Trekking back to the packhouse with a young boy clutching my hand was not the way I planned to spend the early hours of Saturday morning, but as the sun rose in the sky and the scars on his malnourished body became visible, I scratched any item from my non-existent to-do list.
“We’re almost at the infirmary, Allison has the team waiting for us to check him out.” Alpha Devin informed after a few good kilometres of walking and the treeline came into view, revealing the buildings of the pack.
“Sophia! Are you okay?!” Alpha Allison engulfed me in a tight hug before letting go to examine my body for any sign of injury, which apart from a few small scratches, I was free of, “I was so worried!” she smoothed her hands over my face and looked at me with a deep frown.
“I’m sorry I worried you, I’ll-” I looked around at the curious eyes which wouldn’t seem to leave us and dropped my gaze to the hand clutching mine, “I’ll explain later, he needs medical attention first.”
As if she only then noticed the boy hiding behind me, Alpha Allison dropped to her knees and inspected the boy with her eyes and a smile on her face, “Hey little man, I’m Alpha Allison, what’s yours?” She asked the question I had failed to even think of.
“It’s okay, they are going to help you, we won’t hurt you, I promise.” I reminded him and gently tugged on his hand to bring him beside me and he complied, but neither of us missed the trembling of his body.
“Sophia is right, see this friend of mine?” She pointed at Doctor Winters who stepped forward with an encouraging smile, “She just wants to check on these nasty cuts you have, she will put some medicine on them so they won’t hurt anymore. Will you let her?”
At first, all he did was stare, as if he were contemplating her honesty, but eventually, it came, the tiniest of nods which made her smile in return.
Just as Alpha Allison stood to lead us into the infirmary a strong force crashed into the dirt before us causing us to stumble back and raised a huge cloud of dust.
I didn’t see them move, but in a split second we were surrounded by pack warriors and my view was partly obscured by Alpha Devin’s large form.
“Who are you and what is your business on my land!” He growled deeply while Alpha Allison narrowed her eyes at the stranger when the dust started to settle.
“I don’t want trouble, just hand over the boy and I’ll be on my way.” The low tone of his voice sent strange shivers up my spine.
As the dust settled a peculiar scent filled my senses, somehow it resembled a pine forest on a rainy day with a hint of lilac and it made my head spin. It was intoxicating.
Stepping out from behind Alpha Devin my eyes landed on the handsome man staring at Alpha Devin with defiance, but it wasn’t that which caught my attention.
His familiar cobalt-blue eyes glittered in the morning sun. Eyes like that were hard to forget.
He looked different than I remembered, his shoulders had since filled out and his chest puffed out, even his voice was different, but the arrogant smile on his lips told the same old story of mischief.
Mate
I couldn’t believe it. After all these years, here he was standing before me- my mate.
“You’re on my land, you’ve already got trouble.” my attention snapped back to reality. Alpha Devin stepped closer to him, but his eyes neither waivered nor cowered under the intimidation.
“Do you know this man?” Alpha Allison asked the little boy, but all he did was cower away from the eyes on him.
“Throw him in the dungeons.” Alpha Devin snapped at the warriors surrounding us..
“Wait, stop.” My own voice startled me and with wide eyes, I stared a the ghost from my past, but instead of the light of recognition I expected to see in his eyes, all that met my gaze was cold indifference.
“Don’t lock him up.” I swallowed deeply, feeling my heart pounding in my chest.
“Why not?” Alpha Devin frowned at me, “Do you know this man, Sophia?” He inquired, but my eyes never left Jasper’s blues.
“What do you want with the boy?” I blew out a shaky breath.
“I don’t know, I just followed him here,” Jasper responded cooly. I couldn’t help but wonder if he recognised me at all. Surely I wasn’t that forgettable.
“Please don’t lock him up, I- I understand him.” my hands fisted at my sides as I looked between the two Alphas.
They shared a look and nodded, “Take him to the interrogation room.” Alpha Devin ordered to the guards and a relieved breath left my lips.
I couldn't help but stare helplessly after them as they dragged Jasper’s bulky body till it was out of sight.
He didn’t look at me, not once.
“Sophia?” Alpha Allison snapped me from my inner turmoil, “Are you okay?” nodding quickly, I glanced at the boy behind me and tugged him softly through the swing doors, careful to avoid the gaping hole in the ground.
