Part 2
### Chapter 1: Chapter 1.
*****
"Guys, we're going swimming. You coming?"
I furrowed my brows as I lifted my head to watch the hotel door open revealing my sister and Ashton in the hallway. Ashton was one of my best friends her mate, a sole mate every werewolf had. The pair had known each other literally their entire lives, it used to drive one of our fathers crazy, the other hid his annoyance at it better, he usually acted enthusiastic about it but would occasionally keep the two apart when he felt like Ashton was getting too close to his little girl. We were older now though, and eventually our parents had to accept that she would be with her mate so Tamia and Ashton officially mated and got married a few months ago.
Ashton was also my Beta, the second in command, whereas I was the leader also known as the Alpha of our pack of wolves. My father Corey had been the Beta and Ashton's father the Alpha of our pack until Ashton and I took over five years ago. Alpha selection in our pack was random, usually the Alpha and the other leaders were born with a tattoo that showed what their positions within the pack were supposed to be.
"Swimming? We just got here." Our friend Ben said from where he was seated on the bed across the room from mine.
Ashton and Tamia were sharing a room, not just because they were married but because Ashton had the worst sleeping habits. I dreaded it when we sometimes had to share a room while we travelled to see other packs.
"So?"
"So, we just got off a 16-hour flight. I'm sleeping." I said, "Besides... something feels off." Ever since we had landed, I just had a weird feeling.
"Something always feels off to you..." Tamia scrunched her nose at me before jumping suddenly looking incredibly excited, "Oh! Maybe it's your mate this time!" I snorted at that.
"Ha. Mate. That's funny."
I wasn't very optimistic about the whole mate thing, I liked being on my own. Tamia and Ashton were joined at the hip pretty much their entire lives since they somehow always knew they were mated, and my dads could not get enough of each other either. It was nice seeing how close mates were but I loved my space, so at the same time it seemed like a nuisance to me that they seemed so co-dependent. Tamia was probably right, and I was pretty sure the slight pull towards a certain direction I felt since we stepped off the plane was supposed to lead me to my mate. Part of me was excited, of course... most of me uneasy and even slightly afraid. I wasn't sure whether I was ready for what Tamia and Ashton had.
"Come on, look outside. The weather is amazing –"
"I'm really tired." I cut Ashton off. It was winter where we came from, but currently outside the hotel the summer sun shone high making me want to leave even less.
We were there for a break, that's why Tamia was with us. It was shocking that the elder wolves of our pack actually granted us some time to have a real holiday, but they had. I figure it's because the ex-Alpha and Beta were still strong enough to hold things down without us there. Whatever the reasons were, I was happy. The past five years since Ashton and I took over had been so much work, I could remember the last time I slept more than three or four hours. The hotel room was going to be literal heaven to me if I could even just one more hour of sleep.
"Fine. You two can stay here and sleep. We're having fun and finding a nice restaurant –"
"Restaurant?" Ben and I sat up simultaneously.
"Well... we're not really that tired..." Ross looked at me, I looked back to my twin just as she smirked.
I wasn't much like my dad Jayden. He was... soft. He wasn't the strongest wolf and was incredibly soft-hearted and friendly, I was the opposite in almost every way. I loved him though. What we did have in common was our seriousness and love for food. My father Corey, who I usually called Paps, was rarely serious about anything despite his Beta status, then again, neither was Ashton's father Sean and he had been Alpha. Many of the pack elders still found them to be quite the weird pair of Alpha and Beta. Tamia knew mentioning food would make me unable to resist heading outside.
"We'll come with you." I rolled my eyes as Ashton chuckled while Tamia clapped.
After shoving on some shoes and grabbing sunglasses Ben and I followed the pair out of the hotel and I immediately regretted agreeing to go as we stepped out into the hot sunlight. I was so tried...
We walked over to the beach, me trailing behind slightly as I tried to stay awake and once we arrived, I opted to sit down. It was surprising that Ben seemed to have gained energy during our walk in the sun and actually ended up swimming leaving me eating ice cream in the shade by myself.
As my friends messed around in the water, I watched them while feeling the pull towards my mate strengthen a little and smiled to myself. I wondered what they thought about it, no doubt they could feel it too. I was Bi, so it did not really matter to me what my mate was. I bit my lip suddenly feeling the pull strengthening, showing me that my mate was moving closer; I was beginning to feel anxious. All my friends that had already found their mates had known them for a while, I would know nothing about mine until I met them. I did not want to be mated to a psychopath...
