The Alpha's Feisty Mate

Ray (17 - Part 1)

Ray (17)

Pain! So much pain!

My mate! My mate was there and I let her die! I let her slip out of my hands.

Over and over, the scene in front of me re-played like it was on automatic. I saw myself lift my head and catch the scent. I saw myself run towards her and see the bloody arm sticking out at an angle and then felt myself be pulled back. I screamed and shouted. I begged and shifted but it didn’t matter because the weight of twelve shifters all landed on me at once, stopping me from getting to her….to saving her.

And then, the truck blew up. Billowing smoke and fire reached high into the sky as the smell of burning flesh hit my nose, making me want to vomit. Over and over the scene played and still I couldn’t change the outcome. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I wished I could, I couldn’t save my mate.

I knew that Tim thought he saved me from the fire, but what he did was damned me forever to walk alone without a mate.

Everywhere I looked, people had their mates. They had families and while I don’t begrudge my brother for finding Anna and being happy, I wanted my mate! Even Jason got a chance at happiness and a family while I walked around alone. He got a second mate because his first was such a b***h. Mine was waiting for me to rescue her and I failed!

I remember in the aftermath of the burning, I went feral and Simon had called Jason. I was trying to escape and get to my mate but I was being held down from so many hands. Then Anna must have done something because I saw Nuwana, just a glimpse but I saw her radiant light before collapsing. Since then It has been like I was having an outer body experience. I could feel and hear most things. I knew that Simon and Scott had played something on a speaker and that I was in some sort of sleep paralysis because I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak and yet I was aware.

I knew they had brought me back to the pack in Glasgow and when I felt the cool sheets against my body, I knew I was back in the apartment I shared with Tim. A part of me knew I was dangerous. Knew I could hurt those who were my friends but I didn’t give a s**t! I wanted retribution! I wanted to lash out at all of them for murdering my mate and it was murder because I know I could have saved her.

I heard a door open and the muffled voices became louder as they grew closer and clearer when the door to my bedroom was opened.

“How long did Anna say this would last” I heard Tim ask

Tim! The fucker! The traitor. I couldn’t wait until I got out of this state and ripped his throat out for betraying me. He just murdered his Luna!

“She said at least a day. I’m not sure why he’s not awake yet” Simon sighed

“Do you blame him?” I heard Scott scoff “He’s just lost his f*****g mate. Would any of us be able to survive without ours?”

“He could have been mistaken” Tim said quietly

I knew my mates smell you fucker! I knew it was her! How dare you question my word! I wanted my wolf to get up but I could tell we were being weighed down

“Trust me” Simon said in a grave voice “When you smell your mate; there’s nothing like it. You….your wolf, just knows”

“I..Just never figured him for being gay. I mean, don’t get me wrong” Tim said quickly “Nothing against it…but…I always figured his mate would be a female”

Gay? What the hell were these guys talking about? Why the hell would they think I was gay?

“You never know who the Moon Goddess has paired you with until it happens” Scott said with a snort “Doesn’t make it any less a mate”

“Hey man” Tim said with a reserved voice “I ain’t got anything against that. I’m just saying I’m shocked”

“Not as shocked as Jason was” Simon said boldly

“How do we wake him?” Scott asked

“Anna said that Aria is telling her to leave him for now and he will wake up soon” Simon said before he sighed

“s**t! Now Aria’s telling us adults what to do too? Bad enough having Kai tell us” Scott said with wonder “I’m forgetting who’s the adult and who’s the kids here. No offence man but I’m glad my kid is just a average kid”

“None taken” Simon sighed “Aria and Kai know something but they’re both being secretive. And no matter what we say, we can’t get either of them to speak”

“What about asking the moon goddess?” Tim asked “Isn’t she like….your kids grandmother?”

