JEN
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
I must have stared at the clock for almost 5 minutes waiting for my mates mother to open her mouth.
We were sitting in the living room of her house drinking tea, well, she was doing the drinking, I was just staring at her face trying to read her. Her blank stare didn't help much at all.
I looked around her house to notice the walls were bare. No pictures of her husband or even Shawn were visible anywhere. Not even a meaningless painting.
My ear twitched in annoyance as the clocks ticking became louder every second making me growl in frustration.
She jumped in her seat causing her concentrated face to look at my slightly irritated expression.
Whatever deep thought I had pulled her out of was what she probably wanted to discuss with me.
I cleared my throat again when she made no move to speak.
Her eyes finally snapped up to meet mine. I never noticed before, but her eyes were this extremely dark blue color. In other words, they were beautiful. I wonder if Shawn got his eyes from his father's side? Where is his father?
"If you don't mind me asking, Where is your husband?" It felt rude to ask but my curiosity got the better of me.
Her dark blue eyes swam with sadness and I immediately felt guilty.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"No it's okay. Really." Her eyes still had hurt but the small smile on her lips assured me.
"The reason I brought you here is because I wanted to tell you that everything my son is doing, is not of his own will."
I frowned. "What do you mean?" I said, trying to get her to elaborate.
She sighed a painful breath, her eyes filling with unshed tears. "I mean my son is not himself! My son is trapped in that body and I don't know what to do!" She yelled agitated all of a sudden.
I stood up to sit next to her and rubbed her arm, trying to calm her. "Please." I said sounding desperate. "Tell me what you mean?"
"My son gave his complete and utter control to his wolf. What I meant was, that's not my son, that is his wolf taking control of his body." She broke down to a sob in her hands.
I sat next to her completely still. "Why would he do that?" I asked horrified.
Giving your wolf complete and utter control of your human body was something close to a death wish.
The wolf part of our body is a beast. It's out of control and full of rage and bloodlust that cannot be satiated.
When a werewolf turns, they turn into a wolf but it is a human with a wolfs guidance and human qualities but when that human part is gone, it's just another animal on a bloodthirsty rampage.
You either have to be very desperate or completely crazy to unleash something that dangerous to the world.
His mother wept into her hands not answering my question and I was just bursting with more.
"What happened to him?" I whispered. For the first time in a long time, I felt some sort of relief. Relief because whatever my mate did wasn't really what my mate did. His mood swings started to make sense. Every time he showed an ounce of worry was the part of my real mate that was suppressed.
She finally calmed down and sniffled away any last tears. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have gone into the forest that day, my Shawn would be here with me and not that beast he calls his wolf."
She gritted her teeth in self-loathing making me anxious to hear the story.
"Nearly 14 years ago, my husband, Peter, was the Alpha of the Nocte pack and you know that being an Alphas child makes you completely vulnerable. You can't be left alone because any enemy of your father will be waiting for the right time and snatch you." I nodded in agreement because as a child I was kidnapped at least 3 times. It wasn't serious or anything, just a scare to lure my father. I was always home within hours.
"Well, Shawn was 8 years old when he was taken." She said, taking in a shaky breath. "He was only a child!"
I rubbed her back and urged her to go on.
"Shawn, Peter and I were taking a walk through the forest. Shawn couldn't shift yet so we always took a walk as a family. Then suddenly, while walking through the forest, my husband growled. I knew as soon as I smelled it. A wolf. It was a scent that I hadn't recognized and I stood their paralyzed with fear clutching Shawn to my legs. My husband was fast on his feet and he forced me to move and take our son somewhere safe. I was supposed to keep running and not look back. He told me not to, not even if I heard something I didn't like! Can you believe that?! He wanted me to not come to his aide! How could I not!" She chuckled humorlessly, shaking her head at the distant memory.
"Just as I heard his scream I knew I had to go back. So, I hid my dear sweet, little boy in a small opening under a tree and told him to be as quiet as possible and then I ran to my husband only to discover he was already gone. He was...dead."
The tears I tried to hold back were coming down my cheek. I silently cried as she went on with her story.
"I must have been gone for 2 minutes but as soon as I saw my...dead husband, I heard my little boy scream. I ran to him as fast as I could but by the time I got there, he was gone."
She looked at me with her beautiful dark blue eyes and gave me a small smile. It was full of pain but she tried to reassure me because I was starting to sob.
Hearing about my mate getting kidnapped was making me emotional. I was scared for him even though I know he survived and was okay.
I gave her a small smile in return, squeezing her hand to continue the story. "Years had passed but I didn't give up. I knew he was alive, he had to be. And then, after 10 years of being away from home, Shawn came back. I was talking to the Beta of my pack when we were informed of an intruder covered in blood. I didn't know it was Shawn at first until I smelled him. I raced towards him and threw my arms around him but he didn't hug me back. When I looked into his eyes, I knew it wasn't him. I took a step back to look at him. He was covered in blood and the blood was not his own. His eyes were so emotionless it was like he was statue. The only thing that reassured me he was alive was the movement of his chest. He took over the pack as soon as he arrived and I let him. It was my time to step down and he was of age but as soon as I stepped down, everything changed. My pack was over worked and over trained. I thought it was good thing because it made the pack mates strong and I was glad for the change."
She chuckled again. "Boy, was I stupid. 1 year passed and he did not change. He was cruel and animalistic that made me realize he had given control to his wolf. I always thought he was traumatized from being kidnapped but I realized it was something much worse. "
I shuddered. Even listening about the wolf in control scared me.
"It wasn't until we came here to your pack that I noticed even a slight change in him. I knew finding his mate would change something inside him and I was right."
She turned to me with hope shining bright in her eyes.
"You. You are my only hope in getting my son back. You have to stay." She gripped my hands tighter. Why was she telling me now? Why didn't she tell me this-oh yeah, I made her cry two years ago. Maybe that's what she wanted to tell me?
"You have to sta-" She continued but I had stopped listening to her because I had already made up my mind.
"I have to go." I shot up from my seat and ran towards the door leaving behind my stunned mother-in-law.
I was already deep into the forest when I changed into my wolf, running towards my new destination.
When I first decided to run, I was going to seek shelter with the White Pearl pack which was only a days trip from here but now, I was going to the Warriors Pack that was way across the country. They specialize in keeping the peace between packs when they were called upon. They were sort of the werewolf police I suppose. I knew what I had to do as soon as my mates mother had asked for my help.
I was going to learn everything I could before I came back to save my mate from himself.