Awaited Mate

Memory

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SQUIRT.”

My brother yelled in my ear and then rubbed my head with his sweaty arms, messing up my hair. Liam was tall at 6’2”, fair, with dark hair and green eyes like me. All the she-wolves in the pack wanted to be his mate. I just couldn’t see why. Most of the time, when he wasn’t directly annoying me, he was indirectly irritating me. But today, he would be pronounced Alpha of the pack, and I was hoping he would grow up just a little. He was much older than me—he had just turned 100 years old and still hadn’t found his mate. My dad wanted to retire and was hoping that Liam would meet his mate and future Luna at the Alpha ceremony today. That’s why he invited almost all the packs in the States. Even if Liam didn’t find his mate at the ceremony, he would still be Alpha, with Mum and Dad helping him. Either way, he would have to buck up.

“LIAM, YOU ASS! God, I can’t wait for you to be Alpha. Then you’ll have to start acting with a bit of dignity.”

“Aww… Squirt, don’t you worry. I could become Alpha King, and I still won’t change when it comes to you.”

I just huffed in exasperation. My mom put a plate of eggs and bacon with some delicious homemade buttered bread in front of me.

“Eat up, baby.”

“Thanks, Mum,” I said while giving my brother the stink eye.

The Omegas started preparing lunch and placing breakfast on the table for the rest of the pack that walked in with my obnoxious brother—all hoping to catch his eye.

Looking at them all, I sighed at the sudden rush of affection I felt for them. They were a wonderful bunch. My brother’s best friend and future Beta, Wyatt Moreno, was serving himself. He was tall, dark, and handsome with grey eyes and raven-black hair. Add a six-pack, and he was the whole package. His mate, Sabrina Black, stood beside him. She was my best friend and totally in love with her man. She was petite like me, with brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. We had been best friends since before I could remember, and she was the only one who knew about my nightmares. I told her everything.

Walking in next was my brother’s future Gamma, Kyle Lowe. He was my brother’s second-best friend after Wyatt and the pack’s resident flirt. Unlike Liam and Wyatt, Kyle couldn’t wait for his mate and just wanted to be with everyone—“Spread the Love,” as he would say. I grew up with all these guys around me—overprotective and annoying most of the time—but I still loved them all.

My dad walked in with the Omegas, going over plans for the evening’s ceremony.

“Morning, Vera.”

“Morning, Clayton.”

This was the usual routine for my parents—no change there. The way my mum and dad behaved with each other was not how I envisioned an Alpha and Luna to be. They were wonderful leaders, and almost everyone respected and loved them. But they were not in love. They were respectful to each other and never fought, but that was all. The reason for this was that they were not fated mates, but chosen mates due to pressure from the elders when they were young. They had separate rooms, and I thought that was normal—until I saw other mated couples sharing a room. When I asked my mum about it, she told me their story:

My dad, having been Alpha for more than a hundred years, was forced to choose a mate as he hadn’t found one yet. According to our laws, an Alpha cannot be without a Luna for more than a hundred years, especially if the previous Alpha is dead. My dad’s father—my grandfather—was the second Alpha of the Blue Oasis Pack and was killed in the war, forcing my dad to take the position of Alpha much earlier than usual for an Alpha wolf.

Even though he was to have a chosen mate, he didn’t have much choice in who that would be. In order to make a treaty with one of our rival packs, he had to marry the first child and only daughter of the Alpha of the New-Moon Pack—Vera Bradley. My mother had no choice but to accept the arrangement. She didn’t have a mate of her own and, being an only child, couldn’t take up the Alpha or Luna position for her pack. I know it sounds backward, but werewolves struggle to change these rules. Many of the elders who originally made them are still alive—now over 200 years old—which makes them strong and stubborn.

It would have been fine if my mother hadn’t met her true mate right after my brother was born. She had no choice but to reject him. I heard that the rejection killed her mate and almost killed her too. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. My father hadn’t marked her at the time—he believed that since they had chosen each other, marking wasn’t necessary. But after her mate’s death, he marked her to protect her from future heartbreak. I respect my mother for her devotion and sense of responsibility to her pack and to us. As Luna and as a mother, she rejected her mate for all the right reasons.

Pondering over this story again made me realize: I would rather go rogue than marry anyone but my mate. I wanted love and passion. This thought took me back to the conversation I had with my wolf in the morning.

I knew Carly was right. I had this feeling since the first time I had the nightmare. I could remember it like it was yesterday.

---Flashback---

“Leave him alone.”

A tall, handsome man with dark eyes and dark hair held my love—bloodied and beaten—by the throat against a wall. I couldn’t make out my love’s features; he was bleeding profusely from a cut on his forehead, and his eyes and lips were swollen. The man holding him was handsome—but my mum always told me that the devil could be handsome too. The scariest part was his eyes. They were black—no pupils, no other color—just bottomless black. Despite his good looks, his aura was dark and evil. He leered at me, and I was terrified.

“You will be mine. He will die, and you will be mine.”

“LEAVE HIM ALONE. I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN BE YOURS!” I screamed.

“Red... go... run... dark magic... we can… not... beat him,” my love stuttered in pain.

“I cannot leave you,” I sobbed.

“Come to me, Skylar. You should not fight this. Accept it. You belong with me,” Evil said.

I looked at him with hatred. My love hung onto life by a thread, and I couldn’t do anything. I was helpless.

Evil threw him across the room and walked toward him with a silver dagger. I knew I couldn’t live without him. As the dagger flew toward him, I jumped in the middle—to save him, to save my love.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” Evil screamed.

My love tried to reach for me. I could feel him trying to protect me, but he was too weak. I knew he couldn’t. I knew that I would die.

Pain shot through my chest as the dagger pierced my heart.

“Mommy. MOMMY!”

“Baby, what’s wrong? Mommy’s here. What happened?”

My mum was holding me. She felt warm. My dad stood nearby, worry etched across his face.

“Mommy, he’s going to kill my love. Save him, Mommy. Save him.”

“Who’s going to kill who, baby?”

“Mommy, we need to save him. I need to save him. It’s because of me—he’s going to die.”

“Baby, you had a bad dream. It’s okay. Go to sleep again. I’m here with you.”

“Daddy, help me save him.”

“When it’s time, poppy, I’ll help you save him, love.”

My mother gave my father a look and then turned back to comfort me.

I slowly fell back asleep in her arms—only to be woken again the next morning by the same dream.

---End of Flashback---

That night was my tenth birthday—and every night after that, the same dream. I never called out to my mother again. They had acted weird with me after that night—hovering, whispering frantically, and stealing glances. I knew they were talking about me.

Eventually, I told Sabrina. I had to tell someone.

Even though the dream scared me, I somehow knew it was more than a dream—it was a memory. I didn’t know how, but I just knew that Skylar was me, and my love truly existed. But what really scared me was the possibility that if Skylar and my love were real, then Evil was real too. I didn’t know who he was, so I simply called him Evil.

I was scared of what the dream meant.

“its okay, Scar. We’re in this together. You and I—we will find him and save him.”

“Carly, we don’t even know where to start.”

“We will now. Now that we’re of age, now that we are finally one. We will know.”

“Okay. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“There’s my girl.”