The Mate The Alpha Never Chose

Chapter 7

ADA

Yes. Here I was, walking, my hands locked in my Mum's, into the woods. This ‘forest’ wasn't far from the park my Mum used to take me to as a kid. Dad used to have us ‘camp’ here when I was little. The only difference was that then I used to be much more excited and less terrified. I guess you can say times have changed.

“Why is Dad not here?” I asked Mum who had barely said anything since we met up. “I mean, if what you say is true, then he should be here, right?”

She let out a sigh and stopped. “Baby, your father is a very tough man. He is as hard as a nail. You know this as much as I do. But that man cannot watch you go through pain. He just can't.”

“Go through pain? Wait, wait, wait, Mum. Pain! Nobody said anything about pain.”

“Darling, there's no other way.”

“If my memory serves me… and, mind you, it does… what I remember you saying is that you were going to awaken my powers. You didn't say anything about pain or whatever.”

Mum patted me on the shoulder. “Don't get all scared, Ada. It won't hurt at all. I promise.”

Those words were very comforting to hear.

All Mum had in her hands were a kitchen knife, a flashlight and a water bottle. We stopped moving and she asked me to sit beside her at the foot of a tree that I was certain was bigger than it appeared to be at this time of the day.

“Mum, what exactly are we doing here?”

She dropped a turned-on flashlight and left it before us. It was the only source of illumination around us, apart from the moonlight.

“Isn’t it obvious, Ada?”

“No, Mum. It's not. I literally have no f*****g idea why we are here. f**k… I don't even understand anything you've said to me today.”

“But you're here anyway. If you didn't trust me, you wouldn't walk into the woods at this late hour, especially after I told you something that’s, well, rather hard to take in.”

I rubbed my palms against each other and took several deep breaths. “For what it's worth, I trust you and Dad with my life.”

“I know that, baby.”

“Well, I hope I don't get to regret trusting you guys.”

Mum bit on her lower lip as she nodded. “We are here because this is our natural habitat. The woods, the wild— it's where we feel most connected. It's home.”

“Is ‘We’ here with us? Mum, I’m going to need you to personalise that statement because this doesn't feel like home to me or any other sane person.”

She chuckled. “You always c***k me up.”

It was crazy how this changed everything. There was no bloody way I was going to remain the same after seeing claws shoot out from my mother's fingers. Like, how do I heal from that? To exacerbate the issue, I was going to have my powers awakened. Whatever that meant.

“Mum, how did you find out you were a monster?”

A frown stiffened her face and she turned away so our eyes wouldn't meet. “So you think we are monsters?”

“Don’t be dramatic, Mum. Monster, werewolf… literally the same thing.”

“You know what, Ada? I think you're right. We should start personalising our statements because I know I'm not a monster, and neither is your father.” She turned her face as though she wanted to look directly at me but still wasn't making any eye contact. “Anyway, I always knew I was a werewolf. Always. My family never hid that from me and, in a way, I appreciate that.”

“I see. Too bad you didn't do the same for your only child.”

She sighed loudly. “It was different then. I mean, your Dad and I wanted a different life for you. Especially after we learnt you were a Green Eye. We knew just how burdensome that could be.

It was really funny if you gave it a thought. I remember being a little girl and fantasising over silly things like toys, tea parties, snowmen and other things that meant very little to me now. The tea parties were particularly silly because I would serve multiple teacups as if there was anyone else at my little table with me.

I remember the thrill I used to get when Santa Claus would come and wake me up in the morning on Christmas day. I would look forward to his arrival for days before Christmas. I remember how strong that feeling of sheer excitement was. I found it quite evocative to just go down memory lane. The funniest thing was that I had always known it was Dad underneath the costume— even that didn't stop my eyes from shining like those little string lights Mum would put on the Christmas tree.

Then I grew older and older and began to worry about other things— some of which I now found sillier than even tea parties. For instance, when I started high school, for some reason, I began to worry more about my looks. My stomach which I had zero issues with, suddenly ‘appeared’ to be big, and my nose, too pointy.

Anyway, here I was, years after all that, as a grown adult. Here I was with my mother, in the middle of the forest, waiting to awaken my powers. You know what? I would pick tea parties over this any time.

“It’s time honey,” Mum announced.

“Time for what?”

“What we came for. I just wanted you to feel calm and, you know, let the bliss we gain from this beautiful night soothe you for a while.”

“Mum, I'm going to say this again. I don't feel any connection to this forest or whatever. If we have something to do here, we better get started.”

Mum looked down at her hands and I saw that she was struggling to fight back tears. In something just louder than a whisper, she said, “There’s something else, Ada. I mean, there's a reason I'm hesitant to have your powers awakened.”

“Hesitant? Mum, you have my ass in the forest after telling me all this just a few hours ago”. I had more to say but fighting my mother had no gain at the moment. “Anyway, what’s the reason?”

“It’s because once you do this, everything changes.”

I held up the flashlight so that we could see each other properly. “Mum, everything has changed already. I saw your nails which I always thought were pretty turn into literal claws. Right now, I'm here, instead of being tucked in my bed. Things have changed already, Mum.”

“This is different, honey. Once your powers are awakened, you can never turn them off. It's forever and I just want you to have a little moment of this version of yourself.”

With every word she uttered, it was like my fear increased. But I didn't think waiting was doing any good.

“Mum, please get this done. I'm ready for whatever.”

Of course, I wasn't ready but the waiting was torture on its own.

The look on her face made me feel like I didn't know what I was saying.

“Okay. Drink this.”

I held onto the water she handed over to me. “I’m guessing this isn't water.”

“You guessed right. It's called wolfdrops. It's necessary to awaken your powers. I would explain why and how but we really don't have the time for that.”

I nodded. “Will it taste bad?”

“How about you find out for yourself?”

I took off the lid of the bottle and downed the content as fast as I could.

“So now what?”

“We wait.”

I drew closer to Mum. “We wait for what? Also, what's the knife for?”

Mum threw her arm around me and gave my left shoulder a little massage which she did with the middle of her palm. “Just remain calm. You will get through this.”

So far I would say nothing crazy has happened— this night, at least. When I left Alex, my mind was in great unrest because I didn't know what to expect.

“Mum, my head is beginning to hurt. Is this because of the drink?”

She picked up the knife that was laid at her feet. “It’s almost done. Just one more thing to do.”

“What’s that?”

“This,” she let out, driving the knife into the left side of my chest.