My hand moved automatically to catch a ball as I had heard it swoosh through the air towards me. I had not even seen it, my hearing ability was just incredible. I looked up to see a couple of kids not too far from me pretending it wasn't them but occasionally glancing over to see if I still had their soccer ball. It made me laugh as I got up before kicking the ball back to them. I watched as the younger one caught it with his foot before it could touch the ground and raised my brows as I walked over to them. I didn't need to ask them if I could play, because he kicked the ball back at me before I passed it over to his friend.
"What pack are you in?" I asked suddenly as I got passed the ball again.
They both looked at me surprised.
"Alpha," I stated explaining how I could tell what they were without touching them.
"Oh." The younger looking kid stared up at me looking a little afraid and I chuckled. He was probably worried that I was here for a fight, but I had done my research and chosen a place I knew was no one else's territory because it was a town mostly populated by humans and it was surrounded by packs so no one could claim the area as theirs unless they wanted war. These kids must have been from one of the surrounding packs.
"I'm here a holiday – my friends are over there." I pointed to where I had last seen Tamia and the guys and sighed seeing Ashton and Ben hurl mud at each other before I felt my chest tighten. Where was Tamia? My eyes darted in a quick panic until I spotted my sister further in the ocean and felt my shoulders relax.
Being Alpha, I was worried about everyone in my pack, Tamia and our younger brother Danté just got to me more because they were related to me and she was Ashton's mate so she was an obvious target to get to us, so was Danté. Nothing had happened to either of them ever since we were old enough to walk around without our parents, but it still worried me.
The teenager in front of me chuckled. "Our pack is called Letsela."
"Family line?" Some packs' Alphas were actually all born into one family in different generations, usually packs like that were named after the Alpha family. He nodded. "My pack's called Galaxy," I said.
"Galaxy? The Galaxy pack?" He asked in surprise.
"Yes." I nodded with a smile. Our pack was pretty well known everywhere because of our size, strength and magic. I had yet to meet a pack that did not immediately know about us when I stated which pack I led.
"Eli, we're ready for food – Oh. Hey. Who is this?" I looked at Ben as his hand grabbed my shoulder when he came to a halt beside me and looked at the kids in front of me.
"Uh..." I looked at them raising my brows because I had no idea who they were.
"Kevin, this is George." The teenager motioned to the younger boy.
"Eli, Ben." I said motioning between us. "Where are Ash and Tamia?" I asked Ben.
"They left." He said. I raised my eyebrows as I turned to him.
"They left? But they're the ones who dragged us out here."
"Yeah." He frowned, "They're at a restaurant down the road. You guys are wolves?" he looked at the kids.
"Yes." George grinned before we all heard a barely audible howl that sounded quite far away.
"That's George's mom, we should get going," Kevin said grabbing the younger boy's shoulder.
"See you around." I smiled as I grabbed the ball off the ground and handed it to him.
We split up and Ben and I made our way to the restaurant talking about what the pack they were from was possibly like. I could smell more of their scent around us, and from the looks we were getting the other wolves were suspicious of the new scent they could pick up from us, so I figured meeting their Alpha to show him I wasn't here to fight would be a good idea.
I figured that could be done the next day, at the moment, I was starving...
"Hey Alpha, how about we ditch the love birds and get dinner somewhere where we don't have to stare at them sucking face the entire time?"
"Ben." I groaned. I did not want to picture that, seeing it at their wedding was enough to make me cringe for the rest of my life – and I had a lot of life left as werewolves were practically immortal. He looked at me questioningly because I had failed to actually answer him. "Right." I nodded pulling my phone from my pocket to tell Tamia we were headed elsewhere. "Where to?" I looked around and gave a charming half-smirk to a group of girls nearby that were staring at Ben and me while whispering compliments they thought we couldn't hear. They insanely burst into gushing and giggling that made me chuckle as I turned back to Ben to focus on his answer.
"I saw this really..." Ben's voice drifted from my ears as the pull I felt suddenly intensified and my head tilted to look towards where it was leading down the road.
Mate.
I swallowed nervously. Was I really ready to be tied down to one person for the rest of my life? What if they liked living where they currently did and would not come home with me? What if they had already given up on finding their mate and had moved on with someone else? It was a pretty late stage to find my mate... They could be younger than me though... what if they were way younger? Ew... I would have to wait years for them to be ready and it would be so awkward knowing we met when they were not of age even if we did live very long.
