Tranferred Mate

Chapter 3

‘What?’ I whispered.

                ‘Mate! Mate, mate, mate! We found her!’ He excitedly replied then frowned, ‘But she’s hurt.’

                The girl looked down a little shake-y.

                “Are you okay, do you need help?” Jace asked me concerned.

                “Yes, I’m fine, thank you.” She responded and turned to walk away. She wobbled a little and reached out to grab the lockers but it was a little too late. She fell hitting the ground hitting the ground before any of us could react. I ran over and crouched next to her. She was pretty beat up. Her face was bloodied up, there were a couple tears in her hoodie.

                Jace crouched next to me, “We need to get her to the infirmary.” He reached out to grab her, but I did it first.

                I was still having trouble processing what Xavier told me, but he was happily running around and when I went to lift her, my hands brushed her skin sending sparks and tingles through my skin. I put one arm under her knees and one about her shoulder blades and stood up with her. Her hood was still in place as her head rolled closer to my chest. My heart raced. I looked at the others standing next to me unaware of the fact that they were talking while Jace was eyeing my suspiciously.

                “You all go to class, I’ll take her.” I stated to them. “Could one of you grab a book for me?”

                “Sure thing. Infirmary is that way.” Colton pointed in the direction.

                “I’ll come with you.” Jace said.

                “Thanks Colton. Jace you should- “ I started but was cut off.

                “No, I need to ask you something anyhow. Colton, would you turn this in for me?” Jace handed Colton a piece of paper while responding to me.

                “Yep, sure, no problem.”  They started off for the next class that they were late for.

                Jace and I turned for the infirmary and started walking.

                “She’s your mate, isn’t she?” Jace spoke up.

                I flinched at the question, “What do you mean?”

                “Your eyes practically grew out of your head and you nearly ripped my arm off when I went to picker her up.” He laughed.

                “I did not!” I exclaimed. A little too loudly. The girl in my arms started moving a little, wincing and whimpering from pain.

                “Okay, okay, maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but you didn’t deny it, so I’m right, aren’t I?”

                “I think so.” I whispered.

                Our conversation ended as we found the infirmary. Jace opened the door and I stepped in. The nurse looked up and became wide-eyed.

                “Oh my! Put her down here.” She gestured to a bed in a room off the main one. “Do you know who she is?” the nurse questioned.

                “Um, no, actually we don’t.” I stated shyly.

                “Okay, well I’m going to have to take off her hoodie. Will you help me lean her forward?”

                I laced an arm around her waist and pulled her forward a little bit. She cried out in pain, but remained unconscious. The nurse grabbed the hem of her hoodie and started pulling it off. After a little bit of struggle, she was hoodie free, and I could see her face. She has dark brown hair, pink cheeks with a couple dark brown spots. Her skin is slightly tanned on her face, but her shoulders and arms a darker tan. I notice she has scarring on her arms as well and some on her shoulders. The nurse started assessing her wounds; cuts, bruises, apparently a couple of broken bones, and after discovering she has two broken ribs, the nurse decides to send her to the pack hospital. We volunteered to take her. The nurse at first didn’t think it was a good idea, but we convinced her to let us, hence why we are now at the hospital in the room awaiting results rather than being in school. School had been let out about ten minutes ago and Jace mind-linked Coach Kelly informing him that we weren’t going to make it. We still didn’t know who she was, and I needed to know.

                “Ah man, I just realized we won’t see that girl today since we won’t be at practice.” Jace groaned.

                “What, you after her after only knowing her for a day?” I smirked.

                “You would be too if you saw her ability to throw a ball.” He defended.

                “Oh, I’m sure.” I rolled my eyes. The door opened to the room and my dad walked in, looking from me, to the girl, to Jace. My dad wasn’t the most forgiving person and he was pretty traditional when it came to running the pack. Though I was taught some traditional ideals at some of the schools, I also learned some updated ideals, so we often disagreed on things.

                “I was talking to the doctor. She will be alright. You two need to get to practice.” Dad said.

                “I’d like to wait until she wakes up.” I reply looking at him.

                “Jethro, she’s just a transferee, why would you want to do that?” He sighed.

