The Alpha's Elder(manxman)

Chapter Twenty-One

Mason's POV

You know, when people hear that you are the beta son, they imagine a life great and awesome. Being a beta meant you had a lot of standing in the pack, and that was huge to a lot of werewolves.

Being part of a pack comes as second nature to werewolves, being part of the hierarchy in the pack was seen as an achievement.
I am supposed to feel proud, but this life of having to like or dislike, expect and not expect, be grateful, and other things being nature to me can get tiring very quickly.
But it seems like I am the only one who feels this way.
I never felt the longing that werewolves are said to have for a pack, I had prefer the little individualism I got every now and then.
Why do we have to behave like we share the same brain cell all the time?, but some wolves act like we do.
All I ever wanted in life was to love and be loved for a long time. A love that last longer than one's expectations of me.

My believe in mates has always been nonexistent ever since the first day I knew I loved Eli, we grew up together and I thought maybe in this life it was gonna be just the two of us, but Eli was the epitome of a straight man, I was with him when he he went through all his crushing and dating phases, and I knew he was going to have a mate someday that might not be me and even practiced convincing him that mating was exaggerated because no matter what he will always come running back but nothing had prepared me for the actual outcome of reality.

To say that I was shocked when he told me that he was mates with Carlos Roderiguez will be an understatement. We both hated Carlos back then, well Eli did because he stole his girlfriend/crush and I did  simply because Eli hated him. He would curse out Carlos almost everyday, until he got over it. For Carlos to be his mate was just like as if the universe was playing a joke on me, something I have longed for years became someone else's overnight.

I have been by his side for so long, loving him silently and not even once did he look my way, and then as soon as Carlos, a man he has hated almost half his life, smiles at him, he decides he is in love.
No, how can that be, it doesn't even make sense, that's why I don't believe in mates because it is simply not logical, people at each other's throat for years, will start to swoon moments they discover that they are mates. It just doesn't make sense, and my parents not being mates helped to prove my point.
You don't have to be mates to be together or to fall in love.

But it doesn't matter, he hates me now. It was not like I even had choice but part of why I had agreed to mark Eli  was to make him fall in love with me or to even look at me, like they do in those fantasy stories, just with a bite even your worst enemy can become a beloved but in that split second when I saw his face, I could see the pure disgust and humiliation that painted his expression,  that alone spelt out what I needed to know.

We would never be, not in this life anyway.

Since as long as I could remember I always thought that my family was normal, the everyday all American family, well werewolf family anyways, my dad was the beta and my mum worked for the pack's medical center it was pretty normal, until when I was twelve and the attack happened.

My father was one of the people who were lost in the raid, it was sad time for everyone involved no doubt, but my mum seemed to be hit harder than anyone else, she was unconvinced always crying and looked to be hallucinating.

At age eighteen, I found her to be involved with a strange group during one of my patrols and followed her each time she went out and then I confronted her about it, and it all led to this mess.

We both betrayed the pack, she because she said she could not trust the pack anymore after what she had lost, and I because she is my mother and she needed someone to be on her side at least.

Not that I couldn't understand her, the attack is an event that is still being investigated on a low key by key members of the pack, as faults or foul play has not been found yet.

I wonder what Eli thinks of me, my thoughts strays to Eli again, I knew we were not going to end up together but I am reluctant to end it like this. I sighed, 'Its fine now that my final task is done I just need to take my mother away from this place, she is the only one I have left.

I had reach a gray metal door at the end of a winding hall, twisting the knob that opens to a dimly lit room and a familiar scent wafts over to me.

A woman with similar almond eyes as mine turns to me, they were glazed with anxiousness.

"Mom!", I greeted, surprised, "You didn't need to come here I would have come to you".

"No need", she responded, "so how did it go ?"
I honestly don't know what to make of the little excitement in her tone, like I was just coming from a first date.
"Splendid, it's done.", I said drily
"Oh that's great!", she chirped, if not for context, I would have been willing to share her excitement, "lets go let the master know", she said making her way to the door hurriedly.

"Mom wait", I go to her and grabbed her shoulders softly and sigh, " after we do that, remember what we agreed on mom", she kept staring at me, her eyes blank like she was not even seeing me, seeing that she was not responding, I tightened my hold on her, "mom please", I could feel my eyes getting wet, when my dad had died, I hadn't shed a tear, too busy consoling my mom, neither did I when I found out my mom had betrayed the pack nor when I had received the mission to mark Eli. Not even when I had destroyed my friendship of over 20 years with my first love, but at this moment everything felt too much, I felt helpless and I felt tired.

Before I could say another word, we were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. My heart skipped a beat.

I wasn't expecting anyone, I never do.

Author' Note:
Hi !

Yes that's all I have to say.