Why Me, Alpha?

Chapter 8

Marcus stroked her ebony black hair as she slept. He’d kept replaying the scene in his head. If he’d gotten there sooner, she’d be alright. If he’d stayed at the coffee shop across the street instead of the bistro, he’d have seen her come out and would’ve been there to accompany her home.

He’d remembered the conversation he’d had with Henry and Sophie a few days before.

“What did she mean when she said she’s human?” Marcus had asked as they waited for the surgery on Lia to finish. The bleak white walls had unnerved him.

“Exactly what it means,” Henry replied.

They were all sitting on the blue chair, Sophie had been crying and Will placed his arm around her, Henry was sitting with his elbows on his knees, slouching, while Marcus sat opposite him.

“She didn’t go through her first shift, or any shift after that.” Henry looked down as he tried to explain the situation.

“She’s got the same blood as the two of you.”

“And we’re wolves, same as you. But she’s not.” It was Sophie who answered. “We don’t know why, but she was never able to shift.”

Now that he did think of it, she’d never shown any signs of it, of having the speed, or hearing, or any of the enhanced senses that werewolves only got after they’ve shifted. That’s why she couldn’t even tell that Elise was a werewolf.

But that wasn’t possible.

Absolutely not.

Unheard of.

And yet, there she was.

He looked at his hand, her blood coating them.

It reminded him of just how much she didn’t have left.

“You okay in here?” Henry’s voice pulled him out from his thoughts. He slid the sliding glass door closed as he entered the room.

“I don’t know.” Marcus replied. “Until she wakes up, I don’t know.”

Henry approached the opposite side of the bed, and they both looked at Lia, the beeping of the heart monitor assuring them that she was still there, still alive.

“My sister’s always been afraid, you know.”

Marcus looked at him. “Of what?”

“Of finding you,” Henry hadn’t torn his gaze away from Lia just yet. “Of finding a mate.”

They were both silent.

Marcus was surprised that he knew, because he was quite sure that Lia didn’t tell him anything. “Why was she afraid?”

“Because of the fact that she’s human.” Henry replied, taking his sister’s hand. “You see, Alpha, we grew up in a pack that made us believe that mates were something deserved, that you have to do kind acts, follow the Alpha’s orders and all that bullshit to get a mate.”

Marcus’ jaw was clenched. That wasn’t true. “It’s a very old belief, that one. But you sound like you don’t believe it, like you’ve never believed it.”

“I never have,” Henry replied, looking at him. He didn’t elaborate, so Marcus kept silent. “To my sister, never having the ability to shift was a disgrace and a shame. A curse. She always thought that she never deserved a mate.”

That angered Marcus. She didn’t deserve a mate? She did not deserve a mate? It was more like he didn’t deserve her. And, he knew, if everyone got what they deserved, the world would be an utter place of shit.