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The kiss ended as abruptly as it had begun. Benjamin pulled away and walked out of the bathroom without another word. I shivered. The sudden loss of his heat left me cold. I quickly pulled on some clothes.
Benjamin was pacing in front of the window on his side of the room. His hair was tousled from the countless times his fingers were running through it. I leaned against the wall, arms crossed. I subconsciously brushed my own blond waves back as I watched Benjamin.
He finally stopped. “This is wrong,” he said confidently.
I sighed. Clearly it was going to take some convincing, “You’re right. We should never see each other again,” I said in a fake serious tone.
Benjamin’s head snapped up, his eyes going wide. “No! That’s not what I said at all. Stop putting words in my mouth. Not seeing each other would be…” Benjamin stopped mid sentence. I cocked an eyebrow. He dropped his head into his hands, his shoulders shook with laughter. “Man, this is so messed up.”
“No. No it’s not,” I said. “We have a mate bond, Benjamin. Not even you can deny that. It’s very simple if you ask me. We’re werewolves. We need our mates. More so us because we’re alphas. We need each other. We were made to be together.”
“And the council? My packmembers? Tell me: how will they accept… this.” Benjamin motioned between us.
“Do you love your pack?”
“Heart and soul. They’re my family. You know how…” I cringed. “Sorry,” Benjamin said.
“Well, if they love you too, they’ll accept you no matter who you are. And anyway, maybe it doesn’t even work out between us.” He gave me a dry look, but I continued to tease him. “Maybe I’ll dump your sorry ass after a week and things will go back to normal.”
Benjamin rolled his eyes, but he had a smile on his face. It was strange to see him smile. I never thought I would see it. “What about the council, Finn? What about the Silver Circle?”
“What about them? They don’t own me. They won’t tell me who to spend my life with. I will choose my mate. And anyway, maybe in a week-“
I was cut off mid sentence when Benjamin tackled me to the floor. His arms were underneath me, breaking my fall. Benjamin landed on top of me. “Stop saying that!”
“Oh yeah? Or what?” I teased.
“Or… Or…”
“You suck at threatening people,” I laughed. Benjamin’s face grew worried again. “Hey, I-“
“Do you really mean it? That you don’t care what the rest of our people think of…us?”
I thought for a moment before answering him. “Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve dreamed of meeting my mate. Of holding the most precious thing in the world to me in my arms. Of having my best friend by my side at all times. I’ve spent countless sleepless nights imagining our meeting, our first kiss.”
Benjamin turned red and looked away from my face, making a move to get up off of me. “Sorry to disappoint you,” he said. His demeanor was changing again. He was shutting himself off from me.
I gripped him around the waist with one arm and cupped his cheek with my free hand. I went on as if I was never interrupted, “Now. Here, with you. I realise that I’d wasted my time. Because nothing – no dreaming, planning or wishing – could have made this more perfect. Could have made you more perfect.”
Benjamin was speechless. Hell, I was speechless. When did I even have time to think about my declaration. Half an hour ago, I hadn’t even been sure that he felt the mate bond too while I was set on denying that it even existed at all. I cleared my throat awkwardly and removed my hands. Benjamin was still on top of me, staring wide eyed at me.
“Right. Benjamin, you don’t have to-“
“It’s Ben. My friends call me Ben.”
I stayed silent, a small smile playing on my lips. I gripped his hips and pressed him closer to me. His hands came up and he placed them on my cheeks. “Then let’s give it a go,” Bejamin said. Then, as if it were a natural thing, he kissed me on the lips, pulled me up with him from the floor and backed me up until the back of my knees hit my bed. I fell backwards. Ben laughed, shook his head and disappeared into the bathroom.
“Won’t the Council mind though?” Ben yelled from the bathroom, his voice muffled by the toothbrush in his mouth.
I thought for a moment. The Council would most certainly mind. I was just not yet sure if I cared. Suddenly, a thought hit me. The Council was for the alpha of the world’s strongest pack. I no longer had a pack to be the alpha of. My father had been on the Circle as the werewolf representative, but now…
The water in the bathroom shut off and Ben appeared in the open door once again. “Everything alright?”
“Ben, the Circle is a group of representatives from all the different species that make decisions concerning the entire supernatural world. Only the strongest members of each specie serves on it. I no longer have a pack… I no longer have a position in the Circle.”
Ben barely moved. I dropped my head. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me before. I was raised my entire life to serve my people. I’ve been training and preparing for the day that I would take over from my father. Even the Council, who rules over the werewolves and make decisions about land and pack disputes and so on, had to answer to me… But now.
I wasn’t anybody without my pack. My eyes filled with tears. “Hey, hey. Look at me, Finn.” Ben tried to pull my hands from my face where I was desperately trying to hide my weakness. “Finn! Talk to me.”
