There was darkness. Maybe I had woken up, but there was only darkness. I felt small, insignificant, as if I was nothing. I could hear something. A small sound. Insignificant, just like me, but it was there. If I could hear it, it meant I was there too. I finally opened my eyes, only to see gray skies. The way they looked, it felt sad. I couldn't move. I was simply staring at the sad skies.
Then, the sound got closer. I had heard something similar, but where? I could recognize it, I knew I could. Then I realized what it was. The sound were snarls. A could feel a wolf near me, but I couldn't move or see it. I started breathing nervously as it got closer. I could feel it come closer and closer until the wolf was standing over me. It looked pissed and it was looking at me straight in the eyes. It stared for a moment, then it opened its mouth and bit my shoulder- hard. I screamed, but it sounded like a howl. I could feel blood reaching my face. The pain felt real, but at the same time, it didn't. I suddenly felt everything around me fading, until there was nothing, just like in the beginning.
I woke up startled from a phone call. My breathing was quick, my body was sweaty and I felt anxious. I took a few breaths to calm myself down and then looked at my left shoulder. Thankfully it was alright. The past nights had passed similarly. Nightmares, darkness, and then, death.
I took deep breaths and looked at my phone. The name Iris flashed in the screen. I answered as soon as I realized who it was.
"Hey, how's everything going? You called but I wasn't able to answer.." She told me.
"It's alright, babe. But I haven't had the best time over here."
"What happened?" She asked me in a careful tone.
"Um, my mom, she... she was killed some days ago." I said. My body felt heavy and my mind felt out of place right after I said that, as if something was pulling me down to the ground and a dark cloud was hovering above me.
Iris was silent, but she was still there. I could hear her breathing through the phone. I could hear her taking deep breaths before she spoke to me.
"Where is the pack you're in right now?" She asked in a serious tone.
"What?" I asked her. I wasn't expecting her to ask me that. I wasn't sure what to expect from her to be honest. She knew more than she pretended to, and she was an amazing friend that knew what to say and how to say it. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew it was something good.
"I need to be there right now for you. I've always been before, and I'm not letting a few miles get between that. Where is the pack?" She told me in a calm yet worried tone.
"As much as I would love it right now, it's not that simple-" I got interrupted by her.
"Look for Rudolph." She ordered me.
"But, what for?" I asked.
"It's his pack. I'll ask him for permission and directions." She said in a casual tone. I wouldn't be surprised if she was in her room eating a bowl of ice cream right now with how she was acting. Yet all those things, made me love her and want her more.
"I'll speak with him, babe. I don't promise anything though." I said.
"At least try. Call me when you're done. I love you." She told me.
"I love you back." I said. But I felt that I needed to compensate for my lack of communication.
"I miss you a lot. I'm sorry I didn't call or message you before last night. I uh-" I took a deep breath and sighed. "it hasn't been easy. But it's no excuse. I'm sorry."
"It's alright, I understand. If you talked with Rudolph and convinced him of letting me in I would compensate you for not calling either." She told me in a flirty tone.
I gulped and a grin covered my face. "Really?.."
"Yes really." She said in a happy tone.
I could feel my wolf howling for my mate. He wasn't always there, but I could feel him now, and big time.
"Well, I'll do all I can." I said with an amused tone.
"I love you." Iris suddenly said. There were moments like this where she was a bit awkward, but I only saw it as cuteness.
"I love you too." I told her with a sincere tone and a smile covered my face.
"I'll talk to him now."
"Okay.." She replied.
"Talk to you later babe."
"Goodbye babe." She hang up after saying that.
When we finished the conversation, I could only think about Iris. I needed to convince him of letting Iris inside pack territory, we needed to be together. Then I remembered that I also needed to convince him to let me go and meet my family in another pack we could have an alliance with.
-
I went downstairs and saw the Beta of the pack talking with Harry. He had been investigating disappearances that happened in Amber Sunset a few days before Harry, Autumn and I arrived.
"Hey Jim, Harry. Is the alpha around?" I asked the Beta.
"He left to the pack prison a while back. He's probably there." Jim answered.
"Thanks." I said.
Before I reached the door Harry reached my shoulder.
"Hey, did you sleep well? You look a bit bad."
"I didn't sleep that well, but I'm alright. Thanks for worrying though."
Harry and Jim kept talking while I left to the pack prison. There I found Rudolph talking to some young teenagers.
"... And another technique our trackers use is..." He noticed I was there and turned to look at me. "Um, Joseph why don't you continue instructing the newbs on how to be a great tracker? I have to attend some things."
