Unexpected Mates

Chapter Three

Gabriel leads me into another small office filled and relief floods my body when I see Dad pacing in front of the windows.

“Dad!” I exclaim as soon as I see him. I can’t stop myself from running to his side and throwing my arms his shoulders. I may be upset and confused, but knowing that he’s safe is all I care about right now.

“Avery, honey, I’m so sorry,” he whispers into my hair as his arms hold me tight to his side. “Are you okay?”

I nod, “I think so, but I’m so confused. Why didn’t you guys tell me?” I feel anger and confusion bubble up inside me.

“I think it’s best if we wait for your mom and Jamie to get back,” Dad says, a sad look coming to his face.

I shake my head, “Jamie’s in the medical center right now, Dad. It’ll take him a while to be able to walk or move again.” Does Dad even care that Jamie was seriously injured?

“Nothing a little Were gene can’t fix, Sis.” Jamie’s voice makes me jump and I whirl around to see him standing in the doorway, looking good as new.

“Jamie?!” I latch my arms around him, probably too tightly given he was almost torn to bits downstairs. He doesn’t even groan. “Why are you suddenly okay?” I ask, worriedly checking him for missing limbs or anything else that might have occurred while I was being taken away.

“Ave, this is why I haven’t been home in a while,” Jamie says softly, moving his arms above his head when I motion for him to. There isn’t even a scratch where Gabriel clawed him.

“This is impossible,” I whisper, touching the seemingly perfect area of skin. Not even a bump.

“Avery, let’s sit down,” Mom says, stepping out from behind Jamie. There’s a couch in the room so we sit down on that. Her hand grasps mine and she looks at me with a remorseful expression.

#

“I don’t think you guys will be able to come up with an excuse for this,” I tell her, troubled by my conflicting emotions. Part of me is angry at them and hurt that they’ve been lying to me for my entire life. Another part of me is questioning how I can be upset with the people I love most in this world, who have always been by my side and promised to love me for the rest of my life.

She nods like she agrees with me. “You’re right. We have no excuses for this, only explanations. When Jamie turned three, your father got transferred to Arizona. You were born about half a year later, so you never got to meet the alpha or be officially welcomed to the pack. We think that’s why you didn’t shift when you turned sixteen.”

“Wait, so does that mean that Jamie shifted when he was sixteen?” I ask, looking at my brother hoping his answer won’t be what I think it is.

“I never wanted to keep this a secret from you, Ave,” he says quickly, sending me a sorrowful frown.

“But you did.” I don’t know why I didn’t connect everything before, but actually hearing from them that they’ve honestly lied to me and kept secrets from me my whole life hurts more than they will ever know. “Were you surprised when you shifted? Or did you expect it?”

He doesn’t answer, but his lack of response tells me so much.

I let out a hard laugh. “You didn’t just lie to me when you didn’t tell me you shifted. You lied my entire life. You knew what Mom and Dad were. You knew what we would be. You lied to me, Jamie. How could you do that?”

“I never wanted it to turn out this way,” he began.

I cut him off, “It doesn’t matter what you wanted! You all laughed at me when I asked if you thought werewolves could be real. You all told me how silly I was for believing in magic and the supernatural. You all made me stop believing in the things I thought could be true, just so I wouldn’t find out your secret. What was the point?” My voice is barely above a whisper by the time I’m done.

“We didn’t do this to hurt you, honey.” Dad says.

“But you did.” I’m unable to stop the tears that fill my eyes. Everybody is silent as my mind floods with questions. My entire life is flashing through my mind. Every single memory changes a little bit with this new information. Nothing is like I thought it was. Nothing was ever like I thought it was.

One thing stands out the most, so I ask Gabriel, “What are the children like?” I know it probably sounds random and unimportant, but I feel like I need to know.

The man who claims to be my mate has been standing in the doorway this entire time. I don’t know how I know, since my back is to him, but I can just tell that he’s near me. “Um, I guess you could say they’re hyper? I have no idea how their parents manage to get those kids to sleep at night. They’re constantly little balls of energy.” he answers.

I let out a shuddering breath and look at my parents, waiting for them to confirm something I know deep down inside of me.

“What were we supposed to do?” Mom cries, “Your teacher called us in for a meeting and had us get you tested for ADHD. They recommended you get put on medication. We couldn’t tell them that you were just a pup.” As she speaks, her fingers squeeze my hand tighter and tighter until it hurts.

