Future Mates

Two years had passed since my tenth birthday. I hadn’t shifted since then and most days we all forgot about it. I decided to sit by the stream behind the house. I walked into the tree line and to the stream. I smiled as I took a seat near the edge of the water. Tommy, Mom, and Dad had all gone to town to get something. I didn’t mind being alone since there was never any danger. I kicked my sneakers off then took my socks off and dipped my toes into the water. I let out a content sigh as the sun shone down on me. I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of nature that surrounded me. A snap of a twig had me snapping my eyes open. I stared at the tree line on the other side of the stream. I arched an eyebrow and sat in silence waiting to see if anything came out. After moments passed with no sound I shrugged and closed my eyes again. I heard laughter coming from somewhere in the trees on the other side. I was curious, but didn’t want to get in trouble for wandering too far from home. I frowned wishing I had friends. I was the social outcast at school and I knew people took my kindness to their advantage. I shook my head and chose to ignore the thoughts that plagued me. I looked into the stream after opening my eyes and suddenly thought about my real parents. I had avoided all thoughts about them since my tenth birthday. I let out a sigh and frowned.

“I still miss you both..”

I said softly while staring at the streams. I felt the familiar pang of sadness tighten my chest as I remembered them. I let out a sigh and laid down on the grass to stare up at the clear blue sky. I wondered if they were looking down on me from Heaven. I also wondered if fox shifters got to even go to Heaven. No one would know that I am a fox shifter other than those that were there on my tenth birthday. My family had kept it a secret and I hadn’t seen the wolves again. I ended up falling asleep with my hands crossed under my head. My mind playing a picture behind my closed eyes.

-dream-

I climbed out of my bed and grabbed Blaze into my arms. He was my blue stuffed bunny that I took everywhere with me. I had just turned five the day before and I was wearing some of my new pajama bottoms. I had on my Batman pajama shirt, Spider-Man bottoms, and Hulk slippers. I wanted to look at the stars from my treehouse so I snuck quietly out of my room. I tiptoed down the stairs and out into the back yard. I smiled to myself as I had accomplished sneaking out without waking mommy or daddy up. I climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch before pulling myself into the treehouse. I closed the trap door and took my seat by the window. I saw two people hop the back fence and tilted my head sideways in confusion. I watched at they entered the house. “Blaze. What are they doing?” I asked as I looked down at my stuffed bunny. I heard a loud crash and then silence. I waited to see if anything would happen. My eyes went wide as I saw bright orange lights start to fill the house and dark black smoke began rising from the open door. I watched two figures running away and frowned. I couldn’t believe mommy and daddy were leaving me here alone. I watched as the house was engulfed in fire a few moments later. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt Blaze get wet. Dad came into view as a firefighter and took me to his house. The next moment everything was black. I tried feeling my way in the dark and stumbled around. I was suddenly in a room that had silver bars all around me. My heart was racing as I tried to figure out where I was. Two figures emerged from the dark and I shrank away from them. The leader of them sneered at me and I felt panic take over my body. “You won’t get away so easily little fox. We are coming for you!” The man snarled out. I screamed as he lunged towards me with a murderous intent in his eyes and a blade in his hand.

I woke up with a gasp and sat straight up. Sweat coated my skin and my breathing came out in quick rapid pants. I looked around at my surroundings and let out a shaky breath as I calmed down. I brought my knees to my chest and laid my head down on them. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around my knees. I took a deep breath trying to calm down still.

“It was just a dream…It was just a dream…”

I repeated to myself a few times. My heart started to slow down after a long while. I must have been really out of it because I let out a startled scream when I heard someone speaking to me.

“Well, Hello there Little One.”

The voice said in a friendly manner. I clutched my chest with my right hand after jumping back. My eyes were wide and gasped to suck in oxygen. He chuckled softly.

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

He said with a smile. I looked up as I caught my breath and my heart rate went down. I closed my eyes as I gasped in air.

“Hello, Beta Cornelius. You scared me.”

I said causing him to laugh.

“I see that.”

