Wild and Free

(Auden’s POV)

After I got far enough away from Mason, I had to take a breath and think about what had just happened.

I could hardly fathom the fact that I said some of the things I said. Why did I lead them on about the “random she-wolf”? Why would I let them get ideas into their heads? Why didn’t I try harder to stop them?

My stupid curiosity got in the way of my judgement. Something in me just had to know if they had any leads on me. If I had done anything stupid or misstepped at any point that could’ve given me away. And one thing was for sure, if they didn’t have any before then they certainly did after that conversation.

Some of the things they had talked about were fascinating to me, even though I already knew most of it anyway. They told stories, shared new traditions, talked about recent big events, etc, etc. All of it was so new to me. Being away from interpack gossip for two years certainly had put me in the dark about a lot of things.

I had known of the Royal pack before. They had previously been one of my old pack’s distant allies. It was a huge surprise to me that they had fallen from so high, just because of some stupid infection. I guess it told you how vulnerable werewolves really were despite all of our abilities.

I had to hold in my reaction when I realized the truth about Mason and Mackenzie’s mother, and how she had been killed. Both of them appeared as though they had been very close to her and at the same time were very good at covering up how it affected them. Much like I did. It’s true what they say. Practice makes perfect.

But it still didn’t change the fact that what happened, happened no matter how horrible it was. I couldn’t imagine having someone that close and then seeing them torn away from you. It was horrible.

Sure I didn’t have the best circumstances parent wise either, but at least I didn’t get the chance to love them before they made their decision.

Regardless of the twins’ unfortunate tragedy, both of them seemed to be doing alright. From what they said, their pack was on the rise again, probably more powerful than ever with the unification with the former Vega pack, who had also been an ally of ours once upon a time.

When I was young, the girls in my pack had always been so smitten with the boys in theirs, to the point that it was almost infuriating.

I almost smirked to myself when I remembered how Riley snatched my best friend out from under me. I was sure that he was telling her as we spoke about their bond.

Part of me was suspicious about first learning of the pack in the area, for fear that something like this would happen. That someone in the town would be mated to someone in the pack. It was a big thing to take on, especially coming from a world where my kind were merely myths or characters in scary movies. Which is why I could never know exactly how Cassie felt, taking all this on.

There was no doubt that my friend felt attraction towards Riley, but mate bonds didn’t really work the same way for humans as they did for werewolves. There was still the pull toward one another, and once mates accepted and marked each other, they still had that intense connection, but the process was different on the human end. And that only made it harder on the werewolf side.

Riley would have to be patient with Cassie. She wasn’t one to rush into things anyway but with relationships she was probably even more hesitant. But something in me knew that, even though I barely knew him, Riley was a good guy and he would treat my best friend right. And if he didn’t then I’d rip his fingers off and shove them down his throat.

~*~

Things changed a lot after that day on the rocks.

Cassie and Riley didn’t come back until pretty late that day which of course had left me with all of her tables, my tables, and the tables I was covering for Macy on that Sunday. In other words I was the only one waiting tables that night and it was not fun.

When she did come in, after apologizing a million times, she gushed over how amazing Riley was. Like I guessed, he had told her about his feelings toward her and that she was his mate. Looking from the outside, I thought it was adorable and revolting at the same time.

The two of them started hanging out a lot more in the days and weeks that followed. They had lunch together and he walked her to class often, like the gentleman he was. They were so cute together it was almost sickening.

And naturally, the love stories did not end with just them.

Holden had stopped by the diner one night while Kenzie, Cassie, and I were there finishing our project. He and Kenzie had met but never really talked or spent any time together. But after Cassie and I left the table to pick up our shifts, the two of them talked and eventually left together. The next few days they were practically inseparable. He was filled in on everything we’d shared that day on the rocks by Kenzie after they’d gotten a lot closer.

It was like they had all caught some love disease. It was spreading like an illness and I sat back wondering who would be next to succumb.

What are the odds that the two friends I make in White Chapel just happen to be mated to members of a pack I could never be a part of?

Don’t get me wrong, I was definitely happy for them. Meeting your soulmate is a big thing and they definitely deserved to be happy. However there was this feeling in me that was a little withdrawn because I knew I’d never get the chance to find my mate.

