The Elite

Chapter 12

I grabbed the book and started reading. Mateo stood and watched me for a few minutes.

“Hey, I am going to go down to the library and see what I can find.”

“ OK.” I said, but I didn’t look up from the book. I didn’t even hear Mateo when he came back with food and drinks.

“Find anything?” He said, shoving something that looked like a cookie into his mouth.

“Well I think so... I mean this book is weird, but I think there are a couple of ways to become a mini-pack.”

“ OK, let me have it sister.”

“Well, it seems that trust is the key. But how do you build trust quickly? Like true trust. I think we can build it over time, but it's trust and support that will build the bond.”

“I think we should sleep on it. Do you want to go for a run in the morning?”

“That is a great idea, I think the best after a good run,” I said, yawning.

“Alright, I will see you in the morning.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, we were up by 4 AM. All four of us. We headed out and started running. For the first half of our run, we didn’t talk but ran in sync. It was weird we had only found each other yesterday, but it felt right to be together.

By the second half of our run, we were all bouncing ideas off of each other. By 5:30 we had finished our run and decided to train ourselves. By 6:45 we made our way into the dining hall for breakfast.

As soon as I walked though the door, I automatically started looking for Bryan and as soon as I found his eyes, I felt complete. Our eyes locked and I gave him a small smile. In return, I received the most amazing smile I had ever seen.

I wanted nothing more than to run to him and wrap my arms around him. Instead, I made my way to my seat and ate breakfast with my guys. Immediately following breakfast, the four of us headed back to my room.

“Guys, I think maybe we have to give a blind leap of faith.”

“What do you mean?” Demetri asked, looking at me confused.

“Well, I think we need to tell each other our deepest secrets and give full trust. You can’t hold back emotions.”

The guys looked from one to another.

“Don’t worry guys. I will go first."

They all nodded in agreement.

“So…… I have always been afraid of not being good enough. I feel like I’m not good enough all of the time. My oldest sister is perfect. I mean perfect. She is mated to an Alpha, which made my parents extremely proud. Then there is my brother. He is the next Beta in our pack. I came along and I had nothing special. I wasn’t as pretty as Haisley or as strong and agile as Noah, but I studied hard and got good grades. Then my mom had twins, Travis and Taylor, and they were smart and talented. I mean they are good at everything.”

I took a deep breath and looked at Oli and he gave me a reassuring smile. “I worked harder and studied longer than anybody else. But my parents didn’t notice. Even when I got into Elite training, it wasn’t anything special. They didn’t even ask what time I was leaving. I had nobody there to see me off. But even worse, I had waited my entire life for my Mate. I never kissed a boy or went on a date because I wanted it all to be his. Only for him to tell me I wasn’t good enough. His heart belonged to somebody else.”

I felt the tears slide down my face. “When he started to reject me, the pain was almost unbearable, but I didn’t cry. In fact, I went back to the party we met at and had to watch him with his girlfriend from across the room. You know what makes it worse is I didn’t want anybody to hate him, so I refused to tell anybody his name. So here I am finally getting to Elite training where I worked so hard to feel like I am the biggest failure.”

All three of them rushed to me and hugged me.

“It’s not that they made me feel this way, it’s the truth. I am not as special as the rest of my family.”

“My mate rejected me. That pain is unbearable but I used it to push harder to get here.” I looked over at Oli in shock. Was his mate blind? He was funny and sweet and one of the hottest men I have ever seen walking the face of the earth.

He smiled at me before continuing. “I was born an Omega. But, like you Liv, I was good in school and I was naturally good at sports and eventually I found I was naturally good at fighting. With a little training, I was really good. So good that before I had my wolf at 16 I was made a warrior.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“When I turned 18 I found my mate. She was the Alpha’s daughter. She is beautiful with long black hair and green eyes. She had known for a year that I was her mate but waited till the day I turned 18. She didn’t hold back either. She walked up to me at training and with all the warriors watching....... she told me I would always be an Omega and I could pretend to be a warrior, but I would never be good enough for her. And she rejected me.”

I waited for tears but his eyes only got glossy. “I went home that night destroyed and my parents said it was my own fault for trying to be something I wasn’t.”

I watched as a tear slid down his face from the thought of his parents. He wiped it away before continuing.

“So for the next two years I trained harder. I was even stronger than the lead warrior. My Alpha wanted me to be his lead warrior, but that wasn’t what I wanted. A week later, I was accepted here.”

I wrapped my arms around him and just held him.

Silence filled the room, but only briefly.

“I don’t have a family or a pack. I was born a rogue.” Demetri said. “My Mother got pregnant and it wasn’t with her mate, so when she found her mate he gave her the option. They could be together and have a family, but I would have to go or she could keep me and he would reject her.”

I felt the tears slide down my face. I grabbed his hand as encouragement to keep going.

“I was 3 when she drove me to the middle of nowhere. It was cold and I remember the feeling of being scared. Eventually, hunger replaced the feeling of being scared. That’s when my parents found me.”

A smile broke across his face. “They are human and they didn’t know about werewolves till I shifted for the first time when I was 15. I was going to a school with humans and werewolves and I was jumped on the way home from school by guys from a local pack. It was a forced shift but Radolf saved my life that day.”

The room felt heavy but I looked from Oli to Demetri and they both had a look of relief on their faces.

Mateo looked at all of us and didn’t say anything for a really long time.

“My father hates me,” Mateo said softly. “He doesn’t talk to me and when I come into the room he walks out of the room. My mother died giving birth to me and he blames me for the loss of his mate.”

He ran his hand through his hair and looked around at all of us. “He has never held me or hugged me or told me he loves me. I know that makes me sound like a girl. No offense, Liv, but as a little boy you crave your father's love and approval.”

He didn’t cry, he just had a look of unbelievable pain. But he continued. “I watched him love my older brothers and I could see the approval in his eyes but it was like I wasn’t his child. I was raised by a nanny and my older brother.”

I watched as Oli put his hand on Mateo’s shoulder. “I thought if I could become an Elite Warrior he would be proud, but he didn’t even care. He just looked right through me and walked away like he always does.”

We sat in silence for a really long time.

“You know I actually feel better,” Oli said, breaking the silence.

“I guess we all have Mommy or Daddy issues.” Mateo shrugged, causing the 3 of us to start laughing.

“But I still can’t mind link you guys,” I said, disappointed.

“Lets go get lunch and we can work on it some more when we get back.” Oli said, walking towards the door.