I'm The Alpha's Challenge

52

I pursed my lips, looking away. I knew that question was coming, and I didn't know the answer. Not now. Definitely not now. I looked back to him, shrugging. "I don't know. Do I have to be one?"

His face fell and he tried to hide it by looking down before he composed himself. "Eventually. Probably. I don't know. It would definitely help."

"Can I?" I asked hesitantly.

"A course!" he exclaimed, his face brightening again.

I glanced down at the menu again. "Maybe," I decided. "But not now. How do you… how does that... happen… anyways?"

"Ya really wanna do this right now?" he asked, exasperated.

I blew out, ruffling the hair on the side of my face. "Yea," I nodded. "I wanna know."

"It doesn't always work," he blurted. "Sometimes the human's body rejects it, and it makes them sick, or kills them."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to scare me?"

"No! I just, uh…" he squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I don't want you to get hurt."

I smiled. "Are you scared to?"

"What, I, no, uh…" he sighed, biting the edge of his cheek. "Yes."

"Don't be," I smirked. "I'll be fine. Just tell me how. You're not actually doing it."

He sighed again, glancing away uneasily. "First, you bite them." His shoulders shook. "Then you bite yourself, and drop your blood into their wound. To mix the blood—it's the only way. Then you wait."

"What happens to—to the human?"

He glanced up at me sheepishly. "They usually pass out from the pain." He breathed. "And when they wake up—either they're sick, a wolf… or dead."

"What are the odds of… of…"

"Technically it's fifty-fifty," he said, grinding his teeth together. "But there're circumstances."

I tilted my head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He sighed lowly, quietly. "Human mates're rare, but there is one thing we know 'bout 'em—they can only be Turned by their mate."

"Why?"

"We don't know." He shrugged. "But after they've met their mate, they can only be Turned by them. Only I could Turn ya."

"And say I wanted to, but you didn't," I said. "I couldn't go to, say, Cormac and ask him?"

His eyes darkened as he shook his head. "No. And even if he did, it wouldn't end well."

"Meaning?"

"Ya wouldn't live through it."

My eyes widened. "Oh," I squeaked. "Well, I guess I know who to talk to then."

He chuckled, but was cut off as the waiter returned bearing a pad and pen. "Well?" she asked, irritated.

She was beginning to irritate me. Josh glanced at me, his eyes laughing. "I'll have the rib-eye medium rare, and she'll have the chicken and rice."

"Finally," she muttered under her breath. "Anything else?"

His eyes narrowed into a glare. "No," he growled lowly.

Her eyes widened and she turned away without another word.

I leaned forward. "So what if I wanted to become a wolf? What would happen?"