WOLF PACK: Fated Mates

CHAPTER TWO: "Alpha or Omega?" (Part 2)

---♡ JOHNATHAN'S POV ♡---

And then, it happened. The clock struck midnight, and the world seemed to pause. The air grew thick with a warmth that didn't belong to the cold night. It was a feeling that pierced through our hearts, a sudden jolt of understanding that hit us like a bolt of lightning. We looked at her, standing there, looking so beautiful, and we knew. She was ours. Fated to us by the Moon Goddess herself.

We had felt the mate bond snap into place, the warmth washed over us like a tidal wave. Our beasts stilled, the playfulness in their eyes replaced by a fierce protectiveness. We stepped back, allowing her to come to us, our fur bristling, our eyes locking onto hers. In unison, we called out, our voices echoing through the forest, "Mate!"

My inner wolf, Knight, practically danced within me. His jovial howl echoed through my thoughts, "I told you so!" The bond we felt was undeniable, a warm embrace of fate that had been waiting for us to recognize it. He was right, of course. As we all grew up side by side over the years, I'd felt something stirring deep inside, a yearning that I hadn't been able to shake.

"Johnny," Knight chuckled, "You doubted me all along. But here she is, our fated mate, standing before us, ready to be claimed."

I couldn't argue with the smugness in his tone. My inner wolf had been whispering about this moment for a whole year now, ever since we turned eighteen, got our wolves and shifted for the first time. The bond was undeniable, a magnetic force that had been building between us since our first playdates in the Greyson Royal Compound's vast gardens. It was like a secret that everyone but me and my three identical brothers had known, and now, it was out in the open.

Sarah's eyes widened with the realization, her body frozen in shock. Four alpha wolves, the future wolf kings of our pack, had just got fated to an omega by the Moon Goddess. My brothers and I communicated via mind-link, shocked that we got our wish, the girl of our dreams.

"Guys, guys, guys," Jayce's voice rang out over our mind-link, a mix of excitement and disbelief. "Can you believe it? She's ours!"

"Oh my god, I told you so," My mind-link voice was smug and filled with victory. My inner wolf, Knight, was practically doing backflips in my mind. "I knew she was ours the moment we started crushing on her."

Joey's mind-voice was a jumble of glee and astonishment, "It's like we hit the jackpot, right?"

Jason's mental-voice was the first to cut through the euphoria, "Guys, guys, guys! Do you know what this means? Sarah really was ours! All of ours this whole entire time!" His excitement was tense, even through the psychic connection.

Then, she did the unthinkable. Panic clouded her beautiful face, and she stumbled, her legs giving out as she tried to approach us. She didn't see the edge, the precipice that loomed just beyond the shadows. And in a heart-wrenching moment, she vanished into the abyss.

The sound of her body striking the earth below echoed through the night, a symphony of snaps and crunches that made our hearts sink into our stomachs. My brothers and I exchanged a horrified look. My wolf, Knight, howled in anguish within me.

"Sarah!" I bellowed, the sound ripping from my chest as I sprinted to the edge of the cliff. The world around us seemed to freeze, the only movement was the fluttering of leaves in the breeze. The mind-link between us was a deafening sound of fear and pain.

---♡ JOEY'S POV ♡---

"Noooo! Sarah!" I called out in my wolf-like voice. We all howled in unison, still in our wolf forms, the sound tearing through the night, a chorus of regret and desperation. The bond was clear now, the connection unmistakable. We had been blind fools, thinking we could control her, own her, claim her because we didn't want anyone else with her. She was ours all along, but we hadn't seen it. And now, she was gone. My Goddess, my sweet Sarah has fallen. Could she be dead? No, I would feel it. We all would.

With a jolt of pain and a flash of light, we transformed back into our human forms, naked and shivering. The cold air bit at our skin, a stark reminder of the horror we had just witnessed.

"Oh God. I don't see her," I whispered, my eyes darting back and forth. Panic painted me white as I took a step closer to the edge, my hand reaching out into the void where she had fallen.