“Only Kai’s actually but yes. We asked, but she is in the dark as much as we are” Simon replied

I heard them drag a chair close to my bed and when all three of them sighed, I realised they had all sat down close to me

“How can she be in the dark?” Tim asked with a surprised voice “She’s the moon goddess. Doesn’t she know all?”

“Apparently not” Simon sighed

I listened to them speak, my anger rolling around like a large ocean. I can feel it churn and boil over but then calm and crash back into itself. I want to tear the world apart, I want to set it ablaze; my anger so great at what I see as a betrayal of friendship and what these guys did to keep me from my mate.

“How do we tell him that we buried him” Scott asked quietly

Silence

Buried who? My thoughts were so turbulent that I missed most of what they had said. What did I miss? Who did they bury that had Scott sounding so wretched?

“It would have been more disrespectful if we had kept him in a cold storage unit until Ray woke up” Simon said with remorse in his voice “Besides, I couldn’t even stomach the charred body…for a mate to see that…”

When Simon trailed off, I realised what he spoke about. My mate. My mates charred, burnt body! But why do they keep saying him?

“What about the family?” Simon asked

“Pete is in a coma. His mate Saliha has woken up but she still has broken bones and concussion to deal with” Scott said with anger

“Their daughter is the only one that’s not hurt badly. She has some bruises but that’s about it. Nick has her here, she’s being looked after by one of the warriors family”

“Do you think she can tell us anything about the people in the van?” Tim asked

“She refuses to speak to anyone. Especially any males who go near her or in the same room as her. The poor kid is scared shitless” Scott replied

“She knows there’s a traitor here” Simon whispered

“Yea” Scott said quietly “I think so too. No way did those guys just randomly follow that van with the antiques goods…especially after being checked. And all the fuckers that appeared in the park? That wasn’t a coincidence. Someone from the inside blabbed”

“I agree” Simon said quietly “And the van had our informant”

“But our informant was a woman, where the f**k is she?” Tim asked

“Right now, we have to be careful who we ask and watch everyone when we speak. Someone among us was playing both sides and it’s one of the higher ranking members because it was only us in that meeting room” Simon said

I heard shuffling and I wanted to growl. Who was the traitor that got my mate killed?

“I can’t just hang about. I need to find out where she is” Tim said “I want to have answers for him when he wakes up. He needs to know I didn’t betray him”

“He knows, or he will” Scott said with conviction

“I’m not so sure” Simon said with a sad voice “we kept him from saving his mate. He begged us and we still denied him. For an alpha to beg…then for this to happen to his mate because we denied him”

“But if we hadn’t, we would be burying them both” Scott said in a shocked voice “We don’t even know what his name was because the only person who can tell us isn’t talking because she’s so scared. Once Ray wakes up, he’ll understand”

“Will he?” Simon asked in a grave voice “Would you?”

Hell no I won’t understand why my most trusted friends and Beta abandoned me when I needed them the most. But right now, I tried to get my head around the fact that they think my mate was a man. Why? I wasn’t gay. I don’t have anything against it, but I never felt that way. Never was interested in it. So now, for them to say my mate was a male? Impossible….right? I felt my wolfs confusion too because he felt the same as I…we weren’t gay. It felt wrong inside. Like I was actually disrespecting my own mate…the one that wasn’t the male who had died. Now I was confused. If they said it was a male inside and I am sure I am not gay….then who did I smell?

You smelt your mate uncle Ray a female childish voice said

I could only see darkness but I knew that voice

Aria? H…How are you doing this? What are you doing here? HOW are you here? I asked

I’m with her uncle Ray I heard Kai speak

Suddenly, my darkness started to change. A small ball of light danced in front of my eyes before it started to widen and get bigger. As it did, more light got through and I felt the warmth of the sun on my face and I closed my eyes, basking in it as the warmth spread all over my body. I blinked a few times as the light of the ball now became stronger and brighter, opening up like a big mouth as the ball of light split into two. Side by side, the light finally exploded and the whole area lit up as both Kai and Aria walked towards me.