Tatum's Tears | On Hold

Chapter 4 - ❝We Are Alpha.❞

Chapter 4 - "We Are Alpha."

Tatum didn't know how much time had passed. It felt like it could've been ten minutes or ten hours, but Tatum couldn't tell the difference. It seemed like she was immobile, frozen in time as she reveled in the shocking realization she'd arrived at.

Her anchor to her sanity was Angier.

Tatum couldn't seem to get over the fact.

And the more she thought about it, the more she felt like crying. Fresh tears slid down her cheeks and she swiped at them furiously, raging at herself for whimpering pathetically when something so good had happened to her best friend in the whole world.

She should be happy, she should be out there with the rest of them cheering and exclaiming about it. But no matter how much she tried to convince herself to just put a stop to this seemingly never-ending flood of tears, the nagging thought that her anchor is soon going to go away from her didn't leave. It was like once the poisonous little thought had taken root in her mind, it just refused to go.

'Would you just stop? You're hurting my head!' Tatum's Wolf snapped at her, seething in anger as she paced back and forth in irritation. The angry voice in her head was like a bucket of cold water, a rude awakening to just snap Tatum out of this limbo she was stuck in.

Suffice to say, Tatum was stupefied.

It was the second time in a short while that her Wolf had made an appearance, and Tatum almost felt uncomfortable for a second at the sudden intrusion in her head. For the past eight years, her Wolf had been nothing but a quiet shadow in her head. She never really bothered to talk to Tatum often like she used to, and after a while of missing her, Tatum had just gotten used to the lack of barking in the back of her mind. If her depressing thoughts were going to be her only companions in her solitary existence, then so be it. Tatum had forced herself to make peace with that.

'You don't know how it feels like to lose the one thing that was keeping you alive.' Tatum snapped back, concentrating on the sudden wave of anger, instead of her despair.

'I know that feeling better than you ever will.' Her Wolf replied calmly, and Tatum cringed in utter shame. It was true because the whole concept of Mates was based on their inner animal. The Wolf is the one that recognizes its Mate, and the human part of it is just an added bonus. So, it was her Wolf who'd taken the brunt of their loss the hardest, withdrawing completely and losing interest in life.

'Now, you listen to me,' Her Wolf started, pulling Tatum's attention in surprise, 'We survived the loss of a part of us. A part of our soul. We breathe knowing that we'll only ever be a half. We lived through the pain and the knowledge that we will have to rule a Pack alone. We live every day, seeing everyone we know find the other half of their souls. We lived through it all because we are strong. Because we are Alpha. And we don't let anything stop us from taking care of what belongs to us. So, stop this right now.'

'But—'

'No buts. You might think now that the only reason we lived through it all was because of him. But no, that's not the only one. Yes, he was there to help us, and yes, you love him more than anyone in this world but remember, we also love our parents. We also love our Pack. And we chose to live because it's in our blood to lead. To take charge and to not abandon.'

'Yes.' Tatum agreed, reluctantly.

'There. Now, stop crying. So, he found his Mate. Big deal. For a while he's gonna be stuck in the honeymoon phase, swooning and grinning like a fool. But after that, he'll come around and be the good Beta he's meant to be. Remember, that's all he'll ever be.'