You Are My Mate

* Diane *

"Oh, Diane!"

It's hard to say if I was still dreaming when I heard a familiar voice. Then the noise grew louder as Chloe burst through my bedroom door without knocking, and the last trace of sleepiness fled my body.

When I opened my eyes the first thing I noticed was her blotchy face, her eyes glassy with tears that were right on the edge of spilling. Her mascara had smudged faintly at the corners, and for someone who was already fully dressed, her short blond hair neat and done up, she looked wrecked.

I felt my stomach drop. My first thought went straight to her family. Oh no! Did something happen to our Alpha?

"What's wrong? Chloe, what happened?" I pushed myself up on the bed. I was still in my oversized cotton pajamas, and my hair was still a mess, while she stood there looking like she was supposed to be somewhere important.

She didn't answer me right away. She just crossed the room and collapsed beside me on the mattress, the bedsprings creaking under her. The scent of her perfume, something expensive her mother always bought for her, couldn't cover the sharp tang of distress rolling off her.

She came to our house almost every day. Went straight to my room if I wasn't outside. Mom didn't bother announcing her anymore. Sometimes I was the one who went to hers, when she'd text me to come over now like it was an emergency. Our fathers are brothers, but the difference between us had always been clear: her father is the Alpha of our pack. Mine is just the pack doctor.

"Talk to me," I said, grabbing her hands. They were ice cold. "Is something wrong with your mom? Your dad?"

She shook her head hard, a choked sob finally escaping. "No. It's, it's me."

She wiped angrily at her eyes, smearing her makeup more. Chloe is beautiful and slim, with the height I've always envied. But even though I stood three inches below her, I am still proud to say that I have the curves in the right places while she is the slim type. Both of us are beautiful in our own way, and I refuse to believe my mother when she always said that I am the prettiest girl in the pack even if my cousin stands taller than me.

"Father made an alliance," she whispered, her voice cracking. "With the Dark Blood Pack."

When she mentioned the pack name I couldn't help but feel my blood go cold.

Everyone in our region knew of the Dark Blood Pack. They were not like us. They were a larger pack with more warriors, crueler, the kind of wolves who settled disputes with blood instead of words. Our pack taught us to stay away from their borders. Even other Alphas feared them.

"An alliance?" I repeated. "What kind of alliance?"

Chloe looked at me then, and the tears finally fell. She looked hopeless. Then I remembered Charles.

"An engagement, Diane." Her fingers tightened around mine until it hurt. "To Alpha Zayden of Dark Blood.”

The air left my lungs.

"The Alpha of Dark Blood? But Chloe, he —" I couldn't even finish. The stories we'd heard since we were pups. The Alpha who took over by killing his own father. The Alpha who was said to have no mate because no she-wolf could survive beside him.

"He's a monster," she sobbed. "Diane, they say he rips the throat out of anyone who looks at him wrong. He's thirty-two and has never taken a Luna because he—"

She mentioned his age like he was decades older than her. Even though we both know that Alphas don't care if they are a lot older than their mate. If they wanted pups, they could even take younger she-wolves as a mate.

"Chloe, breathe. Just breathe easy. Maybe we could find a way out."

I said that only to make her feel a bit relieved but it's like she never heard me.

"I can't marry him!" She was hysterical now, shaking. "Father says I have to. He says it's for the pack, that their protection will save us from the rogues in the north. That it's my duty as the Alpha's daughter. As if I was born just to be sold off!"

She buried her face in my shoulder, her whole body trembling. I held her, stunned, my cotton pajamas absorbing her tears. My cousin, the girl who was supposed to have the perfect mating ceremony, the perfect dress, the perfect love story because she was the Alpha's daughter, was being offered up like a treaty clause.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered into my shirt. "My father is sending him a gift, tonight along with the message that we accept the betrothal. He's going to come soon. To see me."

I gasped and held her tight. "Wait, Chloe. What about Charles? Did he know?"

She moved away from me and looked down. Then she wiped her tears slowly. Chloe was secretly dating Charles, a handsome warrior in our pack. Despite Alpha Daniel's disapproval he was not aware that I was helping his daughter sneak out every time they wanted to see each other privately.

Chloe is two years older than me; she is twenty-one while I am nineteen. Both of us are at a marrying stage, but my mother always says I need to marry only when I turn twenty-one. I'm an only child so that is understandable.

"Chars knows everything about the betrothal Diane, but even he can't do anything about it. He's not even brave enough to stand up for me and tell my father that he wants to marry me. He’s afraid that his father Beta Conrad will be implicated. So how is he going to fight Alpha Zayden for me?"

There was pain in her voice but she spoke slowly; she understood Charles's position in the pack and the danger that would put him in if Uncle Daniel learned about them.

"Oh Diane, if only I could think of a way to help you I would."

She looked at me and smiled before another set of tears came down from her eyes. "Just stay by my side tonight Diane, be with me. My father won't mind if I ask him that I need you to stay with me."

I nodded. "Of course Chloe, I would definitely be there. And if you want. Oh right! Why don't I go with the messenger to bring him the gift tonight? Perhaps he would listen if I pleaded for your life, because marriage should only be made by two people who love each other. My God, this is not the ancient times Chloe. The majority of the wolves are marrying out of love, not because of the alliance."

She smiled and hugged me tight. "Are you really going to tell him that? You know he is a monster right? He might hurt you if you criticize him."

I gulped down a lump in my throat. "Maybe not, because I come bearing gifts and good news. There are warriors of our pack who would come with me in his Alpha. He wanted the Alliance; I believe he won't hurt anyone from our pack."

She nodded her head, then I stood beside the window to see the beautiful morning light outside our home. I'm afraid yes, but for Chloe I would do something to help her.

"Thanks Diane, you are always brave even when you are younger than me. My father used to say that you took after him and I took after my mother."

That made me laugh; I could almost hear Alpha Daniel mentioning it. My father would not agree to that for sure.

"Oh, you have to ask my mother and tell her you need me to stay with you tonight. They will not agree that I would go to see the Alpha of the Dark Blood pack.”

Chloe looked around and smiled; her mood had almost changed for the better.

“Yes, that is a good idea, Diane. I only hope that he would listen to everything you have to say.”

I took a deep breath. “That I can't promise but at least we have to try and do something about your problem. I will do my best to be persuasive; if he knows you have someone you love maybe then he will choose not to pursue the betrothal.”