                “A transferee? Are you sure? What’s her name?” I frowned. This was going to be bad for me. His idea on transferees: they’re only here for the treaty. They are not allowed to mate with anyone in the pack. They are only allowed some of the lower jobs, even if they are from high positions in their old pack. In other words, they are worthless to this pack but to keep the treaty.

                “Yes.” He looked at me suspiciously. “Her name is unimportant. Her warden will be here soon so she can be moved to her room when she wakes up. Now go to practice. I already told Coach Kelly you two will be there.”

                “Yes Alpha.” Jace said before I could say anything and nudge me as he stood to walk out of the room. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew there was no point in arguing. Dad couldn’t find out that she was my mate yet, if he did, he would flip and force a rejection or send her somewhere else. I followed Jace out the door. We left the hospital and started our drive to the fields.

                “If she is a transfer, and your mate, your father won’t approve.” Jace broke the silence.

                “Yeah. I know. I just need to figure out what to do to get close to her.” I said looking out the window, thinking. “I still don’t know her name.”

                “Yeah. We could talk to Eric and Colton. They might have a few ideas. I know my father would stand with us if necessary. Oh also,” He reached into his pocket, “This was on the ground next to her when we moved her.” He handed me a piece of jewelry. “I think it’s an ear cuff; I heard some girls talking about getting some awhile back. Apparently, they are if you don’t have piercings or can’t get any.”

                I reached out and grasped the ear cuff from his hand. It looked like it would fit over someone’s ear. Her scent was on the it. It was pretty. Copper and green with a complimentary silver. The only question I had was who gave it to her? Did she have a boyfriend? My heart ached at the thought.

                Jace must have sensed my sadness, “Hey, you know, you’ll get to meet that girl after all. The one from yesterday.”

                “Right.” I scoffed lightly and tucked the ear cuff into my pocket carefully. “We will see if she is as good as you praise her for.”

                We arrived at the field and got into gear. I had to fetch mine from the distribution center before heading out. We were greeted by the coach and told to stretch before we hit the field. Jace was scanning the field when Colton and Eric walked over while the others were grabbing their waters bottles to drink something.

                “Hey, where’s that girl?” Jace asked Eric.

                “Honestly? Not sure, a lady came up to coach who talked to her for a bit about her. Something about her not making practice today and possibly tomorrow due to an injury, but that she hopes that this won’t hinder her ability to try-out.” Eric responded.

                The realization hit me and I think at the same time it hit everyone else. The girl in the hospital. The one we picked up off the ground. That must have been her warden.

                “Eric you didn’t catch a name?” I hoped.

                “No, I didn’t. But I hope we are wrong about that being her. She looked fucked.”

                “Yeah.” I responded quietly, deep in my thoughts.

                ‘So, mate likes football.’ Xavier said.

                ‘I guess so.’

                Xavier bounced around happily before retreating back to his spot in my head. The coach summoned everyone and started explaining the next exercise that we would be working on. This girl still in the forefront of my mind.

Reese’s POV

                I arrived at our house. It is a dark green little two-story house with a white porch with a swing. I walked up to the front door and opened it. There was my beautiful wife, Constance. She was five months along with our pup, and we were so excited. She was in the kitchen cooking dinner when she noticed me.

                “Hey babe, how was it today?” She asked over her shoulder.

                “Oh, normal you know. A little rush at about lunch when customers were coming in for some simple hardware supplies.” I walked up behind her and snuck my arms around her placing my hands on her belly and tucking my head in her neck, taking in her scent. She giggled at the sensation.

                “Oh yeah? Well your father will be joining us for dinner. He wants to bring something over. He didn’t specify what.”

                “Oh good, I wanted to talk to him anyhow.” My mind drifted to Kat, my little sister. She has been away for five years now and I still miss her. I remember the day that they said she would be moving. No one dared inform our father that they were taking her until the day we were called in to the presence and they separated us. Apparently, the Blood Moon pack demanded that someone of higher rank was sent to their pack as part of the treaty and dad’s name was pulled out of the hat, so they chose one of us kids to go. Originally, I was supposed to be sent, but she volunteered. I tried arguing, I tried not allowing, but before anyone really knew what was going on, they dragged her out of the room. My sister and I were inseparable and we promised to protect each other. Now I don’t even know if she is alive. When the treaty was made, the Elders prevented any of the transferees from having contact with their previous packs.

