Alpha Born Beta

I just don’t think this is going to work anymore. I’m sorry, Hunter. I sat on my bed, tears starting to swell up in my eyes as I read the text message. I guess I wasn’t so heartbroken, just sad over the fact that I couldn’t even hold a normal human relationship for very long. I had no idea why. Maybe I was too weird or something? I honestly had no idea, but you can’t say I wasn’t trying. Especially because my chance at finding a mate would forever be impossible. You see, I come from a strong and powerful pack of werewolves, the Shadow Pack. A pack that treated each other like family, because that’s what we were, and a pack that could destroy anyone that tried to harm us. But after my father, the beta, was murdered by our Alpha, Alpha Liam, the Alpha had run away and left our pack astray. He had no heirs, and his beta was slaughtered in cold blood. No one knew why, and no one could track down Alpha Liam to figure that out, either. So my pack split, leaving as rogues or lone-wolves or joining other packs. My Grandparents decided that instead of trying to find another pack, we should try to live our lives as humans. That maybe blending into the human world would be easier than having to deal with the rules and the lifestyle of a werewolf. It was easy for them, seeing as my Grandmother was actually human, my Grandfather a werewolf. But me? I hated it.  Since we had to “live as humans”, I was forced to keep my wolf away. No shifting, no telling anyone about anything, nothing. The only humans who knew about our kind were those who were born around the werewolf world. Other than that, no outsiders could ever learn our secret. This made it especially hard for me when I turned 16. Once a were turns 16, their wolf emerges. We shift for the first time in our lives. Knowing this was inevitable no matter what lifestyle we had been living the 7 years prior, my Grandfather took me into the woods in the middle of no where for a few day camping trip, where I could shift comfortably and get out those primal instincts before shifting back to a human and keeping my wolf away. That didn’t mean I had to block out my wolf. Her annoying voice still rang in my head on a daily basis, urging to release our primal instincts and shift, but I just wasn’t allowed to do that. So here I sat, tears slowly dripping from my eyes as I continued to stare back at my phone screen, my heart hurting over the fact that my wolf and I would never be fully happy, and we would never be mated. I’d have to marry some human who didn’t understand, and live the life of a lie. I hated that thought, and that hurt worse than any breakup ever would. My wolf, Ember, howled sadly in my head. I sighed, shaking my head. “No, Em, we can’t be sad. I know this sucks. I’m lonely, too. But we just have to suck it up and move on.” I wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand. Sniffling up a bit, I sighed again, standing up from my bed and going over to turn off the bedroom light. Grabbing the remote off of my dresser, I flipped on the colored LED lights that lit up my whole room, pink luminescence bouncing off the walls. I turned down the brightness a bit so that I would be able to sleep, and then I just set the remote back down and crawled into bed, wrapping myself under the covers and scrolling through social media until I fell asleep. ~ 3 days later ~ I frowned at my best friend’s reflection in my bedroom mirror, while she smiled brightly and admired me in my flowing pink dress. “Teresa, I don’t like it.” She rolled her eyes at me and walked closer to me, adjusting the back of the dress, lightly tugging the zipper up a little bit more. “You look so good. Who cares if some boy, who didn’t even have the balls to dump you not over text, by the way, couldn’t show out with you to prom? He’s the one missing out here. You look HOT!” I giggled and turned around, lightly shoving her shoulder. “Are you kidding? I mean look at YOU. Literally stunning.” Teresa had been helping me all morning getting ready for our high school’s prom dance tonight. She did up my hair and my makeup while also doing her own. If anyone was the beautiful one between the two of us, it was her. She had light olive skin, with beautiful long black hair and hazel brown eyes. She stood just a tad bit taller than me, probably not even an inch, but she was as gorgeous as a model.  Teresa grinned widely at me, embracing me in a tight hug. “I love you so.” After we finished getting ready and letting my Grandparent’s take as many prom photos as they wanted, our friend, Michael, pulled up in front of my apartment building in his little Toyota. He rolled down the window and smiled, the adoration for Teresa (and yeah, she didn’t know) in his eyes as he saw her. But, as always, it only lasted a small second before he spoke up to us. And the only reason I know? Well, werewolves have some crazy senses, and we can feel emotions and smell specific scents. But that’s besides the point. “Well hey, ladies. Did I hear you needed a ride to the prom?” Teresa shook her head laughing as we said goodbye to my parents quickly, and approaching the car, rushing to get in. “Shut up. You wouldn’t even be going if it weren’t for me.” I giggled as I buckled in my seat belt, listening as the two of them bickered like best friends do. This time, the argument was over who got to play music. Michael insisted it should be him, since he was the one driving. But Teresa argued back that since she was passenger, she should get the aux privileges. I just rolled my eyes and snatched the phone from Teresa’s hand mid argument, causing them both to shout a “HEY!” at me as I laughed. “Sorry, Mom and Dad, but if I have to hear you yell at each other like an old married couple for one more second, I think I might actually throw up. So, I’m choosing music, and then we can all shut up.” I scrolled through Michael’s Spotify playlists, unsure of what I should put on. I smiled to myself as I came across one playlist in particular, “Get Jiggy Wit It”. I pressed shuffle on that one and laughed and danced along with my friends in the car as we made our way to prom. Since I had left my pack, which was originally in Colorado, my Grandparents moved us all the way up to the pacific northwest, good old Washington State. At first, I didn’t really like it. The weather sort of sucked, and it rained more than I saw sunshine. But over time, I grew to love it. The constant green around me, the water being so close and not being landlocked for once. It was fantastic. They chose a rather nice city to live in, sort of big but not Seattle big, and we had settled there for the past almost 8 years and made it our home.  Not too long after I moved did I start school. Human school was much different than pack schools. We weren’t learning about werewolf anatomy, how to fight, the history of werewolves, all sorts of stuff. Instead, I was learning all the history of the average human, which I was already taught at a much younger age, along with a lot of other regular school stuff I would never enjoy, whether that be in human school or in pack school. At first, I was sort of scared. Human school seemed intimidating to me. But then I met Teresa. We had the same 4th grade teacher, and she just took me in as her friend from the moment we met. After that, we became inseparable. This made my Grandparents happy, due to the fact that I adjusted easier with a human friend. And don’t get me wrong, I adore Teresa with all of my heart. There is no way I would have even been able to survive in the human world without her. BUT, being her friend hurt my heart sometimes. There were so many moments I wish I could tell her the truth. I felt like I was lying to her constantly. When my wolf would yell in my head, I would sometimes whisper to myself. She always noticed, and I just told her “it’s a habit”. She probably thinks I’m crazy, but I’m thankful for the fact she stuck around anyways. We met Michael sometime in middle school. He ended up having the same lunch as us, and I remember when we ran into him by accident. Well, more like Teresa did. She was too busy talking to me and not paying attention to where she was going that she stumbled right into Michael, making him fall back onto a lunch table and get covered in someones food on his back. I remember Teresa feeling so guilty, but the whole time Michael’s heart was pounding loud and fast in his chest. I looked into his eyes as he stared into hers, and all I could see was the adoration he still continues to give her today. As we grew up together, three best friends, Michael’s crush on her was clearly developing even harder, but he did a pretty good job of not showing that. Like I said, it was easy for me to notice, but not for the average human girl like Teresa. She cared more about school and dance than boys. While that wasn’t a bad thing, I just wished sometimes she would open her eyes and see that the perfect guy she always talks about wanting is standing right in front of her. Eventually, we ended up at the spot where our prom was. Right next to the Space Needle in downtown Seattle, there was a museum, called “Museum of Pop Culture” (MOPOP for short). There were all sorts of exhibits, like Marvel, Music, Video Games, Science. Even a Nirvana exhibit. It was one of the coolest places Seattle had downtown, and when we got inside, I was even more amazed on how they got it all done up for prom. Colorful banners and lights were hanging from the railings, the ceiling, the walls. Music was playing loud in an auditorium, and the open space next to it led to all the exhibits. It was like a little corridor/hallway right next to where the partying was happening. It was actually one of the prettiest things I had ever seen. It reminded me of a ballroom. Originally, I was supposed to show up to my prom with my now ex boyfriend, but since he ended up dumping me, I didn’t really have anyone to take. He wasn’t that special to me, we only dated for about three weeks, but suddenly being dateless three days before prom isn’t really the best. Teresa had somehow convinced me to take a good friend of hers, Cameron. She insisted he would be the perfect date, and who knows, maybe she would be the one to finally introduce me to a decent guy? Anyways, I ended up giving the ticket to Teresa to give to Cameron. I wasn’t so off the idea, seeing as he was one of the most attractive guys in the senior class. He was athletic, a soccer player and track star. He was slim, but muscular, as muscular as a human can be at least. He was tall with shaggy brown hair and soft brown eyes. But despite his looks, Cameron was also really nice. I had only met him a few times, since Teresa ran track with him every year, and that’s how they developed a friendship over time, but he was always kind to me. And the few times I did meet him, I could hear his human heart speeding up a bit in nerves, and his eyes were practically bulging out of his head every time he spoke to me. So when Teresa offered him the ticket from me, he left a note taped to my locker saying “Of course. See you there (:”. I think she freaked out more than I did, but she had spent this whole day pampering me up to be ready to meet him. So I pushed my nerves down, and I continued following her inside. Once we got up the stairs, there was a small lounge area where chaperones were giving out small plates of fruits, desserts, and small cups of soda or water. I grabbed a cup of water, hoping that might help my nerves, and Teresa, Michael and I stood around for a while. We talked to some of our other friends as they made their way into the dance floor or towards the exhibits, and continued to delve into conversation as everyone else was arriving, the museum finally popping with life and the dance floor being filled to the brim, music playing louder than before. Teresa bit her lip, twiddling her fingers anxiously behind her back. Michael, talking to one of his friends from a class, wasn’t really paying attention, so I slid over to stand next to my best friend. My hand lightly touched hers, causing her to look at me. I looked back with a genuine look of concern. “You okay?” She sighed and nodded, looking down the stairs, then back at me, then down the stairs again. “Yeah. I’m just really hoping you like Cam.