The Alpha's Surprise Mate

Terrance POV   "Terrance!" my mother yelled up the stairs. "Get your hiney moving or you're going to be late!"   "I'm coming, I'm coming," I grumbled, kicking at the blankets as I pulled myself to a sitting position. "It's not like it really matters anyway."    There was only a little over a week of school left. The teachers at my high school, Whispering Pines High tended to become pretty lax during the last week, especially for us seniors.   "What was that?" I could almost hear my mom's no-nonsense look in her voice.   "Nothing, Mom. I'll be down in a minute." I pulled jeans over my boxers and snagged a black hoodie from the closet on my way out to the bathroom. I had showered and shaved after training the night before, so I just ran a comb through my short, thick black hair, brushed my teeth, and put on deodorant.    A few minutes later, I came into the kitchen to the smell of bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes. Several others were already stuffing their faces. I grabbed a plate and loaded it up. Breakfast was always a big deal around here. Then again, so was every other meal. We're werewolves, and werewolves tend to be pretty active with a high metabolism. So we eat a lot. And here, in the packhouse, there's almost always at least fifty other wolves living here besides my family. My dad, Anthony is the alpha, which of course means my mom, Laura is the Luna. They have five kids. I'm the oldest. I'll be eighteen next week. My twin sisters, Tanya and Tania, are sixteen, my brother Cayden is 14, and my youngest sister Laylana is 12. We live on the top floor of the packhouse. There's five floors total. My dad's beta, Andrew and his mate, Stephanie live on the fourth floor with their three kids, along with Dad's gamma, Trey, his mate Kellyanne, and their three kids. The second and third floors are for any of our pack wolves that wish to stay here, while the first floor serves as our common area. There's a large kitchen and dining area, along with a game room and another room that has a 50 inch TV and several couches where anyone who wants to hang out can do so. There's also several floor to ceiling windows that show off amazing views of the mountains surrounding us. Our packhouse is located about halfway up Pike's Peak, which is part of the Colorado Rockies.   After loading my plate up, I searched out my girlfriend of the past year, Aliana and joined her and her cousin Kayley and and their friend Lana. Kayley is Beta Andrew's oldest daughter, and Lana is the daughter of Henry, one of our top warriors. Aliana's dad, Thomas is Beta Andrew's younger brother. His mate, Aliana's mother Marilyn died in a rogue attack when Aliana was just a baby. She doesn't remember her.   "Good morning, baby," I said, dropping a kiss on her pert little nose. I pretended not to notice Kayley's eye roll or Lana's giggle. "Good morning, ladies."   "Good?" Kayley snorted. "There is nothing good about mornings. Except bacon. Bacon is good." She popped her last piece of bacon into her mouth.    "Not even breakfast with your favorite Alpha?" I said, feigning hurt. "What could possibly be better than that?"   She rolled her eyes. "That's future Alpha, punk. And not even waking up to Cody's sexy face can make me happy about mornings." Kayley turned eighteen last week and almost immediately found her mate, who is also Lana's twin brother. They turned eighteen two days before Kayley. Both Kayley and Cody have blonde hair - hers was kept in a bob cut, while his was shoulder length - and at 6'3 he was only a few inches taller than her 5'10. Add in both of them having bright blue eyes and they looked like the werewolf version of Barbie and Ken.    Lana put her fingers in her ears. "Um, EW! Could you please not refer to my brother as sexy in my presence?"    We all laughed. Turning back to Kayley, I said, "Speaking of Cody, where is my future Gamma?"    "Out for a run with your future Beta," she replied. "Jaydon came banging on our door at the ass crack of dawn and dragged my mate out to the woods for a run." Jaydon is Kayley's twin brother. "It seems he had a rather adventurous morning and had some energy to burn," she added, cutting her eyes at Lana, whose cheeks were turning pink. In an odd twist of fate, Jaydon is mates with Lana. It's not often that twins wind up mated to another set of twins, even in the werewolf world.    