                “I’m going to go have a shower before dinner.” I stated as I unembraced my mate and left to the bedroom upstairs. I grabbed a new pair of clothes and went into the bathroom connected to our bedroom stripping down and putting my clothes in the hamper. I took a quick shower and got dressed again. By the time I was done, I could hear my father’s voice downstairs. I smiled. The old man was laughing with my mate. I walked back downstairs and greeted my father who was in the living room. Constance went back into the kitchen.

                “Hello dad.” I gave him a hug.

                “Hello son.” He hugged back. We stayed in the embrace for a little while.

                “Hey boys, dinner is being served!” She hollered from the kitchen.

                “Well, let’s go eat. Constance said you wanted to bring something? You can tell us about it as we eat.” I pulled back from the hug.

                “Alright son.” He followed me as we went into the dining room. Constance had the plates set out and was waiting for us to join her. All the food smelled fantastic. I got lucky with my mate’s ability to cook. Some of my friends weren’t so lucky. My dad’s choice mate wasn’t the best cook either, so sometimes he would sneak over and have supper with us. We sat around the table and started piling our plates with food.

                “So, I was talking to Alpha Marc,” Dad started, “apparently they are hosting an arena match to see who has the best warriors to see about setting up an exchange program for training. I, and a few select others, are being sent there to compete.”  

                I stopped midair with my food, “Blood Moon? You mean where Kat is?”

                “Yes. In fact,” he handed me another sheet of paper. “this here shows the hiders in the hide ‘n seek games.”

                I scanned the paper until I found the name I was looking for ‘Wildkat Connolly’. My breath was caught in my throat. My sister. The realization hit me.

                “But I thought the Blood Moon pack didn’t approve of she-wolves participating in these games and therefore never put in any of their own she-wolves.”

                “Usually not, but she is in several games. She is also the only she-wolf participating. She is probably the only she-wolf that could participate, and they consider her good enough to do so.” A bit of pride shown in his eyes and his chest puffed out a bit. His daughter, my sister. I remember training with her when we were little. Her best field was stealth, but compared to most warriors, she was up there. At least she was the last time I saw her, and knowing her, she wouldn’t let that degrade.

                “I have even better news.” My father said watching me as I’m still absorbing this news. “I talked to Marc. He wants to you come with the warriors to the Blood Moon’s arena event.”

                My mouth went dry, “Me? Cou- I ca-…?” I couldn’t speak. I just found out for sure my sister is alive and now I have the chance to see her?

                “I mean if you don’t want to I could always-“ Dad teased but was cut off by my glare and his own laughter, “I’ve already told him that you wouldn’t turn the offer down.”

                “Thank you.” I was still staring at the name on the paper that was now resting on the table. I had no appetite anymore. “When do we leave?”

                “We leave two weeks from tomorrow.” He replied smiling.

                A smile broke across my face, then I felt a hand on my arm remembering Constance was there. Embarrassment flooded my face as I look at her.

                “Don’t look at me like that, I’m happy that you get to go, but you better be back in time for our pup!” She laughed. She had spent some time with Kat when we were younger and after Kat was sent away, I spent most of my time repairing myself with Constance.

                “Thank you, baby, and I will.” My smile broadened.

Kat’s POV

                Screams are everywhere. They won’t stop screaming. Why won’t they stop. I sat up gasping for air and wincing at the pain from… well everywhere. I cursed as I blinked my eyes open and looked around the room. There was a machine beeping rapidly next to me. A nurse rushed in the door and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me.

                “You’re awake!” She sounded surprised.

                “Yea.” I grunted. I assessed the wounds on me, a few scrapes and bruises. I think I have a few broken bones too. Nothing that won’t heal.

