He Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 1)

The Elders Convene Part I

Once a month, the seven revered Elders come from all over North America to meet at one of their home packs. Their December meeting takes place in Silver Crescent territory, the home pack for Elder Gerard located in northern Arkansas. It’s not terribly far from Aly’s home in New Horizon territory, which allowed him to come quickly when Alpha Kane called on him, despite the late notice.

The meeting place where they have gathered is located in a wide, two-story great hall where Silver Crescent holds its pack meetings and other important events. The tables are arranged in a horseshoe pattern to seat three elders each at two tables directly across from and facing each other, overseen by Elder Stirling seated at the smaller desk between. On the agenda this month is the matter of the decision following the mate trials of one Tyler Paul Jenkins, the human who desires to mate with an Alpha’s daughter.

When the Elders convene like this, there is no set duration for their meeting. They stay and discuss everything on the agenda, nothing being tabled to be dealt with at a later time. As such, the shortest meeting on record lasted a mere twenty minutes, while the longest endured for weeks and involved a great deal of debating, arguing, researching, and soul-searching, followed by more arguing. 

Elder Stirling is the only of the current Elders who had served on the council even then, and his memories of that time are grim. As he reviews the case before them now, he worries that this meeting might meet a similar fate and shudders at the thought of having to relive that nightmare all over again.

Yet their duty in this case is important. Alyssa Bentley is known to be a promising young Alpha-hopeful who has been met with the unfortunate circumstance of being bonded to a human mate, addled by the complication of bonding with another human in the process of wooing her mate. Such a case is a rarity, one could even say an oddity, and it is important for these seven chosen Elders to review every detail set before them and try to make sense of what it is the Moon Goddess is trying to tell them.  

The other Elders begin to arrive. Tall, lithe, dark-skinned Elder Vivian is second to enter the room and busies herself distributing the packets Elder Stirling has ready at the front table. Elders Benjamin and Antonio traveled together and come in side-by-side, the contrast between the two never more evident. Where Benjamin is tall, pale, and keeps his graying hair short, Antonio is short-statured with long, silky black hair and bronzed skin. Elder Millicent is a stout, red-faced woman with hair gone almost completely gray who enters quietly, sliding into her spot without anyone but Elder Stirling noticing. Elders Gerard and Norissa are the last to arrive and enter as a pair, Norissa laughing about something, seemingly along with Elder Gerard, though the man’s perpetually serious expression makes it appear as though she is completely alone with her humorous notion.

Once all are seated and the friendly chatter dies down, Elder Stirling calls the meeting to order and soon after directs their attention to the matter of the mate trials.

“I believe you are all aware of the request for mate approval submitted by Alpha Kane of New Horizon,” he calls out in his husky, somewhat rattly voice, pausing to appraise the reactions of the others. Once he is satisfied, he continues, “I would like to open the floor for those who participated in overseeing the trials to take us through your tests and observations, withholding whatever personal conclusions about his suitability as a mate you may have arrived at throughout the process.”

Elder Gerard clears his throat and begins to speak, “I conducted the first trials, so I should probably talk a bit about that first. I began with a simple scenario to detach the boy, Tyler, from reality and allow him to settle into believing he was no longer being tested. What I immediately discovered is that he possesses a substantial amount of supernatural knowledge and appreciation – not all the knowledge being accurate, of course, but still useful to my task – and he also suffers from an overactive imagination. These traits worked to my advantage because all I had to do was provide simple scenario stimuli and his mind ran with it and gave me plenty to work with. After only three hours the first day, his mind had taken me on a journey which gave glimpses of at least four of the core characteristics we look for, and arguably even more.”

He goes on to tell the others about his observations of the characteristics of love, loyalty, bravery, and empathy. He describes the way Tyler’s mind clings to Miss Bentley, even in the face of her rejection. He tells how he sensed that the boy was completely and utterly devastated by the thought of losing her, even to the point of challenging an Alpha’s orders and fighting three werewolves to stay with her. He walks them through how staunchly loyal he remained to her, keeping her secrets in the face of death, even after she rejected him. Then he outlines the many instances of Tyler’s care and concern for others he barely knew, including the Elders themselves, and explains how seriously he regards his future role in the pack. Finally, he tells them about Tyler’s own perceptions of his strength and endurance.

On that point, Elder Norissa decides to interject, “Interestingly, the boy does not believe himself to be strong or able to stand against great threats or physically taxing scenarios. In the situations that played out in his mind, he always assumed that he would fail at physical contests, and even imagined that if faced with a werewolf in wolf form, he would almost immediately be taken out of the fight. Of course, if you look at him in person, he looks strong and able to handle himself, and he carries himself well, so I found that surprising.”

“Yes, he is quite humble,” Elder Gerard agrees, “and perhaps even a bit lacking in self-perception and self-esteem, though these are of no consequence to our discussion. They do speak somewhat to his high scores in the characteristic of empathy, however, and I can attest to the fact that despite his assumptions of poor physical skills, he never let it stop him. In fact, it raised his scores in the characteristic of bravery because he never hesitated to stand his ground in the face of danger, despite believing that he was destined to fail.”

