The Alpha Trio’s Human Mate

Chapter Two

"Good luck, Em. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry," Jackson said. Humiliatingly, I had to go back to his car after the ceremony and get my bag. I would have preferred not to have seen him at all.

"It's okay," I forced out, looking at the the cold, damp ground. "You could have still picked me, though," I managed to say.

"I thought I would, honestly. I love you, Em. I always thought I could make that choice. But what I felt as soon as I saw her...there was never going to be any comparison." Ouch. "I hope that you get to experience that one day. I hope you get to feel that happiness." I didn't. I didn't want anything to do with it. If having a fated mate could make me throw away all my loyalties I'd had prior to meeting them, and go against my values, I didn't want it. And I sure as hell didn't want someone else to do that for me. But there was no use in telling Jackson that. He wasn't responsible for how I felt anymore.

"Maybe we can still be friends," I forced a smile, meeting his blue eyes.

"I don't think I can be the kind of friend that talks to you regularly...it wouldn't be fair to her. But I am here for you if you ever need anything, Em." I slung my bag over my shoulder, trying to hide how hurt I was, and replied, "Goodbye, Jackson."

...

I stared at the piece of paper in my hands and the door in front of me, verifying that it was indeed mine.

"Guess they put our rooms together alphabetically, too," I heard Sira's voice to my left, and I turned my head to find her smiling at me.

"That's lucky. I could use a friend." I smiled back, gambling on calling her my friend, but there was only one way to find out if I had indeed made a friend--ask.

"Me too," she said, to my relief. "Come over to my room when you're finished unpacking. I'm a sucker for a revenge arc, and as a human, you'll need all the help you can get if you're going to cut it here and make that man sorry that he let you go." I nodded in response, and pushed open my door.

It was clearly intended for two occupants, back when the university had tens of thousands of students, but there were less than a thousand of us at the Academy in total. Two twin mattresses were pushed together to create a large one, and I smiled. This was much nicer than my quarters back home. I had this whole space to myself. Back home, it was easier to defend our borders if we were packed in tightly. All living spaces in the town were centralized, as well as the clinic, childcare, and more. The farmlands were on the outskirts, but not too close. All the pack's operations were within a radius of just a few miles of the town's center. I had lived my whole life in a place that was only a few square miles. It was crazy to go from that to this.

We'd also lived communally, which was different from the Academy. Everyone worked to earn their keep, pitching in throughout the year. It was the first week of December here already, because initiates had to stay through harvest season back home to help out before they could attend the Academy. That meant I now had three weeks. Solstice--our holiday celebration, which was once considered Christmas, for the humans--marked the end of the initiation period. Either we passed our initiation exams in three weeks, and got to attend the festivities and remain at the Academy, or we didn't. I was thrilled that Sira had offered me her help, because honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

Unpacking was quick--after all, I only had one bag with me. I soon found myself knocking on Sira's door, and she stepped aside to let me in.

"How'd you do all this so fast?" I gawked at her room. She had tapestries, a wall of pictures, and some transluscent yellow cloth covering the harsh flourescent lights on the ceilings, mellowing out everything as the light filtered through it. The painted cinder block walls and cold tile floors from before the collapse were ugly, remniscient of a prison cell. Maybe I'd have to take a page from her book and cover up the fluorescents in my room that were sure to give me a headache.

"I'm not one for organizing, really. I dumped all my clothes into some drawers and spent the rest of the time on this," Sira smiled at me. I moved closer to her wall of photos, looking over all the people she had in her life.

"That's my best friend," she whispered, coming up beside me, pointing to a girl that was in a lot of her photos. "That's another reason I want to help you: she was human too. She was taken a few years ago by one of the vampire factions. We assume she's dead, or at least we hope that she is, because if she's alive, I can't imagine what they're doing to her. I try not to. I can't help but think if we had given her more adequate training, maybe she could have fought them off, done something to help herself. It's not fair to humans to have to rely on us for protection. So not only do I want you to succeed, I want you to be able to protect yourself." I saw Sira wipe at the tears on her face in my periphery, and take a steadying breath.

"I'm sorry that happened, Sira. And I appreciate you wanting to help me. My parents were also taken and killed by a faction, and I've always thought the same thing. That maybe it could have ended differently." I put my hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Only three weeks until Solstice and the initiate exams, so no time to waste," she straightened, putting on a smile and changing the subject. "How attached are you to your hair?" She raised an eyebrow at me, and I didn't honestly know how to answer right away.

I turned to a mirror mounted on the wall, and studied myself. Dark blonde hair to my waist. Eyes the color of green-tinted steel. Sparse freckles and fair skin. A heart-shaped face, slightly asymmetrical...and my ears. They stuck out, and I was pretty insecure about them...but everything else was fine. I wasn't here to win a beauty contest, or to be desired by anyone. After Jackson, I wasn't interested in attracting anyone's attention unless it was for a casual hookup. I knew what she was asking--it was dangerous in combat to have so much for an opponent to grab onto.

"Just leave it long enough to cover my ears," I sighed, and Sira's smile turned devious when she grabbed a pair of scissors. Her blue eyes lit up. I closed my eyes, listening to the snip of the scissors and the heavy swish of two feet of hair falling to the floor.

"Done," Sira chirped. I cracked one eye open cautiously, and then the other. It wasn't bad. I looked older, fiercer, even. My hair just brushed the nape of my neck, and it was long enough that I'd probably be able to braid it back, too. My appearance reminded me of what I was here for. My parents had not survived the collapse and given birth to me just so they could die, and I could fail at the Academy. Surely I hadn't been through all that just so I could go back and live my life in a small town, doing domestic work. I owed it to them to avenge them, to join the fighting force that would take out the faction that had killed them. I didn't have anything anymore. No Jackson, and only this one friend, right here. And only my will to fight.

If I could pass the initiate exams, I could stay here. No more working the fields--all I had to do to earn my keep was pass exams and demonstrate competency. All I had to do was work hard and get better. That much, I could do, if I wanted it badly enough. And at the end of it, I'd have the chance to become a wolf, to be bigger, faster, and stronger. I just had to prove myself as a human first.

"How much training do you have?" Sira asked.

"I stopped when I was sixteen. I could never keep up with the wolf girls. I spent my time learning coding and other tasks, other ways I could be useful," I told her honestly.

"Okay, then, let's go hit the mats right away and see what you've got. Surely you can't be that bad." Well, she was in for a surprise, I thought to myself.