~Alex~
That night, after visiting Nico's abandoned house, I couldn't sleep. It was as though the ghost of his memory was haunting me. In the gloom of my dark room, I toss and turn, my body entangled in a knot of blankets. After what seems like an eternity of staring up into the darkness, I shove away the irritating blankets. I sit on the edge of my bed and run a hand through my hair. I need to go for a run.
I change into running clothes and pull on a pair of tennis shoes. I ignore the fact that it is 12 a.m. No one would bother me about where I was going, I was an alpha and a male; I could protect myself. The entire house was dark and when I get outside I could see the surrounding houses were the same way. Everyone was either asleep or on their phones laying in the dark.
I jog out of the clearing and down a well-trodden path. I pump my legs harder and feel my lungs heaving. I feel great. The cold morning air soaks into my lungs and whips at my face. When my breathing turns heavy, I slow my pace down. I could feel the wolf in me begging to change. He wanted to run around as well. I let him have his way, having not let him free in a while.
My body changes from human to wolf. Bones popping out of place, shrinking, rearranging. I'm now on all fours. I feel the dirt beneath my paw and feel the air differently. Everything is sharper, my hearing, my eyesight, and my sense of smell. My wolf revels in the feeling of being free and having control. We run through the woods, jumping over logs, dodging trees and their branches.
I pick my way through the woods to my secret spot. It was a cave covered by vines and moss that made it blend in with the rest of the scenery. I walk through the cave's hidden mouth and through the dark passageway to the light at the other end. I burst out of the other end of the tunnel and come into view of my hidden place.
A waterfall rushes to my left and a big lake sprawls over the terrain of the hidden valley. The reason why not many people have found this is because it is really well hidden, and two if you didn't know the hidden spot, you'd have to climb the mountain to get in from above.
I change back into my human form with ease. My clothes cling to me from sweat. I strip them off and lay them by the side of the lake. Over the sound of the waterfall I could hear the sound of the wildlife; crickets, frogs, etc. I look up and I see the stars displayed nicely over the black-velvet sky. It was a captivating place at night, and breath-taking by day. I wanted to show this to my mate; when I find them.
I dip myself into the water that is shockingly cold. I dive under the water to adjust to the temperature. I swim a few laps before realizing that I was exhausted and ready to go home.
***
"Alex, wake up! It's time for you to get your lazy bones up and out of bed." My mom scolds me from the doorway.
I groan as I roll over and sit up. I shouldn't have done my little journey; I feel exhausted.
I pick up a T-shirt off the floor at random and pull it on along with a pair of jeans. I really had to clean my room, it was a mess, and I never heard the end of it from mom.
A couple minutes later I was stuck sitting in the car with mom as she gossiped about her friends. I just lay my head against the cool, glass window. I'm tired. I wonder if anything cool will happen at school today. I still had to sign up for football. Maybe I'd run into that mystery kid who was feeling ill yesterday. If he was a werewolf and didn't have a pack, it was my job as an alpha to recruit him into ours.
Apparently, I looked like I was sulking to my mom, because she stopped her talking and asked, "Sweetheart, is everything OK?" She glances to me out of the corner of her eye in concern.
"I'm fine." I grumble. I'm not in the mood to play therapy right now.
"Is it about yesterday?" She ask quietly.
I groan, here we go, "No, I'm just tired." I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"I'm sure that Nico is just fine. I'll look into his father's side of the family for you. We'll see if we can find anything on them."
I couldn't even pretend to be tired of my mom, it was for reasons like this that I love her, "Thanks, mom." I whisper.
She smiles to herself while she looks at the road, "No problem."
***
At school, I kiss my mom on the cheek and wish her goodbye. Hey, what's wrong with loving your own mother?
I stand in the cold air of the morning a little longer. I could feel my eyes were heavy already. I walk into the nearest building to get out of the cold and warm up. I walk down the white halls with some red tiles on the floor here and there.
The school's colors were red and white. The mascot was a wolf, ironic, right? The school was called Wolf Springs High School. I could only guess that a werewolf founded this school and was just trying to be funny or something, or maybe it was just a normal human with an interest in wolves. I couldn't care less.
I turn a corner and I come into a big, open hallway. I look around at the impressive sight when I spot a blue and black figure sitting against a wall. I was about to just walk past and ignore them when I see them glance up. I suck in my breath at the sight of those blue eyes. It was him. He drops my gaze and puts his head on his knee. He is rocking back and forth, trying to comfort himself.