Kane, my inner wolf, paced within my mind, his thoughts a deafening sound of distress. **"We must find her. She lives. She's in pain,"** he urged, his voice a low growl. I could feel his anxiety, a mirror to my own racing heart. **"Her scent is faint but present. She's alive, but not for long if we don't act."** The urgency in his tone was palpable, a stark contrast to the cold silence that had descended upon us.

"Guys, Kane says she's alive," I called out, my voice cracking with hope and fear. "We need to find her. Now."

"How far down do you think it is?" Johnathan asked me, his voice barely a whisper. I couldn't tear my gaze away from the spot where she had disappeared.

"Too far," I murmured, the words feeling like shards of glass in my throat. "We have to get help."

My brothers and I stumbled away from the edge of the cliff, each step heavier than the last. Guilt weighed on us like thick, suffocating blankets, smothering any hope we had of making this right. We had done the unthinkable. We had hurt her, and now she was gone. Why did we chase her in the dark? She couldn't see good in her human form. And what about her wolf? It's a little pass midnight now and she didn't even get to shift, for her very first time, before falling in that dark abyss.

Kane, my inner wolf, was panting in my mind. **"We must hurry,"** he urged, his thoughts echoing like a drum in a hollow chamber. **"The Moon Goddess whispers to me, she's slipping away."** His desperation was tense, a stark reminder that our fated mate's life was hanging by a thread.

"Guys, we don't have time to wallow," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "We have to find her. We can't let her die, not now, not like this."

King, Jayce's inner wolf, let out a low growl of agreement. **"The bond is fading,"** he communicated through our quadruplet mind-link. **"If we don't find her soon, she will be lost to us forever."**

Panic surged through my veins, and I knew we had to move. "Come on," I shouted, pushing aside the brambles that clung to my legs. The night was eerily silent, as if the forest itself mourned the loss of the vibrant life we just had with us, Sarah. The scent of her fear and pain lingered in the air, a beacon leading us through the dense underbrush. We could feel it in our very marrow, the connection that bound us as one.

---♡ JASON'S POV ♡---

"We killed her," I said, my voice shaking with sobs. "Our mate, we ended her precious life. And why? Because we're s**t heads." I collapsed to my knees, my body wracked with grief. My brothers Jayce, Joey and Johnathan stood frozen, their expressions a mirror of my own horror.

"No," I said, my voice firm despite the tremor in my chest. "Koda," I murmured, my voice strained with desperation as the wind whispered through the trees. "Can you feel her? Is she still with us?"

My inner wolf, a creature of fierce loyalty and sharp instincts, responded immediately. His presence was a comforting warmth in my mind, a stark contrast to the cold fear that gripped my heart. "Her scent is faint," he growled, his voice a low rumble. "But her heartbeat is steady."

"Her heart is still beating. I can hear it. She's alive. Somewhere down there," I said to my brothers.

Koda, my inner wolf, was a fierce presence in the forefront of my thoughts. **"Go to her, Jason,"** he urged, his voice a soothing balm to the chaos in my mind. **"Her life force is faint, but it is there. Don't let her slip away from us."** I nodded, the gravity of the situation settling heavy on my shoulders. I knew he was right. I nodded, clinging to the hope Koda offered. In the world of werewolves, the bond between fated mates was sacred.

"I'm coming, baby girl," I whispered into the night, the words carrying on the breeze, a promise to the girl who had captured our hearts. My brothers exchanged a grim look, understanding the urgency of the moment. They knew as well as I did that if we didn't find her soon, it would be too late. The bond between mates was strong, but even it had limits.

It is said that when a wolf finds theirs, the bond is unbreakable, a silver thread of fate that links them for all eternity. It was a bond that could span miles, transcend time, and even overcome death itself. "Take me to her," I ordered, and Koda's eyes gleamed with a fierce determination that mirrored my own.

