#Chapter 55: The Mate Debate
If I look offended, it’s because I am. Alex recoils at my expression, and now it’s his turn to stammer.
“Uh…yeah…no, 1–I didn’t mention it because it’s not important right now.”
He squints his disapproval at Tala, but her demeanor remains soft and warm, like she knew what his reaction would be and is unaffected by it.
“I disagree,” she replies, “Don’t you, Cynthia?”
“I do!” I place my hand on Alex’s leg under the table. “Why Didn’t you. Tell me?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does! 18!”
“What do you know about what happens when a werewolf turns 18?” Mr. Hewlett asks as he takes a drink of wine.
“Ac–ccording to. Lore they meet. Their fated mate.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Hewlett continues. “At 18, a wolf discovers their true mate. They bond.”
Alex shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Not necessarily. It’s not some magic that happens overnight, like scales fall away from your eyes and you discover you’re in love with the girl next door or anything,” Alex adds.
Mr. Hewlett nods. “That’s true. Sometimes a wolf finds his or her mate isn’t even in the same pack.”
“How–how doesss…that work?”
I glance at Tala who is watching me intently. Same expression…which is getting a little creepy now.
Alex answers. “If a wolf’s mate isn’t in the same pack, it could take years to meet them.”
I bite my lip again. “Sssooo they. Are alone?”
Alex shrugs. “Basically.”
“Though they do still like to have their fun, isn’t that right?” And Mr. Hewlett looks right at me.
Okay. I know what he’s insinuating. I know he thinks I’m some human fling for Alex, but… What if he’s right? Alex does have a reputation…
Tala intercedes. “We will have to celebrate with another dinner.”
“NO!” He bolts upright in his seat, adamantly shaking his head and waving his hands back and forth. In a quiet voice he says, “No party. It’s not appropriate with Michael possibly…definitely sick.”
“You mean dying,” his father says softly, his eyes half hooded.
I realize that, for a man who otherwise seems so emotionless, he truly loves his son. I wonder if he harbors this affectionate toward Alex…because right now, he doesn’t seem to.
Alex swallows hard His next words are slow and meticulous. “He’s. Not. Dying.”
Now it’s my turn to comfort Alex. I put my hand on his knee and rub it tenderly.
Tala’s eyes sweep to me. “If Michael does not make it, Alex will have to return.”
I nod. No one has spelled it out, but I know how the hierarchy of power usually works. “To lead.”
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#Chapter 55: The Mate Debate
She nods slowly in return. don’t think any of them really want to admit that possibility right now.
Alex pushes his seat away from the table and stands. “I need some fresh air.”
“But you haven’t eaten,” his mother calls out.
He ignores her and motions for me to follow. I excuse myself and hurry out of the hall behind him, gladly leaving everyone else behind.
Alex is ahead of me for a moment. I see his hands at his face and I can tell he is wiping away tears. As bad as I’ve felt for myself through all of this, it pales in comparison to how he’s feeling.
He finally stops and turns around. “Sorry. I just couldn’t talk about it anymore.”
He reaches for my hand, which I accept, and leads me to the road heading out of town.
“My parents are very blunt. I guess that’s just our way.‘
“Werewolf way?” I tease.
“Ah–hah! Yeah…it can get us into trouble.”
I don’t reply. I know Alex has an issue with being direct, which has caused him a lot of problems with the girls in our school. Well…come to think of it, he’s direct when he’s getting the attention he wants, it’s when it gets uncomfortable for him that he tucks tail.
I look up at the moon. For some reason, the skies here are brighter, and I realize it’s the stars. Since there is less fluorescent pollution here, I can see all the stars…and they’re beautiful.
Alex notices, too. “Aren’t they breathtaking?”
“Yeah…”
“My brother and I used to camp when we were little. I’ll take you to the stream where we’d set up tent–I mean the expression…not literally. We slept in hammocks, not tents.”
“I get it.”
He starts gently swinging our hands back and forth as we walk, and it makes me feel like a kid with her first crush. Alone, out here, nothing feels wrong. This feels right.
“We would fish in the stream and build forts.” He sighs. “We had so much fun.”
“Like normal…people.”
“You know, ninety percent of our daily lives are like everyone else’s.”
“But…”
“I know–but the other ten percent really sets us apart.”
I laugh. “True.”
The night air is cool, and Alex lets go of my hand so he can pull me to his side, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and tucking me against his side. I’m always amazed how perfectly I fit, like his body was made specifically for mine.
We turn left and veer off the road as we pass the last house. The woods are quiet. It doesn’t seem natural because the woods near the school always seem to have birds and small critters scampering around.
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*Chapter 56 The Mate Debate
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Now, there isn’t even a breeze to stir the trees, and I have to wonder if it isn’t because of the presence of the pack.
“Are there animalsss?”
“What?”
“Woods, Are there any?”
“Oh–yeah. There are animals further out.”
“Not by you?”
“Not by the base, no.”
His mind must be somewhere else because he doesn’t pick up on the meaning behind my question. I look up at him and his head is lifted toward the sky.
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