Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
‘Thanks.’
Once my stomach is back in one place, I collect sticks and bundle them together.
‘Inferno Flamo.’ Nina says, igniting the bundle of sticks into a fire.
‘Are you ever going to warn me before you cast a spell?’
‘Umm, probably not.’ She smirks.
We sit by the fire and keep warm. I lay on my back and look up at the stars. Nina lies on her back next to me.
‘I miss my mum and dad.’ Nina says.
‘I miss my family, too.’
‘Would you believe I’m even missing May?’
‘You, miss May? Never.’ I smile.
‘What if it’s months or years until we ever see them again?’
‘We have each other. It’s you and me now against the world until I find… the one.’ I sigh.
‘Yeah.’ Nina frowns and stands up. ‘I’m going to go for a walk.’
‘I’ll come.’
‘No, please stay. Some time to myself is what I need. I won’t go far. I promise.’ She says with sadness.
‘Oh, okay.’
I watch as she wanders further into the darkness of the woods. Why did she become so sad suddenly? She is going through a lot having no wolf, a curse, and a witch hunt after her. I wish I could hold her and smell her mint and lavender hair and tell her everything will be okay. If I could choose my own fated mate, I would choose Nina in a heartbeat.
Nina returns with red puffy eyes. She has been crying.
‘Are you okay?’
‘No, I’m not. I just want to go to sleep.’ She says and lies on the other side of the fire away from me.
Why is she distancing herself from me? Did I say something that upset her?
I don’t fall asleep until she is sound asleep.
When I wake up, it’s the morning. I look over to where Nina slept. She isn’t there.
‘Nina, Nina!’ I yelled. I can’t see her anywhere. ‘Nina!’ I frantically yell.
‘What? Why are you yelling like that?’ she says with hands full of berries. I race over to her and place my hands on her shoulder and look her up and down.
‘Are you okay? Where’d you go? I thought something bad happened to you?’
‘You were still asleep, so I thought I’d go pick us some berries for breakfast.’
I pull her in for a hug, squashing the berries she holds between us. She sighs. ‘Well, there goes our breakfast.’ She says.
‘We can skip breakfast. Let’s just get to the Midnight pack.’
‘Fine… Skedaddle Dash, Skedaddle Dash.’
I keep my eyes closed longer than usual until we are no longer blinking. After a minute, I slowly open my eyes and was relieved to have no nausea.
‘That’s more like it.’ I smile.
We arrive near the Midnight Packhouse. I can see it further up the road. It’s looking worse for wear and could do with fresh paint.
We walk towards the Packhouse. As I’m about to knock, I realise Nina and I have been holding hands. When she realises too, she quickly lets go and her smile fades. I want to ask her what is wrong. As I’m about to, the front door opens.
‘I thought I could smell unfamiliar wolf scents.’
‘Alpha Anslo, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen you.’ I say.
‘Magnus, is that you? After I thought you couldn’t grow any bigger here, you are, well… bigger.’ He laughs.
‘Come inside and join us for breakfast.’
‘Breakfast is just what we need.’ I smile.
We sit in the guest’s seats at the table.
‘Grab a plate and help yourselves.’ Alpha Anslo says. ‘Other than breakfast, what brings you to the Midnight pack?’
‘I’ve been going to each pack hoping to find my mate.’
‘I see. You are welcome to wander around and see if any of my pack members are lucky enough to be mated with you.’
‘Thank You, Alpha Anslo.’
With full stomachs, Nina and I walk around through the Midnight pack territory. Nina drifts behind me. Every time I look at her, I can tell she is forcing a fake smile, but why?
‘Stop staring at me already and go find your mate, Magnus.’ She says.
‘Is something wrong Nina?’
‘No, why would anything be wrong?’ she frowns.
‘I just can’t help but feel there is something you want to tell me?’
Nina hugs herself and looks down.
‘That depends… is there something you want to tell me?’ she says with hope in her voice.
I take a step closer to her, ‘I-I um…’
‘There he is.’ A she-wolf yells.
Half a dozen she-wolves come running up to me. Nina backs away, her hopeful smile disappears again.