Mythical Mates

Bam!! “Aghh!!” Everet screamed, but it came out as a sharp whimper as his wolf, Pike, slammed into a thick tree trunk. The tree splintered and shook during the impact. He collapsed to the ground whimpering as he struggled to get up. He wobbled and winced in pain as he put pressure on his right front  leg.  “My shoulder, I think it’s been dislocated,” Pike said in his head. Just as he said this, he noticed three black wolves approaching. They snapped their teeth and growled, a thick foam leaking from their mouths. “This doesn’t look good. I don’t know if I can fight like this.” The wolves’ eyes were pitch black and glossy. It was clear they’d lost all sense of their sanity.  “I know buddy, but it doesn't look like we have much of a choice. We aren’t outrunning anyone with that leg. I’ve called out an S.O.S, we just need to hold out until help comes.” the biggest wolf launched, aiming for Pike’s neck. He barely dodged and chomped down on the wolf’s shoulder. The wolf snarled and whimpered as he tried to pull away. The other two wolves charged in to help, one attaching to Pike’s injured shoulder. Pike howled in pain, using all he could to throw the larger one back so he could focus on the other one. The one holding onto his shoulder didn’t lighten up and continued burying its teeth into Pike’s flesh. He whined helplessly as the other wolf bit at his back legs, forcing him to the ground. The larger wolf, having already brushed off his injury, came to join his comrades. “s**t! s**t! We’re going to die!” Just as the large wolf opened its jaws to bite down on Pike’s throat, something came crashing into it. The two smaller wolves, startled, loosened their grip. Everet’s vision was blurred due to the trauma and blood loss, but he could easily make out the familiar gray wolf that was his best friend. “Brielle!” The gray wolf wrestled with the larger wolf, biting into its belly as it rolled over on the ground. It howled in pain and tried to snap its teeth at her. She did her best to avoid its jaws. Despite the obvious size difference, the gray wolf managed to pin the larger wolf to the ground and bite down on its neck. It whimpered and squirmed violently and there was a loud snap before the wolf went limp. Everet stared in disbelief as the other two wolves abandoned him to attack his friend. “Brie, look out!” Just before they could reach her, two more wolves sprouted from the trees and lunged at his attackers. Both wolves were instantly pinned to the ground, their necks snapped.  “Everet!” Brielle screamed as she ran over to aid him. “Oh my god!” she stared down at his body. His thick sandy fur was soaked with blood. There was a deep gash on his right shoulder and wounds on his back legs. “Dad, Everet’s hurt!” The largest wolf, who had been chomping down repeatedly on one of the rough wolf’s necks to be sure it was dead, lifted his head toward her. He too was gray, only a few shades darker than her, sharing the same matching gray eyes. He made his way over, his beta trailing behind to assess Everet’s condition. “Alpha…” Everet said, though his voice was faint. “I’m sorry…I couldn’t even sense them.”  “It’s alright Everet.” The Alpha said. “Save your strength.” he turned to his Beta. “Noah, locate Samson, Lyle, and sweep the area. There may be more of them. We need to get Everet to the packhouse immediately.” the beta nodded and ran off. He glanced back as Everet’s body shifted and shrunk back to his human form. He lay naked on the grass, his shoulder purple and bleeding badly. There were scratches and cuts on his torso and legs. His eyes fluttered as he fought to stay conscious. “We need to get him back now, he’s losing a lot of blood. Brie, can you carry him?”  Brie nodded  and hurried to help Everet onto her back. His body felt limp, but she could tell by the way he weakly gripped onto her fur that he was still alive. “Lead the way dad.”  Hailey came charging into the pack house, sprinting at full speed, pushing her way through the crowd of people gathered in the lobby. “Move! Move! Don’t you people have anything better to do?!” She made her way to the medical ward where she saw a woman standing by the window. “Luna!” the woman turned to her as she came to stop, frantically trying to catch her breath. “Is…Is it…Is it true? Is Everet hurt? Is he here?”   “Izaak and Brielle are on their way, they just came through the border.”  Hailey looked out the window as she saw a line of wolves making their way to the packhouse, their alpha leading at the front and Brielle at his side carrying an unconscious man on her back. “Everet!” Hailey took off again, practically flying down the stairs and outside.  When Brielle saw Hailey charging out of the packhouse she slowed down and lowered herself to the ground. The paramedics came rushing out as well, pushing a stretcher. “Hurry, get him on a stretcher. He’s losing a lot of blood.”  “What happened?!” Hailey cried as she helped remove him from Brie’s back. She gasped as she saw his badly injured arm and the wounds on his torso.  “We have to get him in, please step aside.” one of the paramedics said. Hailey gradually allowed them to place him on the stretcher. She ran beside him, his eyes opened slightly to look at her. He reached his hand out weakly.  “Everet…” she called out as tears ran down her face. “You better not die on me, you hear?” his mouth curled up in a smile as the paramedics rushed him into the infirmary. As she watched him, she felt a hand on her arm. “How’d this happen Brie?” “We were just supposed to be doing a quick patrol, but Everet got a bit too excited,” Brielle said. “He branched out too far, wanting to catch the roughs spotted in the area. He got ambushed.” “Stupid…”  Brielle pulled her friend into a hug.  “Everet’s a strong boy,” Izaak said as he came up behind them, pulling a towel around his lower half.  “Alpha...”  “He’s right, Hailey. Everet may not be the brightest, but his body is built like a tank. He’ll pull through, I know it.”  “Yeah…I know.” Hailey wiped her tears away. Luna Sylvia came out of the packhouse to greet them. “Mama,” Brielle said as her mother embraced her.  “I’m gonna go wait in the infirmary.” Hailey said her goodbyes and ran off. “I’m so happy you’re okay.” Sylvia said, she kissed her mate as he joined the embrace. “Both of you had me worried when I heard someone had gotten badly injured.” “We’re lucky it wasn’t a fatal injury,” Izaak said. “We owe Brielle for that. You should have seen her, she was the first to jump in and help Everet, pinning the biggest one down before he could utter a growl.” “It wasn’t that fast,” Brielle said. “He did try to bite me.” “But you didn’t let him,”Izaak said as he ruffled her hair. “As is expected of an Alpha’s daughter,” Noah said as he came up from behind. “We searched the area. There weren’t any more roughs that we could sniff out, but we did uncover tracks branching off into neighboring packs up north. What would you like to do?”  “I’ll need to get in contact with the Moon Mountain Pack. If there are roughs coming from that area, their Alpha should be warned so we may address the situation accordingly.” Noah gave him a nod.  “I should go check on Hailey and see how Everet’s doing.” Brielle said. “I’ll see all of you at dinner.” She gave her father one last kiss before running off into the packhouse. She took the time to grab a t-shirt and jeans from the convenient bin they had stashed at the entrance to avoid pack members having to walk to their rooms naked after shifting. She found Hailey sitting in the waiting room of the medical ward. Her eyes were closed and she was resting her head against the wall. She looked tired. “How are you holding up?”    “Oh, I’m okay.” Hailey said as she let out a yawn. “Doc says the wounds were deep, but nothing too serious. Everet’s in surgery getting stitches and a blood transfusion. But by the looks of it, he should make a full recovery.”  Brielle let out a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good to hear. He had me worried out there.” “I knew he shouldn’t have gone. He’s only barely done with training, he should never have been out there.” “Hey, this is no one’s fault. We were all supposed to be simply patrolling. We hadn’t even really crossed our side of the forest, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone out there. We just got unlucky. Besides, experiences like this is what training is all about. It’s how you learn the dos and don’t.”  “I know, it’s just…I was so scared when I heard it was Everet.” Hailey said as she rubbed her eyes. “We’d just found out we were mates and already I felt like I was about to lose him. I completely disregarded the assignment I was doing and rushed over here as fast as possible.” she chuckled a little. “I almost got hit by a car.” Brielle joined in the giggling. They sat in silence for a bit, listening to the distant beeps of machines and the quiet chatter of the nurses.  “Was it like a pull?” Brie asked. “When you mated with Everet, I mean.” “Mmm…Something like that. I went out of town yesterday with my family to celebrate my birthday. My dad was going on and on crying about how I was gonna meet my mate soon, now that I was 18. He was whining that I’d soon leave home to stay with him. You know how clingy my dad can be.”  “Yeah. He just loves you, is all. You’re his only daughter. Without you there, it’s just a big sausage fest with the exception of your mom.”  “Hey, no one told them to have six boys.” the girls shared a laugh. “Anyway, when I came back, I went to the campus library to do some homework and when I passed the computer room, there was this intoxicating scent. It smelled like lemons and something sweet and it was so strong I could taste it. He must have smelt something too, because he came rushing out of the lab with his headset still on, controller in hand, and the second our eyes met, I just knew.”  “You just knew?  “I mean, my wolf was also screaming it in my head, so yeah.”  Brielle leaned back in her chair. “Wow, so even a scatter-brain like Everet can find a mate. I'm happy for you two.” Truth be told, Brielle actually had a long-time crush on Everet despite being his best friend. She’d never told him, too afraid he wouldn’t feel the same. When they were in high school, they had gone to prom together, since neither of them had a date. They danced in each other’s embrace and, by the way he had looked at her and the way her heart was pounding, she was sure he’d wind up being her mate. She’d wanted to wait until they’d both turned 18, at least then he wouldn’t reject her. When her birthday finally came, she immediately went to his house, eager to feel their pull, yet, it never came. He answered the door in gym shorts and a sweater. She could smell the shampoo coming off his hair, yet she didn’t feel any different. There was no special smell, no overwhelming desire to pounce on him, no fireworks, just the same mellow drum of her heart as she greeted her childhood friend. He didn’t seem to feel anything either as he continued to calmly brush his teeth. She was so embarrassed and disappointed, she couldn’t even speak. She just ran home as she fought against tears. Everet was the type of guy to save himself for his mate and knowing that it wasn’t her, he’d never agree to date her. You can assume how hurt she was when Hailey called her to tell her that she was Everet’s mate the day before. She’d been so heartbroken, she hadn’t been able to talk to either of them until now.  