The Afterlife

Chapter 1: Death

"Kaori, man," teased Steven as he nuzzled his mate's hair. "You have got to find your mate already!"

Kaori sighed, watching as Nessa, Steve's mate, flicked her mate's hand away playfully as she scrolled her phone, seeming to ignore the two men for the most part. "Steve, you know it's not that easy. I can't just make her pop up out of nowhere."

"Well, maybe you should do something other than mope around all day. Training has to get boring sometimes," Steven replied.

Kaori rolled his eyes. "Steven, training the apprentices and younger pack members is my job, you know. Plus, I find it hardly boring. Do you find it boring to be the pack doctor? Everyone loves your expertise."

"It's not the same..." mumbled Steven. Kaori rolled his eyes again, but Steven's posture became more hunched as he sat farther forward on his chair, evidence of his friend's uncertainty.

"Don't feel bad, man. You know I feel bad enough as it is about what happened with my brother all those years ago." Kaori sighed again, but decided to change the subject. "Hey, have you seen my father recently? He wants me to learn some more defense tactics from him."

"I heard there was some issue at the border, man. You might want to check on that if you want to look from him."

"Cool, thanks." He raised his hand in a fist-bump, offering to Steve. "Catch ya later, man," he said as he rose. "Bye, Nessa."

"See ya."

Despite the casual conversation, though, Kaori couldn't help but wonder about his mate as he walked to find the Alpha, hoping that he might have a clue where his father was. What was she like? What was her wolf like? Would they get along? Oh -- wait, of course, they would get along, they were supposed to be mates after all...

He remembered when he and Steven were seventeen and in school. They'd made a silly bet about who might find their mates first. But about a year ago, when the Alpha had found his mate, he'd invited his mate's family to the celebration. And where was Nessa? Nessa, they'd realized, was none other than the new Luna's younger sister.

Lucky duck. Lucky, lucky duck, he grumbled.

Unsurprisingly, the Alpha's office door was closed. Alpha Leo was likely out helping resolve the issue at the border. If Steven had been right -- which he had; he'd probably heard it from Nessa -- his father would be with him too. His father, being the head warrior, was often dispatched as the Alpha's personal bodyguard during these sorts of situations, and the fact that he was able to remain calm like no one else definitely helped mitigate any blood that would potentially boil.

Kaori considered using the mind link to contact them, but decided against it. Their pack rarely used it when it wasn't to contact their mates, preferring to respect each other's right to peace and quiet and only reach out in emergencies. If his father and the Alpha were busy at the moment, the last thing they would want is to be interrupted by Kaori asking where they were. He could scent them out instead.

As soon as he shifted into his wolf, his nose led the way easily. His father's scent he knew well, and Alpha Leo was a familiar scent as well; they'd grown up together and were on good terms, though hardly as good as he was with Steven. As he approached, though, he realized there was something ... strange about what he picked up. He looked at the trees, then looked around him. Nothing seemed off -- at least from what his wolf could see. But it wasn't anything unusual. It smelled sweet, familiar, like the scent of rain, roses, and teakwood mixed with his mother's detergent after she washed his laundry and Hiroki's when they were children -- the scent of childhood memories. Yet he swore that he had never smelled this scent before. Was there another wolf out there? Maybe a sister he never knew he had? Preposterous, he chided himself. You don't have a secret sister. That's impossible.