and position myself in the shell-shaped sink. My hand that’s holding the razor trembles. This isn’t gonna be too painful, I remind myself. I stretch my free arm just right below the razor and, in one swift move, cut through it.

“Uhg!”

I grit my teeth. Blood oozes out of the small cut on my arm. It drips down to the sink which creates swirls of red around the drain. My eyes are glued to the wound, they barely blink. Seconds later, the pain is gone. Then, my breathing stops while my knees jerk when, in another few seconds, the cut is sealing close right in front of my widening eyes. I toss the razor to the side and turn the faucet on to wash away the remaining blood from my arm. Once it’s cleaned, what I see obscures any form of logic. I breathe with noise and effort when my arm that I just wounded appears perfectly fine and unscarred. With all these, my head still declines to believe that I am now a werewolf unless I see myself shapeshift into one. Nonetheless, I confirmed one thing today - I’m not an ordinary human being anymore.