He walked toward me after waving goodbye at the youngsters.
"Teaching them how to track?" I asked him.
"Yeah. Our pack isn't known for having the best trackers of the country purely for talent. We train them as soon as they first shift." He suddenly seemed thoughtful. "If only we had enough members for this territory. Perhaps, that way, we could've saved your mother. I'm still sorry about it."
"It's alright. We can't change the past, but that's not why I'm here. I wanted to ask you something." I told him with my gaze on the ground. I knew I wasn't alright just yet.
When I looked at him he examined my face through narrowed eyes. "You have bags under your eyes. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just had a rough night, nothing to worry about." I answered him.
"So, what do you want?" He asked.
"Actually it's two things." I looked at the ground again as I tried to arrange my thoughts and ask him in a way I could convince him. When I looked at him, he had one eyebrow raised. "Can my mate come to the pack? She wants to be here with me and I miss her."
"I didn't know you had a mate. I mean- you know what, never mind. What's the other thing?" He said with a confused expression.
"Well, Harry told me my mother has a twin sister. She's the Luna of Ceiba Negra pack. They're the only family I have, and they could help us with a battle against Gazer. I would go there and try to convince them into joining us." I explained myself.
He shook his head before answering me.
"Ceiba Negra is a peaceful pack. One of the best packs at maintaining a low profile. I doubt Ceiba Negra will join us in battle." He told me with a serious expression, but then his features softened and a small smile appeared in his face. "But I won't neglect you the opportunity to meet your family. Ceiba Negra are good people, they'll take care of you, but what about your mate?"
"Could she come with me? I mean, she wanted to meet my mom, and couldn't." I said in a low tone.
"She's your mate, you know her better than I do." He told me.
"Yeah. I haven't told her about going to Puerto Rico, but she asked if she could come to the pack. So um, can she come to the pack?" I asked him expectantly.
"If I asked if your mate was going with you to Puerto Rico, I guess that means that I sort of, I don't know... agree?" He said in a sarcastic tone with a grin in his face.
"Oh, well, thanks Rudolph." I told him awkwardly. He seemed a lot more relaxed and carefree than the definition Autumn gave me on Alphas.
"I'm glad that's settled." He said with a sincere smile. "How is she though, your mate?"
"She's awesome! She's funny, cute, smart, a bit of an introvert, but she talks, and whenever you're sad she knows what to say to make everything better." I said excitedly. I couldn't help but feel like a little kid, but it was Iris, my crush, my best friend, my mate. How could I not be excited?
"Sound nice. Well, if I said she can, it goes. When is she coming?" He asked me.
"She's waiting for my call. Knowing her, as soon as I talk to her she'll pack and come."
He chuckled and then full-out laughed. I looked at him confused but with a smile in my face, his laugh was contagious. "What's so funny?" I asked.
"I'm sorry. I know it's weird,- but I imagined a small cartoon packing quickly and then ringing my doorbell asking for you.- Don't ask me why." He said in between laughs.
"What?" I asked while chuckling.
"I don't know man." He cleared a tear that escaped from his right eye. "Heh, but it was funny though." He was having trouble maintaining a straight face, while he looked at the distance, probably still thinking about his imagined cartoon.
"So, can I go and call her?"
"Sure. Knock yourself out." He kept laughing.
-
"Great! Let me start packing. Should I bring short shorts?" Iris flirted.
"I haven't seen you in two and a half weeks, if you do that I might not control myself." I told her.
"That might be the idea." She whispered.
"Iris." I told her in a commanding, yet playful tone.
"I'm just kidding, babe." She said, going back to her usual tone. "I'm actually surprised he didn't have problems with me coming over. What did you say to convince him?" She asked.
"I don't think I did anything to convince him. He simply understood." I said, remembering our conversation. "He did ask about you though."
"What did he ask?"
"He asked about your personality."
"And what did you say?"
"The truth. How awesome you are, and how great you are with other people." I answered sincerely with a smile on my face.
"How awesome I am with other people? What does that mean?" She asked in a confused tone.
"I mean with words. You can make anyone feel better with one conversation. You're someone who understands, and it's one of the things I love most about you." I said with my cheeks starting to feel warm.
"Oh my god. That was-" she was interrupted by something. I couldn't quite understand what it was though. "Oh my god!" She said in surprise.
"What?" I asked worried.
"My parents are at it again."
I laughed loudly. Just imagining her cute disgusted expression made me smile.
"Don't laugh. It's disgusting." She said whining. "This is another reason to leave the house, and another reason to be there with you."
"How is that a reason to be here with me?" I said in a husky voice.