I approach him to see what's up with him. He looks up again, his face is paler than normal and his brow is furrowed in what I assume to be pain.
I sit down and talk with him
***
After my talk with Nicolas I feel weird. He wasn't wrong about the feeling familiar part, but I honestly couldn't remember who he was, but it seemed to me that he remembered who I was near the end of the conversation when I told him my name. It was as if he completely changed. His hard demeanor had changed to unprotected. It was like he turned into a younger version of himself.
A little part of me wanted this person to be Nico, but no, his name was Nicolas. I had the wrong person. Part of me felt depressed, while another part felt relieved. I didn't want to see Nico looking so broken. I didn't want Nico to be so used to pain.
I was worried about this kid who was used to pain, who almost broke down when I asked what happened after he left the infirmary. I was burning with curiosity. I had to know. I had to help him. I felt, kind of, disappointed when he ran away from the conversation. I wanted to talk more to him, get to know more about him. I had to get him to join our pack.
The bell for first period rings noisily from the speakers. I sigh, at least I was more awake after that conversation.
***
I get to first period to see Nicolas is sitting in his seat. He has his head down and he is twisting a strand of hair. I almost forgot that we sat next to each other in first period. As I approach my seat, by the look on his face, I can tell he forgot too.
"Ah, um, hey. Sorry for just running away like that." He tries to look me in the eye when he speaks, but he ends up flicking his gaze down every time.
"Ah, don't worry about it." I take my seat. I'm surprised that I have the same class as this guy; he just seems so much younger than me is all.
"So, why do you go to this school? You didn't go here last year, that's for sure. So why go here this year?" He looks me straight in the eye this time, good job.
"Um, well you see... I got into a fight," I see his eyes grow wide in shock, " me vs. 10 people. It was quite a big deal. I got beaten pretty badly, but you should've seen the rest of them."
"Alex, you shouldn't be fighting people, you're-" It looks like he was about to say something but then changes what he says, "Especially not that many people by yourself, it will look... unnatural, strange."
The way he called me, 'Alex' With such familiarity was unsettling, yet it was like I was talking to an old friend.
"Hey, you, excuse me if I'm wrong, are you a werewolf?" I tried to ask as inconspicuously as possible, but asking a question like that, there was no way around it.
Nicolas just looks at me with a blank look, then as if he was remembering something, "Yeah, I'm an omega werewolf."
Whoa, he gave that information to me, too, fast. "O-oh, and I'm an-"
"Alpha." He supplies.
I look at him, this was weird, it was like deja-vu, but I had no idea who he was.
"Ah, sorry." He whispers.
"How do you-" I was cut off by the late bell. A few stragglers rush into the room pretending as though they made it in time.
The teacher starts teaching the class after we say the pledge and he takes attendance. He doesn't really tolerate talking while he is talking so there is no way I can ask Nicolas how he knows so much about me despite just meeting him. Unless... I didn't just meet him. I flash back to yesterday when I helped him to the infirmary. His wolf said we had met, right? I pick at my brain, looking like I was paying attention, but I was really trying to figure out when I could have met him. Nothing came to mind.
The teacher teaches the entire class time, so there was no time to converse with Nicolas. After class ended he was gone before I even finished packing my stuff away. I had to corner this guy before he could escape me again. I found the perfect opportunity at lunch.
I see Nicolas sitting at a lunch table in the far back of the cafeteria slouched over his food. I could tell he was trying to draw as little attention to him as possible, and it was working. I set my tray down beside him and made him jump.
He looks up at me with wide, surprised eyes, "Alex, why are you sitting here?"
"I'm allowed to sit here, right?" I look over at him as he gives a quick nod, "I also want to ask you some questions." I could see his shoulders tense at the thought of giving away personal information.
"I'll try to answer them the best I can, but no promises." He shrugs and takes a bite of his shepherd's pie.
"OK. First question, where have we met before?" Nicolas chokes on his juice at the question.
"Ah, what do you mean we met before?" He makes a crappy attempt at covering up the truth.
"We have definitely met before, you said I looked familiar, you know who I am, and you know what I am. I think that is grounds for me suspecting that we have met before." I take a bite of my food as I look at Nicolas squirm.
"Well, of course, I know you, you are said to be the next leader of the Silver Bane werewolf tribe. How could I not know you?" He concentrates on trying to not drop his food as he eats.
"OK..." I guess I would let that one slide, "Are you in a pack?"