Did he fall from the sky?
***
“Good news is he doesn’t seem to have any internal scarring or bleeding, only a few cuts and a deep gash on his arm which we stitched up without hassle. He is severely undernourished so I got an IV going to help him gather some strength, he’s surprisingly compliant and luckily he stopped trembling after a while, but he still isn't saying anything, all I was able to get from him are a few small gestures. Do you have any idea what he was doing out there?” I listened half-heartedly as Doctor Winters explained the boy’s diagnosis I nearly missed the question.
“I just found him cowering against a tree, shivering and whimpering in the dark.” I supplied and it didn’t take a genius to hear the unspoken question. “What were you doing in the forest alone at night?” but neither voiced their concerns.
“I guess time will tell, he’s sleeping now, I’d like to keep him at least till tomorrow to observe his condition.” Alpha Allison nodded in agreement. I stood by quietly as they wrapped up their exchange.
“He’s just a scared little boy lost in a big bad world, it’s good Sophia found him. Take care of him Doctor Winters, we will come around later to see him.” I took that as my cue and fell into step with Alpha Allison after bidding the doctor goodbye.
My mind was still stuck on the strange encounter earlier. I couldn’t believe he was here, but more than that, my heart squeezed painfully when I recalled the coldness in his eyes when they landed on me.
I guess he did forget me after all.
Jasper finally makes his appearance! What's your first impression of him? Comments and reviews are welcomed and appreciated, I love hearing from you guys ~Love Author Kajal
Footsteps outside my door shocked me from my trance, my eyes shot up just as Alpha Allison pushed open the door to peek inside. “Hey, are you busy?” She questioned, scanning the room. “No, it’s- it’s okay.” Glancing back down at the sketchbook my heart skipped a beat, I quickly shut the book and shoved it off my lap. “May I?” She pointed to the space beside me at the bay window and I nodded quickly, scooting over to give her more room. “Did- did you speak to him?” I wrung my hands together and resisted the urge to tap my foot, the suspense was nearly killing me. “I did.” She raised an eyebrow at my antics, “His name is Jasper Queen, he’s a wanderer.” A shiver ran through my body at the name. “How did he find us?” Questions were running rampant through my head, but somehow I was able to get one out. “He claims he saw the boy in a vision, he says he’s been trying to find him for months.” Alpha Allison frowned thoughtfully. “What’s going on, Sophia?” Her voice held confusion
“We have decided that it would be best if Jasper remains close by while we figure out the reason for these visions and dreams you are having. He has taken up temporary residence in the main pack house.” Alpha Allison’s explanation came as more of a surprise to me than seeing him outside the infirmary, but when I made no acknowledgement her face grew worried, “Is everything okay, Sophia? You have been really quiet since yesterday afternoon?” Memories of our encounter in the forest replayed in my head and my heart squeezed painfully, that seemed to be all it did these days. “I’m fine, I was just tired.” I lied, plastering a smile on my face to reassure her and though her eyebrows knitted she returned my smile. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, Sophia. I promise.” She laid a hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, the concern on her face made me feel bad for lying to her. “Good morning Jasper, I’d like you to meet Sophia Hastings, I’m sure you remember her from yesterday
“This is the secondary pack house which was actually built for the Full Moon pack after the rogue attack devastated their old one before Alpha Allison and Alpha Devin got married.” I rambled despite knowing he wasn’t the least bit interested, being around him made me nervous. That and I simply needed something to keep my focus on so my eyes wouldn’t stray to his tanned muscles bulging under the Californian sun. “That’s enough!” Jasper threw his hands in the air, finally growing fed up with my ranting which made me sigh in relief, “You’ve shown me the pack, I’m leaving now.” He didn’t wait for me to speak, instead, he took off into the trees and within seconds he was out of sight. “Great job, Sophia, not only do you annoy him, you nearly bored him to death too.” I berated myself, I didn’t know what I was thinking when I insisted he see the pack. I sighed in resignation. “Don’t blame yourself, he looked like a hardass.” The voice appeared suddenly, startling me which made the girl