He said still smiling. I let out a shaky laugh and then sat back down in the grass. My breathing evened out and my heart rate went back to its’ normal place.

“How are you doing, Little One?”

He asked as he sat on the other side of the stream. I shrugged before looking at him.

“I dreamed of the night I lost my real parents. I had just gotten over waking up from that when you startled me.”

I answered honestly. He gave a sheepish smile and then laughed softly.

“I had said hello as I walked up. I guess you were pretty out of it to not hear me.”

He said with amusement in his voice. I smiled and felt my cheeks redden in embarrassment. I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Sorry. I had a nightmare.”

I said honestly as my hand dropped back by my side. He gave look of sympathy to me, but before he spoke there was a snap of a twig. I looked around for where the sound had come from. He quickly stood up.

“I have to go, Little One. Get home safely.” He said with a wave before he shifted to his wolf and ran off the way he had come.

I watched after him and gulped as a slight breeze blew past me. I became very nervous all of a sudden when I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I leaned closer to the stream and stared towards the way Beta Cornelius had ran. I thought about running home, but the smell of blood and a soft whimper hit my ears. I didn’t think about it as I ran towards the whimper. The water splashed as I ran across the stream and hit the air. I ran faster as the whimpering smell got louder. I came to a small clearing and paused when I saw a boy around my age with his hands over his eyes. He was whimpering and I saw as tears left his eyes. I heard a loud growl and saw a tan colored wolf standing a few feet away from the boy. I didn’t even register that I was shifting until I stood protectively in front of the boy. I growled and let out a bark like noise while baring my teeth at the wolf. The wolf looked amused at my tiny fox self growling at it. I could almost see laughter behind his eyes as I crouched lower and growled again. I had my sharp teeth on full display ready to fight if need be. The wolf shifted to his human form and let out a laugh. I moved my body to protect what I could of the other boy.

“Oh how nice..the pack can’t fend for themselves so they sent a little fox to take me out?”

The now naked man sneered as he looked over at me. I felt another growl rumble through my chest and chomped my teeth in an aggressive manner warning him that I wasn’t playing. He let out a laugh as he walked forward. I let out the bark like noise again with another growl. He took another confident step towards the other boy and I. I lifted my head and gave a high pitched howl like noise trying to warn anyone of the danger here. My emerald eyes locked onto the man as he took one more step towards us. I crouched lower prepared to jump and attack him showing him my teeth again. I let out another growl.

“How sweet..I get two for the price of one..”

The man said as he stood right in front of me. I growled and leapt at him with my mouth open. I sunk my teeth into the side of his right thigh. He let out a pained hiss as I locked my jaw. He hit my head with his fist trying to get me to let go. I growled around the bite and dug my nails into his thigh. The other boy had stopped whimpering and was staring at us. My eyes caught his and I tried pleading with my eyes for him to run. I winced and bit harder when I felt another hit to my head. Thankfully the other boy took off running away from us. I heard the sound of paws running our way as I started seeing black dots. The man grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and ripped me off his thigh before throwing me into a tree nearby. I tore a nice chunk out of his thigh when he ripped me off which landed next to me when I hit the ground. I let out a low whine from all the pain, but attempted to stand up. I whimpered and fell back down when my left front paw snapped under me. The man started coming towards me with pure anger in his eyes. I growled at him and tried to stand up again. I took in a deep breath as he came closer. I bared my teeth at him growling lowly standing on all my paws except for my left front paw. Just before he got to me a midnight black wolf knocked into his side sending him flying across the clearing. I watched as the wolf attacked the man and killed him skillfully. The wolf then turned its’ focus back on me. I closed my mouth and fell back down to the ground panting hard. I watched the wolf walk closer to me just before darkness took me over.

*beep..beep…beep*

I faintly heard a noise and tried to open my eyes. My body felt heavy and I struggled to open my eyes. I could hear soft voices speaking and tried to focus on them. My eyes flickered open and I quickly closed them when a bright light hurt them. I slowly opened my eyes again and looked around. I had turned back into my human form while I was asleep. I was covered in a cream colored blanket and wearing a hospital gown. I tried to remember what happened, but was struggling. I sat up slowly and groaned at the pain that hit my body and head. I frowned and laid back down. I heard a door open and two sets of feet.