I yank it from her grasp and stand, moving to one of the empty chairs. “I came home from school every single day crying because of how those kids made me feel for being different. It was so humiliating to have to take those pills every lunch period, knowing that they thought I was a freak. Now I find out that I wasn’t a freak at all. Just a normal werewolf?” I can’t keep the hurt from my voice.

“What’s going on here?” Gabriel asks slowly, confused by what we’re talking about but clearly sensing how upset I am.

I look at him and send him a tearful fake smile. In this room, he’s the only person who’s been wholely honest with me so far. As I talk, I make eye contact with my family members, hoping that each word makes them realize how miserable their decisions have made me. “When I was eight, I was diagnosed with ADHD. They put me on medication to reduce my symptoms and I’ve been on them ever since. They make me feel like I’m a zombie. Our community wasn’t understanding of my issues. Everybody found out about me and they all used to whisper about how there was something wrong with me. They thought I was a ‘disabled miscreant’, and one teacher actually called me that.”

I turn my attention back to Gabriel. “Imagine taking a pill for eleven years that made you miserable until you found out that it was pointless from the very beginning, and never necessary.” I’m bitter as hell and can’t keep it from my voice.

“Ave,” Jamie starts, crouching down in front of me, “we brought you here so you could know. I’ve always wanted to tell you, but we thought it might be best to wait until you could shift too. Then it never happened. Us being here isn’t just to meet the new alpha. You’re goign to see a doctor to find out why your wolf wouldn’t come forward. We never thought you’d be Alpha Gabriel’s mate. There wasn’t even a chance to explain before s**t hit the fan.”

I roll my eyes, feeling a wave of hot rage roll over me. “Bullshit. You had nineteen years worth of chances to tell me this. I asked point blank in the car why we were here and was told that I would find out soon enough, so don’t you dare tell me there wasn’t a chance.”

“Okay, but I wasn’t even there for the car trip.” He says, grasping at straws to make me forgive him.

I shake my head, “You haven’t been there for a lot of things recently, Jameson.”

“I’m so sorry.” He whispers, moving so he’s no longer crouching and is simply sitting in front of me.

“Did any of you ever consider the fact that I didn’t have to come on this trip? I’m nineteen years old. I’m not a child that you have to protect, or an i***t who wouldn’t understand what was happening. You don’t get to keep a gigantic part of my identity from me. You don’t get to plan a doctor’s visit without my approval. You don’t get to sit here and ask for forgiveness for something you’re not even sorry for. You just don’t.”

“We are sorry,” Mom says, her voice thick with tears.

I don’t feel any sympathy for her. Honestly, I’m mostly just numb. It’s like today never happened. I don’t feel happy or sad or angry. I’m just… done. “I don’t know how to forgive you. I honestly don’t think I can look past this and just forget that you’d been lying to me my whole life,” I say, tears flowing down my cheeks.

“Avery,” Gabriel’s calming voice cuts in, “why don’t you spend the night here? That should give you all a break and you can talk about it tomorrow.”

I look up at him and have an overwhelming urge to go to him. It’s like my body just knows that I can trust him and that he’ll be able to comfort me. I stand and walk to his side, pausing to look at the people who, until five minutes ago, I thought would never hurt me.

I don’t bother saying goodbye as Gabriel’s hand covers mine and he brings me to the kitchen.

#

“What would you like for dinner?” he asks, sounding as if I wasn’t just crying my eyes out as I learned the biggest secret of my life. I grin and wipe away the last of my tears as I move to sit on one of the island’s stools.

“What do you have?”

“Anything you can think of,” he assures. “Usually, a few cooks are in here, but word has spread about you and everybody is giving us some space.”

I frown, “How do they know already?”

“A few of the people in the basement today went home and told their families that I’ve found my mate and from there it spread on. Plus, there’s the whole telepathy thing.” He digs in the fridge, almost like he didn’t drop a gigantic factoid on me.

“The what?” I ask, feeling weirdly calm. I heard him wrong, obviously. There’s no way he said Telepathy. Well, I mean, I know he did. But he has to have meant some other kind of telepathy. Maybe that’s just what people in Oregon called texting. It’d be weird, but not nearly as bonkers as literally reading someone’s mind.

“Telepathy,” Gabriel repeats, peaking out from behind the fridge door with a small smile on his lips.