For as much as Kaylee and Cody looked alike, Jaydon and Lana definitely didn't. While Kayley's blonde hair and blue eyes came from their dad, Jaydon had their mother's brown eyes and dark brown hair, which he kept in a military style buzz cut. The only thing he took from his dad was has height. At 6'3 he was the exact same height as their dad. Lana, on the other hand, had strawberry blonde hair that cascaded down to her waist and emerald green eyes. She was only 5'8, so Jaydon towered over her.   "Jaydon said not to wait for them," Lana said. "He said they would grab breakfast out somewhere and meet us at school."   We were all seniors at Whispering Pines High, which was about 95% werewolves with a few humans sprinkled in. All of the teachers were werewolves, along with all the staff, including the principal, Mr. Jacobson.    Finally Aliana, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time, spoke up. "Speaking of school, we'd better get a move on or we'll all be late."    "Ah, come on babe, it's the last week. Nobody cares if we're a few minutes late."   She gave me a pointed glare, annoyance flashing in her piercing green eyes. I threw my hands up in mock surrender with a mischievous smile. "All right, all right, let's clean this up and get going."   She rolled her eyes and huffed, impatiently flipping her long, jet black hair over her shoulder. "Aren't the omegas supposed to do that?"    The omegas were traditionally the weakest wolves in the pack, and as such they were scorned by a lot of the other wolves. They did most of the cooking and cleaning. But with our pack, the Whispering Pines pack being the largest and strongest pack in north America, even our weakest omegas were stronger than the deltas in other packs.    I frowned at Aliana. "As the future Alpha, I don't think it's befitting for me to expect everyone else to clean up my mess. And if you are the future Luna, the same goes for you."    Aliana might be the future Luna, but we won't know for sure until we turn eighteen next week. Aliana and I just happen to share a birthday.    I gathered up trays and utensils and carried them to the omega that was at the sink, busily washing dishes. She was a tiny little thing that had to lean to get the dishes out of the big sink. Her long blonde hair, which was all the way down to her waist, was pulled back into a ponytail, making it easier to see her light blue eyes. When I approached her, she dipped her head shyly and continued furiously scrubbing the pot she was holding like her life depended on it.    "Good morning, Analeigh," I greeted her with a smile, handing her the dirty dishes I was carrying.   "Good morning, Alpha," she said shyly, her voice barely above a whisper.   "Analeigh, we've known each other our entire lives. We even share a birthday. Call me Terrance, ok?"    She smiled and dipped her head again. "Ok, Terrance." Analeigh POV   I watched as Terrance sauntered over to where Aliana was waiting by the door and threw his arm around her shoulders. I didn't missed the quick glare she threw my way before they walked out the door. I honestly don't know if Terrance actually is oblivious to her jealous streak, or he just pretends to be. I've seen her fight more than one girl over him. And it didn't take much. If a girl so much as glanced his way, she would almost always show up with a few new bruises later. I did my best to steer clear of her. Being an omega was hard enough. Being an orphan made it even harder. The last thing I needed was to get on the bad side of someone like Aliana.    I finished up the last few dishes and rinsed the sinks out. Taking off my rubber apron, I turned to the head omega, Diana and said, "I'm done, Di. I need to get going so I can get to school on time." She barely even glanced over at me before waving her hand in a dismissive motion. She knew it wasn't necessary to check my work. I've never shirked my duties in the four years I've been working with her.    I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and rushed out the back door. This was the last week of my senior year and so far I had perfect attendance and had never been tardy. I intended on keeping it that way.    I rushed out the door and ran smack into a wall of solid muscle.   "Watch out, you filthy omega," a deep voice snarled.   I kept my head down. Without looking, I knew whose voice that was. Thomas, one of our top delta warriors and Lana's older brother.    "I'm sorry, Thomas," I said meekly.    "I'm sorry, who?" he said, roughly grabbing my arm.   "I'm sorry, Delta Thomas," I said, finally looking up at him. "Please let me go."   "DON'T YOU EVER DARE LOOK AT ME, YOU DIRTY OMEGA!" he roared, putting his nose just inches from mine. "DO YOU HEAR ME?!"    "Y-yes, I h-hear you," I stuttered, dropping my gaze.    "It seems that you've forgotten your place," he snarled. "Maybe you just need a little reminder." He grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking my head backwards. My heart was pounding, although I did my best not to let fear show on my face. Thomas was known for his temper and being abusive to she-wolves, particularly omegas. He raised his hand, and I instinctively put my hands out to deflect the blow. In doing so, my hand hit him square across the cheek. He let out a roar. "WHY YOU LITTLE - "   An even louder roar came from a few feet away. "THOMAS ANDREW WILLIAMS! Get your hands off of her!"    Thomas immediately released me. I spun around to see Alpha Anthony standing a few feet away. His face was bright red and I could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. "I warned you, Thomas! I warned you not to lay your hands on any other female in this pack or you would be forced out. Did you forget?"    All the color drained from Thomas's face. "But she's just an o-"   "That order included all females of this pack, Thomas. All of them! No matter their rank! You've left me no choice. I, Alpha Anthony Young, remove you, Thomas Andrew Williams, from membership in the Whispering Pines Pack. You have two hours to gather your belongings and get off the pack territory. I will mind link the pack to tell them if you are seen on pack territory after that time, you are to be considered a rogue and treated as such."    Thomas turned to walk away, but immediately whipped back around, his eyes completely black as his wolf fought for control. "You haven't heard the last of me," he spat with a snarl. With that, he turned and stormed away.    Alpha Anthony stood with his fists clenched at his sides, watching Thomas walk away. Slowly he relaxed his hands as he turned to face me. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that, Analeigh. I can have one of the warriors escort you to school if you want, to make sure he doesn't bother you."   "Thank you, Alpha," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "But my brother is coming. I mind linked him and he'll be here - " I was cut off by the sound of my older brother Andy's royal blue Camaro flying into the parking lot.    He screeched to a stop beside me and jumped out of the car. He ran over and grabbed me, immediately looking me over for injuries. "Sis! Are you ok? Did he - ?" He stopped short when he finally noticed the Alpha standing there. "Oh. I'm sorry, Alpha Anthony, I didn't see you standing there. Good morning."   Alpha Anthony smiled at him. "Good morning, Andy. Don't worry about it. I have sisters too. I get it."   Andy turned back to me. "Ana, are you ok? Did he hurt you?"   I shook my head. "No, he didn't hurt me. Alpha Anthony stopped him before he could."   Relief washed over his face. He turned back to the Alpha and said, "Thank you, Alpha. If you hadn't been here...."   "But I was," Alpha Anthony stated. "I have removed Delta Thomas from the pack. I will be mind linking the pack about it shortly. He has two hours to leave pack lands. If he causes you or your family any trouble, please let me know."   "Yes, Alpha," we said together, and Alpha Anthony turned and walked back inside the packhouse.   Andy grabbed my backpack from where I had dropped it on the sidewalk and tossed it into the Camaro's back seat. "Come on, Sis," he said, coming back around to open my door. "You don't wanna be late."   Thanks to Andy's lead foot, I was walking into school less than five minutes later. I suppressed a groan when I spotted Aliana standing right inside the door, staring straight at me with her arms crossed over the chest. I tried to ignore her and just keep walking, but she grabbed my backpack and yanked me back to her.   "Aliana, I really don't want any trouble. I - "    She cut me off with a snarl. "If you don't want trouble, you'll keep your filthy eyes and paws off my boyfriend, you understand?"   "Yes, Aliana," I said, avoiding looking in her eyes.   "If I catch you so much as looking at him, I'll feed you to the vampires," she growled. "Do I make myself clear?" Finally she released me.   "Yes, Aliana," I said, taking a few steps back.   "Good. I'm glad we've had this little talk." She turned and sauntered off.    I shook my head as I turned to head to my first period, English Lit. What a day this was shaping up to be. REMINDER: This book will go from free to pay to read on 7/14/21! I just wanted to make sure to remind everyone! Thanks! - Alicia Terrell Barrow (author)