The Alpha's Saviour

Chapter 2 - Viren's Birthday

Viren's POV:

"Happy birthday! .. Ouch!"

I opened my eyes struggling to adjust to a bright orange light in my room. As they adjust I notice my mother standing by my bed holding a cupcake with a candle. The candle light flickered illuminating my room more than any light had done before. I groaned out, annoyed by the blinding light and reached my fingers over the flame starving it of oxygen.

"Oh right sorry! Sleeping in thick darkness is probably the only thing you got from your father besides your looks." She said rubbing her knee that had clipped my bedside table. I knew she could no longer see me, though she knew where I was.

"Don't call him that mum, that prick is a mere sperm donor." I groaned rubbing my still sore eyes. "You know I hate it when you speak of him, he doesn't even know I exist and after what he did-"

"Yes, yes I know, but technically he doesn't remember me because his memory erasing spell backfired on him. It was all thanks to my older sisters protection spell. If he had known about you.."

"Don't even go there mum." I say as I stand giving her a hug. She was incredibly short, even for a witch. She reached just below my pecks, but gave the best tight hugs. She was my whole world.

Mum has curly black hair, dark blue eyes and thin red lips that are always pulled up in a smile. I know witches normally get a bad rep and everyone assumes they all wear black all day long with tall black witches hats. Some do, but my mother is very different. She loves bright colours. Honestly it's really only the witches who practice black magic who prefer to dress that way. It's no wonder humans use that image as a scary reference for us.

Mums bright colours match her soul. No matter what mum has been through in life, and all the stress I put her under, she is always smiling. Always helping people no matter their status or differences in DNA. She's helped vampires, wolves, witches and another species she had no name for. One she didn't ever talk about or bother explaining to me. I only stumbled across the information as I was trying out a spell that let me hear her thoughts for a while. When I confronted her, she said there was no point as she would never see one again and neither would anyone else in this lifetime.
I grab my mother gently by her elbow leading us out into the small kitchen and dinning area. "I can't believe my baby is one hundred today."

I scoff at her words. "And I still live at home." I laugh. "The humans think their life is hard when their kids at thirty still live at home." She smiles at my words suppressing a laugh and I watch the amusement dance along her face.

"We'll you wouldn't have to if you found your mate." My mum says teasingly tapping me on the shoulder.

"Mum, I told you vampires and witches choose their mates."

She rolls her eyes. "And I've told you, my father was half wolf, and my mother conceived me before they killed him for being a hybrid. They were mates. Wolves have mates and no matter how diluted your wolf side is, it is still-"

"Possible" I finished for her shaking my head in disbelief. You know neither of us were gifted a wolf spirit so it's time you let that go mum." My grandfather was half wolf, my father is of pure royal vampire blood and my mother is a witch who only carries one fourth wolf DNA and had no mate, or I'm sure she would be telling me about it just to prove me wrong. If she didn't have a destined mate, there was no way I could, especially with my fathers strong bloodline.

She walked up handing me the blood tinged cupcake. The metallic scent it left in the air had my mouth watering. "Thanks mum but I'm working today. Can't afford for my eyes-"

"To turn red, yeah I know! That's why I used very diluted animal blood mixed with a hint passion fruit and iron and a little spell to mimic the taste you crave most." I smiled at her words. We always have a habit of finishing each others sentences, ever since I was little it was always something I loved to do to annoy her. She used to hate being interrupted, now it's something we just enjoy doing to eachother. It reminds me of our strong bond, I'm not nice to anyone apart from my mother. People see kindness as a weakness though mum disagrees.

'Here son, don't forget to take your morning potion.. though I do wish-"

"-that I would stop taking it, so I will be able to smell my mate. Yeah I know you remind me weekly. Let me remind you that me working for the witch council is too dangerous for me, and for you. If they ever found out my real identity they would kill us both without a second thought. I wouldn't be able to keep helping the hybrids escape. This potion allows me to hide my vampire lineage and real scent from the council and everyone else. It's minor draw back is my sense of smell is that of a human, so 'my mate' who doesn't exist anyway, won't ever be able to smell me and visa versa. The benefits far out way the possible drawbacks in my opinion.

"I understand. I just want you to find love and be happy."

I scoff. "Coming from you mum, someone who never tried to fall in love." A pang of guilt hit me as I realised the reason for this is because of me. I have always been her secret and she has never wanted to trust anyone with this truth, if word got out we would both be dead. I swallow the lump in my throat before continuing. Rather than anger or annoyance she looked at me with understanding and a hint of.. pain. It was there for a fraction of a second making me wonder if I had imagined it, though the way my chest tightened couldn't have been imagined. I had felt it, just for a second.1

"Sorry.. I am happy mum, and another person to love only leads to having another person I'm putting in danger, or that I need to protect. It gives me another weakness. The only reason we have lasted this long is because no one else knows you're my mum or that I exist. It needs to stay that way. No family equals no weakness, no loose ends."

She hummed understanding my words, before kissing me goodbye. "I need to go to the healing centre, my shift starts soon but I'll see you tonight."

I take the cupcake and drink the potion that changes my scent for twenty four hours. The sour taste always makes me cringe. You'd think I'd be used to it after taking it for the last hundred years. My mother used to have to feed me this as a baby, in case anyone saw her with me. She needed to be able to make up an excuse about baby sitting for a friend and couldn't risk me smelling like her or a vampire.

Mum had to stop working at the healing centre when I was born for a few years, until I was old enough to understand the risks and dangers of being seen. She made just enough money to survive by making and selling various potions to other witches and wizards.

It is not like human markets where you need to show your item, meet your customers and physically exchange money. We have something similar to what the humans call the internet, but with magic. It's called a globus. The small smooth machine looks like a golf ball that fits into the palm of your hand. It transforms and opens up when being used by a witch or wizard. That's the beauty of it, even if a human or wolf stumbled across it, it won't obey them. It is light weight and creates a hologram when pressed. The three dimensional image has five sub categories to choose from. They are groceries, clothing, spell books, jewellery and various elixir's.
Once you click onto jewellery for example, a list of cursed jewels, protection charms, invisibility gems as well as many other options appear. In most cases you select the item you want, hold out the money you wish to trade in the other hand, and watch it swap places with the item you have selected. Sometimes there are options to trade something other than currency depending on what the seller is interested in. No need to pay workers or meet with people. The system is highly advanced magic that has never had a glitch or fallen into the wrong hands. It was the best way for mum to make money while never risking my exposure, or our lives.