Chapter 1 : The Alpha's Human Mate

*Arealla*

I never imagined my eighteenth birthday party to end with so much violence.

The police were here before the night was even over.

Someone that had been stalking me for a few months had finally acted, and had set my stepfather's car on fire. And though the fire had been put out, he looked at me now with a vengeance.

I had managed to run away into the forest before he could get to me. But it was just a temporary escape. I would have to go home, sooner or later.

Beside me, Jason stood as he held my hand. I had just told him everything that had happened, but there was nothing more that could be done.

Jason was my boyfriend of three short months.

"The police are saying that they can't do anything right now," I complained to him. "They can put a police car outside for maybe a few days, but that's it."

Jason growled, and I could see his canines had lengthened just a little, and he took a single step forward.

But before he could do anything, I put my hand on his chest. I could feel his heart beating beneath my hand.

"There's nothing more we can do here," I told him simply. "I need to leave. That's the only way out of this mess."

It wouldn't be easy, but I would have to start somewhere. There was no telling how violent my stepfather was willing to get, and there was no telling what whoever was stalking me would do.

"I just need to leave," I said again, sure of myself this time.

"You can come to my pack," Jason said quickly. "I'll ask for permission. It won't be easy, but we can try."

I wasn't sure how safe I would be in a werewolf pack. I was human, after all. But there were so little options available to me right now.

"I don't know," I told him, but even as I spoke, I realized that my options were limited. There was only so much that I could do to help myself right now. "But I know that I have to leave. I can't stay here."

And the longer I thought about it, the clearer my stepfather's face became in my mind. And I knew that I couldn't go back. He had a temper on a good day, threw things on a bad one. There was just no way that I could go back. His precious car had been set on fire.

"Then you have to come with me," Jason said, his voice firmer this time. "I can't let you leave. I can't let you just disappear. You're my mate. The pack has allowances for a human to be brought into the pack if they're mated to a werewolf. No one is expected to give up their mate."

I wasn't sure if I wanted to live in the werewolf world, though. There were so many rules that Jason had already explained to me, and so many more that he still hadn't. I couldn't imagine that it would be better than what I had right now.

No, I shook my head, anything would be better than what I had right now.

"The werewolf world is harsh," I told him. "And do you really think that they would allow me to come into the pack?"

Jason thought about it for a moment.

"Yes," he said eventually. "We were always going to get to this scenario. We would have had to live together eventually. We're mates. Its just happening sooner now, but there is no way that we would have avoided reaching this point. You're my mate. They will allow it. I will just have to ask the Alpha first."

I swallowed hard. Jason had already told me many things about the Alpha, not the least of which was how fearsome he was, even among werewolves.

But I wouldn't have to live with him, just under his rule. And even so, a fearsome werewolf sounded like a better option than my stepfather. Or whoever was stalking me.

"But Arealla," Jason sighed, putting his hands on his head. "Are you sure about this? Are you sure about leaving your home?"

I wasn't. There was nothing in my life that I had been less sure of. But what other choice did I have? Where else could I go?

"I'm sure," I told him. Because it was what he needed to hear in order to do this. Nothing else would work.

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind that I never once imagined happening to me. Just three months ago, I was a junior in high school. I had my final year next year. I was going to graduate. I was going to go to college. And those were the only things that I had on my mind. High school graduation and then college in the fall.

I was set on becoming a paramedic.

And then I met Jason.

And my whole world turned upside down.

Jason was a werewolf. And just three weeks into talking, he told me that we were fated mates. I had no idea what he meant, and I honestly scoffed at the idea.

And then, he took me to the forest and transformed in front of me.

And then I believed everything that he told me.

He had explained that werewolves came with fated mates, and that once we were mated beneath the full moon, our lives would be forever intertwined. That there was nothing and no way that we could ever be parted after that.

In the beginning, I felt very overwhelmed. But I understood that he needed me to get on board quickly, so I tried my best.

I wasn't a werewolf. I was just a normal human. And there was no way that I could become a werewolf. All the stories were wrong. There was no way for a human to become a werewolf. Vampires, Jason had told me, were a completely different story.

Vampires were turned. But werewolves were born, not bitten.

So because there was no way for me to become a werewolf, Jason needed permission from the Alpha, the leader of his pack, to bring me into it.

But he was sure that he was going to get it.

"You can stay with me tonight," Jason told me. "And tomorrow morning, we'll set out for the pack lands."

There was nothing for me to even consider. I couldn't go back home, not even to get my things. I was going to have to go just like this. A runaway.

We went to his apartment, and sleep came hard that night. But eventually, it did come. And the next morning, before the sun was even up, we were headed to the pack territory under the cover of darkness.

It was a long drive to the pack territory.

That was another thing that Jason had explained. The packs had designated territory, but the wolves were free to come and go as they wanted. The only absolute law was that when the Alpha called them back, they had to go.

It wasn't often used though, Jason said that he had only ever been called once before.

The drive took a bit of time, but it wasn't more than two hours, and then we were deep into the forest.

"Stay close by my side," Jason told me once we had driven as far as we could. "Ordinarily, we don't go this far as humans. The Guard wolves will be watching us carefully. If you had been here on your own, they would have killed you without a second thought already."

"Can they see us?" I asked him, trying to peer into the trees to see what I could.

"Long ago," he assured me. "And they can hear us. So stay close to me, and they shouldn't harm you."

I swallowed.

"Are they just going to let us through?" I asked, aware that the wolves could hear us.

"No," Jason said, shaking his head. "Because you are with me, they will allow me to take you through, but they'll escort us all the way. Our pack has very strict rules for dealing with humans. But they won't kill you outright because I'm here."

They won't kill me outright. That wasn't a very comforting thought. But I knew that I was too far in to turn away now.

We got out of the car, and continued the rest of the way on foot. We had been walking for five minutes in silence, and still no wolves appeared. I almost thought that they would stay hidden in the shadows the entire way there.

And then I saw them.

They walked with us right until we reached the houses, and my jaw dropped seeing the place. It was like a village all on its own.

Jason and the wolves walked us quickly through, and soon we came to a big building, bigger than anything else.

"The man inside will be Jaxom," Jason explained to me. "But let me talk."

I had no plans on negotiating with werewolves. We walked inside, and not even Jason was given a chance to speak.

"Why have you brought a human into our pack?" The man, Jaxom, demanded.

Jaxon didn't sound like the Alpha, but he didn't look like him, either. He looked just a little bit bigger than Jason, but not by much.

"She's my mate," Jason said softly, his head a little bowed. His voice sounded different here. It sounded softer, almost.

Maybe I was imagining things though, but compared to Jaxom, Jason's voice sounded almost weaker.

I gripped on to his hand tightly, but I didn't feel the strength back. And I felt the first prickling of doubt come into me.

Was I really going to do this? Did I really want to do this for him? I could have just stuck to my original plan, I could still have just left, gone somewhere, anywhere, really. I didn't have to come here with him.

But here I was already, and it was too late to turn back now. No matter what reservations I would have.

The door behind us banged open just then, and I felt the wind rush through into the building.

And I felt something else. Something I couldn't describe.

'Awakening,' a voice spoke inside of me. It sounded like mine. But it also didn't. I could never be sure of my own thoughts, though.

I wanted to see who was behind me, but I didn't dare turn around. Something inside of me told me that it just wouldn't be a good idea.

"No, she isn't," another voice called out, his voice booming a little, like the timbre that Jason said would be in the voice of the Alpha. "She's mine."