The Icy Beta: Chapter Thirty One
“The weather looks great today. You know we could actually go out and cycle in this good weather.” I stared out of the window and looked back to the sleeping Brayden. Few days have past and Brayden did not have any signs of waking up. On the other hand, Chase had fully recovered from his injuries. I was glad. I had not tried contacting my wolf and I thought I should give it a shot.
‘Hello?’
No response.
‘Wolf?’
No response.
‘Beast?’
‘What do you want?’
‘Beast?!’
‘What kind of response is that?’ She sounded pretty irritated.
‘You are really the beast?’
‘Yes. But you can stop calling me ‘the beast’. I can be considered as a wolf now.’
‘But… how?’
‘After being marked, I could feel the love and emotions from my mate. That caused me to calm down. Previously, I was acting on my animal instinct to hunt and kill preys, and hence I wanted to dominate so to get control of everything. Now with the mark, I could think more rationally. I will not going on a rampage attacking people anymore. I have learnt how to accept and love.’
‘Does that mean you have accepted me as part of you?’ I asked hopefully.
‘… Get me a name. I don’t want to be known as ‘the beast’.’ Ah. She sure wad a strong-headed beast. She was feeling embarrassed to directly say that she had accepted me. Instead, she asked me to pick a name for her. She was cute in her own way.
‘Are you going to get me a name or not?’ She was irritated that I didn't respond or should I say she pretended to be irritated to hide her embarrassment.
‘Well… What name do you like? Valeria? Jade? Summer? Melissa? Hazel?’ I provided a list of names for her to pick the one she loved most.
‘Hazel.’ Honestly, I liked that name too.
‘So… You are not going to turn into a beast anymore?’ I asked.
‘No. If I’m too angry, I would probably only turned into a white wolf rather than the black beast. One difference between us and the others would be the eyes. For normal wolves, their eyes would turn black when they are angry. However, ours would become red instead. I have learnt to control and not act on instinct. I wouldn’t go around killing innocent people. However, as of our mate, you are not to keep him to yourself. I want to have some time to spend with his wolf.’ Hazel demanded and wasn't giving me any options. But I liked the way she mentioned ‘us’ and ‘our’. It was an indication that she had accepted me as part of her and her as part of me.
‘His wolf… Are you able to reach out to his wolf?’
‘His wolf is still very weak. However, he’s better than before already. When they had marked us, they took in some of our blood. Beasts are much stronger and heal faster than normal wolves. I can feel that his wolf is at the state of recovering. They would need a few more days or weeks to recover.’ That was really good news to me.
‘Thanks a lot, Hazel.’
‘You’re… Welcome.’ Hazal said awkwardly. She was probably feeling embarrassed. I could feel her fading off to the back of my mind.
I looked back to Brayden. I hoped that he was really going to wake up any time now. I just couldn’t wait any much longer. Waiting was a tough job. I had always been waiting for him. I couldn’t help but to complain to him.
“You should wake up already. If you don’t, I’m going to be angry with you. You have made me wait for too long, Brayden. Since the first day we met, I have been waiting for you. Waiting for you to come to me. Waiting for you to accept me.” I thought for a while before continuing. “I have decided to punish you once you wake up. How should I punish you?”
“I’m going to demand you to cook for me every day. Washing the toilet becomes your job. You must drive me to school and back home every day. You must bring me out every weekend….” I went on rumbling about everything that I could think of. I wasn't sure whether he could hear me or not but I didn't really care. I just rambled on and on. The childish part of me hoped that he would think that I was noisy and he would wake up and ask me to shut my mouth up.
Days had past and Brayden was still lying on his bed. That lazy bum of his must had forgotten on how to get up.
This year, the annual werewolf gathering was organized. This time the annual gathering wad planned by the Red Blood Pack. I was told that the purpose of this gathering was to allow unmated wolves to find their mates, wolves to catch up with their family members and also to give the different Alphas all over the world a place to claim peace with each other.
However, I believed the main motive of the gathering was to let Alphas of different packs to socialize. It may deem to be similar as those human’s business-social event. The place where representatives from different companies come together to exchange their contacts, relate to one another and then signed a trillion dollar contract, followed by exchanging a few handshakes and a few standard business laughter.
As for werewolves, Alphas tried to socialize with one another and exchanged contacts so as to form alliances. If a war occurred, they would be able to get back ups. On the other hand, some Alphas disliked wars and this gathering would be for them to maintain good terms with every Alphas and hence avoiding getting involved in wars.
As for meeting mates and catching up with family members, I think that wad a by-product. It was something that hopefully would happen naturally in a gathering.
“Hailey, are you ready?” Chloe knocked on my room door before entering.
