Never Mine

The Pack

The howls continued for a few more minutes that night. I knew that my package had arrived. This was our territory after all. Damian and his men shouldn’t be here in the first place. Even from afar, I knew that they only exchanged threats, growled at each other. No fight transpired that night.

Maybe the excitement and anticipation that caused my heart to beat faster than it should help in drowning the sound of the howls outside. Elara was already asleep, her head still resting above my chest.

I wanted to sleep too, but the scent of the Alpha that owned the shirt that I am wearing was still lingering as if reminding me that this girl was his daughter. He was reminding me not to mess with the Alpha’s daughter.

Our ancestor’s journal was still seating on my lap, Elara was still holding on to it.

She needs to finish reading this soon. And she needs to believe. She had no choice but to. She was about to turn 19 by the end of the month. It was the mark of adulthood. Elara is no longer a child but a woman. The transformation was about to happen to her soon.

I didn’t notice when the howling stopped. The rain was pouring heavily outside. If my blood was not warmer compared to a human’s I would have felt cold by now.

I could feel Elara’s cheeks, cold to the touch. She was still human. But not for long. Or maybe I was wrong.

There is still a chance that she was normal, not like the rest of us. But somehow, I wished that she was not.

If she had the wolf in her, it only means that my search was over. She was my Luna. My life would be complete.

I would like to believe that.

My phone’s screen turned on, showing a notification.

I opened the message. It was from Lucas.

“They are gone.”

I already knew what he meant. I scheduled my alarm to six in the morning. I might be the Alpha of the largest wolf pack in Portland but I was still a student who had school work and basketball practice.

My life was far from normal. But it will always be the life that I will choose, no questions, no hesitations.

I looked at Elara before closing my eyes. I wondered, will she embrace this life as my as I did?

Elara beat my alarm that morning. She was already awake several minutes before my phone alarm rang. In fact, she had already bathed and was ironing my clothes when I pretended to be just waking up. The pot on her stove started to sing a tune, hot water is now ready for the coffee.

“Good morning.” She looked adorable with her hair all tousled and dripping on her shoulders.

“Good morning,” I could hear the indifference in her voice once again. She was always like this. She would pretend not to care but when she unknowingly let go of herself.

“Let me do that,” I offered to finish ironing my pants.

“Don’t mind this, you do the coffee instead.” She replied.

I walked to the kitchen and took the pot from the stove. “Black?” I asked to confirm.

“Yes, always been, always will.” There she was again, unknowingly allowing me to discover new small details about her. Was she even aware of what she was doing?

“I think it would be best if we grab something on the way. I need to report to the library early, do some cleaning.” She said as she hanged my shirt and pants.

She walked towards the table and grabbed the coffee that I prepared for her. She was about to sip when I interrupted, “Careful, it is still too hot.”

Elara smiled and started blowing air on top of the coffee mug. She took a small sip afterward.

“By the way, there’s a new bar of soap inside the shower, the towel is fresh and clean, you can use my shampoo and conditioner and I have an extra unused and clean toothbrush there. My toothpaste is free to use too.” She told me as if she was indirectly telling me to hurry up to shower.

This was the Elara I wanted to see. Not the scared girl last night. But I understand her. It was quite difficult for a young wolf to feel confident around an Alpha like Damian. It was even more difficult when he was obviously dominating her, claiming that he was the Alpha of her.

I tried to hide that side of me whenever I was with her. I didn’t want to force her into submission. Besides, she didn’t even have to submit to me at all. She is my Luna. I needed something else more than submission from her.

I drank all my coffee and placed the mug on the sink. I washed it quickly so she didn’t have to get her hands after ironing my clothes.

Walking to the bathroom to take my shower, Elara called my name.

“Reed,” she paused and waited for me to turn around.

I did and waited for what she was about to say.

“Thanks for last night.” She smiled at me. The kind of smile that she obviously didn’t offer anyone.

“Anytime,” I gave her a thumb-up before I turned around and headed to the bathroom.

Inside, everything was in order, just like what Elara said. The toothbrush that she gave me was there too. It was pink. I smiled a bit.

I neatly removed the shirt and pants that she lend me and neatly folded and placed them on top of the sink where they won’t get wet. It was his father’s shirt. I know how to value things people treat as important for them.

I could hear her heartbeat outside the bathroom. She was pacing as if she was pacing.

The moment I turned on the shower, she began moving quickly. I laughed a bit. She was changing into new clothes. She was so in a hurry that she stubbed her toe on the corner of the palette wood that acted out as her bed frame.

I took my time inside just to be sure that she was already done before I got out.

I was about to continue reading the journal that Reed landed me in when he came out of the bathroom. Why did he smell so good? We used the same soap. I didn’t smell like that after I shower.

“I’ll wait outside so you can change here.”  I didn’t wait for an answer. I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

I busied myself watching the colors on my shoelaces as I waited for Reed to finish changing inside my apartment. My first option was to go to the bathroom to hide while he changed. But that would mean that I had to walk past him to get to the bathroom, which could have been very difficult if it was the choice that I made with that sweet and delicious scent he had just now. Good thing I settled with going outside instead.

Maybe it took Reed just around three or 4 minutes inside before he went outside. My shoulders jumped a bit when the door behind me opened.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you.” As usual, Reed had always been too conscious with how I reacted.”

“You ready?” I handed him Charlie’s keys.

He smiled and took the keys from my hands. After making sure that my door was locked, he followed me down to the parking lot.

“Hey, would you consider living inside the campus? Maybe it’s safer there. You know, more people, school security,” I was quick to interrupt.

“A weird or psycho roommate.” I wanted to read but the trip from my apartment to the university was quick so I wouldn’t be able to read that much. I’ll save it later for lunch.

“Hey, I didn’t cause any trouble last night right? I mean no one was expecting you last night? Or was someone waiting?

“No. No one.”  He was quick to respond, which was a relief for me. “I can even stay again with you tonight if you want, there is no issue.” He paused as if he was weighing whether what he said sounded weird.

“What I mean is I am more than willing to stay with you if you need someone, but what if I happen to be unavailable, it would be nice to know that you are safe somewhere else where you are not alone.”

“I couldn’t afford a dorm here on campus. Besides, I prefer being alone.”

“Well, not last night. Don’t get me wrong but what if those bikers happen to visit you one of these nights when I am on campus.”

Reed was right but I am not giving in. Living on campus was in no way included in my plans. I couldn’t afford it either.

“Just think about it. I just want you to be safe.”

I knew he was just concerned and I was being stubborn. But I ran out of words to defend my situation. He was right after all.

I found myself close to giving in. “I will think about it.”

As we arrived at school, there were a bunch of guys in the parking lot. It looked like they were waiting for us, for Reed. It was a different group, not the varsity team that greeted him back when we met up in the library. 

This looked something similar to what the guy with the big bikes had. A gang of sorts. But this group was not as scary as the one at Sucos, they even looked like a band or a boy band of sorts.

“Hey, I want you to meet some of my friends,” Reed told me as he stopped at our parking space. He was quick to help me get down and pulled my hand as he led me to the boys sitting on the benches. I could see the look of the girls in the parking lot. They were maybe wondering why Reed was with someone like me, holding my hand like that. Believe me, I was wondering too.

“Elara, these are my friends, Lucas, Tyler, Stan, Rocky, and Thomas. Guys, this is Elara.”

I was wrong. They didn’t look like a band. They look like a team, no it was more than that, something deeper. Together, they looked like a pack.