Becoming His

by Albany Walker

  My eyes widen with this information. How do I not know this? Why weren’t my parents in a pack? I never felt like we were hiding. My parents talked to me about being a shifter. I don’t understand. My thoughts cloud as he continues.

  “As far as rules go, all packs are different, but one rule we all share is keeping our identity a secret from humans. There’s always an exception, but as a whole, they’re too volatile. It could cause panic.” He’s watching my every reaction “The rest is easy. I already told my brother you’d be by in a couple days. No one will make you leave, but more importantly, no one will make you stay if you don’t want to.”

  I can’t detect any deception from him. Is it really that easy? Why was I lead to believe otherwise? My God all those years I could have been safe, cared for? I shake my head to dislodge the useless thoughts. There must have been a reason for my parents to tell me that I need to wait until I was much older before living in a pack. That I would be used or enslaved. But what is it?

  Sniffer’s face softens “Do you have any other questions? Can I ask you a few?”

  I had to know this was coming. “I’ll try. There are things I not ready to talk about, but I will try.” I answer.

  “When did you lose your parents?” He whispers.

  “I was fourteen.” I’m proud my voice doesn’t crack.

  “What! Where have you been all this time?”

  I pull my hand from beneath his and say, “foster care.” It comes flatly. My guard is up; he’ll get no more about that from me.

  He jumps from his seat and starts pacing. “With humans? Your first shift, you were alone?”

  “Yes” I answer simply.

  “How is that even possible?”

  With a shrug of my shoulders, I reply, “I knew my first shift was coming. I tried to prepare as best I could. I just did it. I didn’t have any other options.”

  I’m pulled from my chair and folded into his arms with his hand on the back of my head holding me to his chest. A soft noise comes from his throat—I can only describe as a whine—before he says, “you sweet girl, poor sweet girl.” His chin rubs the top of my head, and I soak in the embrace, taking a few moments of comfort.

  Too quickly, I’m leaning back and saying, “Hey Sniffer, enough with the heavy. Let’s go eat cake.”

  His nose scrunches in distaste at the name I’ve given him, but he smiles and tuts. “What? You’re my first friend. Nicknames are cool. Right?” Just like that his playful demeanor is back, and we’re both pretending. Me that I’m okay and him that he believes it.

  I grab us each a glass of milk and give him a piece of cake that takes up the hole plate. Holding my much smaller piece, I say, “ya want to watch some tv?”

  He’s shoveling cake in and moaning while we walk to the living room.

  Sniffer tells me about growing up in his pack, how everyone knows each other’s most embarrassing moments and how much he looks up to his brother, who he thinks is the best Alpha there is.

  The love he has for his family is clear on his face when he speaks of them. I laugh when he tells me the big, bad Alpha slept with a small wolf stuffed animal in his bed until he was twelve. He’s been the Alpha for eight years but seems sad lately.

  We’ve both been quiet for awhile watching television. I know it’s late, and he’s getting ready to go so I muster up the courage to ask the one question I think I’ll get the most answers from. “Hey, Sniffer, can I ask you another question?”

  “You just did.” Cheeky boy. He’s rolls his hand with the get on with it gesture.

  “Mates, my parents were Mates, but I don’t know much more. Why would a Mate not claim his? What happens to...”

  “No.” He says shaking his head “That doesn’t happen. Ever!”

  “Never?”

  “Never.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but it does happen. I know it happens. It happened to me.”

  He eyes me like I’m crazy. “You must be mistaking. How do you know he was your Mate?”

  “It was years ago, but believe me, there is no mistaking it. You know.”

  “That just doesn’t happen. Mates are considered a blessing. I don’t know why he didn’t claim you. Was he human?”

  “Definitely not.” I say with certainty.

  “Will you tell me what happened? Maybe you misunderstood.”

  I didn’t. I know I didn’t, but I’ll tell him. “It’s simple really. He walked out of a pub and time stopped. I knew he was mine. We just stared at each other for what felt like years, but I’m sure it was just seconds. His friends and girlfriend, I’m assuming by the way she acted, asked who I was. He said, ‘no one.’ He turned around and walked away, never once looking back.”