                “Um, how are you awake?” She brushed it off and came in looking at the beeping machines. “Your heart rate is a little too high-“ She kept glancing at me with a confused look before and talking about my injuries. I focused on my heart rate. I knew why it was high. I took a few deep breaths and calmed it. It dropped suddenly causing the machine to begin blaring again. She glanced at it a look of worry crossing her face.

                “Are you feeling light headed at all?”

                “No, ma’am.” I responded. She rattled off a few more questions, before asking me about pain. I focused on my pain before telling her it was tolerable, and that I was fine.

                “Alright, well the Alpha wanted me to contact him when you woke up, which we predicted would be tomorrow because of the dosage of sedative that we gave you. Since we were wrong, I’ll call him tonight. Are you okay with that?”

                “Yes, ma’am.” I responded. I was still sitting up in bed. “Ma’am?”

                “Yes?”

                “Could I get something to eat? I’m starving. I’m also very thirsty.” I was a little embarrassed, but to follow my point, my stomach growled.

                She chuckled a little, “Yes, I’ll have them bring you something right away.”

                “Thank you.” I replied with a small smile.

                With that she left the room to call the Alpha and have some food sent to me.

Alpha Zachary POV

                My phone rang and it was the hospital. Young Connolly was awake and has apparently consumed copious amounts of food. I chucked at the thought. I remember when we took her to eat after training and, yes, that girl could eat a lot. I was on my way to the hospital when I called Derick- my Beta, and Glen- my chief Warrior. Their mates were not happy about me pulling them away from them this late, but they had been helping me train her along with Corey- my Delta, but he was busy doing some research for me, so I let him be.

                I arrived at the hospital to see Derick and Glen waiting for me. We went in and found our way to her room. I rapped softly on the door and waited for a soft ‘come in’ before we entered. I opened the door to see a nurse handing her a bottle of water before tending to the machines once more. She then left the room. Derick took a spot at the foot of her bed; Glen went to sit in the chair near the window and I stood next to her bed.

                “Connolly.” I greeted.

                “Alpha.” she responded. I had to hand it to her, she was very good at masking everything about her- emotions, physical harms, anything it seemed.

                “You should’ve said something about being bullied.” I kept my eyes locked with hers. I knew she wasn’t challenging me when she kept hers locked with mine. I wanted her to keep looking so I could detect whatever slipped passed her eyes.

                She shrugged, “Wasn’t that big of a deal. This is the worst it’s been. Usually it’s a small push into a locker or something.”

                I growled, “Don’t lie to me. Your warden says different. In fact, she has shown me a record of times she has seen you with bruises, which is nearly every day.”

                “Well, yeah.” Her face showed a slight confusion.

                “Just that?” Derick piped up, “No ‘so-and-so did this and that is why I get the bruises ‘ or ‘this is why I’ve been late to foreign language twice in a week’? Because don’t think that the first time didn’t count just because you didn’t end up here.”

                She looked at him and tilted her head slightly, “Oh, yeah. Whoops.” Her face concealing everything. Derick glared at her, and I know why. We’ve been working with her for a while now, and we all felt close to her. We often treated her like one of our own, and to hear she ended up here because someone gave her a beating pained all of us. We knew she didn’t have to take it because she was a good fighter, but yet she did, and I couldn’t figure out why.

                “Kat, why didn’t you fight back?” Glen asked from the corner, she looked over at him, and he looked pained. Regret flashed through her eyes which I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been watching her so intently. She masked it as quickly as it came.

                “I did, sort of.” She glanced around at all of us before looking at her hands in her lap. “I didn’t want to injure them, and I didn’t want to bring attention to myself.” She shrugged then looked back at all of us.

                “Next time, fight back, I’ll deal with the repercussions. We need you to be able to participate next week. You can help us turn the traditions of the pack around and you can show the Elders that the old traditions are just that, old.” I sighed looking at her. She grabbed the bottle of water and drank most of it.

                “It would be better if I didn’t.” Glen opened his mouth but she kept going before he could say anything. “At least until after this arena event. If I do anything before the event, I could make it more difficult than we need.” I hated to admit it, but she had a point. I looked at Glen and Derick. They both sighed and I knew they understood her point as well.

                “Well can we help you or get you something?” Glen asked.

