Finding you

Chapter 4 - Wolves

In this world, a unique species had existed that had concealed themselves from society. They were only known through myths and legends passed down from centuries. These creatures were described as shapeshifters who were half men and half wolf. The ancient humans who had encountered these creatures had created a name for them, werewolves.

Something interesting about these species was that they had someone they were fated to be with, a mate. At the age of seventeen, they had been able to sense who their mate would be, it was also the same age where their dormant abilities had begun to show. This had meant that they were able to morph into wolves and have their senses heightened by several times.

Throughout human history, their existence had slowly faded from their memories leaving only stories of them behind. Instead of announcing their existence, they chose to hide themselves, blending in amongst human society and, after many years of hiding, they had built a community of their own called packs.

These packs maintained a hierarchy where their alpha was at the top of the food chain, responsible for feeding them, protecting them, and leading them. In the eyes of humans, these packs ran a flourishing business and were a close-knit town where everybody knew everybody.

In an office, a man had sat behind a wooden desk that was filled with papers. An ashtray that held a couple of burned-out cigarettes was placed on a corner of his desk and beside his laptop was a mug filled with freshly made coffee. The steaming coffee gave rise to transparent smoke filling the air with a scent that was a mixture of coffee and tobacco.

The man had not been alone in the room. Sitting on the couch in front of him were two other men. One had a head that had blond hair resembling a beautiful golden sunset, while the other had brown hair that resembled chocolate.

The room was set up so that the two couches faced each other with a coffee table in between. The wooden desk was placed at the head of the room creating a U shape. The room remained quiet and except for the sound of tapping keys, there was no other noise. The men inside the office were highly concentrated on the task they were doing and only spoke when needed.

Austin (the man who had been sitting behind the wooden desk) had very cold eyes, both unwelcoming and intimidating. His blue-coloured eyes had symbolised his iciness, cold and numb. The man had looked around his early 20s but the atmosphere around him had made it seem like he was much older. It gave people the impression that he was an old soul, someone who had experienced life sooner than people his age.

Despite being so young, his name had been revered throughout the land as the alpha of one of the strongest packs in the continent, conquering fourteen packs. The Vermillion pack had a very small quantity of warriors compared to other packs that were on par with them, but despite having small numbers they wouldn't dare underestimate their prowess. The Vermillion pack was something they both feared and respected, some didn't know whether to deem their achievements fearful or admirable.

He had been accompanied by his beta, Felix, and chief warrior, Jackson. The three of them had seemed quite busy doing their tasks. As Austin read the paper in his hand, his eyes visibly dimmed. The pile he was going through consisted of the members of his pack reporting to him that they would be leaving for a certain period to search for their mate.

Mate...

It was such a small word that contained only four letters, and yet it described such a big existence. To them, finding your mate was like finding another piece of yourself and when you did, you felt complete and whole. It's like realising that the world you had lived in before finding them was grey.

For six years he had had no luck of finding his mate and with each passing year, he lost hope that he ever would. He had turned twenty-three that year. Some wolves were forty when they found their mate so he was still considered quite young. There had been instances where some people gave up waiting and married someone else but he had no intention of taking anyone other than his mate as his wife.

He was a cold-hearted man to begin with so the chances of him falling in love with someone were close to none and the person who had the biggest chance of making his unfeeling heart beat was his mate. He also did not like the idea of marrying someone just to produce an heir. It would have been unfair to the child and the mother because having a child should not have been an obligation, but rather something you wholeheartedly wanted.

After many hours of typing Jackson had stood up from his seat and stretched his entire body, the feeling of his stiff muscles relaxing had him groaning in relief. Looking over to the side, he noticed that Austin had been looking at a piece of paper with such rare intensity and being the curious person he was, he had decided to walk over to him and take a quick glance from over his shoulder. After reading the first couple of lines, he quickly realised what kind of document he was reading.

Soon, six years had passed since they had turned seventeen. He knew that not finding his mate hadn't affected Austin that strongly but he still couldn't help but feel a little sad for him. He remembered that Austin had once gone out and searched for her for three months before coming back alone.

Jackson shook his head trying to shake away the dark cloud that had loomed over them. He had patted Austin's back and encouragingly said, "Don't worry, you're going to find her." Ignoring the fact that he needed as much encouragement since he hadn't found his mate either but just like Austin, he didn't feel too strongly about it and even had no qualms of staying single his entire life. He had no intentions of marrying someone other than his mate either.

Hearing his friend encourage him so candidly, Austin merely sighed and replied with, "Mn, I know."

Austin had stood from his seat, also looking to stretch his legs. After three hours of sitting down, it was no surprise that he also had begun to feel uncomfortable. He had walked around the room with a piece of paper in his hand before suddenly speaking, "Felix, How has Jessie been lately?"

Jessica or Jessie was Felix's (his beta) wife and mate. The two had met three years ago when they had visited a pack to sign a treaty. They had planned to stay a week to negotiate when Felix met Jessie. Their originally planned one week stay was shortened to five days. Since Jessie was the alpha's daughter, it made the negotiations run much more smoothly.

Felix had a very serious and straightforward personality, he didn't go out of his way to befriend people who were of no use to him while on the other hand, Jessie was very cheerful, and often took the initiative to talk to people. With the two's contrasting personalities, people had found it quite surprising to see the two get along harmoniously. But to say that they 'got along' would be an understatement, since the way the two were acting around each other, they basically radiated love hearts.

Another thing that had surprised them was how fast Felix's attitude changed at the mention of his wife. Every time he spoke about her his eyes that often looked cold became warm, and his stoic face considerably softened. It was like the snow that melts under the warmth of the sun.

"Great," he had said, pushing his glasses up, "This morning she tried making me pancakes, and you know how disastrous she is in the kitchen, the pancakes ended looking like burned coal," he had gone on and on about his wife while maintaining a serious tone not noticing the fact that the other two's expressions had changed.

"Uhhh you talking about food is making me hungry. Do you guys want to head out for lunch?" Jackson had asked, trying to cut Felix's ramblings short.

Austin breathed a small sigh of relief and quickly agreed, Felix had no objections either and the three of them put down their papers and left.