Complications

Three

~~Ryker's POV~~

I'm sitting in my office, in my huge leather desk chair, having just returned from a full moon run, my wolf fully satiated. The cell phone that has only been just recently shoved into the pocket of my jeans rings and I pull it out, glancing at the caller ID. It's Jayme, a pack member. I answer it, "Ryker here." I hear her shaky breathing and know something is wrong immediately. "Jayme, what is it?" I ask. Her voice quakes as she speaks. "Ryker I need help. You know Jim's little sister?" I pause, thinking of Jim's family, Jim and I grew up together.... yes I do know his sister, Alekxandrya, a very nice young lady...although she is human. "Yeah I do." I respond. "Well, Alekx kind of came over tonight. I couldn't come visit because of the moon and it's her sixteenth birthday.....we were going to hang out." She takes a deep breath. "When she got here she was acting really weird but I didn't think anything of it, this being her birthday and all but th..then she shifted....." Jayme trailed off. I can feel the instant rise of my eyebrows as my brain goes into overdrive. She is human, she hit puberty long ago, I'm sure! I've never heard of anyone shifting so late in life! "What!?" I bark through the phone, is it a joke. No it can't be, Jayme is too shaken up for that. "Y-yeah but something isn't right, with her wolf I mean I asked her if she was okay and she made a noise like she was dying." Dying? Not good. "Really?!" I say, shocked " Uh-huh, she's hiding in my laundry pile, she won't come out and her mom is even here." Jayme mumbled through the phone. She is freaking out. I need to get there. "I'll be right over." I say and disconnect the call, slamming my office door open and sprinting down the hall, ignoring startled Pack members. I jump in my car and whip out of my parking space, gunning it as soon as I'm free of the driveway. Normally Jayme's house is half an hour away from the Pack house by car, but the way I'm driving, I'll be there in no time. My brain is running at a thousand miles per minute. How can a human suddenly turn wolf on her sixteenth birthday, so many years after most wolves first shift? How is this possible? I don't know. I do know that late shifter or not, Alekx needs my help. I cannot leave the sister of one of my best friends stranded when she needs me. I pull into Jayme's drive and slam my car into park before shutting it off, jumping out of the door I had just slung open and flinging it shut behind me. I sprint to the ladder that Jayme insists be her front door and scale it effortlessly, settling onto the balcony and stepping through the already ajar door. Alekxandrya is sitting in the corner, buried in Jayme's laundry. Even in my human form, she smells wonderful, better than everything I've ever smelled before. She peeks her head out, what seems to be a perfectly formed wolf, and to my surprise I hear my wolf: "MATE!!!" Holy crap! My mate! I've been waiting years for this, but I can't focus on that right now, she needs my help. "Alekx, are you okay?" I ask, and the horrible sound I am greeted with sounds something like a dog's yelp as it is hit by a car. I jump involuntarily and my Wolf grumbles, our Mate is hurting. A thought occurs to me suddenly and I step back, removing all of my clothes and relaxing into my own shift. While in this form, Wolves can communicate telepathically. "Alekxandrya! Alekx, are you okay?" I can feel her trying to complete the psychic connection that would enable us to speak but seeing as she is not officially a member of my pack, she cannot respond to me and loses her hold. "Shake your head yes or no." I try and she nods, then shakes her head no, then bobbles her head around in confusion as to whether she is okay or not. My Wolf growls and I notice that her ears didn't perk at the sound. Can she hear me? Do her ears work? "Wait...can you hear me?" I pause "With your ears I mean?" she shakes her head no vigorously. Deaf!? Our mate is deaf? What am I going to do?! I suck in a deep breath. I need to remain calm for her sake. "We need to get you back on two legs...do you think you can follow my instructions?" Deaf or not, she needs to shift back as soon as possible. She nods and I start to breathe deeply. "Match your breathing to mine, focus on your human body, what it feels like. Breathe. Relax. Think of your two-legged self. Relax. Breathe. Remember how it feels to be human. Breathe. Relax....." I chant soothingly into her head. She complies and soon her body slinks back into it's original form. I send a similar psychic message to her brother Jim to meet us at pack house before I follow suit, my own body slinking it's way back to two legs. "Alekx, are you okay?" I ask and she nods. When she doesn't verbally respond I pry a little "Can you hear me?" She nods again. Relief washes over me and I pull her into an embrace that even I don't expect. "Thank God" I breathe into her hair and then realize what I've done. I pull back and move towards my clothes, pulling them on with ease. I look over to Jayme "Jayme do you have something she can wear? I would have her go home and grab something but we need to have a meeting at the Pack house as soon as possible." Jayme nods and moves towards her closet, grabbing Alekx some clothes. She quickly slips into them and moves towards her mother for a comforting hug. I nod at them "C'mon, let's get you to the pack house." I start towards the door and they all follow suit, I am their alpha, after all. They follow me down the ladder and to my car-a rather large SUV, in black. Not the most fuel efficient, but big enough to haul a lot of people, or shifters. Alekx's mom called Jim to explain what was going on but he is going to meet us there regardless, because of the message I sent him. Silence lies thickly in the air, this is going to be a long drive- thirty minutes or not. We load into the car and I pull out of Jayme's drive. I drive more slowly on the way back to the Pack house than I did on the way here, no reason to rush and my mind hasn't stopped racing. I found my mate. But there are complications. Her wolf is broken, cannot hear. How can I, an alpha who must be strong, mate a broken wolf? Would she even accept me if she knew that I was her mate? There is no way to tell but my mind stays on thoughts like these all the way back to pack house.