Down With The Border: A Shadow People Novel

Chapter 7: Reactions

Terence: 

"...what the fuck..."

"...I've never seen him do that before..."

"...what was that human doing here..."

Faint words rattled in my mind as a high pitched ringing took over my head. 

"...did you see the way they looked at each other..."

I tried opening my eyes but the fluorescent lighting had me closing them as quickly as they'd opened. 

"...I will not allow this!"

"...you have no choice..."

My head was spinning. 

"...you can not deny the fact..."

I strained myself against the dizziness and nausea to slowly begin to sit up.

"...that he has found his..."

What had happened? 

"Mate."

"What?" My head cleared once I had stabled myself on the hospital bed. I looked around and saw that I was in the infirmary with my mom, father, and Lionel. I put my hand to my forehead. What I could remember from their conversation played back in my head. 

Who found their mate? 

"Darling," My mom said as she sat on the bed and took my hand away from my face, "How are you feeling?" 

"I'm fine," I said as I watched Lionel take the seat next to the bed and my father stand at my feet, "But what happened?" 

I watched as they exchanged knowing and worried glances. Remembering the snips of their conversation, I turned to Lionel. 

"Dude, did you find your mate?"

He put his elbows on his knees and let out a low chuckle. 

"Not me dude." He looked up at me from his seat and gave me his trade mark smirk. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. 

"...what?" I looked up at my dad, who rolled his eyes and seemed less than pleased. Turning my head to look at my mom who gave me a small smile. 

"What all do you remember?" She asked me. 

"Well," I groaned, adjusting myself in the bed so my feet were hanging off the side facing Lionel, "I was fighting Damien. Just a normal boxing match. I hit him and he fell over. Then I heard Lionel screaming his face off." 

I chuckled and kicked at Lionel in his chair. He got so excited about everything, especially when I won fights. He's been by my side forever. I'm so glad that he will stay by my side as Beta, when I take over from my father. 

"So I ,um," I began again, "I looked up to the bleachers to see you guys standing and cheering. I gave Lionel a thumbs up, I smiled at you, mom. And then-" 

My breath caught. I remembered being trapped in blue and green eyes. They were the most beautiful things that I had ever seen. It felt as if they were pulling me in from the ring. 

I looked back up at my family, who were all staring intently at me. I cleared my throat. 

"And then I saw the girl that you guys were with and that's when-" 

"You got knocked the fuck out!" Lionel laughed. I looked up, laughing along with him, as the doctor walked in. 

"Alpha, Luna," She bowed her head in respect as she entered the room, "Well, Terence, you have a concussion, nothing too serious though. I'm going to recommend you stop training for at least a week. After that you can start doing light workouts and such, but absolutely no fights for a month. Oh, and you'll be able to shift pretty normally although you'll probably get a migraine from the stress." 

"Thanks, doc." I stood from the bed, followed by my mom and Lionel. 

"No problem," She smiled at me as she made her way to the door, "Come back in two weeks so I can check how you're doing." I nodded at her and we all left the infirmary. 

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"Just call me if you need anything, love." My mother said as she closed the door, leaving Lionel and I in my room. 

I sat on the edge of my bed while Lionel was in my lounge chair by the window. We sat in silence for a minute or two, until Lionel started laughing out of no where. 

"Dude," I gave him a confused but amused look, "What the fuck? You okay?" 

He sat in the chair, red faced and hands on his stomach just laughing his ass off. I just sat there staring at him in utter confusion. What the hell was going through his mind? 

"Oh man," He laughed in between breaths, starting to calm down, "Holy shit!" 

"Dude," I laughed with him, "Why the hell are you laughing like that?" 

"Do you even know what happened today?" He chuckled as he finally calmed down. 

"I mean -" 

"No you don't, dude!" He cut me off and laughed again. "Today I saw the official greatest fighter in the North American packs get knocked the fuck out! And all because you made eye contact with your mate!" He threw his head back and laughed some more. 

"Wait," I chuckled along with him until I realized what he said, "What? Found my mate?" 

"Well, yeah." He sat up and leaned forward so his elbows were on his knees. "Nothing can stop you in your tracks like the sight of your mate." 

I couldn't believe it. There was no way I had just seen my mate. I mean this was something that I had waited for since I was 180, the age where werewolves are able to find their mate. For 40 years I've waited for the moment that everyone talks about. When you see your mate and you can't stop thinking about them. The sparks that run through your body the first time you touch.

But this can't be it.  

If I had just found my mate that means that I was that much closer to taking over from my father. My mate would become the Luna of our pack. To anyone else, that would be something to look forward to. But I grew up a son of an Alpha and Luna. Every day there would be one fight or another on how to look out for the pack. Even though my parents are mates, the weight of running the third largest pack on the continent took a huge toll on their bond. 

I've wanted to find my mate all my life, but I didn't want to bring her into that kind of life. For a while, I thought I was safe from it all. Being the second born son, my older brother Arius was first in line. But after that rouge attack- 

"Hey." Lionel put his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, took a breath, and then down at my shaking leg and my sweaty hands. 

"I'm fine." I breathed. 

"Uh-huh." He sat back so he was leaning on the wall. We stayed sitting there for a moment. I turned to Lionel and he smiled at me. 

"She does have really cool eyes though, right?" He smirked at me. I laid back of my bed and ran my hand over my beard and thought of the blue and green eyes that I found earlier today. 

"Beautiful." 

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*****A/N: Hey guys! How'd you all like Terrence and Lionel? I've never read a book where any werewolf has had any facial hair or body fat so I thought we needed a bit of diversity there. As always please feel free to comment, vote, share this with your friends, anything! I would really love to know how much you guys enjoy my story, anything you don't like. I need the feedback! I hope you all liked the chapter!*****