RISK

16

Xander replays Isabella's word over and over again in his head. Hearing his soulmate say the word mate is the most exciting, yet confusing, thing. She's not supposed know the word...but she does. In just that one word Xander could hear a change of tone in her voice. It was lower, still sounding like Isabella, but a deeper pitch. A mental image of her black eyes that were revealed when she opened her eyes, pops into his head. The feeling Xander's wolf got when his eyes connected with Isabella's dark ones was so pure. For a second, everything aligned. For the first time, Xander's wolf was seeing Isabella's wolf. Something Xander never thought would happen.

A knock on Isabella's front door pulls Xander from his thoughts and he quickly opens the door. In front of him stands Melissa and the only two people who could begin to piece together this abnormal situation, his parents.

"Hello son," his mom smiles, "I swear if this isn't an emergency and you made me and your father run all these miles here for nothing..." She says before even entering the house.

"Isabella's a werewolf." Xander hears how crazy the words sound coming from his lips, but it's nothing compared to the crazy looks his family is giving him.

"I'm leaving." Melissa says right before turning around. "This prank interrupted my Netflix binging, and yes it's probably for the best that I got out of my bed, but not for this Xander."

Xander's mom looks at him. "Miles, Xander! We ran miles." She begins to turn around too when Xander's words stop all three of them.

"Her eyes were pitch black and she called me her mate."

Melissa's annoyed face slowly starts to form a smile, "See now this, this is worth leaving my bed for."

The family stands around Isabella's body that is resting on her couch. Looks of confusion rest upon all of their faces as they look down at the sleeping girl below them.

"Ok, walk us through what happened one more time." Xander's father speaks.

Xander takes a deep breath. "I was telling her about us, about werewolves. She wanted me to prove it so I thought if I turned my eyes, she would believe me. So I surfaced my wolf just enough to shift my eyes. She looked into my eyes quickly, before closing them. Within a second she's crying, and she can't breathe-"

"Like a panic attack?" Melissa questions and Xander nods.

"She must have been so confused about her wolf surfacing, taking over her body. Poor girl, that must have been so scary." His mother says.

Xander remembers how scared he was seeing her like that. It was horrible, seeing his mate in that state of being.

"I don't know how I did it but my wolf commanded her to open her eyes and look at me."

"That's incredible." Xander's father says.

Xander's mom rolls her eyes, "No, it's manipulative, Benjamin." She corrects.

"Honey, I know no man should ever have the power to command his mate to do anything. It could be used for evil. I'm just saying Lauren, only the most powerful Alphas can do it, and one of this Alphas is Xander."

Lauren shakes her head, "That is the first and last time you're ever doing that again, Xander. It's the only time it was necessary."

Xander agrees with his mom, nodding his head.

"What happened next?" Melissa asks.

Xander thinks for a second. "She opened her eyes and her eyes were pitch black. My wolf saw her wolf for one second before she said the word mate, and fainted. Now she's just in a deep sleep. I think her wolf surfacing drained her energy."