"Alpha." I coughed as Ben's fist met my stomach, "Snap out of it."
"Why the hell would you –?" I punched him back a little harder. He began to retaliate but I grabbed his wrist before he could. "Food?" I asked.
"We're here."
Oh. I looked up and felt myself relax as I realised the mate pull had become less intense again. We weren't going to meet just yet, I could calm down. My mood fell when I realised where we were.
"A club? For food? Are you kidding me?" I asked turning to glare at Ben.
"What? My stomach just led me here." He waved at a girl as she walked up to the club entrance and she winked back before giggling while holding onto her friend's arm.
"Damn it. We didn't come out here to –"
"Have some fun, Alpha." He cut me off aggravating me even more.
"Ben, we did this at home. Why –" I grit my teeth as he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the club completely ignoring what I had to say. I growled in annoyance and Ben glanced back at me a little worried.
"How hungry are you?" he asked.
"I'm not going to rip anyone apart," I muttered in defeat. We didn't eat humans; vampires were disgusting. "I might kill you though," I added, it actually seemed like a good idea. He rolled his eyes at me.
"Hey, handsome. Wanna dance?" I looked down as a small hand touched my chest and my eyes met a brown pair belonging to a really beautiful brunette woman. She didn't look or smell drunk and her dress hugged her curvy body incredibly well, she was very attractive.
'Still want to kill me?' I narrowed my gaze at Ben as he smirked and cursed at him through our link before I smiled at the girl. What harm could come from a dance?
"Of course," I said to her as I took hold of the hand on my chest and let her lead me away from Ben as he headed to the bar. 'An hour' I linked to him. I grit my teeth hearing him scoff. I swear if he wasn't one of my best friends I would have killed him already. Probably when he ate the last of my sour straws when we were eight.
I danced with a few people and drunk a couple of beers before taking break at the bar while trying to spot Ben in the crowd but a girl blocked my view. I recognised her from earlier when I was dancing with a group of random people.
"You owe me a dance." She said taking the drink from my hand to place it on the counter and replacing it with her hand, intertwining our fingers.
I chuckled. "Since you're so –" I cut off and frowned as I looked around feeling uneasy. Something's wrong...
"What?" she asked.
"Oh – nothing. I'm sorry, I have to go." I pushed by her carefully and made my way out of the club and onto the sidewalk, my eyes searched it until I saw him run up to me at human speed, his face stressed.
"Eli –"
"Where is Tamia?" I cut Ashton off.
"We were arguing – she-she said she needed some air and I said fine, because I needed to call my mom anyway. I thought she meant air on the balcony, but when I went out to look for her she wasn't there and then I noticed her sneakers were gone and-and she'd left."
"She left?! By herself?!" I snapped.
"I –" Ashton began.
"You let her leave by herself?!" I cut him off furiously.
He was her mate! Not only were we on unfamiliar territory but Tamia was just so careless sometimes. She never took danger seriously and was always somewhat aloof, even when we were kids. I didn't care that she was an incredibly strong wolf, there was always a possibility of her getting hurt... or worse. My chest immediately tightened in anxiety at the memory of what happened to our fathers when we were younger. I was going to kill Ashton if something happened to her.
*****
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### Chapter 2: Chapter 2.
*****
"Eli, calm down." Ben grabbed my shoulder. I had not even noticed that he had joined me outside.
"I didn't know she was leaving. I would never let her – I figured she-she probably went or something, but I waited for her to get back for over an hour, I couldn't feel her pull, I still can't –" Obviously in his state, he wouldn't be able to focus on her pull, he was too scared and worried, it was clouding his abilities. I grabbed Ashton's shoulders and stared into his eyes.
"Calm down." I felt his tense body relax beneath my hands. Compelling was a trait my pack had never had in the past; that was until my fathers and Ashton's parents met. Ashton's mother and my dad Jayden were a breed of wolf that could make anyone do things just by looking into their eyes. Most of our pack still couldn't do, but because of our parents, Ashton, Tamia and I could and since I was as strong as I was, I could compel anyone – even other Alphas. "Focus on your mate," I commanded. He nodded.
I watched as he took a few breaths before he looked around and then set off running down the street. I followed him with Ben closely behind me until we stopped running near our hotel as he crashed into Tamia, instantly locking her in a tight hug.