“We’re both talking about communicating through thoughts, right?” I ask, needing the clarification.

He starts laughing, “I’m pretty sure that’s the general gist of it.”

“You can read minds?” My eyes are probably wide as saucers as I think back to every single thought I’ve ever had around him. Then, much to my absolute horror, I realize that I’ve lived with werewolves my entire life. Have my parents heard every thought I’ve ever had?

The embarrassment could kill me.

He nods, “Being a werewolf comes with a few privileges that humans don’t have.”

“But if I’m a werewolf, why can’t I hear your thoughts?” I ask.

“Because you’re technically not part of the pack yet. At birth, we hold a bonding ceremony that welcomes pups to the pack. When they shift, they complete the final link and are able to communicate through thoughts. None of the unshifted werewolves can read minds.”

“But can you read theirs?”

“No.”

“Do you know why? Like is there an explanation? Is the link something physical? Or is it spiritual?”

He looks impressed that I’m asking these questions, but who wouldn’t want to know everything? I can easily list a hundred questions floating through my mind. Too bad I haven’t shifted or he’d be hearing every single one of them right now.

“We don’t have an explanation for why it happens. Our elders tell stories of the wolf gifting his children with a wordless connection, meant to protect us while hunting. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s the closest I have to an answer.”

“The ‘Wolf’? Is that like a legend? Some sort of Scorpion and The Frog type of thing?”

He nods.

“Alright,” I nod, easily accepting that as an answer. Out of everything I’ve heard today, somehow finding out that people think a mystical Wolf gave them the ability to read minds isn’t the weirdest thing.

“So,” I lean forward, ready to learn as much as possible, “how exactly am I supposed to become part of the pack? And when I do, do I have to shift first? Will I ever shift at all? What’s it like to shift? How old were you? Is it a birthday thing? Jamie disappeared the day after he turned sixteen, so did you shift then too?” I talk quickly, my words jumbling together the more I think about what could be in my future.

Gabriel chuckles, holding his hands up as he walks closer and stands right in front of me, probably too close, but I can’t seem to mind. “All of your questions will be answered in time. I promise. But first I need to get you fed, okay?” he presses a small kiss to the tip of my nose before stepping back and heading to the cupboards. “Now, what will it be?”

“Do you have pizza?” I ask.

He nods and starts getting out the supplies.

“I won’t lie to you, I’m an awful cook, but for you I would do anything, so I’m going to try.”

My heart races with his words. How sweet is that? A guy who’s willing to cook just for me, even though he’s not good at it. I had never put much thought into relationships. Sure, I’d had a couple throughout junior high and high school, but nothing was ever serious. I didn’t really care about meeting someone and spending forever with them. It just wasn’t on my list of priorities, especially at nineteen.

I hop down from my stool and move to stand beside him, feeling a little more at ease around the large man beside me. “I’ll help, then,” I say, sending him a small, slightly unsure, smile.

He grins widely and nods, “Please do.”

We spend the next hour making a horrible mess in his previously immaculate kitchen. By some miracle, our pizza turns out fantastically, but it is touch and go there for a little while.

Despite his noble efforts at cooking our dinner, Gabriel is absolutely useless at cleaning it up.

“How can you not know how to wash dishes?” I ask, equal parts amazed and disturbed.

He shrugs, “I guess that growing up the son of the Alpha made it so I never had to do it.”

I shake my head, “Well, at twenty-four, I think it’s time for you to learn how to adult just a little bit.”

He groans, looking like I just told him he has to do a few hours of hard labor. “The cleaning crew like doing it.”

I frown, wondering if he’s serious. “Do you honestly think that the entire group of people who clean up after you are thrilled to do it? I mean, yeah, some people enjoy cleaning, but usually earning a paycheck is more important than being comfortable. That’s like very few people enjoy the dentist, but we all like our teeth clean.”

“Exactly, so if it’s their job, then they should do it.”

I’m instantly annoyed, but try to contain it.

“Are your hands broken?” I finally ask.

He shakes his head no.

“Oh. Are your arms too weak to hold the dishes?”

Once again, he shakes his head no.

“And your brain functions correctly, right? I mean, you know how to control your body movements?”

He sends me a small glare and mutters the word “Yes.”

I pretend like I’m trying to solve a complicated problem and then shrug, “Then I just can’t see why you can’t do your own dishes.”

“You know, as Alpha of this pack, I don’t have to let you talk to me like that,” he says, sounding petulant.

