My Peculiar Human Mate

2. CAUTION!

HEIDI POV

How is it possible that this thirst trap morphed into such a majestic creature? A HUGE wolf with dark brown fur, very soft fur. Had I, and the other girls, not seen what we had seen, I would have thought that I must have escaped into a false reality to cope with the trauma I’ve been through. If watching daytime TV showed me anything, it’s how to self-diagnose.

I had to stop myself from slapping myself. This could all be a dream after all. Alex, Mr. Deliciously perfect, pranced into one of the rooms and after a few minutes he peeked his head out, eyeing me like he was analyzing me. “Okaaay… so werewolves exist. Point proven.” There was no glossing over that proven fact.

Even though a part of me kept telling myself I was only going along with their fantastical tale because I wanted them to let me leave… how could I ignore the wolf in the room? “Does that mean you accept that we are mates?” He asked with so much hope and began to make his way into the room. s**t! I wasn’t quite ready to tackle that one yet.

One life-altering event at a time, sexy beast. “I… I…” I didn’t realize I was panting for air, as if I was suffocating, until he sat next to me. Then I noticed he was wearing my tiny bathrobe. He was going to bust out and give me a show any second now. I felt flustered and was seconds away from telling him I would follow him anywhere. “Calm down ba-Heidi, please.” He ran his hands down my back and looked at me with the gentlest eyes.

His hotness was annoying me. There were too many things I needed to sort out before I could drool over him. “Stop!” I held my hands up, signaling I needed him to give me space. He removed his hand and scooted away, leaving a space between us. I saw the pain and a hint of panic in his eyes. Why did it affect me so much to see him in distress?

I knew the reason why I was hesitating. It’s every teenage girl's dream to be gifted a prince charming. Yet even though everyone I’ve encountered here, wolf or not, has been nothing but nice. It doesn’t change the fact that all the others I’ve encountered before, the ones who took me, have been true monsters. How can I be sure they really aren’t all bad?

He sighed deeply and looked nervous as hell. “I’m sorry you went through so much before I had a chance to meet you. I assure you I would never have let that happen to you.” I believed him, so I must have been nuts since I just met him. “Why don’t we eat and then… we can talk a little more.” I agreed because what else could I do? Part of me wanted to be whisked away and the sane part said CAUTION!

I wasn’t sure why it took so long to hit me. I’ve been surrounded by these… wolves or werewolves for over a week and although I kept my guard up, I hadn’t felt this unease that I do now. Maybe that’s why I had been reluctant to let them show me the truth. Being told something and having it displayed right in front of you is night and day.

ALPHA ALEX POV

I've never chewed my food so many times. It was pureed by the time I swallowed it. Every second with her was precious and I took full advantage of it. I took her in, all of her. Her adorable doll face that didn't need makeup. Big blue eyes, porcelain skin, pink cheeks and those lips that looked like they were puckered and ready to be kissed. A doll's face with a feisty character, so deceptive.

She cleared her throat and I realized I had been staring at her. Looking away, I tried to focus on eating as we made small talk. It took everything in me not to bring up the fact that I have to leave soon and that she should come with me. The way she sat, stiff as a board, was a sign that she was still processing what she had just seen. So, I finished eating and left in order to give her some space.

Everything with Heidi needed to be handled carefully. I didn’t want to pressure or rush her into things but, I wasn’t sure how much time I had before everything came crashing down. Right now, all the allied pack are aware of the investigations that will be taking place starting tomorrow. I don’t know how many are willing and how many are going to make a defiant stand against it.

I was lost in my head when my dad’s voice broke me out of the fog I was in. “ALEX! Come with me.” He looked panicked and very few things that don’t involve my mother put that look on his face. I followed behind as we went to the front of the council building where two large trucks were coming through the gates. “We found them just outside of the view of the cameras.” Jordan announced as he walked over.

What was he talking about? I didn’t see anyone with them. “Who?” I asked and he turned to look at the bed of the trucks. That’s when I finally recognized the scent that I hadn’t placed when the trucks first neared. Death. Each truck had five or six women, humans, that were beaten and had claw marks all over them.

Was this someone’s response to the notice? “Do we know who did it?” I asked and my dad sighed. “So far, fifty-five packs agreed to the search. There are still eight packs that are pushing back, asking for cause.” More like stalling. “So… this could be a message from one or all of them.” My gut hurt, speaking so casually about the innocent lives snuffed out just to get a point across.

My dad nodded as he stared at the mangled bodies. “We are giving the last eight packs until tomorrow to comply. If they don’t, we are starting the investigations with them since they appear to have something to hide.” He looked away and nudged me to take a few steps back from the trucks. “We don’t know which packs are responsible for this and which packs are simply not interested in being put under the microscope.” He explained as the trucks made their way to the clinic, where the morgue was.

Dad and I stood across the way and watched as staff from the clinic came out, body bags in hand. The look on their faces was what I had expected. Mortification. Had they not reacted that way, I would have wondered what the hell was wrong with them. They might not be wolves, but they are living beings that deserved better than what was done to them.

I’m not sure if seeing those poor women’s lifeless bodies affected me more because they were in the same situation Heidi had been, but it hit me hard. I’d been in battle, seen death, but this was different. I heard a scream of horror that stopped me in my tracks. “Heidi.” Logan panicked. The look of sheer terror as she watched the bodies being put into body bags and loaded onto gurneys had me running to her side.

I wanted to punch myself for not thinking she might come out like she usually does. The trucks should have gone to the back of the clinic. “Wh… what happened to them?!” She evaded my arms that were trying to make their way around her. “Let’s go inside and I’ll explain.” She gave me a look that gutted me. Disgust.

She shook her head and took a few steps back. “Those girls… those girls are torn apart! Why?” There were tears streaming down her cheeks and anger burning in her eyes. “Please baby, calm down and breathe.” I pleaded with her. She was pale and her chest was heaving, as if she couldn’t take a breath. I wanted to sooth her, comfort her, but I was scared I would make things worse.

I felt Uncle Rob approach me from behind and saw the relief in her eyes. As much as it upset me that another man was causing her comfort, I was glad someone could help her. “It’s okay Heidi. Let’s go inside. After you calm down, we will explain everything.” He spoke softly and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leading her inside.

Both Logan and I felt useless. Our mate was in distress and there was nothing we could do. In fact, had we tried, we probably would have made things worse. She was scared of me, scared of all of us. These women were the first casualties of the war that was to come. How can I expect her to understand that it wasn’t our doing? If in a way, it was.

We had pushed the allied packs to choose a side. Basically, telling them that we knew not all of them were following the werewolf laws. Instead of doing what the rest of the packs did, firmly declining our offer, they agreed but didn’t have any intention of towing the line. They were only pretending to have the same vision we had.

Now that they have top of the line security and businesses, we helped them obtain to generate money for their packs. They think they have no need for us. This morbid message is their way of removing themselves from the agreement and showing their true colors. That alone is reason enough for us to treat them as our enemies and use all our resources to shut them down.

They may not fear what’s coming yet, but what they don’t understand is that their actions have not only affected the alliance they have with us and with the council. They set me back where Heidi is concerned, and that I cannot have. They had better pray to the Moon Goddess that she doesn’t reject me because of this. “Bodies will hit the floor if she does.” Logan growled.