Becoming Alpha

Chapter 7

“Uhm…I mean your mate, like a friend…you know?” Mattias awkwardly elaborated into the sudden silence. As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he should have just shut up. His attempted explanation sounded worse than the initial statement.

After a beat Kelly began to chuckle and shook her head. “You are weird.”

Callum quickly stepped closer and placed a hand on her lower back to guide her to the car. “Let’s get moving before he opens his mouth again and more ridiculous things fall out.”

Kelly chuckled at Callum’s comment and totally missed the hard stare he threw his friend and the apologetic shrug Mattias gave him.

He took her to the passenger side and opened the door before he reluctantly removed his hand from her back. He had barely touched her, but that small contact had been enough to get his wolf on its toes howling and clawing for more.

He was sure his friends could feel the tension and hormones that were coming off him in waves. He fought it all down and smiled at her. After she was seated, he closed the door and turned to his friends.

“Mattias…”

“I know… I know, sorry…but at least I saved the situation.”

Oscar snorted. “World’s most awkward save ever,” he said and moved to jump into the back seat followed by Mattias.

Callum took a deep calming breath and walked to the driver’s side. He was excited to finally have her near him but he was also very nervous and the wolf was not helping matters.

He got in the car and smiled at her. “Let’s get some pizza…I’m starving.” He was starving in more than one way, but she only had to relate his statement to food for now.

The car drove off the school grounds and headed for the center of town with all the eating places and shopping malls. Within twenty minutes they had parked at a mall and were seated at a booth waiting for their order.

Kelly watched the guys, Callum sat to her right and Oscar to her left. Mattias had taken the seat directly opposite and seemed to be scanning the pizza place every few seconds.

There was a forced silence present ever since they got in the car coming from Mattias. She was sure the others had ordered him to keep quiet and she did not like it.

Oscar did not talk much either, he mostly responded to questions. The only one that talked to her was Callum and he seemed to be working very hard to come up with something to say.

She let it continue for another five minutes then finally sighed and spoke up, “Geez…one would think you guys were seated in the principal’s office after breaking some school rules. You are making me uncomfortable.”

Callum blinked in shock then quickly recovered. “I’m sorry. We just didn’t want to say anything else out of place. And…beautiful girls do make guys a little nervous, you know?”

Kelly chuckled nervously and leaned back in her chair. “That was a compliment.”

“One very tactlessly delivered,” Oscar commented under his breath but Callum heard him and growled.

Apparently, Kelly heard it too, because she burst out laughing and playfully slapped her hand on Oscar’s arm. This only caused Callum to growl a little louder and Oscar shuffled a little bit away from her.

Kelly caught the move but had no idea what to make of it. She felt comfortable around them for some strange reason but their behavior was a little off.

She tried her best not to breath in too deeply or get closer to Callum. She had realized in the car that his scent drew her in and left her wanting for more, she wanted to inhale deeply like a junky taking a fix, but she held back. The boys were already awkward, she didn’t need to add to the mix.

When their pizzas arrived, she decided to break the silence and get Mattias talking. “Mattias…how come you joined the biology class so suddenly?”

He had a pizza slice raised to his mouth and he paused when he heard the question. He quickly shot a look at Callum, silently asking him what he should answer. They could not tell her he had changed classes so that one of them could keep an eye on her at all times of the day, even to his usually less than logical brain, he knew that was not an answer he could give.

Callum cleared his throat and made to answer but she suddenly turned and frowned at him. “Are you telling me you have forbidden Mattias from talking in my presence?” she asked in an accusatory voice.

Callum held his tongue and stared for a moment. He was impressed, his mate had backbone and she was ready to defend a member of the pack even without knowing it, he immediately knew she would make a perfect Alpha mate.

He looked around the booth and saw admiration and respect pasted on his friend’s faces. Fate had chosen well for him and the pack. Even though they had a long way to go, it was comforting to know she felt already connected to them enough to defend one of their own.

He turned to Mattias and gave him a discrete nod. The guy had better come up with an answer for her because he was not going to answer for him and risk Kelly looking at him with disapproval.

“I just thought it was a better option,” Mattias finally responded.

She turned to look at him as though she considered his answer then smiled. “Ok.” Then she frowned. “Look…I hope you don’t think I am too forward…” She suddenly stopped talking and her frown deepened.

The guys shared a concerned look then Callum slowly laid a hand on her arm. The contact caused a jolt of electricity to go through both of them and they both gasped and pulled apart.

Kelly seemed confused and looked at her arm where he had touched her as though she expected to see a burn mark but there was nothing.

Callum shuffled in his seat and took several deep breaths. The look on Oscar’s face told him to get himself under control, he was showing too much and he risked spooking her. He couldn’t afford to scare her, that would slow down everything when all he wanted was to speed them up.

Oscar quickly jumped in to defuse the situation. “What were you saying, Kelly?”

She blinked and looked up at him, then blinked again. She was really out of it; she could not understand the instant attraction for Callum or her need to be near him and his friends.

It was that need that had gotten her talking. And now she was confused and wondered what was going on, she looked to Callum and his topaz eyes looked bright, too bright, they looked like yellow shinning gold. She was mesmerized and took a shuddered deep breath.

On her left Oscar cleared his throat loudly and Callum blinked and in the next heartbeat his eyes began to tone down. She did not take her eyes off him, the transformation was incredible, she was not sure what exactly she had seen but she was sure his eyes had changed and she had been drowning in them.

She shook her head and looked down at the pizza in her hand. She was yet to finish her first slice, she decided she must be hungry and her tired brain was beginning to play tricks on her.