                “I could use some more water and food.” Her eyes averted her face flushed.

                “Didn’t they feed you earlier?” Derick looked confused.

                “Yeah but-“ Kat’s stomach spoke all we needed to hear as if on cue.

                A chuckle arose from Glen, “I’ll get them to bring some more.” He stood up and walked out.

                “I don’t see how you can eat so much.” Derick’s eyes were slightly wide in shock, “My boys don’t eat this much combined.”

                “Hey,” She glared, “Don’t judge me. In order for me to heal fast enough I eat a lot.”

                I chuckled. She did heal faster than any other werewolf I knew, which we all found intriguing. A cut that would normally take a full day to completely heal, leaving no trace, took only a couple of hours for her. When I questioned her about it, she put up a solid guard and simply said she had always been like that.

                A few minutes after Glen returned and we were discussing random things, her food was brought in and she nearly inhaled everything. Glen stared at her wide-eyed apparently still not used to her ability to eat. A new topic crossed my mind: my son, Jethro. He and Jace brought her in here.

                “Kat, I didn’t know you knew Jethro already.” I tested the waters.

                “Who?” She looked confused.

                “My son, he and Jace brought you here.” I searched for a reaction. She seemed deep in thought.

                “Oh, I remember Jace, but I don’t know Jethro. I met Jace at practice.” She looked at Derick.

                “Wait what?” Derick looked confused. “He plays footb-“ realization hit, “Kat you can’t play football.”

                She looked genuinely confused, “Why not?”

                “You’ll get killed! Those boys are twice your size.” He looked exasperated, so did Glen. I was still taking in the information.

                “And I heal twice as fast!” She retorted and Glen snorted. “Plus, it’s fun. Jace was welcoming and taught me a few things and I think I did well.” She looked at all of us.

                “I mean, if she wants to, let her.” I said. Glen and Derick looked at me and they both stumbled for words, “We are putting her in an arena of people that are literally going to try to beat the s**t out of her and she is going to be hunted down in hide ‘n seek. Not necessarily found, but hunted.” Both Derick and Glen had no response and looked a little defeated. A small chuckle came from Kat as she looked at the two. But I still had a question: are she and Jethro mates? I would be ecstatic because I already think of her somewhat as a daughter and she would make him a wonderful Luna. However, I know after putting up my front about traditions for so many years he would be reluctant to tell me.

                “Have you eaten enough?” Glen asked watching her scape some crumbs off of her plate and drink the last of the water she had.

                “Yeah.” She said sleepily.

                “Get some sleep kiddo.” He stood up and ruffled her hair a bit. She smiled a bit and laid down. Within a few seconds she was asleep.

                We left the room quietly and I told the nurse that she was asleep. She thanked me and informed me of a few discrepancies from the machines that happened when she woke up. Her heart rate was through the roof, then suddenly dropped back to normal. I took in the information and mulled it over after thanking her.

                We stood outside the hospital and talked for a bit.

                “You think she still has nightmares?” Derick inquired.

                I thought back to the time she fell asleep on the couch in the pack house while we were all talking and she flew off of the couch terrified. It took her a minute to get her bearings. It was the most vulnerable I had ever seen that girl and when we asked her about it, she closed up placing a firm barrier.

                “Probably.” Glen looked at the ground. We were all there, we were all thinking about it. “The Silver Moon pack is pretty good pack, so I’m not sure where her nightmares would come from.”

                “There is a lot we don’t know.” I said. “I’m hoping that someone from that pack that will be here will know her, and that we can ask them more about her.”

                “That’s a good point, I just hope it works out.” Derick said.

                “Yeah. Anyhow, go home to your mates.” I chuckled.

                “See you Zach.” They said.

                “Yeah, see you.” I replied and we all went our separate ways. I still have questions, and even more with this new information. Is she mates with Jethro? Is she still having nightmares? What are they about? Can we help her? Can she actually help us? The traditions don’t seem bad at first until you look at the fine print. Transferees have basically no reason to come here or want to come here and I want the pack to be welcoming to wolves transferring in. This would hopefully be the first step into the right direction.