Alive // bxb

Chapter 4

Liam's POV:

One hour.

One hour until I'd be eighteen officially. One hour until I'd be before the pack elders, representatives from the Council, with the moonlight streaming in, and then, finally, I'd officially become an adult wolf with a mate.

Oh, Goddess. A mate. I was about to be a full-fledged adult, citizen of the pack, soon-to-be Alpha.

Juliana's birthday was in December. Hopefully we'd have a winter mating.

I returned my attention to the blinking alarm class on my bedside table, which I had been watching almost obsessively for the past few hours. Eleven-oh-three. Fifty-seven minutes to go.

"Liam, come down here," Mom called from downstairs. I swallowed, my pulse racing. "We have to get going soon!"

I stood up, stalling for a few more moments by checking myself over again in the mirror and trying to smother my excited grin that somehow kept peeking out, straightening my green tie that Mom said matched my eyes- of course she would know, since our eyes were more or less the same copy of each other- so I trusted her judgement despite not having an eye for this sort of thing myself.

I left my room, my stomach turning in excitement as I descended the stairs, appearing much calmer on the outside than I felt on the inside. It was, in practice, much easier to act self-assured than to actually be the part.

"Lili!" Paisley squealed as she barrelled into my chest, nearly knocking me down and wrapping her arms around me, squeezing my abdomen once before pulling away, looking up at me with wide, excitement-filled hazel eyes. The kitchen's atmosphere was cheerful, a sign of hope in the Cole household. After the rough past few weeks, it wasn't surprising they were looking forward.

"Did Dad let you have a soda?"

"Yep! It was really bubbly," she enthused. "It tasted kinda weird."

"A bit expired," Dad whispered to me as he passed behind me. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he just chuckled and moved behind the counter, wrapping an arm around Mom's waist and pressing a soft kiss to her lips that Paisley and I promptly 'aww'ed at. "So, Liam, you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I responded with a smile that was only half forced.

"Great." Mom clasped her hands. "Let's get ready to go, kids."

I wasn't able to get a word in with my father as we clambered into the car and started to drive to the Ceremony Hall, just across the street, though the streets were much more crowded than they would usually be since the entire pack was expected to be there unless circumstances demanded otherwise. The rain pounded outside, the constant thrum that had stopped us from simply walking or running across the street and had obviously stopped everyone else in town from doing the exact same thing. There was already a traffic jam at the crossroads that Dad seemed to want to honk angrily at, though Mom placed a hand on his along with a gentle yet stern stare, so he sighed and kissed her hand instead. Even Paisley seemed annoyed by the lack of movement within the traffic.

A couple minutes later, I spotted a couple sentries running through the fray and frantically ushering people along. I understood their haste and dirty looks- only forty minutes on countdown, after all.

Finally we managed to park and dash into the building, a futile attempt in staying dry. Paisley's green dress was splattered by water droplets by the time we got through the crowd and made our way to a corner inside the lobby of the Council Hall. Dad placed his hand on my back, seemingly unconsciously, and pointed across the crowded area to where Aunt Eva was laughing and talking with her family. Sage caught my eyes and began to walk over.