#Chapter 3

"Nothing is wrong mum, you guys should go ahead, I will catch up", I replied as I was smiling brightly, with butterflies fluttering my stomach.

My parents agreed and Left, as my brothers followed in toe. I bent down to clean up the mess from the slice I had earlier dropped. After disposing it in the garbage, I reached out to the sink and began to wash my hands under a warm running water.

The sun was still peeking above the trees that covered our pack territory. It shined through the window in front of me, there by lightning up the entire kitchen. Like an alarm, Alaric began screaming.

"Here!!, mate!!".

The butterflies in my stomach turned into a zoo of animals. A strong scent consumed me, as I began hearing the sound of footsteps walking towards me. The smell was strong like a smoke. I turned around quickly, my hands still soapy and wet.

My eyes widened as I met a familiar pair of dark emerald eyes.

“Dave?”,

It was actually Dave the soon to be alpha. Dave stood at the other side of the room, with his eyes narrowed as he stared at me. I couldn't speak, as no words came out from my brain.

And though my wolf was very loud, I still had nothing to say. I found myself stuck in complete silence. I was in disbelief that of all the werewolves in the world, I had to get stuck with Dave as a mate.

Neither of us had spoken a word to each other, we just kept on staring at each other. The silence was eating me up slowly. The only sound in the room came from the water droplets dripping down my fingers onto the floor.

I swallowed a saliva in my throat.

"I.." I began to talk but couldn't finish.

He stepped towards me, his body stiff. I couldn't sense nor see any life with him in his eyes. They were just dark clouded pools of empty feeling. Alaric had strangely gone silent, leaving me alone to drown in my thoughts.

Then before me, he bent down slightly, his hand gripping the side of the sink behind me, trapping me and making me unable to move.

He let his head hang, his lips hovering over my neck. I felt his cold breath on my skin, and I waited for him to say something. Anything at all, but no words came out of his mouth. Dave's breath was shallow, but I could feel his heart beating abnormally fast. He straightened himself and just stared down at me. I squeezed my hands so tightly.

"so you aren't going to say anything", I finally asked through gritted teeth.

I was angry and confused. Angry at this situation and at his unhelpful silence.

"Granted, I was speechless myself, but I didn't want to have been the one to speak first", he said, and then remained silent and just continued staring lifelessly at me.

His hands moved towards my body, gripping me in tightly. His rough hands moved like a snake around my waist.

I felt goosebumps erupt my skin. The feeling was so much weaker than what others had described occurred when their mate first touched them.

My wolf perked up a bit when he touched me. She began to call out to his own wolf to respond, but his wolf stayed there dead silent. I bent my head to the ground.

"let me go", I demanded coldly, my hands on his chest pushing him away from me.

My body was on fire, from all the mixed emotions ignited inside of me. My animal instincts begged from any response from his wolf, but my humanity felt no connection with him. His eyes never broke eye contact, it was obvious that he was full of lust. And out of no where, his lips landed on mine.

I was told that when you and your mate share a kiss, that it would be like fireworks erupting inside of you. But it wasn't the case in my situation. See that nothing was moving me, I pulled my head back, disconnecting my lips from his.

"Mate", my wolf said annoyingly as his hands respectfully dropped on his sides once more.

I sighed,

"Dave, I'm….", before I could finish my sentence, Dave walked away in disappointment.

He just walked away like nothing had happened, and left the pack house entirely. The loud sound of the door slamming shut shooked the whole house. I lost control of my body and fell to the ground. I felt anger and confusion as to why must he be the one to be my soul mate.

"Why had he looked at me with such empty, lifeless and lustful eyes", I said to myself.

His eyes were so cold, and his body language unreadable and confusing.

"You don't like your mate", Alaric lamented,

but I didn't respond. I only sat in complete silence on the floor, still attempting to make sense of what had happened.

"Good evening everyone. I'm so glad that we all were able to make it to this long awaited important occasion. My Luna and I are ready to pass on the alpha title to our son Dave. He will be a great Alpha to our amazing Wheatstone pack",

my ears wiggled as I heard the alphas voice from outside. I have been lost in thoughts for hours, and i hadn't realized how long I have been sitting on the floor.

The sun had already gone down taking its light with it, and the kitchen was swallowed in complete darkness. I picked myself above the floor, and decided I had to join my family at the gathering.

If I was to miss this ceremony, then they would question me harshly, and I’m already quite sure that they would be worried about me by now. Meanwhile, for the time being, I didn't want anyone to know what had transpired between Dave and I.

When I stepped outside the pack house, the yard was completely decorated.

Pack members had already been seated on different tables, and it seemed as if I was the only one absent. Our Alpha Nathan and his Luna Mirabel stood on the stage speaking into the microphone that was placed in front of them.

I was actually expecting Dave to be on stage with them, but Dave wasn't on the stage.