The Descendant of the Original

Driving through town, I get a chill that goes down my spine. You know the kind—it makes your whole body shake and the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention.

Usually when this happens, it means nothing good.

I wonder if there is something headed this way, something coming that I need to be prepared for. I shake my head to get rid of all the dark thoughts. Not every strange feeling is a foreshadowing of something bad. Maybe something good is actually on the way.

I wince before I reply.

Seiko, my wolf, has been on my case for the last few months about my damn mate—whoever she is. It’s not like I haven’t searched high and low for her. I simply haven’t found her. She either doesn’t live near us or around us—or, worst-case scenario, she’s dead.

It happens. Wolves sometimes never find their fated mates because they have already passed on or taken a chosen mate. If the wolf is lucky, the Moon Goddess will bless them with a second-chance mate, but that is rare.

You have to be worthy in the eyes of the Moon Goddess to be blessed a second time. So, more than likely, a wolf ends up taking a chosen mate instead.

My mother is pushing me to find a chosen mate. I may not have found my fated mate yet, but the thought of taking a chosen one sends shivers through me once again.

I took over as the alpha of the Black Forest Pack four years ago when my father decided to step down and retire. I was still young, and it continues to be hard, but with his guidance, I have made my mark on the community, and the pack trusts me with their lives. The only thing is—I haven’t found my mate.

A pack without a luna for their alpha can look weak to other packs, and because of this, several packs have taken their chances and challenged me in the recent past.

Unfortunately for them, they found that not only am I—and the pack—not weak, but we’re one of the strongest packs in the north, and when I do find my luna, it will only make Black Forest even stronger.

Damn, now he shuts up. I feel him retreat into the back of my mind and see him lie down with his head resting on his front paws. Whatever. I have things to do other than argue with my wolf.

Pulling into old man Hendrix’s drive, I see him sitting on the front stoop with a beer in his hand and his head down. He just lost his mate, the love of his life. Those two were so attached at the hip they were like peanut butter and jelly. Watching him mourn his mate makes me hurt.

Sebastian and Daphne Hendrix were fated mates. They raised their adopted granddaughter when their son and his mate were killed in a rogue attack. Bexley was only twelve at the time. When they took her in, I had just started alpha training.

Training begins at a young age, so by the time the current alpha steps down, the next one is more than prepared to take over the pack.

Bexley left Black Forest for college as soon as she turned seventeen. She didn’t know anything of our lifestyle anyway, and as far as I know, she still doesn’t. Raising her in the dark wasn’t easy, but with my father’s help, she grew up having never seen a wolf.

The thing is, Bexley isn’t human either. She just doesn’t know it yet.

She is a wolf—a very special wolf. Her adoptive mother, Daphne, was given Bexley to raise for that reason alone. Bexley won’t discover her wolf until she finds her mate, and they have to mark and mate before her wolf can come forth.

Why? Because Bexley is a descendant of the original wolves, and with that comes power.

Nobody will know what that power is until she finds her mate and her wolf comes forth. Until then, she’s human and knows nothing about our kind.

It’s been easy to keep her in the dark since she left, but eventually there will come a time when she will have to be told. The older she gets, the more likely she is to find her mate.

Though wolves rarely get sick, it sometimes happens. Which is why it shocked everyone when Daphne died suddenly, and poor Sebastian is having a really hard time with it.

I’m afraid he won’t be too far behind. Usually when one mate goes, the agony and pain of grief will take the other soon after. Only the strongest can survive the heartache of losing their mate.

“Hey, old man, are you hanging in there?”

“Barely.”

“How about you come stay at the pack house for a while?”

“No, no need.”

“Seb, I’m worried about you. Everyone is, and we would love to see you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

I blow out a harsh breath. It’s like talking to a teenager and trying to get any kind of information out of them—it’s not going to happen until they are ready to talk. So, I sit on the stoop beside Sebastian in silence and wait for him to decide when he wants to talk about it, because sooner or later, he will.

After what feels like an hour and two beers later, he finally starts to speak. It’s a good thing because my bottom has started to go numb.

“You’re going to have to tell her, Alpha.”

“Tell who what?”

“Bexley.”

“Bexley?”

“I may not be here to get the chance and she needs to know who she is and where she came from. She’s going to be pissed, I guarantee it, but give her some time. She’ll come around. You never know, Alpha—she may be the one you’ve been looking for. She may be your mate.”

I laugh with a snort, but I see Seiko’s ears perk up.

“I gave up trying to find my mate, Seb. Besides, there was nothing between us when we were younger, so what makes you think there would be now?”

“You were too young then, both of you. Neither of you would have known until you were at least eighteen. By then, Bex had left for college, and you were so busy with alpha training, you didn’t care. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a good alpha, but at the time your focus was elsewhere.”

“Bexley has been gone for a long time now. She’s made a life for herself away from here, Seb. It’s not like I’m going to run into her any time soon. It’s best she learns where she came from and who she is from you. You’re her family. She will take that kind of news better from you, not from me.”

“Oh, you’ll run into her.”

“What makes you think so?”

“She’s on her way back, Alpha. She’s coming back for good this time.”

“What?”

“Yeah, right now, she’s the only thing keeping me from following my precious Daphne.”