She was silent for a moment before she answered me.
"It gives me ideas." She said seductively.
My wolf howled inside of me. Sometimes it seemed he only appeared whenever she was around. Sure, I sometimes felt like running and loved to be in my wolf form, but whenever it was about her, his presence was inescapable. I can't deny though, I was about to howl myself. I was most likely smiling like a dork.
I cleared my throat to make sure I didn't get a sudden high pitch in my voice.
"Will I like the idea?" I asked in a husky tone.
"I think that's the idea." She whispered.
I then heard what was happening. Whatever they were doing, they were enjoying it. Yes, it was awkward.
"I'm gonna head out to eat. I don't want to be here when they finish, or start again." She told me almost whining.
"Go to my mom's house. Since the day we went to eat and some wolves found us I don't trust the city as a go to place." I said serious.
"And how is your mom's home going to protect me?" She asked.
"Autumn told me that rogues usually avoid Alpha scents. They might get confused, but my scent is there, it might protect you. Plus, Rachel's a great cook." I said explaining myself.
"Oh. In that case, I'll pack and go to their place, and then go to the pack tomorrow." She offered.
"Sure, that's a lot better than-" I got interrupted by a very loud moan from the two of them.
"That?" She said after a long silence.
"Why are you still there?" I said between chuckles.
"I'm still packing." She said quietly.
"Well, I suggest you finish before you get scarred for life."
"You know what, I'm just bringing these." She mumbled more to herself than me.
"You seem occupied. Call me when you finish eating at home, babe." I told her.
"Alright."
"I love you."
"I love you too. See you in the pack." She told me.
"Alright, bye."
"Bye." She hung up after saying that.
Then, right after she hang up I remembered about going to Puerto Rico to meet my family with her. But I let it pass since she was in a hurry.
I decided to take a small nap, but I couldn't close my eyes, not enough to fall asleep at least. I simply decided to stare at the ceiling and think. Many thoughts came to me, from Jo, to Rachel, to Iris, and eventually, mom. I felt happy that I had people that cared about me.
Then Autumn bursted through the door.
"Aiden! It's your mom!" She shouted.
I got up from the bed and ran toward the door. It closed right before I opened it, and when I did, I fell into darkness.
I didn't know what was going on. I heard mom scream my name. I called out for her, but I couldn't see her.
"Mom! Mom where are you?!"
"Aiden! Aiden help me!" She screamed.
I didn't know what to do. My eyes began to water as I saw nothing but darkness. I looked at my hands and I could see them, but everything else was black. Then she became silent. I yelled again, and again, but she didn't answer.
While I kept screaming, I saw the glimpse of a wolf running toward me. I tried shifting, but it didn't work. The wolf came closer and closer to me. When it was close enough, I saw its snout covered in blood. I got scared and started running away from it. When I looked back I saw nothing, but then I faced forward and it was there, in mid air, it was going to bite me.
I woke up scared and confused from this short nightmare. It was like a curse. Every time I went to sleep I had a nightmare. It took me a moment to realize where I was, who was alive... And who wasn't. I looked around me and I saw Autumn looking at me with a confused look on her face.
"Aiden?" She said in a careful and quiet tone.
She looked at me with sad eyes and I couldn't help but have my eyes water.
I looked away from her and said "I'm fine."
"No you're not." She said and examined me with her eyes.
I sat in a way where I gave her my back and the frustration became so much I started crying. I was facing a window that showed a great sunlight, enough to bother my eyes. I closed my eyes and felt frustration rise inside of me. I punched the wall in the room out of anger and made a hole on the wall. "That's concrete" I thought to myself. I looked at my hand to see it bleeding, but I didn't feel in pain, at least not like the way it looked.
"Sorry." I told her quietly.
"Aiden, what's going on?" She told me.
She walked around the bed to reach me.
"Look at me." She ordered.
I did. I could see her get surprised when she saw me. She gave me a sad look and kneeled in front of me.
"What's going on? You can tell me." She told me.
"I'm just-" I couldn't finish. I looked away from her to look up and try and get my thoughts back together.
"Look at me." She ordered again.
I could see in her eyes she felt sorry for me. I closed my eyes and bowed my head down in frustration.
Then I felt her lips kiss mine.
I pushed her away and she immediately started saying "I'm sorry, oh my god! I'm sorry," when she fell to the floor. She got up and walked toward the door and started crying.
"Autumn!" I called to her trying to make her stop, not sure why she just did what she did.
She stopped and then looked at me with even sadder eyes than before.
"Why aren't you my mate?" She told me, and then, when a pained expression came over her face, she ran away.