“Yes.” I was wearing a simple pink dress and with minimal make-up on my face.
At first I didn’t want to leave Brayden alone in the room but they told me that since we were the host for this year gathering, we should at least show our face for a while. In addition to the beast issue, I had to attend and give some explanation. Jayden would also be telling them that I wasn't part of the pack yet. I was still under observation and he also had to assure them that if I became a threat to the werewolf clan, he will take responsible of it and take actions against me.
I didn’t have an option but to go. The whole beast thing was a mess that I had created. Before I left with Chloe, I went to Brayden.
“Brayden, I’m just going to leave you for a while. The gathering is just held outside, at the garden. I will be back soon.” I pecked him on his lips before heading out.
When Chloe and I stepped into the garden, the place was filled with people. Chloe and I headed to where Madison and others were. Ava and Chase were at one corner talking to a group of people. I recognized one lady as Chase’s mum. The man standing beside her probably was Chase’s dad. Chase was placing his hand on Ava’s waist protectively. I hoped this time Chase’s parents wouldn’t say any negative things again.
After minutes of wait, Jayden walked up to the stage built at one end of the garden. He stood at the middle of the stage, in front of the microphone stand.
“I, Alpha Jayden, sincerely welcome all of you to the annual werewolf gathering. I hope all of you would have a great time today. I know you might have heard of the incident that happened in my pack. And I know all of you might have a lot of questions to ask. Please do not worry. I will clear each and every of your doubts.” Jayden looked around the crowd and fixed his eyes on me.
“Hailey, please come up to the stage.” Jayden instructed me. I could hear some whisperings and murmurings within the crowd as I walked up the stage. I stood beside Jayden nervously. I never knew I had stage fright. I didn’t even dare to look at the audience. I could feel their eyes were focusing on me and the people were constantly whispering to each other. Everyone was waiting for me to say something.
“As… As all of you know, I am not a born werewolf. I was a created beast.” When I mentioned the word ‘beast’, the whisperings within the crowd started to get louder.
“Or you could say that I was a born beast. I was born to be a beast. Just few weeks ago, I turned into a beast and went attacking the pack members randomly. However, all these had been resolved by having my mate marking me.” I shoved my hair aside and revealed Brayden’s mark at the side of my neck.
“I talked to my wolf few days back. She has assured me that she would not go beast anymore. With the marking, it will make her feel calm and rational.”
“I heard your mate is Red Blood Pack’s beta. However, I also heard that he has been in coma for weeks. Is that the after effect of him marking you? If he died and mate bond broke, will you turn into a beast again?” Someone from the crowd shouted out.
“Yea!! He’s right! You are like a time-bomb. How do we know how long will the marking helps?” Another man shouted towards the stage. This caused the rest of the people to panic and shouted their questions at me all at once.
‘They are so irritating!’ Hazel suddenly commented in my mind.
‘What should we do?’ I started panicking also. I did not know how to deal with this chaotic situation. I took a look at Jayden and he seemed to be very unhappy. Ok. That was an understatement. He was furious.
“SILENCE!” The moment the word left his mouth, the whole surrounding gone quiet. How… I mean what I should do now? What should I say? I mean Hazel told me that she wasn't going to go beast again. But how should I convince them? Some questions that they asked I didn’t even have the confidence to reply. What if Brayden dies? I didn’t even want Brayden to die!! How would I know what would happen to me if he really dies?!
‘Mate. Mate. Mate.’ Suddenly, Hazel was dying to come out and take over.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Mate. Mate. Mate.’ She said nothing except continuously chanting the word ‘Mate’.
“I will be responsible for her.” This voice… I took a deep breath and caught on to this familiar smell – peppermint and lemon.
Without any more hesitation, I jumped down from the stage and dashed through the crowds. At this moment, I didn’t even care about anyone else. The only person in my mind was Brayden. I ran and ran till I reached the other end of the garden. There he was. Tears were streaming crazily down my cheeks. God. I love his blue eyes so much.
I sped to him and swung my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. “I thought I have lost you.”
“I’m sorry for letting you wait.” Brayden placed his arms around my waist and buried his face into the crook of my neck, breathing in my scent.
“I miss you so much.” I was clinging on him and not wanting to let go of him. His warm, his touch, his voice, his smell… I missed every single bit of him. My tears continued flowing down. But this time, I knew that the tears were due to happiness.
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This is the final chapter! Next will be the epilogue.
I'm working on the sequel. Actually I have an idea of writing another story, a stand alone book. But I guess I would probably write on the sequel first. Unless you guys are more interested in the stand-alone book. =)
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Last edited 16 June 2018