“Mum, I’m going out, I’ll be back later,” I called to her wherever she was in the house. “Okay, be back in time for dinner, I’m making steak.” She responded and I couldn’t help but smile. Mum made the best steak. “And be careful!” She added and my smile widened. “I’ll be okay, Mum. See you later.” I chuckled softly and closed the door behind me. I hurried to the clearing, anxious to finish the sketch I was busy with. My attention was focused on the white page slowly turning grey when I heard rustling in the trees to my right. “The coast is clear,” I announced and from behind the bushes sprung a handsome boy. “How do you always hear me coming?” He whined, unhappy that he failed at yet another attempt at scaring me. “Your fat feet shake the ground when you walk.” I teased sticking out my tongue and his jaw dropped open in shock. “How dare you!” He advanced towards me at an inhumane speed and before I could react his hand were on my waist digging into my skin in a hilarious
“Here they are.” I placed a handful of sketches I’d torn from my sketchbook in the centre of the mahogany desk. “These are great, thanks, Sophia.” Alpha Devin spread the pictures out over the table and Alpha Allison chewed on the end of her pen. “Okay, this is the one of Dennis in the forest the night Devin found you.” She placed it at the top left corner of the table. “This looks like a cloud of dust, like when Jasper appeared.” We all stopped for a moment to look at him after Alpha Devin’s observation, but he remained standing upright with his arms crossed over his chest. “It’s a story for another day.” He brushed it off, clearly unhappy with the inquiry. “That’s number two.” Alpha Alison lined it up beside the previous one. “Do any of the scenes look familiar to either of you?” Alpha Allison bit her lip and looked between both of us and I hesitated for a second before pointing to an image. “This one, The day Jasper and I bumped into each other in the forest, his eyes lo
History class was practically empty when I took my seat and suddenly a voice called out to me. “Sophia! Hey, what happened to you yesterday, you just vanished and never came back. Is it because of what happened with that guy in the movie room? You really shouldn’t bother about that, everyone saw you trip.” Susie fired questions at me not giving me enough time to answer the first before asking the next. “Hey Susie, sorry I needed to get back to help Alpha Allison, I would have told you I was leaving, but you saw how graceful my exit was.” I chuckled, throwing in the tiny white lie to get her off my back. “It’s cool girl, we can hang out this afternoon if you’re free?” She suggested and I nodded, she seemed pretty cool. “Great, we’ll walk home together after school and you can tell me all about what’s going on with you and the flying hunk.” I nearly choked at her description of Jasper. “Flying hunk?” I gaped. “Didn’t you hear the whispers in the hallway this morning, he’s all th
“Keep going, you’re doing great, Sophia!” Cecile chanted as I brought my fists down harder and harder on the bag. After a month of being here, Alpha Allison insisted I start training again, it was something I enjoyed doing with my mum since I was old enough, but after she got really sick, it didn’t seem right, which unfortunately meant that I hadn’t trained since my first shift nor had I ever trained in wolf form. The latter was one I was still working on, shifting for the first time was the worst experience of my life, so bad that I passed out only minutes later and woke up naked in the forest. Since that day I have been afraid to shift and I can feel the strain it’s putting on my wolf, Selene, but no matter how much she pushes or retreats, I can’t seem to get over the feeling of my skin tearing and my bones breaking. “Okay, hands up, take a break,” Cecile called a break and I held the bag to stop. Sweat was dripping heavily from my body, handing me a towel and bottle Cecile gri
The night was dark, but the air was warm as we made our way through the forest. Both Alphas walked beside me, leading the way to the clearing they spoke of. I wasn’t sure how long we walked for when we finally broke through the treeline, in the distance I could see the silhouette of a willow tree lit up by the starlight and as we got closer, I made out a figure sitting beneath the tree. “The sketch.” Alpha Devin pointed out and we both nodded. “It’s Jasper.” Alpha Allison identified and I wondered how she knew since I still couldn’t pick up his scent in the wind. Jasper seemed to have sensed us because he turned to face us and stood quickly when he recognised us. “Alpha Devin, Alpha Allison, is everything okay?” He asked sternly, but his voice held a tinge of concern. “Everything is fine, Jasper. We didn’t realise you would be here.” Alpha Allison answered and Jasper took the silent hint to leave. “I apologise, I’ll leave.” He nodded and took a step to leave when my voice