  His mouth is hanging open when I finish. Shock written all over face .”He said that,” comes out more like a growl.

  I nod my head and whisper, “yes. I always thought he’d come back for me. He didn’t.” My worst fear slips out without my permission. “Do you think there’s something wrong with me?” My eyes are glossy, but I will not cry. I have cried enough for two life times.

  He shakes his head slowly. “No love, I know there is nothing wrong with you,” he says gently.

  My new friend and I make plans to meet for lunch the following day. I have a break in my schedule from noon until two, and his lunch break is at one. So we plan to meet up at the student union.

  I’m up early so I spend a little extra time getting ready. My hair is a little frizzy from the humidity, but I manage to tame it. I’ll bring a hair tie in case it poofs later. A little bronzer so my freckles don’t stand out too much, mascara, lip gloss, and I’m done. It’s still pretty warm so I grab a white tank top to wear with my favorite faded jeans.

  Coffee in hand, I grab a soft gray sweater to shove in my bag in case the classrooms are chilly. I leave at seven thirty to make sure I can find a parking space not to far from my first class.

  I grab an outside seat around the middle of the bowl-shaped room. Seats fill quickly, and I’m thankful I met Sniffer and Michael Saturday on the beach because almost half of the class are shifters.

  None approach me though. I feel everyone of them eye me with curiosity. Moments later, the professor, who is also a shifter, comes in. I’m on edge through the whole class. Professor Daniels talks about his love of literature. I think I can hear the female students swooning. With his light brown hair and the thick black frames of his glasses, he’s nerd chic. You can tell by the way he moves that the blazer he wears hides a great body. After he assigns our work, he excuses us fifteen minutes early.

  Keeping my head down, I take my time putting my notes and supplies away so most of the room is empty before I stand to leave. When I turn to the door, I find the professor talking to a young girl with long blonde hair. As I pass, he looks up and asks, “A moment of your time Miss Brair?” The blonde doesn’t seem happy to have been interrupted.

  I stand and wait while he finishes telling the girl that the TA will be handling arrangements for a study group. She seems disappointed when he turns to me, dismissing her. I on the other hand would love to be leaving.

  When he finally speaks, the room is empty. He’s comes closer to me and says, “I haven’t seen you at any meetings. Have you been in town long?” He doesn’t seem angry just curious.

  I know he’s referring to pack meetings so I answer him honestly “I wasn’t aware I needed to petition the Alpha before moving here sir. Sn-Casper is helping me take care of that soon.”

  Smiling and shaking his head he chuckles “Oh, I’m sure he’s being very helpful.” I’m Tate Daniels, Professor Daniels here.” He gestures to the room. “No need to call me sir though. It’s only my second year teaching, and it’s strange being on this side of things.” Opening the door for me, he says, “I won’t keep you. I just thought I’d introduce myself. I’ll see you Wednesday then.” I give him a small smile and thank him before heading to my next class.

  I walk over to the science buildi
ng. I’m early enough that the class before is just letting out. I stand near the wall and wait for the group to pass. I’m one of the first on enter; there are about ten large tables with two chairs at each. I find a seat and bring out my phone to keep busy.

  The seat at my table gets pulled back, and I know it’s a shifter. When I look, he’s smiling at me with his hand out. “I’m Sam, and you must be Sophia.”

  I take his hand. “You know that how?” I ask.

  His smile gets even bigger. “Casper hasn’t stopped talking about that damn sandwich and cake all day,” he laughs, “not to mention you, beautiful girl, are the talk of the campus. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants to know who the new, mystery girl is.” He gives me jazz hands “Casper is having a fit, telling them all to back off you’re his.” His says and bumps my shoulder with his.

  I scoff, “his, hardly. I just met him and Michael on Saturday. He is however helping me. He’s very kind.”

  He lets out a full belly laugh. I find myself laughing along with him; it’s that infectious. When he calms down, he says, “you’re just like he described. You’re going to drive him crazy, and I can’t wait to watch it.”

