Mate?

Chapter 3:

     I tossed and turned all night. I didn’t sleep much, maybe two hours, but it’s fine. I kept dreaming about Tyler. His image was in my mind the entire night. The way he smiled, how his eyes sparkled when I told him I would go out with him, all of it.

    I walked down the stairs groaning. I’m pretty f*****g tired, honestly. I smelled the fresh scent of bacon and eggs in the air. I walked into the kitchen to see my grandma singing my mom’s favorite song; You are my Sunshine. I smiled remembering how she would sing that to us when we were down and out. She was an amazing woman. 

     James walked down the stairs groaning, also. I take it he didn’t get much sleep either. I chuckled at him as I sat down at the table. He just glared at me then started eating his food. 

    Not even two minutes later, Jake came into the house. James and I got up and hugged him and my grandma kissed him on his cheek. We all sat down and Jake broke the silence. “So Renee I heard you’re going out with the mayor’s son, he doesn’t just choose anybody you know.” I blushed profusely. Wait….BLUSHED!?!?!? 

     “I saw a wolf last night on the forest line.” James said breaking the awkward silence that Jake had created. “It was weird because he was bigger than the average wolf. Has there been any sightings of said wolf?” Jake and my grandma both shook their heads as if it was normal for them to even remotely hear about these sightings. 

      “Well there is this legend.” Jake said. James and I quickly looked towards him; it was so unreal. Legends were James and I’s favorite. They always intrigued us. It was quite amazing how these stories were created and how they seemed so interesting. “Well, tell us!” James all but whispered. We all just laughed.

      “Well once long ago, this town used to be a pack of werewolves. They were very unjust people. The alphas were always cruel. They treated their pack members like slaves, and anyone who didn’t have a title to their name was treated exactly the same. They only believed that alphas had power over everyone and were better in every way. 

     One day when Alpha Alexander was running the pack, one of his pack members escaped. They ran to the closest neighboring pack and told the alpha there what his alpha had done and how he treated them. At first the alpha didn’t believe it but when the man lifted up his shirt, he was horrified at what he saw. Scars were everywhere. 

     The alpha quickly called his younger brother William. William always wanted to be an alpha but he wasn’t the oldest. The pack member told everything that he had just told William's brother. William was enraged on how an alpha could treat his pack that way. 

      He went over to the pack, and demanded he treat them better. Alexander only laughed in his face and suggested that they fight for the position. The loser shall be put to death. William agreed but he knew that if he won he wasn’t going to kill Alpha Alexander. 

      The pack member had known that Alexander wasn’t going to fight fair, so he told William to bring Wolf’s bane. William only brought enough to knock him unconscious, not to kill him. Alexander’s plan was to shift as it was never established that it was against the rules.

     As the match commenced Alexander waited a few minutes before he shifted. As soon as he shifted, he lunged towards William. William quickly moved out of the way and Alexander had run into a nearby tree. He was stunned for a minute, and William took that as his opportunity  to inject him with the wolf’s bane. 

     As it took effect Alexander had slowly shifted back into his human form. The pack was ecstatic that they now had a new alpha that wasn’t as cruel as the one before. William had ordered the pack warriors to carry Alexander to the dungeons.  

      A week later, one of the warriors came rushing into Alpha William’s room late one night. He said that Alexander had escaped. William was angry, not at the pack but at himself. He ran down to the dungeons to Alexander’s cell. 

    Written on the wall were these words:

  I will return, whether it be by my reincarnates or myself. I will take back what is rightfully mine and destroy everything that you love. 

    Alexander had never returned. Everyone thought it was just a hoax to get Alpha William to give him back his position as alpha, to scare him, but it didn’t. 

     William eventually met his mate and they started a family together. They had a son and it’s said that the mayor was Alpha William’s son and that’s why he controls this town.” 

         There was that word again mate. What did it mean? Why did it keep coming up? Why did Jake look like all this was actually true when he was telling the story? This is a joke, right? 

      “So, that was intriguing. Is that why you and grandma keep saying alpha instead of mayor or you catch yourselves before you do?” James asked. My grandma and Jake both had this shocked expression on their faces, but nodded nonetheless. 

      James smiled like he had won the lottery. I knew at that moment he would go asking questions about the legend. “Why don’t we go see my niece and nephew?” I said because I was not allowing James to do that. Jake just nodded and we finished up our breakfast, then headed out to Jake’s house.