The Alpha King's Human Mate by HC Dolores
Chapter 5
*”I was a handful growing up.”
Olivia Wilde*
“Were we supposed to have a test in Biology today?” Lily asked as she drove.
“Yeah,” I shrugged, “It’s on the anatomy of the wolf form, and what genetic factors. play
into the size of someone’s wolf form.”
“Shit,” Lily cursed, “I totally forgot about that. Guess I’ll just have to copy off Brody. He’ll
let me do it, I’m pretty sure he’s obsessed with me. I can practically see his canines
drooling whenever I walk by.” (3
I rolled my eyes playfully, although Lily was right. Brody was definitely obsessed with
her, and he salivated like a dog or more like a horny werewolf whenever
she walked by.
Ugh, I am definitely not in the mood for a test or school today. 7
Remember how I said that the pack had its own grocery stores and infirmaries? Those
weren’t the only things on pack lands we also had our own school too:
Blacktooth Primary School.
Here’s the thing. When you’ve got hundreds of adolescent werewolves with heightened
emotions and the ability to shift at will, you can’t exactly throw them in public school.
Sooner or later, someone would shift in front of the humans and expose werewolves to
the rest of the world.
Apparently, some former Alpha King made a law hundreds of years ago that declared
each pack had to provide its young werewolves with an education.
Packs made their own school curriculums, of course. Why teach teenage werewolves
calculus when you could teach them warrior training? Why bother with World History
when you could teach Werewolf World History?
You still got most of the bare-bones classes you’d get at any other school – like math,
history, science, and English – but most of them had a werewolf twist.
The custom curriculum made plenty of sense for the werewolves, but
unfortunately, as the only resident human in the Blacktooth pack, I was just along
for the ride.
When I started living with my dad, he insisted I attend the werewolf school with my
siblings and the rest of the pack. I had protested about it for a long time. Living with my
dad had already broken most of my ties to the human world, and the last thing I wanted
to do was leave my human friends behind too.
We fought about for a while, but eventually, he got his way.
I tried to keep in contact with some of my human friends, but without any real way to
see them, those friendships eventually faded.
“You’re so quiet this morning,” Lily commented, glancing over at me from the driver’s
seat. “You’re being sulkier than usual.”
“Sulky?”
“Yes, sulky,” she said, “I can always tell when you’re sulking, which is most of the time,
by the way. So, what is it this time? Are you worried about this big diplomatic meeting
next week?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m worried,” I replied, “I don’t really have anything to worry about – not
like you and Seb do. Am I dreading it? A little bit. I could think of better ways to spend
my weekend than locked in a stuffy room with a bunch of angry wolves.” Lily smirked at
that last sentence.
“I’m sure it’ll go fine for you,” She said, and then she paused. “I’m kind of dreading it
too.”
I looked over at Lily, surprised. Her eyes were fixed on the road, but from her furrowed
brows and the way she chewed her lip, I could tell she was being honest.
She was worried.
“Really? Why’s that?”
Lily sighed like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to open up.
“Promise not to say anything to anyone, not even Sebastian?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t know, I’ve been thinking…there’s a good chance that my mate will be there,”
she said, “I already know my mate isn’t in Blacktooth, I would’ve met them by now. So
that means they’ve got to belong to another pack. And this weekend? Every single
future Alpha, not including any pack members they bring with them, is going to be there.
That ups my chances of meeting my mate by, like, at least 50%. Maybe more.”
As she talked, I could see Lily’s knuckles tighten around the steering wheel until they
were white.
I processed her words slowly.
Lily and I had never talked about the “mate” thing much. As a werewolf, we both knew
she had one her and Sebastian both. I had heard fantasizing with friends about who her
mate would be over the years, but she’d never confided in me personally about it.
“Are you nervous about it? The idea that you might meet your mate this weekend?”
I asked.
“I don’t know,” Lily said, “It just seems very soon, that’s all.”
“Yeah, it does,” I confessed, “It’s okay if you aren’t ready yet, that would be
normal. I mean, we’re not even out of high school yet.”
Instead of comforting her, my words seemed to set Lily off.
“I never said I wasn’t ready,” she snapped, “I just said it seemed soon. I know when
I’m ready to do things. I’m already eighteen years old, and I’ve got Alpha blood running
through my veins. Whoever I’m destined with, I’m more than ready for them.” She was
scowling now, and I heard the steering wheel crack under the pressure of her fingers.
I didn’t say you weren’t ready yet, Lil,” I replied, “I just said it would be okay if you
weren’t ready, that’s all.”
Lily rolled her eyes, but I could see her grip on the wheel loosen up. “Whatever,” she
snapped, “I’m not sure why I was even talking to you about this, it’s not like you’ve got
to worry about this. You’re human, you’ll never have a mate.”
So much for a little sisterly bonding.
Although her words had clearly been intended as an insult, I only felt relief. She was
right. I was human, and that met my life would never have to change just because I
made eye contact with a stranger.
Before I could drum up some sort of response that wouldn’t antagonize her further, Lily
was already pulling into school. She parked in the same front spot she always did –
perks of being the Alpha’s daughters.
Lily stormed off to find her friends almost immediately, but I took my time getting. out of
the Jeep. It was nearly class time, and there was a constant stream of students
swarming into the large, brick building.
This was one of my least favorite things about school: the noise. I might not have had
sensitive supernatural hearing, but it still felt like my ears were getting assaulted. All
around me, there was just constant activity.
There was some guy who had gone shirtless in the parking lot, and his friends were
egging him on to shift into his wolf form. Just a few feet away, some mated couple. was
in the midst of a screaming match. I had no idea what they were saying, but the girl was
pointing fingers and the guy had his teeth bared at her.
Beside them, there was another mated couple aggressively making out.
Going to a school full of werewolves was sensory overload.
Take a deep breath, Clark.
Just as I did every school morning, I took several deep breaths before I felt calm
enough to exit the car and join the swarm.
Nobody paid me a second glance, but I didn’t mind.
It was time to head to my first class of the day: warrior training.