In my heart I knew it was jealousy but my mind wouldn’t admit it.

Being on my own so much, masking my scent almost twenty-four seven, it was damaging to my wolf. She wasn’t malnourished or anything, but seemingly unable to find her other half now.

It appeared that I wasn’t the only one who was affected by the sudden mate finding excursion we’d been tossed into. But it seemed to hit him harder than him, in a different way.

Mason witnessed his twin sister and his best friend both find their mates, in a span of two weeks. Though he tried to hide it, I could tell that he felt dejected. He was given the birthright of Alpha but because he couldn’t follow whatever scent that was supposed to lead him to his mate, he wasn’t allowed to take that right.

It wasn’t fair to him, in any way. Mate bonds aren’t something that can be controlled. Even though their pack knew for sure that Mason’s mate was in White Chapel, there was no telling when he’d find her or who she was. He shouldn’t have been deprived of his position because of something he had no control over.

Unfortunately for him, being without a mate seemed to take its toll. He was getting reckless with his abilities in public, and that was something that a future Alpha just couldn’t do. He had been using his Alpha ability carelessly. One day our group had been sitting on the grass right next to the football field, doing homework after school on a nice sunny day. The team had been practicing and a ball started hurtling towards us. Mason saw it and directed it away like it was nothing. Sure I’d been grateful not to get pelted in the head with a flying projectile but I would’ve preferred that to having someone see him do it and ask questions.

He had also had trouble keeping his wolf at bay during school.

More than once I had seen him growl at someone for doing something he didn’t like or getting in his way. We were leaving English one morning and one of Amelia’s jock friends slammed Mason into the lockers in a playful way, not intending to be harmful or mean in any way. The guy’s name was Jaspar and he was kind of a meathead but he was a pretty tough guy. But the way that Mason reacted to getting shoved like that, made even that tough guy look scared. That’s what happens when you upset an Alpha. Before he could fully lose control, I stepped in and dragged Mason away. I tried talking to him but he wouldn’t listen, instead just stomping off toward the woods, most likely to let his wolf free to blow off some steam.

I couldn’t totally blame him for how he was acting though. He had put it very nicely that day on the rocks, saying that werewolves were very territorial, dominant beings and our inner wolves were that part of us. They loved to compete with each other. Mason’s wolf having to sit back and watch two people close to him find their mates had to have been hard. I know it was for me.

Greyson seemed to be the only one of our group that didn’t really have a problem with not having a mate. He flirted shamelessly with the girls at WCHS whenever he got the chance. Normally I wouldn’t approve because you’re supposed to wait for you mate to have a serious relationship, but Greyson didn’t really seem like the type to commit to any random girl.

That didn’t mean he slept around and broke a poor girl’s heart the next day. No way, Greyson was like a big teddy bear. He’d never do that to a girl.

Instead he’d flirt, maybe go on a lunch date or hang out a little but never lead a girl on to develop anything that would hurt either of them later.

Speaking of random girls and meathead jocks, Amelia and her friends had sort of given up on trying to torment me. They were quieter in class and at lunch, still considered popular but not necessarily ruling the school as they used to. I guess Mason, Riley, and Greyson had sort of taken over the top spot on the social ladder. I mean they were the perfect guys to fit the extremely stereotypical position. They were all good looking, athletic because of training, and they were all smart. Plus there was the fact that literally everyone liked them.

Kenzie was also put on a social hierarchy throne, much to her discretion. It was pretty much the same qualifications as her fellow pack counterparts. Beautiful, fit, sexy, and intelligent. And in comparison to the boys’ unspoken charisma, she just had this charm that everyone would immediately fall for.

Not to sound self centered or anything but I held a comfortable spot at my school social. Aside from the cursed rumors that always came up at the mention of my name, people like me. While I was only close with a select few, there were the mutual friends I’d come to know. Plus, teachers appreciated my work ethic and focus in a way that gave me a reputation of smart, but not so much that I was a nerd or a teacher’s pet. In the technical sense, I would most often be considered the ‘class president stereotype’. The one that the people liked and tolerated but were never necessarily tightly knit with.