  Not really sure what he means, I just shake my head at him. Seeing my confusion, he leans close to me and whispers, “all the ladies fall at his feet, almost as many as his brothers, but you, you’re not. And, I can’t wait to watch my best friend eat a big ole piece of humble pie.” He cackles. Sam has warm, brown eyes, light brown hair, and a very friendly face. I already like him.

  The professor walks in and tells us these will be our seats for the rest of the semester and passes out a diagram of the room for us to write our name on where we are sitting. Any group work will be with the person seated next to us, and I’m grateful my table mate chose me.

  Sam keeps a running dialog about anything and everything, every second the professor’s not talking. I find him fascinating; he is so full of life.

  When class is over, I tell him I’m heading to the union to meet Sniffer, which has him doubled over with laughter when I tell him that Sniffer is Casper, and ask if he’d like to join us.

  “Good God, yes. Even if I had to skip class, I wouldn’t miss it.” We walk slowly to the union, and he fills me in on the gossip of every person we pass. By the time we’re there, my whole face is red, and I know more than I ever wanted to about my classmates. I think he’s making half of it up just to see me squirm.

  MASEN

  There’s a knock on my door, and I’m hope it’s not Roxanne. Fuck, I need to stop sleeping with her. Then, she’d stop acting like my girlfriend. I’ve told her I don’t feel that way for her anymore, but I keep having sex with her. She knows I sleep with other women; she doesn’t seem to mind. I can’t blame her for assuming. Other than not sleeping over or coming to my house, I still treat her them same. Old habits are hard to break.

  Opening the door, I find a pensive looking Casper. His hands are deep in his pockets, and his shoulders slump forward. “What’s up, Cass? You need a drink?” I ask when he comes in and sits down.

  “Yeah man, that’d be good.” I make us each a drink and wait for him to talk. I know he will when he’s ready.

  “Remember the girl I was talking about yesterday, the one me and Mikey met at the beach?”

  “Sure, you said you were in love, right?”

  Nodding he says, “yeah, that’s her. She invited me over for lunch today. She said she had some questions. I told you how she said she hasn’t been around many shifters?”

  “Okay, and that bothers you?”

  “Nah man, not at all. I didn’t understand how it was possible just thought her family was a little over the top, ya know.” I can tell whatever he found out is not good.

  “Shit man, she’s had it rough. She never had a pack just her Mom and Dad.” Then, he looks me right in the eyes. “They died when she was fourteen with no pack and no family. She went into foster care, human foster care.”

  Holy shit. Cass is shaking his head, staring into the scotch I just poured him. “Her first shift, she was alone, said she prepared best she could and just did it. Like it’s no biggie. My first shift it felt like I was dipped in acid for four hours!” His eyes are unfocused like he’s remembering, shuddering he continues. “She didn’t talk about her time in foster care, but I got the feeling it was no walk in the park. All that’s bad enough right? That’s not even the worst of it!” His face tells me how absolutely livid he is. “A few years ago, she met her Mate.”

  I know there’s more I’m almost afraid to ask, but I do “And?”

  “He left her, never claimed her, just walked away from this beautiful creature, probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. He just turned and walked away. Do you know what she asked me?” He seethes, “she asked me If I thought there was something wrong with her...with her!” He explodes from the chair throwing his glass against the fireplace. His chest is lifting with heavy breaths. “It about ripped my fucking heart out; she was so quiet, so so quiet. I don’t think she even meant to say it out loud. It was just there, and she couldn’t take it back.”

  None of this makes any sense .”Is she sure it was her Mate?” I ask calmly. Trying to sooth him.

  “I asked the same thing, couldn’t believe it. Told her that doesn’t happen, right? She said she’s sure it’s not something you can doubt.”

  I drop my hands between my spread knees. She’s right; there’s no doubting it. “Shit man, I don’t know I’ve never heard anything like that. Who passes up their Mate?” I’m just as confused as he was when he came here. I can tell he’s thinking about everything she said, going over it in his head.