Nicolas looks like he is thinking, "I-I don't really know if I'm still in the pack, I haven't been in contact with them for some years."
"Do you have the mark of your pack on you yet, you get it when you turn 14."
A sad look crosses over his face but it was gone as quick as it appeared, "No, unfortunately, it has been a long time since I've been with a pack that I don't have a mark or anything."
That means that this kid was totally and utterly an omega wolf. If he didn't quickly join a pack, he would stay that way for the rest of his life, or he would become a lone wolf. Both options sounded bad in my opinion.
"Hey, what about you join my pack?" I ask the question nonchalantly, sipping my juice as I look out of the corner of my eye at him.
I feel a pull at my arm, I look at him, his eyes are wide and he is smiling brightly, "Really?! I can join?" At the sight of his eagerness, I feel my heart jump. It was well worth asking him to join.
"Yeah, of course. I'll ask my dad, the current Alpha, if I can recruit you." He sits back in front of his food and squirms from excitement in his seat.
"Yay!" He says with a smile as he finishes his juice.
I could only wonder why he was so excited about joining. "So, why are you so eager to join this pack, what about your old one?"
He looks up from his tray and towards the ceiling, thinking, "Well, it's fine."
I raise an eyebrow at this, but by his clear expression, I can tell he was telling the honest truth. "Well, okay then."
We eat in silence for a few minutes. It was a comfortable silence, not an awkward one. But a part of me wanted to use all of this time to ask as many questions as I could. "So, what's your family like." As soon as I said it, I regretted it; his body turned rigid as he put down his carton of milk.
"Ah, well, I, uh, live with my uncle, aunt, and cousin right now." He looks so uncomfortable and bitter talking about them, makes me curious as to why.
"Oh, really? What are they like." I know I should drop this topic like a bad habit, but then again, habits are hard to break.
"I'm not really fond of them, at all." He whispers the last part.
"Why?" I could've smacked myself.
"Reasons." He said simply and left it at that. He glances up at me, "What about you? Tell me about your family." I could see his eyes pleading to drop the subject.
"Well, I live with my mom, Maribella and my dad, Mark. My mom is super nice, but she can be too over-endearing. My dad is strict, tough, and shows his love through a good scolding. He's the perfect Alpha." I gush about my family, and I could see Nicolas watching me with fascination as I talked.
"Well, you guys sound like a great family." He smiled, but behind his eyes, I could see he was a little wistful. Is his family that complicated?
We talk about a few minor things and before we know it lunch is over and we head our separate ways to class. I felt really happy after having a good conversation. It has been a while. I would have to make some new friends at this school while I was still new. Nicolas was a cool guy, but I didn't want to be too dependent on him.
***
School ends and I make my way to the Gym. I was going to sign up for football. I push my way through the crowd of dispersing students as I walk into the locker room. I walk past the rows of lockers to the coach's office at the end. The blinds in his office were open so I could see that he was still here. I knock on the door. A muffled, "Come in." calls out from the other side of the door. I walk into the room overly decorated with school colors and trophies from school events.
"How can I help you?" The coach swirls in his chair to look at me. He was a big man, maybe 6 feet tall. He would be intimidating to freshmen, I bet.
"I want to join the football team, sir."
The coach raises an eyebrow and looks me up and down under his appraising stare. "Ever play football before, boy?"
"Yes, sir. I played at Pine Creek High School." I held the coaches stare. I could tell he was looking right through me and could already tell what I was capable of, and I was ready to prove that I could do so much more.
"Hm, tryouts are tomorrow," He riffles through his drawers and pulls out some papers, "These are the permission sheets, have them signed and brought back by tomorrow."
"Thank you, have a good day, sir." With the papers in hand, I leave the locker room and then the gym, and I am walking to where my mom was parked. She was waiting for me. I open the car door and duck into my seat.
"Hey, honey, how was school?" She starts the car and pulls out of the now almost empty student lot.
"It was actually good." I'm surprised I meant it. Talking with Nicolas, getting the form, today was pretty good.
"Oh, so what happened." I shake my head, mom's and their gossip.
"I made a new friend and I picked up the forms so I could join the foo ball club."
"Oh, so this new friend, what's their name?" She ask in an excited voice, obviously glad that I made friends so soon. I just roll my eyes.
"His name is Nicolas. I have first period and lunch with him."
"Oh, Nicolas. That sounds like Nico's first name." She noted.
