The Alpha's Surprise Mate

Coming Of Age

  Terrance POV

  *One week later*

  "Wake up, sleepy head," a deep voice growled in my head, yanking me out of a deep sleep.

  I rolled over and looked at the clock beside my bed. 6 a.m. "What's the big idea, Diesel?" I grumbled. "Breakfast won't even be ready for another hour."

  Diesel, my wolf snarled back at me. "It's our birthday, you idjit. Today, we find our mate!" 

  I sat straight up. He was right! Today was my 18th birthday. Today I would find out for sure if Aliana was indeed my mate. And if not, who was?

  I threw the comforter off of me, jumped up, and snagged a clean pair of jeans out of my closet. I yanked them on, grabbed a clean hoodie, and threw it on as I dashed out my bedroom door. I ran down the stairs, and skidded to a stop when I reached the kitchen. There stood my parents and siblings, grinning at me, with a huge chocolate cake on the counter in front of them with 18 lit candles on it. My jaw dropped.

  "Happy birthday;" everybody yelled together. 

  "Thanks y'all! How did y'all know I'd be up this early?"

  My mom laughed. "We knew Diesel wouldn't let you sleep late. We know how eager he is to find his mate."

  "He's not the only one," I laughed. "But Aliana is having breakfast in town with her dad today, so he'll have to wait. It's their tradition." I head a low growl in my head. "Shut up, Diesel. I don't like it any more than you do so suck it up, buttercup."

  My family laughed. "You'll be all right, Diesel," Dad chuckled. "Just a few more hours. In the meantime, I'm thinking cake for breakfast sounds like an amazing idea."

  "I couldn't agree more, Dad," I said, rubbing my hands together and licking my lips.

  Mom laughed. "Then what are you waiting for? Get over here and blow these candles out. I can't hold your siblings back much longer." 

  Indeed, my siblings were pretty much ignoring me and eyeing the cake.

  "Mine," Diesel snarled, briefly taking control. I immediately snatched control back and rolled my eyes. "It's a cake, you big mutt, not our mate."

  "Better feed the big bad wolf before he decides to eat us," Cayden teased. 

  Diesel growled in my head in response, but didn't say anything.

  My family sang the birthday song and Mom cut the cake after I blew the candles out. My siblings and I laughed and teased while we ate, and Mom pulled out a gallon of my favorite ice cream - French vanilla. Mom and Dad joined in, and a few minutes after we cut the cake, my grandparents - Dad's parents, Nanny and Pop Pop - came over from next door and joined us. After we'd all eaten our fill of cake and ice cream, I opened gifts. From Mom and Dad, I got the iPhone12 Pro I've been after. Cayden got me a case for it. It was royal blue - my favorite color - with a wolf howling at a full moon in the back. The wolf was jet black with piercing blue eyes, exactly like Diesel when I shift into my wolf form. The twins, Tanya and Tania went together and got new seat covers for my SUV, which were also royal blue with the howling black wolf. Laylana gave me a T-shirt of the same color with the same image. I loved it all, but my favorite was the handmade quilt from Nanny and Pop Pop. It was big enough to cover my king size bed, and while it had the same color and image, it also had word "ALPHA" stitched across the top in italics. 

  "Thank you so much, everybody," I said with a huge smile on my face. "I seriously love it all." 

Analeigh POV

  I loved mornings like this. Di had given me the day off for my birthday, so I didn't have to rush to the packhouse to get breakfast ready. I wanted to sleep in, but my wolf, Crystal was anxious to get the day started in the hope that we would find our mate today. I tried telling her school still started at the same time, but she refused to go back to sleep so I finally gave in and got up. After a bowl of cereal, I decided go go for a run. Going out into the woods behind our house, I removed my clothes and put them in a bag behind a tree before shifting into my wolf. (Most wolves did this, as clothing tends to be ripped to shreds during shifting.) After shifting, I stood for a minute and just enjoyed the feeling of the gentle breeze ruffling my fur. Crystal is beautiful - our fur is slate gray, except for our 4 white paws. 