“I don’t have a pack, Ben. I don’t have a family. I have no one.”
Ben stared at me, his eyes held pity. Then, he frowned. “That’s not true. You have me. And with me comes my pack. They might not be yours… But I swear I’ll do my best to make them home.”
I smiled through the tears that blurred my vision. I had never cried in front of anyone before. But tonight… Tonight the sadness could seep through. The pain from the loss of my family that I would never see again. For the Galager pack meetings that I would never again attend. For the realisation that I was no longer the oh-so-important Finn that I’ve been all my life.
Ben sat down next to me and took me into his arms. He pressed his lips to my neck and ran his fingers up and down my back.
***
The woods were cold in the early morning. I hugged my jacket closer around my body. Students were trudging through the trees, still looking half asleep for their first class of the day. Ben had left early in the morning to attend a pack meeting and I haven’t seen him since.
I snapped my head sideways when I heard something crashing through the woods. The class fell silent. The sound was growing louder. Then, suddenly, three bodies broke through the shrubbery. Laughter rang through the air. Three members of Ben’s pack were chasing each other. Cheers rose into the air as all three fell to the ground, wrestling.
“Boys!” The instructer shouted, but even he was laughing. “Is my class not challenging enough for you anymore?”
I sensed Ben’s presence next to me. I resisted the urge to immediately turn to him. “Guys, stop.” It was amazing how fast the Alpha’s command had the three boys seperating. I smiled and risked a glance at Ben. His face was a mask. You couldn’t read his emotions at all. My smile faltered. Our eyes met. He gave me a quick wink and his eyes turned playful for only a second.
I could relate. Alphas weren’t supposed to have fun. Alphas were expected to lead their packs and nothing else. He’s been raised to never show weakness and he clearly viewed emotions as weakness.
The instructor, James apparently, had Ben and I pair up again. My back was nearly completely healed, the pink scars quickly fading. Ben and I were a lot less ferocious today. There wasn’t so much pent up anger and frustration between us anymore. We were just enjoying the opportunity to spend time together.
My fist was just flying at Ben’s head when everybody froze. I dropped my arm to my side. Several members of Hunter’s pack, the Blackheart pack, were moving past us in the direction of the quad. The instructor, James, frowned and shouted, “What are you guys doing out here?” I quickly counted them. Seven boys and three girls, all clearly high school aged. They all ignored the question.
Ben frowned. “They’re up to something. This happens every year.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Every year, Blackheart pack devise different strategies to beat the other packs in the annual games at the academy. They cheat, lie and hurt others to try to win. They get away with it too.” Ben shook his head. “We always end up at the top, though.”
“Yes we do. Silverblood pack always wins!” One of Ben’s packmembers shouted at the kids who were nearly out of sight. The group paused and slowly turned to face us. They didn’t say anything, just stared. Then, one by one, they turned and disappeared.
“Harry, you really should try to be civil,” Corbin said, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Why? They’ve never been civil to us before.”
Benjamin was frowning. “They’re up to something,” he repeated quietly.
“What’s the deal with your two packs?” I asked Ben, turning to face him.
Everyone looked shocked that I’d spoken to him at all. People looked even more shocked when he answered me. “It started eleven years ago. Blackheart pack sent out a call for help after they had supposedly suffered several attacks from rogue wolves in a short time.” Harry snorted in disbelief.
“We sent nearly twenty warriors to help them and none of them made it back. My father blamed Joseph, Hunter’s father, for the loss. He said that it was conspiracy. The Circle brushed it off as grief. We nearly lost our position of second strongest pack in the world, but my father refused to give up. He fought tooth and nail to rebuild our warrior ranks.” Ben looked saddened by the memory.
“Things were never the same again after that. They used to be friends, you see. Blackheart pack and Silverblood pack were allies for as long as anyone could remember… Until that day, of course.”
I frowned. This was a story that I’d never heard before.
“Finn, I’m trusting you now. So here goes: The Circle has been covering this up for a long time. Blackheart pack has their eyes set firmly on being the rulers of our specie, and they won’t let anyone stand in their way.” Ben leaned closer to me and lowered his voice, but everyone had long since lost interest. “I believe that there’s something more than rigging the annual games to their little disappearing act every night.”
I furrowed my brows. Every night? The bell sounded in the distance before I could respond. Ben must truly believe this if he spoke it out loud. The Blackheart pack is extremely powerful and the Council only had praise for them. Ben’s words could be seen as treason to the Council.
My eyes met his. He was staring intently at me, still waiting for a response. I nodded my head, hoping that he interprets it as me believing him.
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Blackheart pack was in the running for the position of werewolf representative of the Circle numerous times over the years, but as the stronger packs, Silverblood or Galager always won. What if Blackheart had decided they were taking matters into their own hands?
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