Viraai: (Book 1) Awakenings

| 7 | Just a feeling.

M A C K E N Z I E

11:05

My eyes flutter open slowly, squinting them immediately as they dilate due to the bright fluorescent light in the room. I groan slightly feeling my entire body ache as I sit up in what seems to be a bed. I glance around and it looks like I'm in the infirmary or the Pack hospital, judging by all the medical equipment.

"Mackenzie..." I hear a voice say and I turn, meeting a set of light grey eyes and immediately getting hit with a thick intoxicating scent.

"Hey..." I say quietly, sitting up straight.

"How're you feeling?" Miles asks sitting on the bed and taking my hand.

"I'm... I'm okay... everything just hurts..." I mumble in a croaky voice. "How long was I out?"

"2 days..."

"2 days?!" I yell and begin pulling out on the plugs connected to my body. "I have to get out of here and get back to my Pack."

"Mackenzie relax... just relax." He says, holding onto my shoulders to stop all my movements. "I'll get the Pack Doctors to come check on you first then I'm sure they will discharge you afterward."

"Ugh... Fine, fine." I say defeatedly. "Where is Nate?" I blurt out.

At the mention of his name, Miles' concerned expression falls and is now replaced by one of anger and jealousy.

"Why are you asking about him?" He questions and I purse my lips together, not knowing how to reply.

"Mackenzie... tell me what's going on right now. What happened back there, what were you doing with him before I walked in and... why did you pass out? And why the hell is he calling you his-."

"I think he's my Mate as well." I force out, interrupting him.

He stares at me in shock, blinking a few times and he moves away from me slightly. "What did you just say?"

"I said... I think... Nate might be my Mate as well..." I say slowly as I look into his grey orbs, searching for any emotion. His face is cold but hides his anger. His mouth slightly forming a small 'o' as he looks at me in disbelief.

"Please say something." I let out quietly, refusing to let my voice break. I'm not going to break.

Suddenly a laugh echoes throughout the room.

It's Miles... unlike an ordinary laugh, his is humourless.

"I don't know what's worse..." He begins, running his hand through his dark hair as he stands up from the bed. "...That you kept this from me, lied to my face when I asked you what was wrong, or that of all people on this planet, it's him that just happens to be your 'Mate'."

"Miles..." I start out, wanting to explain myself as I fight my tears. It pains me to see him like this and that I kept the truth from him but I didn't know what else to do, it wasn't that easy for me to tell him.

"I'm your Mate, Mackenzie... you're supposed to be able to open up to me!" He yells.

"You read my thoughts..." I say.

"I had to since you're keeping things from me." He continues. "How long have you known...?"

"Since... Nate first attacked my Pack." I respond to him quietly. He scoffs and shakes his head at me.

"All that time..."

"Miles you have to understand. I was confused, I still am confused. I feel the same pull towards you as I do to him... I'm sorry but, it is what it is and I'm sorry I kept it from you. I truly am sorry..." I say to him, feeling tears build up in my eyes.

"There has to be a way for us to tell which one of us is your true Mates..." He says, discarding what I had just said before.

"I think there might be something to help us in the- Aahh.." I whimper as I try to climb out of bed, feeling my entire body ache as I stand on the cold tiles.

"Mackenzie..." Miles lets out and immediately comes over to my side, supporting me from falling, helping me stand up straight.

"I'm... I'm okay. There might be something that can help us in the library..." I manage to say, staring up at him. "Even though you're upset with me... you still can't let anything bad happen to me."

He sighs as he still has his arms around me. "I couldn't keep Nate from you..." He lets out coldly before he slowly lets go of me. I frown at him with a hurtful expression, watching him as he steps away from me. "Nate's being kept in the cellars, we thought we could interrogate him but he hasn't said a word to us since you passed out."

"We still need to find out what he's doing here... we have to put our Packs first, Miles. Then we'll sort out this whole Mate thing..." I explain to him, wiping away my tears and sniffing.

"Fine... I'll go notify the doctors that you're awake, then after we go see what the Rogue has to say..." Miles says to me in a low voice. I nod in understanding, staring at him, not knowing what to say to him. He is so angry with me and I don't even know what to say to make him feel better...

"I'll be right back..." He says just before he walks backward from me.

"Okay," I mumble and sit back down on the bed. He exhales quietly from his nose before he leaves me alone in the hospital room.

Once he's gone I let my tears fall and hold my head in my hands, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Fuck." I curse and take in a shaky deep breath. "This wasn't supposed to happen like this..."

. . . . .

"Mackenzie..." Is the first thing that escapes Nate's mouth as he stands up from the floor in the cellar he is being kept in. He rushes over to the silver bars and comes to a stop, looking down at me with concern.

"Are you okay...? None of these nincompoops would tell me how you were..." He speaks quickly, shooting a glare at Miles.

"I'm fine, Nate..." I say to him, causing him to exhale in relief. "But we need to talk to you..."

"We? I told you, I'm only going to talk to you-"

"I know but... I'm the Alpha here. What I say goes and I say that you either speak to the both of us, or you can remain here till I see it fit to set you free." I force myself to say. Nate frowns at me before glancing at Miles again for a second time, this time with jealousy.

"Fine," Nate replies, raising his hands up in defence and stepping away from the bars.

I glance at Miles first before walking to the keypad next to the cell bars and input the passkey, causing the bars to slide to the left.

We enter the cell with Nate and I can instantly feel the tension between all three of us.

"I know that... both of you are my Mates... but that's not important right now... we first need to talk about what you're doing here, and why you are here..." I say, keeping my eyes on Nate.

"Fair enough." Nate nods before taking in a deep breath and staring at the floor. "I'll tell you everything... whether you choose to believe me or not, is on you." He explains and I nod my head for him to continue, crossing my arms.

"When I was 7 my parents died... murdered by Rogues. At the time, I wasn't in a Rogue Pack... I was in the Red Dawn Pack... my Father being Travis Maddox, the Alpha of the Red Dawn Pack. Our numbers were already diminishing over time; we were ceasing to exist so when they killed my parents, the Pack just... well, let's just say that there’s a reason you don't hear about them anymore. My parents were the only family that I had. No brothers, sisters, cousins. No one." Nate explains and facial expression shifts into one of empathy as I uncross my arms.

My Dad once told me about the Red Dawn Pack... They were a notorious Pack and were one of the deadliest Packs that ever existed, even though they were only around for less than 5 years. People sometimes mistook them for Rogues because of their aggressiveness and the way they secluded themselves off from other Packs.

People targeted them for their boldness and wanted to take them out, especially the Rogues and Hunters so as Nate said, the Pack ceased to exist.

"I'm sorry... I know what that's like." I tell him.

"I'm sorry too..." He says, staring at me sympathetically.

"When my parents died, the Pack fell apart. I had no one to go to but, thankfully someone found me... took me in. A Rogue... Jarred Odaire; Delta of the Rogue Pack during the time of Duncan Revaux's rule. I had joined the same people that killed my parents but I was seven at the time so what choice did I have? Jarred saw value in me as the son of Travis and Miranda Maddox and so he brought me to the Rogue Packhouse. The bastard raised me, taught me the ways of the Rogues, how to be ruthless... but he only saw me as a soldier... he didn't care about me. So 9 years later when I turned 16, I challenged Duncan for the role of the Alpha, killed him and I won.

From there I took over the whole Pack. Everything was under my control and I was finally getting what it meant to be an Alpha. Since Jarred had some experience in leading a Pack, I decided to keep him as my Delta. But, last year he had this insane idea of waging war against all other Packs of the South. He thought we could use people's fear of us to our advantage. I didn't want that. People already hated us so why on earth would we want them to hate us more? He is insane, spoke of taking over the entire Werewolf world and soon enough; the Human world as well. f*****g idiot." He explains.

Part of me is glad that Nate isn't responsible for the start of this war... but he did contribute to it so I can't let him off the hook just yet. He got his reputation from killing those that opposed him which includes people from several Packs.

"As I said, I didn't want that. But he was determined and so he went behind my back, orchestrating different attacks on several Packs."

"Why didn't you ever stop him, you could've done something...” I question him.

"I tried to... but he insisted that it was not him and at the time I was distracted by other things... including the disappearances of both my Beta and Gamma. Jarred led me to believe that they had been killed by your Pack during the time they attacked, about a week ago so I came to seek vengeance... but then I found you... and well, yeah. After our encounter, I went back to my Packhouse and Jarred and other members of my Pack had plotted to overthrow me." He pauses as his hands ball into fists.

"And they did." His voice low, monotonous.

"So they shunned me." He scoffs angrily as a wicked smile appears on his face.

"Out of my own f*****g Pack." His eyes flash a bright green indicating his Wolf threatening to surface. I can't help but feel sorry for him, he didn't really deserve that. I take a step forward but before I can even say anything, Miles is the first to speak.

"So you came here because you thought that we could help you?" Miles snaps at him. Nate directs his attention to Miles, taking a step towards him.

"No," Nate replies bluntly. "I came here because you need my help. I know everything about the Rogues, what they're planning, how they attack, their strengths and their weaknesses. I've been training them so I know everything. Ev-ery-thing. I want my Pack back, and you want to stop them from killing any more people, which I could help with as well, but only if you accept my help." Nate says as he stands face to face with Miles, staring him down.

"Is it wrong that I find that hot...?" My Wolf pops up randomly.

"Now, really?"

"Sorry. I'll shut up."

"Now I've spilled my guts so whether or not you want my help is your decision. So you can be a cocky ass about it... or you can do what's best for your Pack. Both of your Packs." Nate growls and finishes up his speech.

"Sorry Rogue, but that sob story you just made up about you not starting the War and all that s**t, is not going to win us over."

"Are you f*****g stupid? Do you honestly think I made that up? You should be grateful that I'm even here offering my help to you; I could be on Jarred's side, and if that were so, all of you would be dead."

Nate backfires just before they both start arguing, Miles even shoving Nate backward and away from him.

"Guys, that's enough," I say and get between them, placing my hands on their chests and keeping them apart.

"Aah.." I hiss as my hands burn for the second time now, as soon as I touch them.

They both stare at me, concerned as I stare down at my singed hands, watching them heal.

"Are you okay?" Both of them ask at the same time.

"I'm fine..." I let out, taking in a deep breath. "I believe you, Nate... and even though you might bring a lot of trouble here, we do need you."

"Mackenzie," Miles says in shock.

"We do, Miles. We can use what he knows to have the upper hand over the Rogues..." I try to explain to Miles. I'm not going to be arrogant about this. Not this time. I'm not going to pretend that we don't need him because we do. I, need him...

"Nate. We are accepting your help... but in return, you have to stay here so we can keep an eye on you." I say and watch as a ghost of a smile appears on his lips.

"You can't be serious," Miles complains, and I look at him seriously. He has to accept it sooner or later...

"Do we have a deal? I ask Nate, sticking out my hand for him to shake.

"Deal." He confirms, taking my hand and giving it a firm shake. I shudder as our skin makes contact.

Spark. Boom. Explosion.

I quickly pull my hand away and swallow the lump in my throat.

"Now that that's out of the way... we can finally talk about us, and what we're going to do about it..." I say and the both of them look at each other, glaring holes into each other's skulls.