We all stood there, naked and cold, listening intently. The sound of crickets and the distant howl of a lone wolf were the only things piercing the silence of the night. And then, as if by some divine intervention, I heard it—a small, faint thump-thump, thump-thump. "Guys," I whispered, "she's alive. That's her heart. We have to find her."

Johnathan's eyes went wide with hope, and Joey's shoulders slumped with relief. The weight of what we had done was crushing us, but the knowledge that she was still breathing, that her heart still beat, gave us a glimmer of hope. "Jason, you can hear it?" Johnathan asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.

"Yeah," I replied, straining my wolf hearing to pinpoint the sound. "It's faint, but it's hers. We need to find her."

The night was eerily still, the only sound being the distant echo of her heartbeat. It was a symphony of hope in the silence. We hurriedly pulled on our clothes, that we had stashed not too far from our location, the cold air stinging our skin as we descended into the dense forest below. The moon cast a silver glow through the canopy, guiding us like a beacon to her side. Every twig that snapped underfoot sounded like a gunshot, making my heart pound in rhythm with hers. We had to move fast. She's hurt, and the smell of blood was faint but present in the air.

---♡ SARAH'S POV ♡---

The night is a thick, inky blanket that smothers me. I don't have my wolf yet. I didn't get to do my first shift. I don't even know if I can. I took a misstep trying to go to my new mates, the Knox quadruplets, my handsome Jayce, Johnathan, Joey and Jason. I've fallen off the cliffside into a ravine. My body screams with pain, my bones feeling as though they're grinding together. I can't move. Can't speak, not even strong enough to mind-link them. I'm just... here. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth, and I'm pretty sure a couple of teeth have met an untimely end.

The night sky above is the only thing that gives me any comfort right now. The pain is excruciating. It's so vast and beautiful up there. The stars wink at me, as if they're sharing a secret that I'm not privy to. They're a cruel reminder of how short life can be, of the life I've known and the possible future that I may never know now with my new mates.

I'm just a poor, lowly she-wolf, an omega, born into servitude, living in a world of elite werewolves. I just got fated to four beautiful future alphas. The wolf council would never honor our union. The pack laws forbid such things, they're strict, old and rigid, like the very members that sit on the council.

My body is a symphony of pain. Every breath feels like knives stabbing my chest, and my head is pounding like a drum at a heavy metal concert. The taste of copper fills my mouth. The thought makes me want to cry, but even that seems like too much of an effort. Movement is out of the question. The only thing I can do is lay here, staring up at the sky, and wait for whatever fate has in store for me.

The stars above are like glittering jewels scattered across black velvet. They seem so close, like I could just reach out and pluck them from the sky. They're the only things that make me feel anything other than pain right now. The beauty of them feels like a cruel joke, a reminder of what I can't have. Freedom. Acceptance. Love. The very things the Knox quadruplets have been showering me with since we were kids.

And now, as I lay here broken and bleeding, all I can think about is how much I want to be one of them, a star in the night sky. But I don't want to leave them. My new fated mates. What about my twin brother, Justin? Can he feel me slipping away? What about my mom, Aunt Annie, Jessie and Megan? Grandpa and Grandma? My great aunt and uncle? My best friends?

As my eyes start to glaze over, the world around me fades to black. It's peaceful, almost comforting. For a second, I feel like I'm floating among those stars. Free of the bodily pain, free of my omega status bestowed upon birth. Maybe this is what dying feels like.

Maybe I'm crossing over, going to the other side. The thought brings a sad smile to my face. It's weird, but in a way, I'm okay with it. If I die here, at least I had it confirmed tonight, that what the five of us felt over the years was true, we are really mates as gifted by Gaia, our Moon Goddess. My eyes close and I slip away.

But my story doesn't end here. No! It's just beginning. The Moon Goddess has a very mysterious way of doing things. I guess that's why for us shifters or werewolves, she's our mother, our guiding light. Now let’s go back to the beginning, where it all began...