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around her shoulder, giving her a hug and leaned my head against hers. “It’s okay if I don’t, you know. You don’t have to play as my matchmaker.” She huffed, a slight pout on her face. “I know. But I just want to help. I know how unlucky you’ve been with boys in the past. I just think you deserve better, you know? Someone who-” Coffee.  Lavender. Pine wood. This scent took me aback for a moment. Having werewolf senses, sometimes there were certain scents or sounds that just hit me too hard, making me feel sick, this was a normal occurrence for me. But this scent, more like the mixture of scents, it was so intense. It hit my nose and I could feel the blood in my veins beginning to tingle, my mind blank as this became all I could focus on. So I just stood, staring at Teresa and trying to focus on her words, but I couldn’t hear her. All I could hear was time slowing down, and that smell took over my nose, my whole body really. My body tensed, and I could feel the goosebumps all over me. My wolf howled in satisfaction. Delicious. I need to find it. “-And who knows? Maybe you and Cam will really hit it off and-” I couldn’t stand it anymore. My body was getting hot, but there were goosebumps and chills all over at the same time. I could barely breathe or focus. Needing an excuse to escape for a moment, I held my hands up, smiling, trying not to let off that my mind was going crazy. “Love, I’m sorry for interrupting, but I really gotta pee.” Teresa nodded and smiled, totally not noticing whatever the hell was happening to me all of a sudden. “Sorry for my rambling. I just love you, that’s all.” I gave her a peck on the cheek. “I love you, too. I love your rambling. I’ll be back in a sec, okay?” “Okay! Don’t take too long. He might get here soon!” I just smiled as I turned around, walking into the crowd of people. The bathroom was in a hallway across from where we were, so I had to make my way through the dancing friends and couples. As soon as I was out of sight of my friends, I began picking up the pace just a little, in need of somewhere to breathe. The laughter and the voices in the crowd grew loud in my ears, the banging of the music beating in my ears like a headache. That smell, it was so wonderful, yet so intoxicating. I couldn’t explain it. I just needed to focus on getting away from it. The farther into the crowd I went, the less I could smell it. But the scent lingered in the air like an air freshener or a candle. Finally, I reached the bathroom. I made my way past people as I jolted inside, relieved to actually find it empty. All I could hear was the sound of my own heart, thumping ridiculously fast and loud in my chest. I grabbed the counter, looking into the mirror as I struggled to control my rapid breathing. My blood felt like it was burning, but in the most pleasurable way I could ever describe. Heat coursed through my body the way it did when I shifted, but instead of pain, this time it was pure bliss. But despite being so hot,  the chills were still running over my body. I was so confused. I had never felt or reacted this way to anything before. This was something so intense, so unusual, I couldn't figure it out. I just needed to breathe.  I ripped a paper towel from the dispensar and wet it with some cold water, lightly damping my forehead and my neck. After a few moments, I felt my body calm down, and I was back to my normal self. The scent was completely gone, and I finally felt like I was able to breathe. It felt like breathing cool fresh air. I was alright, but my mind was still boggled over what had just happened to me. I had always been so good at keeping control, but this time was different.  Not wanting to worry my friends about my absence, I departed from the bathroom. The moment I hit the edge of the crowd, the scent hit me again, struck me so hard I had to hold onto someone before I fell. Thankfully, they most likely just thought I was drunk, and let me stumble off. As I walked closer and closer to where my friends were, the scent grew even stronger. I just kept breathing as calmly as I could, trying not to let that scent have any effect on me. I needed to keep it together before my friends thought I was crazy.  As I finally made it out of the dance floor, I spotted Teresa and Michael, chatting it up with Cam. I couldn’t see his face, since his back was to me, but I recognized it as him. What I didn’t recognize though, was the even taller, even more muscular, blonde boy in a suit standing right next to him, back to me. I swallowed nervously. Suddenly it all started to make sense.. There were so many scents in this room, but that one was so distinguishable from them all. As I took the steps closer to my friends, it grew stronger. I felt like I was going to collapse. I knew that scent was wafting off of this stranger, and that could only mean one thing. I had to keep it cool. I had to. No one could know my secret.  At sight of me approaching, Teresa smiled and pointed at me, causing Michael, Cam, and this stranger to turn their attention towards me. As I looked between them, my eyes finally landed on the one I had never met before. Even from a bit away, his blue eyes lit up like bright stars in my head. It was like staring into the waves of water, which just happened to be one of my favorite things. His smile, his long blonde hair which was tied up in a nice bun, his muscles teasing me through his suit, everything. His entire being lit up right in front of me, but no one else could see it. An aura was glowing around him in my head. He was the most beautiful being I had ever laid my eyes on. Just being in his presence made me want to run right into his arms. The moment my eyes met his though, the scent hit me so hard, taking over every part of me. The heat and chills were back, my heart was thumping so loud and fast I was sure it was going to explode out of my chest. I just wanted to reach out and touch him. My wolf purred lovingly inside my head at that thought, and I could see by the way that he was looking at me, those blue eyes basically searching every part of my soul in that moment, the way I was with him, I knew there was a wolf purring inside him, too. Mate.