You Have Always Been Mine

Chapter 9 ~ Awakening part 2

‘He’s quite up to date with what is going on around the pack, I'll give you that. But his wolf senses leave a lot to be desired. He's not even aware there's another wolf in the room.’

‘Don’t be disrespectful! We don’t really know what is happening either and why you woke up earlier than—’

Alpha Timothy sighs and then stands up. “It’s a vicious, baseless rumor, is what it is,” he mutters as he pours himself another glass of brandy and then walks over to the window, staring pensively outside. “The wolfdog thing—I don’t believe it’s true. It can’t be. Someone with a sacred wolf spirit—no matter how much in heat—would never stoop so low as to mate with a lowly dog. And frankly, dogs are smart enough not to wander near wolf territories. It’s pure instinct. They fear us and rightly so. We see outsiders as rivals so we kill to protect our home and our own. Your mother’s mate broke that cardinal rule when he abandoned Lettie, which is why he was cut off from the pack and forbidden to return.”

Max frowns at the odd wording. “My mother’s mate?”

Not his father. So… part of the rumor is true.

Alpha Timothy grimaces as if he tasted something he didn't like, before he takes a sip of his drink.

“Well, it's rather complicated, Max. He claimed the pup wasn't his... so we don’t know who your real sire is and Lettie wouldn’t say. I'm not sure if she doesn’t want to say or if she simply does not remember. Not even the alpha command I gave her worked. I didn’t want to force her given the delicate situation but I had no choice back then. Kyle---your mother’s mate---was demanding to know if it was someone from the pack...and I was hoping we could help Lettie somehow." He shakes his head, frowning heavily. "I don’t know, it was chaos back then. Anyway, we never found out and probably never will. It was raining that time and whoever it was, his trail was lost, washed away by the downpour. But he was not a dog—I think you can rest easy on that account. I don’t think it’s biologically possible, given how you turned out to be. It was probably a lone wolf shifter who happened to pass by the cottage the night your mother was in heat. She didn’t intend to betray her mate. She was helpless. We all know she-wolves in their first throes of heat suffer twice as hard. Lettie probably just has no recollection which is why she can't tell me.”

“I… understand.”

“Kyle—your mother’s mate—he was furious and, well, perhaps understandably, in pain for… the unfortunate incident… but I personally believe he wronged your poor mother by starting that rumor. I don’t think he intended to, at first… but somehow things snowballed from one drunken comment and he just… let it be. He didn’t stop it from devastating her. I understand that he felt betrayed but he could have acted with more grace towards his mate. Lettie didn’t deserve what she went through,” Alpha Timothy shakes his head. “To tell the truth, I blamed myself a little for what happened. I shouldn’t have sent him away from his new mate, so early in the spring season. However, he was needed at the bordering territory, and was bound to return the very night Lettie’s heat should have started. But for some strange reason, it struck early… and her mate was not there to soothe her, but somebody else was. And the rest is history. Who could have predicted things would have unfolded as they did?”

‘That Kyle is an asshole…’ his wolf growls. ‘He better be dead now because if he’s still alive I will hunt him down and tear him to pieces!'

Max is quiet for a long time. He came to speak about his future and ended up learning about his past. And it is too much to digest at the moment, but it certainly brought him down from his previous high.

He is not a wolfdog, but neither is he ‘legitimate’. If the Alpha is right, he was born from… r@pe. From his poor mother being taken advantage of by a stranger during her most vulnerable hour. She could have hated him, yet she loved Max fiercely, just as she would have loved a child conceived with her fated mate. Not once did she make him feel resented or unwanted. Only loved and cherished.

‘Mom…’

‘I do not know our mother yet but we shall be devoted to her forever…’ his wolf vows fervently.

“...as for your question, our wolves awaken as soon as we reach maturity and not a day before, and we shift on the night of the first full moon right after that. Your eighteenth birthday is coming so you must be excited for your first shift. I will personally guide you through it when the time comes and welcome you both into the collective mind of the pack—”

His wolf snickers, apparently amused by what they are hearing.

“Can you hear our wolves too, then? I mean… as soon as they awaken?” Max asks tentatively.

“Of course. I am your alpha, and it is my job to guide you during this very important transition in your life.”

Max turns to his wolf. ‘Can you try speaking to him?’

‘Why should I? If he can't sense me now, he’s not worth the bother—’

‘He's our alpha!’

‘Really? That’s funny because—’

“Max? Are you sure you’re all right? You look…bothered.”

“I—”

His wolf smirks. ‘If you tell him about me now, your alpha might try to command you to tell him everything. Will you break your promise to the Moon Goddess? I am telling you right now, you don’t want to do that. Mother’s terrifying when angered.’