  After enjoying the breeze for a minute, I turned and sprinted into the trees. I ran, nimbly dodging trees and loving the wind in my face, for about a mile until I reached my destination - a clearing with a huge meadow with a crystal clear pond in the center. I frolicked around the meadow for several minutes, rolling around in the high grass and dodging imaginary playmates, before finally going to the pond for a drink and flopping onto my belly at the edge of the water. I rested my head on my paws, enjoying the peaceful morning and all the scents of the forest floating on the gentle breeze. 

  After a few minutes, I felt the breeze shift slightly, blowing from my left instead of the front. With it came new scents, including one that immediately put me on guard. Another wolf. I heard the faint sound of leaves rustling and caught a brief glimpse of a set of eyes at the distant tree line before they retreated into the shadows and I heard the other wolf running away, in the opposite direction of where I had come from. I jumped up and ran to where I had seen them, but all I saw was a bushy brown tail disappearing into the trees. For a second, I considered going after them but I realized I was a lone she-wolf, and an omega at that. The scent had indicated that this wolf was male, and more powerful than me. Possibly a beta or even an alpha. Definitely not an omega. 

  As I stood staring into the forest, I felt a chill go down my spine as it sank in that someone had been watching me. Someone was on pack lands that shouldn't be. I turned and ran back in the direction of my house. I had to warn the pack.

  Aliana POV

  "Thanks for breakfast, Dad," I smiled at my dad, who sat in the booth opposite me. "It was great, as usual."

  Dad smiled back at me. "I'm glad you liked it, sweetheart. Hopefully, we can keep up this tradition even after you find your mate and I've got a few grandpups running around."

  I reached across the table to grab his hand. "Even when I'm the Luna, Dad, I'll always have time for you."

  "Don't you mean IF you become Luna?"

  "What do you mean, if?" I huffed. "Of course I'll be the Luna!"

  "Sweetheart, you haven't seen Alpha Terrance yet today, so you don't know if he's your mate or not," Dad pointed out. 

  "So? Everybody knows that Terrance is mine. I don't need some stupid mate bond to tell me that. Besides, I haven't spent a year dealing with that boy just to have the Luna title yanked away from me! Mates or not, that title - I mean, Terrance is mine!" 

  At the end of my little speech, Dad merely raised an eyebrow. "Sweetheart, if you're not mates, don't you think trying to hold onto him would be unfair - not only to the two of you, but also to your future mates?"

  "No," I said flatly. "I'll be marked and mated by this time tomorrow and then that won't matter."

  Dad reached across the table and took my hands in his. "Sweetheart, when I met your mom, I can't explain how she completed me, and I her. I want that for you. You need your other half, and he needs you. Hopefully it's Terrance, but if not, you need to keep yourself open so that - "

  "So that what, Dad?" I snapped. "So that I can go through what you did after the rogues killed Mom? Or so my mate can almost get himself killed trying to protect me like you did? No thanks, Dad. I hope I never find my mate. And I'll be damned if I'm going go miss becoming the Luna after all the work I've put into it."

  Dad furrowed his brow. "Work? Don't you like being around Terrance?"

  I snorted. "Pfft. As if. Most days I can barely tolerate him, but I want that title."

  Dad stared at me. "Aliana, you can't be serious. A title won't cuddle up with you at night. A title can't wrap its arms around you and hold you tight."

  I stood up. "A title also can't die on me. Thanks for breakfast, Dad."

  Terrance POV

  After changing into my new shirt, spreading my new quilt on my bed, and struggling for twenty minutes to install my new seat covers, I had about ten minutes to spare. I decided to take both my new and old phones with me so I could work on setting up the new one white I was at school. Besides, Diesel was itching to get to school to see if our mate was there. And truthfully, so was I. 

  My siblings had all already left by that time. After a quick goodbye to Mom and Nanny, who were chatting over coffee in the kitchen, I headed out. I knew Dad and Pop Pop were in Dad's office, discussing pack business. Pop Pop hadn't been the Alpha for more than twenty years, but he liked to help and offer advice when he could. That would probably drive most Alphas crazy, but Dad didn't mind. Pop Pop never tried to undermine Dad's authority, and his advice was always spot-on.  

  When I pulled into the school's parking lot, the first thing I noticed was a huge banner over the main entrance saying, "Happy Birthday, Terrance, Aliana, and Analeigh!" My freshman year, the banner had only had my name on it. That bothered me, and I told the staff that. After that they started including other students who shared my birthday. Also, I asked them to try to recognize every student's birthday, not just those who shared my birthday, so every Monday they listed every student who had a birthday that week on the electronic marquee. However, they insisted on the banner for mine, so I just told them to make sure to include the others' names. I didn't want my pack thinking I was going to be a conceited Alpha who only cared about himself and not about the happiness of my pack members. 