I raise an eyebrow, “For starters, I don’t need anybody’s permission to talk a certain way. Believe it or not, we live in a day and age where I don’t even have to get a man’s permission to own property!” I pretend to be downright scandalized.

“Second,” I continue, “as your supposed mate, I think I should be able to talk to you how I please. Third, everybody should know how to do the dishes, whether they’re an alpha or not. And fourth, it seems like literally the easiest way you can show your pack they’re in capable hands”

“First off, you’re not my ‘supposed mate’ you’re my actual one. Second, I’m not incapable of washing dishes, it’s just beneath me, and thi-” I stop him by dropping the tray in the sink and turning my full attention to him.

“Dishes are ‘beneath’ you?” I ask slowly. He nods. “That’s interesting. I grew up doing the dishes every night. Does that mean that I’m beneath you, Gabriel?”

He freezes, “That’s not what I meant… I’m sorry it sounded like that.”

I remind myself that I just met Gabriel today, and that we hardly know each other. It makes sense that there is a lot to learn between us. This is just one of those things that needs improvement, but it’s not worth actually fighting over yet. I send him a half smile, “Don’t worry about it, okay? Let’s forget about it for the moment.”

We’re both still and staring at each other, his hands remain in the soapy water while mine hold a plate and dish towel. Slowly, he moves his face closer to mine, not breaking eye contact, until we’re only inches apart. “I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings,” he whispers, his breath brushing against my lips. I’m sure he’s about to move closer and kiss me, but I’m not sure how I feel about that. I only just met him. But, something feels so perfect when we’re together. But also, maybe it’s too soon?

I’ve just decided that, if he kisses me, I won’t pull away, when I hear a loud female voice from the front door, “Yo Romeo, I heard you found your Juliet!” We spring apart instantly, the moment broken by the person walking closer to us.

“Mind your own business, Clem!” Gabriel shouts back.

I frown. Clem? For some reason that sounds so familiar. I look to the entry way of the kitchen and my eyes widen. I do know that name.

“Holy crap, Avenue?!” she exclaims, her eyes as wide as mine.

“Avenue?” Gabriel asks, confused.

I smile at him, “I met Clem today at a café in town.” I gasp, remembering what she said to me, “Oh my god, did you know that I’m a werewolf.”

She nods, “I totally thought you would’ve known too, but you didn’t and I didn’t want you to think I was crazy or something if I told you, especially because it was so confusing that you didn’t know. Like how would I even explain that if I tried, you know?”

Gabriel cuts in, “So wait, you two know each other?”

Clem rolls her eyes and gives his arm an affectionate pat, “It’s okay, Gaby, don’t hurt yourself by thinking too hard.”

He looks annoyed by her insult, but his lack of response makes it clear that he’s used to it.

“How do you guys know each other?” I ask, feeling a wave of jealousy so strong that the image of my fist connecting with Clem’s pretty face flashes through my mind.

“She’s my cousin.” Gabriel explains, instantly erasing what I’d been picturing. “Her parents went rogue when we were young and ever since then, Clem’s practically been a sister to me.”

“Rogue? Like a lone wolf?”

“Kind of. Going rogue is when a wolf denies their Alpha. Some are harmless, but more often than not, a rogue can be careless and harmful to the whole Werewolf species. Most Werewolves prefer living within a pack. They enjoy having the connection to those around them. Most also respect their Alpha and value the guidance they provide. Others fight it, though, and end up on their own.

“Without an Alpha to direct them, Rogues can be more dangerous to society and threaten to reveal our existence to the human community; which is forbidden.” Just talking about it seems to make him upset.

I close my eyes and shake my head. Today has been a complete information overload. “No more Werewolf stuff tonight, okay?”

His eyes soften and he nods, “Of course, Baby.”

Clem squeals from beside us and we both turn to see her practically jumping in excitement, “You two are just so cute! I can’t even handle this!”

I laugh and shrug my shoulders, not even sure what she thinks is so cute. “Your cousin is kind of weird,” I tell Gabriel as we turn back to the dishes. He’s no longer fighting with me about it.

He chuckles, “Yeah, but she’s kind of adorable, so we keep her around.”

“I’m right here,” Clem exclaims, unable to keep herself from laughing.

I’m glad that this crazy day has managed to end on a relatively high note. Now I just wonder what tomorrow will bring.