Hailey took note of her friend’s sorrowful face and leaned on her shoulder. “It really feels as amazing as everyone says. I can’t wait until you get to feel it for yourself.” “If I get to,” Brie corrected. “Don’t say that. You’re the bravest, strongest, and most amazing person I know. Surely the moon goddess has someone extra special just for you.” Brie gave her a smile and rested her head on Hailey’s. “Yeah, hopefully.” The girls sat in the waiting room for over two hours as they waited for further updates. Hailey had managed to doze off, she must be really tired. When the doctor stepped out, Brie nudged her awake. “Well, we did the best we could to patch up his wounds. He’ll have a few scars, and he won’t be able to use his right arm very much for a couple of days. He suffered a bit of head trauma as well, so we’ll be keeping him hospitalized for a day or two and monitor him. He’s awake for now, but he may still be a little out of it due to the meds.” Hailey sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear doc, thank you.” Brie said. “Can we see him?” Hailey asked.  “Well, he should be resting. He’s probably exhausted. However, I’m sure it won’t be a problem as long as it’s quick.” The doctor led them to Everet’s room. He was lying in the bed, bandages wrapped around his arm, torso and head. There were likely more bandages under the sheets as well. Hailey went to hold his hand. He jumped and his eyes opened to look at her. He smiled. “Hey babe,” he said, he took notice of the bags under her eyes. “You look terrible.” she giggled. “You’re one to talk. Have you seen yourself?”  “Yeah, I look pretty edgy don’t I? I’ll look even sexier once these scars heal. How will you manage to hold my attention then? I’ll be total eye candy. ” she rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss. “I think I can manage,” she whispered. Brie tried not to stare awkwardly and rested her eyes on everything else in the room. She really was happy for them, but she’d be lying if she said seeing them being all lovey-dovey wasn’t painful.   “Oh, Brie,” Everet called. “I really wanted to thank you. You saved my ass back there.” “It’s no biggie,” she said as she continued trying not to look at him. “They weren’t that tough on their own. I’m just glad it was only a few of them. Dad and Noah helped, but I don’t think we’d have been able to fight off a horde of them.” “I mean, they’re rough. They tend not to travel in packs. It kinda defeats the purpose. Makes me wonder why they were all together in the first place.”  “Speaking of which, what the hell were you thinking about wandering off on your own?” Hailey scolded him.  “What? I was excited and Pike was just itching to go for a run. There was so much of the forest I hadn’t seen. When the other picked up the smell of another wolf, I wanted to see if I'd improved at all."  “But it’s dangerous. Especially with the rising number of rough wolves popping up in the area.” There was a knock at the door and Everet’s parents walked in. “Oh, thank the goddess you’re okay.” his mother said as she ran to hug him. He winced as she added pressure to his injuries. “I outta whoop you for scaring me and your father like that.”  Brie watched them bicker and a small twinge of sadness pulled at her heart. She saw Hailey, smiling as she sat next to him. He was her mate, and they were soon to be her family. This is where she belonged. Brie was just a childhood friend and she didn’t fit in the picture. She turned to leave. “Hey, Brie, you dipping out?” Everet asked.  “Oh, yeah. I have classes tomorrow morning and I still have some homework to do. Feel better, okay?” she waved at them as she exited the room. She felt sad, but she didn’t want to think about it. She wasn’t very hungry either and let her parents know that she’d be skipping dinner to study in the library. She tried to get some work done, but was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. She probably shouldn’t have skipped dinner. Maybe there’ll be leftovers when she’s done. After an hour of doing homework, she decided to take a break. The packhouse library was huge, with two stories of books. She went to her favorite section and looked for a good book. She enjoyed reading, going on adventures with her favorite characters, reading about truelove and fairy tales. A lot of her friends saw her as head-strong and tomboyish, but secretly, she loved girly things and watching cheesy rom-coms. Finding someone strong and dependable, feeling complete in their embrace was a dream. Yet, it tended to only remind her that she still hadn’t found her mate. For tonight, she wasn’t interested in reading about love. She wanted something exciting and mysterious. So, she curled up by the window and started a new book: The Unfortunate Tale Of Fenrisulfr.