"Ash –" She spoke a soft laugh.
"What the hell?!" He questioned letting her go the same time I asked, "What were you thinking?!"
"I'm sorry, Love. I just took a walk and I bumped into someone, literally – and he offered to pay for the food I spilt." Tamia gave Ashton a hug before she looked at me, "I was thinking that with the amount of time you were gone and who you were gone with , and guessed that the two of you probably did not end up getting any food." She said to me as she lifted her hand to show me a bag. I glanced at Ben and he chuckled glancing away guiltily. I smiled.
"' He' ?" Ashton was looking behind Tamia.
My eyes followed his and I felt my heart skip in my chest as they fell on the person my sister had 'bumped into'. For a few seconds everything around me seemed to fade. The people, the noise and all I could hear was my wolf's frantic howling and yelping in my mind along with the intense thumping of my heart.
Mate.
Wait... but he's...
My eyes drifted over him taking him in slowly as I tried to figure out if I was reading him wrong.
"Alpha?" He finally whispered what I had been thinking.
"Yes – this is my brother, the Alpha I told you about. His name's Eli. Eli, this is Karabo –"
"The Letsela pack, you're their Alpha." I cut her off nodding slowly. A tinge of his scented reminded me of George and Kevin from the beach. His scent was making it hard for me to smell anything else as my senses seemed heightened towards him, I felt light-headed as my body urged me to lean into him to get a closer smell, a feel...
"How did you know that?" She asked.
"Kids on the beach mentioned their pack..." I mumbled before clearing my throat as I looked back into his dark brown eyes. He looked just as stunned as I felt, and I knew I was doing a better job than he was at hiding my shock.
"Karabo, are you alright?" My sister attempted to check if he was okay but Ashton grabbed her hand.
"My mate," Ashton growled pulling her back into his arms. She shot him a frown.
"Ha. You don't have to worry about that." I said lifting my hand to scratch the back of my head nervously.
I knew it. I always knew meeting my mate would be awkward. Most humans and witches did not know who their sole mate was the instant they met them, it gave them time to get to know each other comfortable. I had no idea what to say to him avoid making myself look bad or weird.
"Hello," Karabo spoke strongly.
"Hello." I matched his confidence and strength.
"Wait – Is he your mate?" Tamia asked me stunned.
I nodded slowly, my eyes were still stuck on Karabo. I was trying to figure him out. He stood tall, I did too, our eyes studying one another like we were trying to intimidate each other. This happened with every Alpha I ever met, each Alpha trying to be the better, stronger, more commanding figure.
"You're really close to my territory." He stated frowning at me.
"I was going to find you in the morning to explain where we stand. We're not here to fight." I said before adding, "We're on holiday until the end of the week," to see how he would react.
"You're leaving?" He asked, his Alpha tone dropping for a second and I smirked having been able to get him to drop his authoritative demeanour so quickly. His eyes darkened as he stared at me realising that I had intended to get that reaction from him.
"Well, we might stay longer," I replied smugly.
"You cannot unless given permission by my pack."
"Permission from your pack?" I glanced around, "We're not on your territory."
"You do not have to be. This city counts as my territory since my wolves make up the majority of the wolves that visit it on a daily basis. Packs around here agree that my pack sets the rules for everyone that visits this city." He said.
"I'm sure we have your permission." Obviously he wouldn't want his mate leaving the country, given how he had just reacted.
"No, you do not. You have not asked." He pushed. I raised my brows.
"You're telling me to ask?" I asked.
"I did no such thing." His eyes had a hint of mischief to them that stalled my heart for a second but I didn't let that show.
"I'm not going to ask." I shrugged.
"Then leave." He said. I felt my wolf whimper and heard his do the same through our link, but his face was serious and I kept mine neutral, both of us acting like we didn't know that our wolves would go insane if I left.
"What the hell are you doing?" Karabo and I turned to Ben as he spoke making me realise that I had completely forgotten where I was and that my friends were still there with us. "Mate? How is that even possible? You're both Alphas." He said.
I glanced back to Karabo. Yes. How was it possible? We couldn't both be Alphas and be mated, it was unheard of. Clearly, it was already a mess and we had only just met...
"I don't know," I replied honestly before my eyes fell to the bag of food my sister was still holding. I was starving. I chuckled hearing Ben's stomach growl. "Beer didn't fill you up?" I asked.