  “She said he had a woman with him, a girlfriend by the way they acted.” He’s sitting again and tells me, “She cooked for me, big ass steak sandwiches, salad, and a cake, a fucking pineapple cake. All the shit she’s been through, and she’s still so sweet. I think if that shit would have happened to me I’d kill somebody.” We’re both quiet for a while just thinking.

  “I gotta go man, I gotta run. This shit’s too much.” He’s right; it is.

  Sam and I walk to the small coffee stand and each get a drink; his is so confusing I don’t know how the barista gets it right. I order a frozen French vanilla and follow him to the center most table. I feel like a zoo animal. I can tell he’s no stranger to attention and seems to love my obvious discomfort.

  “So, tell me the story about how you came to call Cass, Sniffer?”

  Trying to ignore everyone around us I shrug and answer, “when I was on the beach, where we met, I had fallen asleep and woke to him hovering above me sniffing my neck. Freaked me out.” I give a mock shutter.

  His coffee cup hides most of his smile. “I’m not surprised; you do smell really good.”

  My face heats with a blush. “Ah thanks? I guess. I’m not really used to all this,” I say while I motion to the whole area. “I’ve been kinda separated from packs. So, I didn’t know I should have gone to the Alpha before I moved here. Sniffer is going to take me to him tomorrow so hopefully everyone will stop staring at me.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s the only reason they’re watching you.”

  I’m enjoying my coffee and Sam’s company when three girls walk up to the table. “So who’s your new friend here, Sammy?” The middle girl, she must be the ringleader, asks while running her fingers over his broad shoulder. I can already tell by the way heads follow them they must be pretty important around here.

  Sam never looks up at her but rolls his eyes to me. “Brittany meet Sophia. Sophia this is Brittany and her evil minions.” She huffs like a toddler.

  I raise my hand in a small wave “Hi.”

  She’s not impressed, and now that I take a closer look, the blonde that was talking to Professor Daniels is one the the girls with her. Great first day, and the drama divas are staking claim. I haven’t known Sam for very long, but I’m pretty sure he bats for the other team. So what’s got her panties in a twist, if
she’s wearing them? Her shorts are so tight and short. I don’t think any thing else would fit. By the way she’s stroking his arm, I’m not sure she gets it though.

  Her dark blonde hair is almost as long as mine; hers has large barrel curls near the bottom. Her brown eyes are large; she very pretty. Maybe her friend has a thing for the professor? She’s got nothing to worry about there. Sure he’s good looking, but I’m not on the market, especially for a teacher.

  Looking down her nose at me she says, “you’re new around here, huh?” Not waiting for me to answer she finishes, “If you need any help with how things work, just ask me. I can fill you in on all the ins and outs.” I’m pretty sure she letting me know she runs the show here.

  I give her my brightest smile and straighten by back. I may be short, but I’ve been dealing with bitches like her for years. Shifter or not, she won’t be walking over me. “Oh yeah, I get the hang of things pretty quick. I like to figure things out myself, but thanks for the offer.” I keep eye contact the entire time I’m speaking to her so she knows, I know the game she playing. No one has said a word, and we’re both still staring at each other when I feel a hand on my shoulder.

  I turn to look and see Sniffer staring at Brittany. “Ladies, what’s going on?” The hand on my shoulder squeezes gently, but it doesn’t match the tension in his voice. Without waiting for a response, he sits with his hand still on my shoulder. He put a fist up to Sam in greeting.

  Finally dropping his hand from my arm, he says, “Sophia how’s your first day been? I see you found this loser. How’d he convince you to let him join us?”

  Ignoring the girl’s presence at the table, I answer, “It’s been great so far. Sam’s my table mate in Bio. Once I found out he’s your BFF,” I knock shoulders with him, “I told him he had to come.” I say smiling at them both. “Brittany and her friends were just offering to show me the ropes.”

  Sniffer’s eyes thin. “That’s nice of you, Brit, but I think me and Sam can take care of Sophia.” The way he says it, leaves no room for doubt. It’s a warning.