Anyone But You

Chapter 2

The rules were simple. Find the box of trinkets hidden somewhere in the Hallow, avoid the traps our fathers placed for us, stay in human form, and work together as a team without actually killing each other.

"You have 6 hours of daylight left. If you have not completed the task by then, NONE of you will gain your Alpha title." Alpha Wesley's words echoed in my head as the boys and I devised a strategy.

We were given a map with some random Xs scribbled on it but no land marks, a compass, a flash light, and a journal with writing none of us could read.

"This is so stupid,” Aramis said as he spun the map in all directions, trying to make sense of the X’s.

“I say we just go to each X and start digging. These are our fathers we are talking about. They couldn’t have been that creative.” Atlas said while hopping off the rock he was standing on.

“Oh, and how do you expect to know where they are when we can’t even read the map?” Arthur shouted while ripping the paper from Aramis' hand.

“Our fathers are four of the greatest Alpha’s in werewolf history. Do you really think that they got that way by being dumb?” Aramis shouted, shoving Atlas out of his way as he walked between the two boys.

“Don’t touch me, mutt,” Atlas shouted as he pushed Aramis into Arthur.

The Alpha’s watched from a distance shaking their heads as the boys shoving match quickly escalated into wrestling.

“Those damn boys, I swear,” Alpha Samuel smirked while shaking his head.

“I say we put them in a pit, let them beat the hell out of each other and see who emerges,” Alpha Edwin said with a slight chuckle.

“I don’t understand it. They have friends their age, and yet those 3 just can’t figure it out.” Alpha Wesley said sadly as he looked on at the chaos.

“I know why,” my father stated calmly, causing the other three to turn and look at him. “None of them are mated, and she’s not eighteen yet,” he said, nodding in my direction.

All four Alpha’s watched in silence, knowing that my father was correct, and I was probably fated to one of the dumb asses rolling around in the dirt.

I still had three more months before my birthday, and I couldn’t wait. For us, turning eighteen was more than just becoming an adult. We get to meet our wolves and are eligible to find our mate. Most of my friends had already found theirs, and I was beyond excited for my own romantic journey to begin. Most of our kind are more excited about meeting their wolf, but I was hesitant. Onyx was special, and his size, speed, and senses were that of legend, and I was, well, me.

Although my father came from an Alpha lineage, my mother was an omega. She didn’t have anything special about her other than that she was my fathers fated mate. Since she died giving birth to me, I never got the chance to meet her. My father blames himself for her death and rarely talks about her. She and my father tried to conceive early on in their marriage, but unfortunately, they weren’t successful. I was a complete shock and surprise to my parents, but I was a difficult pregnancy for my mother, and at the age of thirty-seven, she passed away. My father was a very broken man after the death of his mate, but through the years and lots of help from our pack, we both survived.

“Would you idiots knock it the hell off,” I yelled in a huff, dropping the journal from in front of my face.

“Don’t interrupt, were bonding.” Atlas shot back as he released Aramis from a choke hold, and he fell to the ground. I rolled my eyes and started reading the journal once more.

“It’s gibberish moron,” Arthur said, snatching the book from my hands.

“We are wasting time. Let's just spread out and see what we come up with.” Aramis said, turning and walking to the right.

“Nothing they gave us is going to help, lets just move already.” Atlas said, marching off in the opposite direction of our group.

“Y’all forget who my father is?” I shouted, climbing off the comfy rock I was sitting on. The boys all turned and glared at me in annoyed silence. “Did he ever tell you what he did in the military?” I question, crossing my over chest.

“Navigation or some s**t, right?” Aramis asked, his voice laced with irritation.

“That’s right. Maps! Do you really think he would send us out here with a map that is not going to help?” I asked condescendingly as I walked over and retrieved that journal and map from the ground and returned to my place on the rock. The boys knew I was right, but instead of admitting it, they each turned and walked in a separate direction.

“So much for teamwork” I shouted as they continued moving away from me.

We had spent two of our six hours bickering about how to start, and it was clear to all of us that “teamwork” was a fever dream our fathers wouldn’t let go of. I don’t know if it was the heat playing trick on my brain, or I had read the journal so many times, but the words started to make sense. The journal was an old leather-bound book held together by twine and wishes. The pages were aged, burned, had most of the pages ripped out, and I could hardly make out the writing. Flipping back to the first page, a word caught my attention, “eXactly”. It wasn’t so much the word, but how it was spelled.

“Why is the X capitalized?” I asked out loud to nobody. My father’s exceptional hearing, however, heard my question and smiled.

I scoured the page looking for another but found nothing. I flipped to the second page and, within seconds, found it again, “eXactly.” I looked down at the map and counted the X’s; Seven. I counted the journal pages, seven.

“I got something,” I yelled as I quickly flipped through the pages and located all the X’s. “Guys, I think I figured out the map,” I yelled and was again, met with silence. I stood on the rock. “GUYS!” I yelled, adding extra volume to my voice.

“Damn, what?” I heard Atlas yell from my right.

“Why are you yelling?” I heard from my left as Aramis and Arthur exited the woods.

“I think I figured out the map,” I said as I jumped to the ground. "I was looking through the journal and noticed each page has an X on it,” I flipped through the pages and pointed them out, “There are seven Xs on the map and seven pages in the journal,” I explained as I began tearing them out one by one.

“Whoo Hoo, you can read and apparently count. This means nothing.” Atlas said, rolling his eyes.

“I could dip you in silver, cover you in magnets, turn your ass into a compass, and we still wouldn’t be able to locate your brain,” I shot back in a huff, loud enough our fathers began laughing.

“What does this mean?” Aramis asked clearly over the challenge.

“The Xs aren’t in the same spots on all the pages.” I said as I circled them on each page. “Page one, dead center, top.” I said as I located the X on the dead center top of the map. I wrote a number one under it and pulled out page two. “Bottom left corner,” I said, pointing at the map.

Arthur wrote a number two under it, and we moved on to page three. We continued until all of the Xs had been located and marked.

“Now what?” Arthur asked, looking over at me.