Mates and Missing Kids

II : Conversation With A Wolf

"What greater thing is there for two human souls to feel that they are joined for life...
to strengthen each other...
to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories."
-George Eliot

***

"I hate school!" Lance groaned as he banged his head against the lunch table. "Why do the teachers have to make everything so boring?"

"That's just how teachers are," Skye sighed, resting her head on her hand.

The two of them started talking to each other about what else they hate, and Amber took the time to examine Lance. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't tell what it was.

Then again, most people seem familiar when you could see who their soulmate was.

*Do you think we should tell Skye?* Laika, her wolf, asked.

*No, I think we should keep this to ourselves. Besides, I don't want to unintentionally ruin anything. We'll let them find each other in their own time.* Amber replied.

*You're right. Finding your mate is a delicate thing. We wouldn't want to ruin it for Lance, even though he doesn't even know that he has a mate. You know, since he's human and all.*

*Yeah. At least his mate is someone we know. Lance will be in good hands.* Amber watched him as he laughed at something Skye said.

She watched Skye and Lance converse for a few minutes, then Laika decided to pipe up again. *Do you ever wish we didn't have this power?*

*Sometimes. Knowing who people's soul mates are is tiring, but the pendant gave us this responsibility for a reason, even if we don't know what that reason is.*

Amber fell silent as she played with her pendant. She could still remember the day she got it. Her dad was so happy that she would take over his position when she was old enough, and her brothers had tackled her to the ground, smothering her with hugs. She had been just as excited, but she knew that her new post would be a lot of work.

As the years passed, she saw her dad having to make hard decisions and drown in mountains of paperwork. She saw the pressure that being looked up to brought. She saw stress eating away at her parents sometimes. Being the Alpha definitely wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

But she also saw the wonderful and giving side to the job.

No one was left out in the cold, and if someone needed something, be it a few bucks for clothes, or a ride to the store, her parents would happily oblige. They also always had time to spend with their kids. If one of them needed help with homework, or just needed to vent, they would drop what they were doing and try to help.

So yeah, sometimes she didn't want the job, and sometimes she didn't want the extra power that came with it, but she wouldn't give it up for the world. She would do anything for her pack, and she knew they would do the same for her.

She was pulled out of my thoughts when Skye snapped her fingers in front of her face. Amber raised an eyebrow at her and Skye asked, "When are the guys getting here? Lunch is already halfway over."

"I don't know. I expected them to be stuffing their faces already when we got here," Amber replied.

"The guys?" Lance asked. "I thought you two were the only ones who sat at this table."

"Nope," Skye said, grinning. She leaned toward Lance and whispered, "Just so you know, they're all pretty hot."

Lance blushed while Amber said, "Really, Skye? One of them is your brother, two of them are mine, and the other we've known our whole lives. That's just gross."

"I'm just calling it like I see it," Skye replied, hands raised defensively. Amber rolled her eyes, all too familiar with the things that come out of Skye's mouth.

Skye looked past her, and said, grinning, "Here come the troops!"

Two arms wrapped around Amber from behind, and she looked up to see Aaric, one of her brothers, grinning down at her. "Hey, little sister!" he chirped, then plopped down beside her. Her other brother, Dev, pecked her on the forehead and sat on Aaric's other side.

She glared at Aaric. "I'm only five minutes younger than you," she said. Dev snickered, and she switched my glare to him. "No laughing mister. I'm only seven minutes younger than you."

"Yeah, but that means I'm the oldest, which gives me seniority!" Dev said with a grin. Aaric shook his head at their antics and turned his attention to Lance.

"This is Lance," Skye said. "He's new."

"Hi. I'm Aaric, and this idiot is Dev," he said, reaching out to shake Lance's hand.

"So you three are triplets?" Lance asked Aaric. "I mean I can see how much you look alike, but I just thought you were just siblings.

"Yup. We're triplets, but Dev and I are identical, and Amber is all on her own," Aaric confirmed, swinging an arm over Dev's shoulder while Dev stuck his tongue out at Amber. The sleeve of Aaric's leather jacket rode up and revealed the edge of a tattoo. It may have been a trick of the light, but Lance could swear he saw it move.

"Hey! Blaze! Get over here!" Dev yelled when he spotted a certain redhead enter the room. Blaze started to make his way over when a kid tripped and fell, narrowly missing him. The redhead glared at the boy with such intensity that Lance thought the boy would burst into flames. Luckily, that didn't happen, and Blaze just walked over to them and sat down across from Dev.

"I hate people," Blaze grumbled, making Dev laugh. From the half hearted glare Blaze leveled at the other boy, Lance could tell that Dev was one of the few people that could laugh at Blaze and walk away without a scratch.

Lance subtly scooted away from Blaze, which Amber thought was good judgement on his part. It wasn't a good idea to be a stranger when Blaze was angry. He tended to go nuclear.

"What is taking Ian so long?" Aaric asked, glancing up at the clock. "I swear I have never met someone who takes as long to get dressed as he does."

"Speak of the devil," Blaze said as the man in question stepped through the doors.

"I thought you were the Devil," Dev remarked, looking at Blaze out of the corner of his eye. Blaze glared at him before turning to look at the door.

Ian paused in the doorway, and tilted his head up as if he smelled something. His eyes were unfocused as he started to slowly make his way toward our table. He didn't stop at tables along the way to talk to pack members like he usually did, and he started to move faster as he got nearer.

*Here comes my favorite part!* Laika squealed.

His eyes flicked over everyone at the table until they zeroed in on Lance. "Hey, what took you so long? I was about to come looking for yo-" Aaric started to say, but was cut off when Ian uttered a single word, low enough that a normal human wouldn't be able to hear.

"Mate."

~~~~~~~~~

Two updates in a night, both of them over 1,000 words. That has to be a new record for me.

Did you like the little bit of Amber's backstory?

What do you think of Dev, Aaric, and Amber's relationship?

I hope you like the story so far!
     -Star

Rewritten 10/20/18