"Shut up." He muttered.
"Beer?" Karabo asked raising his brows at me.
"Yeah, we were getting used to the town. Checking out the area amongst other things, if you know what I mean." I said suggestively. Werewolves were really possessive of their mates, Alphas were ten times that and, of course, being one I knew that. I was messing with him. I could feel that it bothered him and could see it as he clenched his jaw and balled his fist before releasing it.
"I have an area you guys could see." He said, deciding not to say anything about the 'other things' I had joked about, "My home. It doesn't cost as much as your hotel does, you're free to live with me; we have a couple of extra rooms." Did he say...?
"Oh, we couldn't –" Tamia began.
"We?" I interrupted her. Karabo raised his brows questioningly, silently asking why I interrupted my sister so suddenly, "We'll be with your parents?" I asked.
"No, no. I live with my, uh..." He broke eye contact with me for a second as he swallowed nervously, "My wife." He finished. I stared at him for a moment before I began laughing, but his face stayed serious and my laughter quickly died.
"Your wife?" I asked. He nodded.
"My pack insisted their Luna be from the pack, and since it usually doesn't take this long to find our mates, I figured I didn't have one. So..."
I stared at him, my face still unchanging while my chest filled with jealousy and anger. I was really good at hiding my emotions, Alphas had to be. Someone had him before I could? I wanted to kill her. How dare she be with my mate?
"Okay, I understand." I wanted to smirk as his eyes widened a little and he looked hurt. It seemed to me that he was one Alpha that wasn't too great at hiding his emotions. I kept my face neutral.
"Okay?" He asked slowly.
"Yes, my best friend back home doesn't have a mate either, and we already have a child because... you know... things happen to careless teenagers. So I guess we could just forget –"
"Wait, a child?!" He asked. "Are you rejecting me?" His jaw dropped. His shocked face looked cute. I was having fun while also feeling bad about how alarmed he looked at the mention of being rejected, I was going to keep pushing but Tamia spoke.
"Eli, stop lying to him. Karabo, he isn't with anyone and he doesn't have any children." He glanced at her and back to me surprised and I smirked at him.
"That's what you get for lying to me," I said.
"You are an asshole." He frowned.
"I am? You started this –"
"You know what? You will have to stay at the hotel; I only have one extra room." Karabo said.
"You said you had a couple." I pointed out.
"One just became a study or something, I haven't figured it out yet." he shrugged. I frowned at him before we both began laughing. My friends just shook their heads at us. "It's late."
"Karabo, we couldn't –" Tamia began.
"Sure, we'll go to your house." I cut her off actually really excited about finding out about his home and the people in his pack. He gave me a smirk and I rolled my eyes. Tamia laughed as she took hold of my arm.
"We'll come by tomorrow." She said.
"Tomorrow?" Karabo and I asked looking at her. She laughed as Ashton and Ben stared at me amused. It immediately made my excitement disappear and I regained my calm, neutral demeanour.
"Tomorrow's fine." I shrugged.
"Yeah, what's the rush?" Karabo asked nonchalantly. "See you tomorrow." he looked at me.
"Shouldn't we walk you home?" I asked teasingly.
He frowned at me before he shook his head as he gave a small smile that automatically made me smile back.
"You know where to find me." He said to me.
"Hey –" I began to argue with him but he had disappeared.
I frowned. I was certain he was not going to inform anyone about expecting us. If I followed our pull right onto his territory, the guards in it would undoubtedly think we were trespassing and looking for a fight. He thought that was a joke? I was already beginning to doubt his sense of humour...
"Oh my God, you found your mate!" I cringed back as my sister practically attacked me with an overly excited hug. I chuckled shaking my head while trying to calm her down.
"Good luck." Ashton chuckled turning to walk into the hotel.
"What?" Tamia asked confused.
"You want a counsellor's number or are you going to use Frank?" Ben asked. Frank was a werewolf in our pack that worked as a family and couples' counsellor for us and some humans.
"Shut up." I shoved his back causing him to stumble forward and I laughed as he almost fell.
We made our way back to our rooms and I was actually happy. Karabo seemed nice, both my wolf and I were incredibly excited about getting to know him further. I dreaded dealing with the stubbornness I was sure he had though. Alphas were all different, but also very alike. We could deal with the Alpha thing though... It would just make us understand each other better. Hopefully.
*****
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