I stopped for a second, "Nico's name is Nicolas?" I was honestly surprised. I thought his name was just Nico the whole time.
"Yep, spelled N-I-C-O-L-A-S. That's why his nickname is Nico. How do you spell this kid's name?"
"I don't know, we didn't ask how to spell each other's names. I mean, Alex and Nicholas are pretty easy names to spell." I point out.
"Hm, well, if this was Nico, you'd be able to tell pretty easily, no? Or maybe time changed him so much you can't even recognize him." She pointed out seriously, but thought it was funny that you couldn't recognize your best friend.
"And if this was Nico, wouldn't he tell me he was Nico?" I ask.
"Maybe he didn't recognize you either." My mom says thoughtfully as she turns the corner.
Could it be possible? Was that kid Nico? Was that look recognition? Maybe I was just fooling myself into believing it to be true because I wanted to be so.
***
We pull into the dirt parking lot where about 20 cars are parked. The wolf camp was huge. It was laid out like a campsite, or something similar. There are multiple houses that look like cabins spread throughout the huge clearing. Some are homes for elders, deltas, betas, alphas, and, rarely, omegas. Some cabins were dedicated to the recruits who didn't have a home in the human world, were new, or just didn't want to leave the pack.
There was also a kitchen where almost everyone in the camp took turns cooking for everyone, and a cafeteria to eat the food. Everyone usually ate at the same time, or they could cook whatever they wanted for themselves on their own time at their cabin.
The camp was made up of, starting from lowest on the hierarchy up, omegas, pups, deltas, den mothers, hunters, sentinels, shamans, elders, betas, and finally Alphas.
I was related to a good amount of the alphas in the camp. We were the leaders of the pack. Despite there being so few alphas, the rest of the camp listened to the head alphas word like it was law. What he says, goes. Myself included.
I think of this as I walk into the Alpha house, a.k.a my house. It was where the head alpha and his family lived. It sat in the middle of the clearing. It was bigger than all the other buildings in the clearing. It had a kitchen, dining room, meeting room, bedrooms, guestrooms, studies, a library, and a bunch of other rooms. I pull off my shoes and place them on the shoe rack next to the door. My mom hates it when we wear shoes in the house.
My mom walks in behind me, also pulling off her shoes. "Your father is in a meeting right now, so try not to make too much noise, okay?" With that, she slips away to somewhere in the house to do whatever she does in her free time.
At the mention of my dad, I remember my promise to Nicolas, that I would recruit him into the Silver Bane werewolf pack. I sit on the bench outside of the meeting room. I didn't want to disturb them while they were in session. I know how that ended the last time, with me grounded and a good scolding. I just go on my phone and scroll through the internet while I listen to some music. After a couple minutes, I see the door meeting room's door open up to reveal Andrew, a beta representative; Bethany, another beta representative; and Dominic, the omega representative. Judging by Dominic's slouched shoulders, he hadn't gotten his way in these meetings, again. No one took the guy seriously because he was 17 and still an omega.
They all bow their head at me as they leave the room and make their way downstairs. I take in a deep breath, the way I always needed to do before I faced my father. I open the polished oak door. My father's head rises at the sound of my entrance and drops back down when he sees it is just me.
"Father," I say, standing a yard from where he sits, "May I speak with you?"
He looks up at me, an eyebrow raised, "Take a seat, my son, enough with the formalities." He shuffles his papers as I sit down into a leather chair.
"What do you need?" He ask after my ensuing silence.
"I found another werewolf today at school. He is pack-less, I was wondering if I could recruit him into our pack." I gulp as my dad looks at me with his sharp hazel eyes.
"You are sure he is pack-less and not trying to infiltrate our pack?" I hold my father's steady gaze.
"I'm positive." I had to trust Nicolas' words on this one.
"What rank of a wolf is he?"
"An Omega, at least, that's what he claims."
My father scoffs, "Another Omega." He shakes his head, "How old is he?"
"He's my age."
"Hm, he may join, however, keep an eye on him. After some time with our pack, we'll decide whether he is worthy to stay. Also, give him the test to determine whether he really is an omega or not." My father turns back to his papers, meaning the conversation was done.
"Yes, sir." I turn to leave the room swiftly.
As soon as I am out of sight and earshot, I pump my arms and hiss, "Yessss!" I was glad that I was capable of keeping my promise with Nicolas and letting him join the pack. I could already see the excited expression on his face when I told him the good news.
I turn down the hall, and with a bounce in my step, walk away humming a happy tune.