  As I parked and got out to walk into the building, I couldn't help but to sniff the air, checking for any unfamiliar scents. It had been hammered into my head since I was little that my mate would have a scent that only I would be able to smell. Mom always said that, to her, Dad always smelled like cinnamon and fresh brewed coffee, while Dad said that Mom smelled like oranges and vanilla. I'd always wondered what my own mate would smell like. But so far I didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. Slightly disappointed, I continued walking toward the building. I noticed that Aliana's red Fiat Spider wasn't in her assigned space, meaning she hadn't arrived yet. I shook my head. Most other days she was harping on me about being on time, but on special occasions she liked to be fashionably late so she could make a dramatic entrance. I guess she and her wolf, Kara weren't as eager to find their mate as Diesel and I were. I also noted that Analeigh's little blue scooter wasn't in its space yet. I guess both birthday girls were aiming to be fashionably late.

  As I stepped through the front doors, I was immediately surrounded by several students and staff members and greeted by calls of, "Happy birthday!" I saw several girls looking at me with hopeful expressions, subtly sniffing the air and looking disappointed when they didn't smell my mating scent. Others who weren't yet 18 gave me hopeful looks that turned to disappointment when I didn't rush over and claim them as mine. See, most wolves wouldn't be able to detect their mates if they're of age but their mate wasn't. Most of the time, both mates have to be of age in order for the mate bond to be detected. But since I have Alpha blood, I would be able to detect my mate no matter how old she was. But so far, I didn't detect anything.

  "Thanks everyone! You all sure know how to make a guy feel special. You seem to think I'm gonna be your boss one day," I joked. A ripple of laughter went through the crowd, although I'm not sure the humans present got the joke. They probably thought I was referring to the many businesses my family owned.

  Mr. Jacobson clapped his hands to get our attention. "All right everyone, now that we've all wished Terrance a happy birthday, it's almost time for class. Have a good day everyone! And for the love of Pete, don't get yourselves sent to my office today," he joked. After another ripple of laughter, the crowd began to disperse. Outside of school, he usually referred to me as Alpha. However, just like every other pack, our pack has strict rules about using our titles in any place where humans could potentially hear us. The humans here have no idea that werewolves even exist, let alone that they're surrounded by them, and we intend on keeping it that way.

  As the crowd dispersed, Cody came up and gave me a friendly slap on the shoulder. "So, birthday boy, any news this morning?"

  I knew he was asking if I had found my mate yet. I shook my head. "Not yet."

  He looked disappointed. Just like every pack member, he was anxious to know who the future Luna would be. Maybe even more so than most, since one of his chief duties as Gamma would be to protect the Luna. He sighed. "Oh well. The day is young right? Have you seen Aliana yet?" I could hear the barely disguised distaste in his voice as he said her name. Even though he tried to hide it out of respect for me, I knew he didn't care for Aliana. I also knew that, despite his personal feelings, he would protect her at all costs if she did turn out to be the Luna. Cody took his responsibilities to the pack very seriously, which was the primary reason I had chosen him to be my Gamma.

  In response to his question, I shook my head. "No. She always has breakfast with her dad on her birthday, so she wasn't at the house this morning. She must be running late. Now come on, we're going to be late for algebra. Who knows, maybe I'm Mrs. Johnson's second chance mate," I joked. Mrs. Johnson, our algebra teacher was in her late sixties. She had lost her mate ten years ago in a car accident, leaving her to finish raising their two then teenaged sons alone.

  Cody snorted. "If that's the case, poor Mrs. Johnson."

  I laughed and elbowed him in the ribs as we walked toward the classroom. "That's what everybody said last week about Kayley being mated to you."

  "Hey!" he yelped. He grabbed me and attempted to put me in a headlock, but I easily dodged him and took off down the almost empty hallway. 

  Mrs. Johnson poked her head out of the room as we got closer. "I thought I heard a commotion out here," she said, a humorous glint in her eyes. "Come on boys, it's time for class."