But, however comfortable my spot was, the rumors always got in the way, and I would never be in the spotlight like Mason and Co. because of them. Which I took gladly. They could have the spotlight for all I cared. They had sure snatched it away from Amelia in no time, who’s to say they didn’t deserve it?

I almost rolled my eyes at the thought of them coming in and in less than a month, becoming the favorites in such a small place.

Nevertheless, the ex-queen bitch still shot me dirty looks in the halls but I could tell she was holding her tongue which made me a little nervous that she had something big in store for me. And it would come when I least expected it.

It was all strange. I never used to hang out with people other than Cassie or Holden. But to think that after a couple weeks I was hanging out pretty much every day with new people. And people like me for crying out loud! Part of me still couldn’t believe it.

And I liked it.

I liked hearing all the stories that Kenzie and them told about their pack. I liked being around people that I could relate to, even if they would never know how. And I liked having friends who didn’t have to act and feel pity for me because they had no idea what they were feeling it for.

But there was another part of me that knew I had to be way more careful. Sure to them, I was learning new things about ‘the werewolf community’, but I had to make sure that I didn’t slip up and talk about something that normally I couldn’t possibly know. Spending more time around them also meant that if I shifted at any point, which I could do even less now, I had to make sure my scent was completely washed away before I even stepped close to them.

I felt like eventually it would get easier but as the days passed, I found myself wondering what if I slipped up. Would I have to run again? Would I have to leave everything that I had learned to love behind?

“...Auden,” a soft voice called. “Earth to Auden?”

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up from the drawing that I had been shading mindlessly the entire lunch period, hardly paying attention to the conversations that my friends were having.

Mason’s deep brown eyes stared back at me curiously and almost amusedly, “You okay?” he asked, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

I put down my pencil and rubbed my eyes, forcing a nod, “Yeah I’m just…”

“Tired?” He guessed, putting his sandwich down on his plate while the ghost of the smile disappeared from his face. “Yeah bullshit. I’ve used that lie enough times to know when it is and isn’t true. What’s really wrong?”

“I’m just stressed, I think the fact that it’s senior year is just hitting me,” I half lied, hoping he wouldn’t catch it. It wasn’t a lie because it was starting to dawn on me that I’d be graduating soon, but it wasn’t necessarily what I had been thinking about.

“Do you have plans for afterward? Like college or something?” He asked, leaning his elbows against the table in the seat across from me.

I shrugged, “It’s not like I have many options if I don’t get a scholarship somewhere. You can’t exactly pay an entire college tuition on a waitress salary.”

Something flashed in his eyes but went away before I could place it.

“What about you?” I asked. “Any big plans for when you graduate?”

He shook his head, “I’m still apprenticing with my dad for a while while I wait for my mate,” he grumbled.

We both glanced over at our friends. Cassie was laughing at something Riley said and Kenzie was shaking her head and grinning at Holden because he had gotten whipped cream from his fruit cup on his face.

“It can’t be all that bad that you haven’t found her yet,” I told him.

“What makes you say that?”

I picked up my pencil and started fixing the uneven shading that had occurred as a result of my spaceout, “Well as a future Alpha you have duties right?” he nodded in response. “And finding your mate makes you a little lovesick too,” he nodded again. “So if you find your mate, it’s either you disregard your duties to please her, or she’s unhappy because you are committing to your role. I just assume it would be a lot of pressure trying to find that happy medium. And even more so because you’re still learning. Perhaps it’s the better circumstances right now because you can learn your role without that pressure.”

“I guess you’re right, it’s either the relationship suffers or the pack does,” he agreed. “But my father learned to do it, I feel like it would me making excuses if I tried to say that it was too much.”

“Either way, just think about it if you get depressed or start to lose control again,” I replied, closing my sketchbook and slipping it and my pencil into my bag. “It’s not much help but and you sort of suffer either way, so just think about it.” and I got up and left for my next class.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

Well then. I don’t think I’ve written so much non-dialogue content in a single chapter EVER. So I’m gonna consider that a job well done. You may not think that as very relevant but to me that is a big accomplishment :)

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!

As always, comment, don’t hate, and read on!

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend