Remember Me, Mate

Chapter 3

ZAHRA

“Please, Zahra dear, I insist.” The head cook lowered her head before me, gesturing towards the tea items. “Would you like some tea? Or has the Alpha requested it for himself?”

“You’re always so kind, Helena.” I touched her shoulder, and she lifted her gaze back at me. “Don’t worry. I may be an Alpha’s daughter, but I’m not an Alpha myself. I’m lucky Alpha Tyrone accepted me into his pack after the downfall of mine. I don’t mind doing some work every once in a while,” I reassured her, making a brief pause. “It’s the least I could do to return the hospitality I’ve been offered.”

Despite her evident reluctance, she eventually sighed. “As you wish, Zahra.”

It was honestly heart-warming how caring the shifters here were towards me. Even after being a part of Scarlet Meadows for roughly seven years, I was still amazed by how accepting they were of me. Most wolves weren’t too fond of outsiders, unless they were mated to one of the members, but they’ve treated me as one of their own for as long as I could remember. I tried to show my gratitude by using my Alpha knowledge to help around the pack, and of course, by fighting by their side whenever it was needed.

It only took me a few minutes to prepare the tea. I placed the teapot and the fanciest teacups I could find on a golden tray before carrying it upstairs. Tyrone opened the office’s door for me, thanking me one more time as I put the items on his desk. I offered to serve him and the guests as well, but he insisted he could do it himself. Not delaying their meeting any longer, I left as quickly as I came in.

As I wandered through the spacious hallways of the five-story pack house, I thought about what I could do next to kill some time until the meeting was over. All pack members were required to work during the weekdays as a way to “earn their living,” but Tyrone never let me. He insisted I had gone through a lot already, and that when I found my mate, they would probably kill him for making their Luna work. Instead, he provided for anything I could possibly need. I would still sneak into the Omega wing occasionally to help them with chores, but not having an actual job left me with a lot of free time in my hands.

“There you are, Zahra!” A familiar voice pulled me from my thoughts. A smile lit up my face as I recognized my best friend and the answer to my boredom. “I was looking for you. Didn’t you get my texts?”

Despite being a werewolf hybrid and officially a member of the pack, Circe couldn’t communicate with any of us through mindlink. The connection was established by our animal counterparts, and since hers never awoke, she had to reach out to us the old-fashioned way. I could easily find her by tracking her scent though; her witch powers made her smell quite different than everyone else around.

“Sorry, I left my phone in my room. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to show you this new spell I’ve been practicing.” The excitement in her expression was contagious. “Come on, let’s go to the garden!”

Before I could even agree, she wrapped her fingers around my wrist, dragging me all the way to the bottom floor again. We crossed a few hallways until we made it to the garden in the back. As usual, there wasn’t anyone around; it was just us standing among the beautiful Scarlet Flower Carpet Roses. These flowers were scattered all across our large territory, and they were the reason behind our name.

Circe forced me to sit down on one of the few stone benches as she took a minute to ready herself. Because her mother died when she was still young, she had no one to show her how to control her powers growing up. It wasn’t until she moved to Scarlet Meadows with me that she decided to start learning. She took advantage of the pack’s huge library, and little by little, the books taught her what to do. Though she was far from reaching her full potential, I was still amazed by her determination, and celebrated each of her victories as if they were my own.

“Alright, I’m ready.” She turned to me again. “Think about an object that you’re not carrying with you right now.”

“How about my phone?” I suggested.

“Perfect.” The chocolate-haired girl smiled. She took both my hands in hers before closing her caramel eyes. “Now, picture your phone, and don’t stop thinking about it until I tell you to.”

The next thing I knew, Circe was mumbling in an ancient tongue I could barely understand. I was still unsure of what she was planning to do, but I figured it out in a matter of seconds. I had been staring at her the whole time, until I felt a light weight on my lap - my phone.

“It worked!” my best friend cheered as soon as she opened her eyes.

“What was that?” I was genuinely intrigued.

“A teleportation spell. It can be used to teleport any item the recipient is thinking about.”

“Oh, that’s really useful!” My eyes widened in awe, right before I smirked playfully at her. “You think you can use it to bring me my mate?”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work with people.” She laughed, and I swear I could sense a hint of nervousness in her voice. Her gaze drifted away from me as she sat beside me. “I don’t wanna sound pessimistic, but…” She paused, contemplating her next words. “Do you ever think that you might not find your mate?”

“I can’t say I haven’t considered that.” I shrugged, leaning back a little to take a glance at the beautiful blue skies, as if they held the answer to my troubles. “I know not all wolves succeed at meeting their destined partners. At twenty-five, I’m starting to get used to the idea that I might be among them.”

“How do you feel about that?” she lowered her voice, placing her hand over mine.

“Honestly? It’s like there’s something…missing. But at the same time, I don’t wanna stress over something that’s out of my control. If it happens, it happens.”

“And if it doesn’t…” I could feel her smirk even without looking at her. “Is there a special someone you’d consider taking as your chosen mate?”

“Well, I-”

“Zahra!”

A masculine voice called from behind me. I was sure I had never heard it before, but it still sounded familiar somehow. As I turned around, my heart stopped when I was faced with a man that looked almost exactly like Tyrone. They were the same height, shared the same skin tone and hair color, but his eyes were different. Instead of the Alpha’s light brown eyes, this stranger’s were hazel that seemed to glow red under the sun.

I stiffened as confusion and shock took over me. Frozen, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything except watch him approach me with large, hurried steps. I wanted to get up and run, but my legs didn’t respond to my command. A perplexed gasp pushed its way out of my lips when the man suddenly took me in his arms, hugging me so tightly it hurt. My eyes darted to Circe in a desperate, silent cry for help, but all she did was mutter a single word under her breath. “Shit.”