Young King

6

Meki's POV

I was in Siberia when Henry, our guardian, called me. My had father died in his sleep. They didn't know how or why, just that he went to sleep and never woke up. I didn't know what was worse, knowing what was waiting for me if I went back, or knowing that I didn't even have a choice. My pack needed and their Alpha. And I was the only one who could take the job.

I felt it when he died. The rush of power coming entering my body. The way my eyes changed from yellow to dark red. How my wolf howled in grief and anger. I loved my father but he was a mean son of a bitch. And when I left home, I left Mila and Nick to deal with it. But I couldn't stay, not if I was going to be the leader the pack needed. So I went home. I stayed with some distant relatives in their own pack who taught me the right ways of being an Alpha. I had to unlearn everything my father had taught me and I didn't know how to survive without the bonds of my pack keeping me anchored. Over time I was able to create new bonds with the people here, and that helped. But I still felt the pull of home, calling me back to the land that belonged to me and no one else.

I was it's Alpha and I left it. That was a guilt I'd carry for the rest of my life. But as I got that call that he was finally at peace with mom, I knew my suffering had just started. I was twenty-two years old and mateless. Most wolves come into theirs at eighteen. And it's usually someone they've come into contact with before.

Sometimes it's old friends, sometimes you've just been sitting in the same classroom as that person. But when it hits, you know it in the very fabric of your soul. Your wolf knows it's too. Pulls at you, guiding them to you. The alpha of this pack, and my distant relative, explained to me what it was like, meeting her mate for the first time. How it felt to finally know her scent, to shift with her for the first time. They'd been friends since childhood and had no idea they'd be paired by the moon. But it was a relief when it happened because they were finally together in the way they were meant to be. The moon had blessed them with love and happiness and everlasting friendship.

Their children were quite young, and I had a lot of fun getting to know them. I learned pretty fast that I wanted kids of my own, with my own mate, whomever they may be. But when I turned eighteen, I felt nothing. I didn't feel the tug of my heart. My wolf didn't either. There was no overwhelming scent. There was nothing. And every year that passed with nothing, no even a hint of a mate, I lost hope of ever finding them. Or maybe I just didn't have one. It was rare, but sometimes when mates died before their wolves could find each other, the one left was alone. Wandering and searching, their other half already gone, their souls now one with the moon.

I thought it was selfish of the moon to take our mates from us. To give us the idea of them only to take them away from us. And I was certain that's what happened to me.

Until the day I stepped foot in the state of Philadelphia. At first I couldn't even walk. I was at an airport curled into the ground as I wept in both pain and unbridled elation that I did have a mate. They were just too far for me to find. But now I knew they were alive and they were waiting for me. I only had to find them.

The first thing I did was go to the pack house, where I assumed my mate would be because the pull of my wolf said it was stronger in the direction. But when I arrived there was nothing there for me. Not only were my siblings gone, but my mate as well. Their scent was here, it was faded and old but they had been here which meant I was getting closer. I didn't waste a second to find the nearest car and drive until I found them.

Which was how I ended up in a cheap gymnasium with a bunch of humans, my siblings, and apparently him.

He was so beautiful. Moon above, he was beautiful. Everything in me screamed to rush to him, to hold him and kiss him and protect him. To give him anything he's ever wanted. But at the same time, I was shocked. My mate was human. Having a human was was extremely rare. Like one in a million rare. It had only been documented a couple hundred times over our existence.

Humans were, and remain to be, our biggest enemies. Sometime around the days of Christ, there had been an all out war between wolfs and humans. The world used to be shared by both, equally in numbers. But humans began to attack the wolves. Over years, they had erraticated millions of us. By the time the war ended, wolves were nearly extinct. And we became a myth to them. Living in secret as a way to survive.

Our instincts kept us wary of them. It's why we live in such large packs. Each state in the U.S. only had one or two packs with a collected amount of 4,000 wolves, give or take. Which was why human mates were so rare. But there he was, in all his glory, my human mate.

It hurt me more than it I wanted to when I walked out of that room. But my pack and family needed me. I needed to explain myself and maybe one day they'll be able to forgive me. So as much as it goes against every fiber in my body, he'll have to wait for me.

Finally! Wolf stuff! Writing a start in a wolf story is a lot because all you want to do is rush right into the wolf stuff.