My Older Mate

Finding My Mate

Marcus

Well I am finally going to take my mother's advise and start looking for my mate in the human communities. I have been the Alpha of our pack now for 2 years, since my 18th birthday, and still haven't found my mate. A few lucky wolves find their mates at 16 but most of us find them at 18. I have been searching all of the packs I can since my 18th birthday and have not been able to find them.

My mother has pointed out to me a few times that Alphas are more likely to have "unconventional" mates to offset our personalities and to help bring harmony to the pack so we are more likely to have mates from other species, same sex mates (if we aren't already interested in the same gender), mates of larger age gap then us, and/or mates that have already had mates or previous partners. Our mates are perfect for us but also need to be perfect for keeping the pack running smoothly so they tend to be something even more special.

Given this, I will be taking a few warrior friends with me and leaving my Beta and parents in charge of the pack while I set out to explore some of the larger human communities near by. I have no preference at all on who I have for a mate as I know that I will love them unconditionally and that they will be perfect for me but my nerves are still running high.

Humans, and other species for that matter, don't respond like we do to the mating pull so this will be so much harder if my mate is one. Hopefully they will be okay with me and I am enough for them. We have set aside 6 months for this mission as it can take a while to court a human, let alone the time to actually find my mate to begin with.

"Alpha Marcus, what if your mate is in a relationship?" Alexandra, my best friend and lead warrior, asks as we were driving away from the pack house.

"The Elders told me that I would not be able to sense them if they were in a committed relationship so if they are in a relationship and I can sense them it is not serious. It would be hard but I would have to figure it out."

"I don't know how I feel about them not being pure. We save ourselves for our mates. It is weird to me." Mikey, my younger brother, and the youngest warrior to ever make our squad at 15, states.

"Mikey, not all wolves save themselves but I do know what you mean. It is very weird to think about but they are not like us so we can't hold them to the same standards. And just because they may have had relations before does not mean they aren't pure. Maybe they have only had relations in one committed relationship that has now ended? Or maybe they are saving themselves like we do? We shouldn't make snap judgements based on what we have heard about their species." That would be Andre, the oldest in our group at 30 years of age. He is a warrior but not a very skilled one. He is more of a scholar and studies battle plans and strategies to help on the battlefield. He lost his mate last year and is raising their 3 kids alone so he doesn't often see action now but wanted to join me on this mission very much so he left his kids with his sister and their cousins.

One month later

We are in our fourth location and I am starting to lose hope. We have a good system in place to try not to miss any people but only stay a week in each town so we can hit as many as possible. Today we will be doing my favourite tour, school drop offs. I love seeing all of the kids in their little outfits. The hard part with this is not looking creepy hanging out near schools, especially the elementary schools. With the high schools Mikey just pretends to be my son and we are looking at registering him so we can get a chance to see the teachers and get a glimpse at the parents at the same time. This also allows us to see the older students too.

This town only has three schools so it will be an easier day. We already have an appointment later in the day at the high school, the middle school has a later drop off, so right now we are hanging out in front of the elementary school.

As soon as I stepped up I could smell lilac and honeysuckle on the air. It isn't lilac season so my wolf instantly knew this was a good sign. There were far to many people around to pinpoint where the smell was coming from and we couldn't just run up to the school.

I think my mate is here. I linked my friends right away and started looking at all of the faces in front of me. There were easily 30 adults in the area and no teenagers meaning my mate had to be an adult so that is a good start.

As the crowd started to thin a bit the scent remained and this allowed me to move a bit closer. I noted that there were no males left so my mate was female, unless a male was around that I could not see. I also noted none of the adults in the area appeared to be older then maybe 40 so the age difference would not be huge. All of these things were positives. I was really getting excited at this point.

I have to figure out how to get closer without drawing suspicion. I can't figure out which one it is unless I'm closer. There are only 10 adults left out here but that is still a lot to chose from.

My friends start shooting around ideas in the link such as running up saying I'm hurt, which Andre says no to because I'll scare the kids, or stealing a kid and walking over to pretend I'm dropping them off. I finally decide we will just have to risk leaving for today and coming back tomorrow with a better laid out plan on mind.

The next day we went back with Andre's idea under our belts. Andre and Alexandra pretended to be a newlywed couple expecting their first child and Andre had custody of his two younger brothers, me and Mikey. We all went with them to check out the local elementary school before dropping Mikey off at his new high school as we just moved to the area. They went into the school with Darlene, the principal, while Mikey and I hung outside and waited.

I was starting to think my mate was only here on a whim as we had been standing here amongst these parents, teachers, and kids for a while until a minivan pulled up. As soon as the back door opened the scent of lilac and honeysuckle wafed out. I perked up and smacked Mikey in the chest, hard. I peered in to see a booster seat right through the door that opened and a car seat in the seat opposite with a very small baby in it. From the back a young boy squeezed out and helped the boy in the booster seat down while grabbing two backpacks.

The older boy, maybe 10 at most 12, helped the younger boy, maybe 8, put the impossibility large bag on his little back then donned his own bag. They looked vaguely alike but not much. The older boy had tan skin with brown hair and almost midnight black eyes. He was tall and lean with a sadness to him. The younger boy was pale with lighter hair and bright blue eyes. They shared face shape and nose structure but this boy was tiny and squishy looking. He was almost to adorable to look at for long. He was beaming up at who I could only assume was his brother. They both smelled subtly like my mate.

From the front of the van came a short woman, maybe 5'5" compared to my 6'2" height.  She looked tired and worn down. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled and stained. Werewolves have a certain body type and the females are either petite with curvy figures or built like tanks full of muscles.  This women was plump with wide hips and a full chest like I had never seen. Her skin was pale like the younger child and she had piercing blue eyes. Honestly she looked like she was full term pregnant, which our kind don't hold on their frames for long. I know from my studies that humans can carry their weight for years. I found it so appealing that I could not pull my eyes away from her.

Mikey mindlinked me Is that her?  She isn't what I was expecting at all but she is something for sure. Are you disappointed?

I felt my face start to hurt with the huge smile I was sporting. She was beautiful and looked so smart. She beamed down at the two boys and straightened the older boys collar. When she reached out my smile fell. She was wearing a wedding ring. Knowing that she would not be known to me if she was in a serious relationship my mind started spinning with what this could mean.

Just then I felt the presence of my best friend and our oldest companion returning with the principal and Mikey whispered but with our advanced hearing all of us could hear "Remember what Andre said, we don't know that she isn't pure."