  "Ok, Mrs. Johnson," I said with a smile. She smiled back and shooed us inside. 

  "At least you didn't go yelling mate when we walked by her," Cody muttered under his breath. Then a muffled, "Oof," as I elbowed his ribs again.

Analeigh POV

  The packhouse was pretty quiet when I brought my scooter to a stop in the parking lot. Most everyone was either at work or school by now. I knew this was going to make me late, but I also knew the pack's safety was paramount to everything else.

  The first person I saw when I walked in was Di. She saw me and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you off today? And why aren't you in school?" Di could come off as a bit bossy at times, but she had a heart of gold underneath her gruff exterior.

  "I saw something on my run this morning that I need to tell the Alpha about," I replied. "Is he here?"

  "He just went up to his office," she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the stairway. 

  "Thanks, Di! You're the best!" I dropped a kiss on her cheek and turned to hurry to the stairs. 

  "Yeah, yeah," she said, waved her hand at me in a shooing motion. "Happy birthday, by the way."

  "Thanks!" I called back over my shoulder as I rushed up the steps.

  I slowed as I approached Alpha Anthony's open office door and nervously tapped on the door frame. Alpha Anthony looked up from the paperwork he was working on and smiled at me. 

  "Good morning, Analeigh," he greeted. "What brings you here this morning?"

  "Good morning, Alpha," I said shyly. "I, um, I saw something on my run this morning, and I feel like you should know about it."

  His expression changed to one of concern. "And what was that?"

  "A scent I didn't recognize," I replied. "A more powerful werewolf than I am, possibly an alpha or beta."

  Alpha Anthony held up one of his hands. "Wait just a second, Analeigh. Beta Andrew needs to hear this as well. Gamma Trey is out with the patrols, so I'll fill him in when we're done." His eyes glazed over for a few seconds, and I knew he was mind linking his beta. After a few seconds, his eyes refocused on me. "Beta Andrew will be here very shortly. If you don't mind, I'd like to wait till he gets here for you to tell us what happened. That way you don't have to repeat it twice."

  I nodded. "Yes, Alpha."

 Less than a minute later, Beta Andrew strode in wearing the black sweats that our warriors typically wore while training. Alpha Anthony must have caught him just before he left for the training grounds, as his blonde hair was still damp from his shower. Most werewolves have darker hair color, but Beta Andrew's mother was a human. His blonde hair and pale blue eyes came from her, but his height and build came from his werewolf father. 

  "Good morning, Alpha," he greeted him. Then he nodded to me with a friendly smile. "Analeigh."

  I smiled in return. "Good morning, Beta Andrew."

  He turned back to the Alpha. "So what's up?" he said easily.

  "Analeigh scented an unfamiliar wolf while on a run this morning. Possibly a beta or even an alpha. Analeigh? Can you fill in the details?"

  "Yes, Alpha." I cleared my throat. "I went for a run this morning, like I do a lot of mornings when I have time. I was in that little clearing about a mile behind my house. I had stopped for a drink and a rest at the little pond there when the wind changed direction. That's when I got the scent of another wolf and heard something back in the tree line. I ran back there to look, but the other wolf was running away. The only thing I saw was a brown tail disappearing into the trees. I immediately ran back home and came straight here to tell you."

  "We're glad you did, Analeigh," Beta Andrew said. With a concerned look, he turned to Alpha Anthony. "What are your thoughts? Any ideas on who it might be?"

  Alpha Anthony shook his head. "No. I haven't spoken to another alpha in a couple of days, and none of them have mentioned coming to visit." He stood up and looked at me. " Analeigh, I know you need to get to school. Is Andy home and able to show us this clearing?" 

  I nodded. "Yes, Alpha. He's off today and I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I'll mind link him now."

  "How about you do that on the way to school? I know you're already late."

  "Yes, Alpha."

  Third Person POV

  Andrew and Anthony waited until Analeigh left, then Andrew turned to Anthony. They'd been best friends since they were pups, and Andrew knew his best friend well enough to know why he had sent the girl away. If things got nasty, he tried to shield the women and children from as much as possible. "Probably a good idea, sending her away like that. Are you ready to go?"

  Anthony sighed. Some alphas may be itching for a fight, but  Anthony had never been one of them. "I suppose. I'm just hoping whoever it is will just leave peacefully."