“And I can confirm that Tyler, though he believes the opposite, is indeed very strong and possesses impressive endurance,” Elder Benjamin interjects. “His scores were off the chart for what I would have expected from a human, though I suspect that some of his ability to persevere comes from his determination to impress people, especially those who don’t believe him capable of succeeding. He felt there was a lot at stake, so he committed to getting through it, whatever the cost. I expected him to call a halt to the onslaught of abuse, but he never did. The doctor who examined him also determined him to be strong, healthy, and as virile and potent as they come.”

Following some discussion with the others about their observations and reasoning for giving him the scores they did, an Elder who had not inserted himself in the conversation yet speaks up.

“I am a bit confused,” Elder Antonio admits with a frown. “The synopsis of the situation states that the boy we tested is a different boy than Alyssa’s true mate. I find this information to be at odds with these high scores you have given him, particularly in the characteristics of love and loyalty. For a human, he hasn’t known her long enough to have achieved that strong of a bond with her, or at least I am skeptical that he has.”

“Yes, these are scores you would expect from a true mate bond,” Elder Vivian agrees. “I had wondered that, too.”

“Quite honestly, I am in the same boat as you,” Elder Gerard admits. “I even questioned Alpha Kane about it to make sure that I hadn’t written it down wrong. He’s not her true mate. As you can see in your packet, her true mate has been identified. The two boys are friends, but they are not even related.”

“There is one instance when a fated mate will not be linked to his intended mate at birth, in the usual manner,” Elder Stirling interjects. “In such a case, should the two mates end up discovering each other and nurturing a relationship despite not being pulled together, the bond can begin to be established after the fact and forged over time spent together.”

“Elder Norissa, you put in your notes that during the course of your conversation with Alyssa, she admitted to feeling, quote, ‘something’ when the two are together, albeit not with the same intensity as with her true mate,” Elder Vivian points out. “Can you elaborate on that, if possible?”

“Yes, certainly,” Elder Norissa answers her, shifting in her seat to view the other woman at the far end of their shared table. “Alyssa described slight tingling in her face when Tyler kisses her, a warm, content feeling when they cuddle, and the first time they made love, she reported being surprised by her body’s reaction to him. She didn’t intend to take it as far as she did, at least not initially, but she told me that something primal overcame her and she felt an intense need for their union. Beyond that, the two took a break from each other at one point, and she described their time apart as ‘painful’ for both parties and told me that she can’t ever seem to enforce her decision to behave toward him as only a friend. Their bodies seem to demand a connection.”

“That sounds like a true mate bond demanding to be recognized,” Elder Vivian comments.

“Elder Stirling, you said there is a situation that can explain how he could be her true mate and she would fail to recognize it, but didn’t say what that situation is,” Elder Millicent reminds him.

“Yes, that may be my fault for interrupting,” Elder Vivian explains. “I do apologize, Elder Stirling.”

“It’s quite alright, Vivian,” he assures her. “And yes, Millicent, I am only aware of one situation where something like this has happened before, and I’ve only heard of it happening the one time. It was in a case of twin boys, born mere moments apart, which as you know usually results in the two being linked to the same mate. Their hearts begin beating together in the womb, they take their first breaths together, or near enough that it doesn’t matter, and they are linked together to one single mate shared between them.”

“Something like that usually only happens for werewolves, though,” Elder Vivian begins to argue, but Elder Stirling holds up his hand to silence her. She is arguing the wrong point because he hasn’t gotten to the important part yet.

“Yes, well, in this case I am speaking of, one of the boys was born lifeless and cold, his heart unbeating. Miraculously, doctors were able to revive him for he had only been gone a few moments. When the boys came of age, only one was still linked to their true mate, but they soon discovered that the other twin was bonding to her as well, it just took longer for their connection to fully develop. The other Elders and I theorized that the cause for the delay was his lack of heartbeat at birth, arguably the most significant moment in a werewolf’s life because it is the moment when that connection to one’s fated mate is fully established, or severed as it was in his case as he had no heartbeat to support it. Yet every part of him was designed especially for her, and their bodies knew it as soon as they met, but the true mate bond took some time to make itself known, having been stunted by his unfortunate birth. I could ramble on about how truly remarkable of a case it was, but my point is that we should investigate the circumstances of Tyler’s birth and see whether this could be true of him also.”

The other elders soak in the gravity of what he is telling them, mulling over the ways that it could fit the scenario. Most are stuck on the fact that there is another person to be considered here, the known true mate, and contemplate whether it should even matter how Tyler came into the world because it is unlikely for her to have two fated mates.

“Just for the sake of covering all our bases ahead of time, let’s investigate the other boy as well,” Elder Norissa suggests. “Because let’s not forget that Alyssa has another mate who is, to our knowledge, unrelated to the boy who underwent the trials. Mr. Jenkins born in the manner you suggest would only satisfy part of the mystery, and we need to know the entirety of the situation before we decide anything.”

The others agree, and Elder Stirling hands out assignments for them all to complete in order to fully research the matter. They agree to resume their discussion in one week’s time, following their investigation.