She raised the slice to her mouth and proceeded to finish it in four bites then reached for another.

The boys watched her, then Mattias chuckled. “Take it easy, Kelly. The pizza is not running away.”

She looked up at Mattias, she was glad he had decided to talk, of the three he was the easiest she could make conversation with. She smiled and swallowed the piece she had just bitten off.

“I just realized I was actually hungry.”

“Good thing we ordered two large pizzas, but we can always grab another just in case,” Mattias said with a wide smile.

Kelly chocked a bit and burst out laughing. “I am not that hungry.”

Oscar and Callum chose to sit back and just allow the conversation to flow at the table between the two. It was obvious she did not mind Mattias’ weird comments and if the guy made her comfortable around them, then they were ok with it.

“So, I know you guys are not brothers, you all have different family names…but you are always together, I assume you even live together,” she suddenly said.

Callum nodded then responded. “We do.” He did not elaborate further and she frowned.

She turned to Oscar. “That was too short an answer, you look like the guy with the longer versions.”

Oscar smiled and chuckled, he could not help it, she was reading them very easily and seemed to be comfortable enough to just speak her mind. He looked to his alpha and waited for the go ahead before he could respond to her.

When Callum gave him a nod Oscar looked back at her. “We have been together from birth, we are more than family, we have a stronger bond that keeps us together. Although we do have some family connections. Callum and I are distant cousins. So is Mattias to me but not to Callum.”

“Wow.” She looked around. “So, all your families live in one house?”

Callum chuckled. “No.” He gave another summarized answer which had Kelly rolling her eyes and turning back to face Oscar.

Oscar laughed and went ahead to elaborate, “All our parents live in another town, we have lived here with an uncle for the past three years.” It was a delicate dance to give her honest answers without revealing too much.

“What about you? I hear you just moved to town,” Mattias joined the conversation and effectively changed the subject away from them before her questions got too hard to answer.

Kelly wiped her fingers with a napkin, she was now full and had no idea how many slices she had actually eaten. She momentarily wondered if that was healthy then decided to put the thought aside and responded to Mattias question in a flat tone. “I did… moved here with my dad and step mother number four.”

“Wow.” Callum reacted before he could control himself and gave her an apologetic smile, he had no idea what he could say about that. Werewolves believed in mating with one mate for life, the human style of life to marry and divorce several partners in one life time still left him confused and disappointed in the species.

She somehow had an idea where his thought had gone for, she gave him a smile and said softly, “Don’t worry, it’s not your everyone. My dad is a hopeless romantic, he keeps thinking the next wife will be the one he will grow old with…then things don’t work out and he is off looking for the next one.” She secretly hoped her father was already looking for wife number five because she was fade up with Stefanie.

“Sorry to hear that. I hope it has not clouded your perspective on love,” Callum said quietly and watched her to gauge her response.

Kelly went quiet for a moment; she contemplated the statement deeply before she answered. “Certain things can’t be predicted in life, bad things happen. I am sure, just like my dad…everyone wants that happily ever after, sometimes it happens…sometimes it doesn’t.” She smiled to herself and took a sip of her soda.

“I see love the same way. If it comes your way, embrace it and make the best of it. But if like my dad you don’t get a prince after kissing the frog…well.” She shrugged and continued, “You either accept what life has handed to you or you try again.”

The three boys at the table were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. Her words had that effect.

“That is an analysis too deep for someone of your age, Kelly, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Oscar finally said after some time.

Kelly shrugged again and smiled at him in a sad way. “Life, you take what it hands to you and you make the best of it.”

Mattias raised his glass to her with a nod and she smiled at him and raised hers in a silent toast. She saw respect in his eyes and she appreciated it.

While Oscar looked troubled and thoughtful, and Callum looked positively pissed for reasons she could not understand, Mattias simply accepted her response and showed her he admired and respected her.

Callum watched them toast and drink. He worked his jaw and clenched his teeth. He could not open his mouth and speak no matter how much he wanted to. His wolf was too close to the surface to risk it.

He was upset. His anger was not at her opinion of life and love but more at the clear evidence that she had clearly gone through a rough childhood to give her that perspective. The protective, possessive side of him was eating him alive. To know that his mate had endured any kind of hardship or pain did not sit well with him and he was so enraged he feared he would shift to his wolf any second. He needed to get away from her and go for a run to relieve some tension.

Abruptly he stood up and spoke in a hard clipped voice. “I think it’s time we drop you home,” he told Kelly who looked up at him in sudden shock and confusion.

Oscar shot him a warning look but Callum ignored it and reached down to grab her elbow and lead her out of the pizza place and back to the car.

While his hand had caused electric shocks on contact before, now all Kelly felt from his touch was a hard burning heat coming from his skin. He led her once again to the passenger side and the other boys jumped in the back seat.

The drive was quiet and rough, Callum drove as though the road had offended him. After a few directions from her he stopped in front of her house and quickly got out and opened her door then stood like a guard on duty and waited for her to exit the car.

Kelly was confused, she had no idea what had suddenly caused such a shift in his character. But now she was also irritated. She turned to the back seat and gave the two guys a small smile. “Thanks for pizza and your company.” She stepped out of the car and past Callum without a word and quickly walked to the front door without so much as a glance over her shoulder.

Callum watched her enter the house and close the door. His chest hurt and his wolf clawed like crazy. On stiff legs he rounded the car and got back in the driver’s side and got them back on the road.

After a few seconds Mattias spoke. “s**t, that did not end the way it was supposed to.”

“Shut up, Mattias.” Callum and Oscar said together in cold voices.