“Is this him?”

I heard a boy’s voice around my age ask. I closed my eyes as I heard them begin to walk closer.

“Yeah. This is the one that saved me.”

Another boy’s voice said. I was curious, but pretended to be asleep. The two boys were on either side of the bed and were silent for a moment.

“He has to only be around our age.”

The first boy said. I felt a hand on my right cheek. It felt soft and warm. I fought to keep my face straight so I could keep listening in. I heard the second boy speak softly.

“One day. He’s gonna be my mate.”

My eyes shot open when I heard that sentence causing the hand to leave my cheek quickly. My eyes locked on the boy I had protected earlier. His face was a deep shade of red and he clutched his hand to his chest. The first boy laughed and I heard as he sat down.

“You can’t know that Jax.”

The first boy said to the one I had saved. I gave him a weak smile causing his eyes to widen even wider. He looked away towards the first boy.

“I can too..He saved my life so he must be my future mate.”

He said with conviction before he stuck his tongue out at the first boy. I let out a pained laugh causing them both to look back at me.

“S..sorry.”

He said and then climbed into the empty chair beside the right side of my bed. I smiled and locked my eyes on him again.

“I’m glad you are ok”

I said hoarsely and grimaced at the pain in my dry throat. He gave me a wide smile and leaned back into the chair he sat on.

“Thank you for saving me.”

He said.  I could see a sadness in his eyes and wondered what he was sad about. The door opened again and a young male doctor walked in. He had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, tan skin, and was slightly muscular. He smiled showing off his perfectly white teeth that peaked out from behind his peach colored lips. My eyes found his for a brief moment before they returned to focusing on the boy I had saved. The doctor pulled a pen out of the front pocket on his white lab coat. He walked over and handed me a cup of water.

“Hello, I am Doc.”

He said with another smile. I gulped down the water feeling relief as the cool liquid soothed my throat. I drank the whole cup full before handing it back to Doc.

“Hi. I am Valerian”

I said softly, but firmly. I was afraid my voice would squeak because I was just hitting puberty. Doc smiled and pulled out a round chair with wheels on it. He sat down and rolled over to the foot of my bed.

“How are you feeling Valerian?”

He asked as he took out a notepad. He began to write on the paper when I told him how I felt.

“I hurt all over”

I said honestly. Doc gave me a look of sympathy as he nodded. He wrote down my responses to his other questions. When he was done he smiled again. Our eyes locked as he stood up and pushed the rolling chair away.

“You cracked your skull and broke a few ribs when you got tossed into that tree. Alpha Tiberius brought you here after he took down the rouge.”

Doc said just before the man that saved me walked into the room. He smiled at me then looked at the boys in my room.

“Armand and Jax. I told you not to bother the patients”

He said with a stern look on his face. Both the boys looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. I softly laughed at the sight.

“They aren’t bothering me, Sir.”

I said as his eyes rested on me. He smiled and shook his head before he told them both to leave.

“But, Alpha…I want to stay with my future mate…”

The boy named Jax said with a frown. Alpha Tiberius looked at Jax with an arched eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

“Are you disobeying your Alpha young man?”

He asked causing Jax to frown again. Jax stood up with a huff from off the chair. I watched as he walked over to my bedside again. He placed his hand on my cheek causing my eyes to widen. He stared into my eyes for a few moments before he spoke.

“Don’t forget. When we are old enough, you will be my mate.”

He said firmly before he placed a light kiss on my cheek causing me to stiffen. My eyes were wide and I held my breath. Jax gave me one last look over before he turned and left with Armand following behind him. I didn’t let out my breath until the door closed behind them. Doc and Alpha Tiberius stared at me in silence. I stared at the closed door then down at the foot of my bed. Alpha Tiberius took the seat that Jax had occupied.

“He must think you are his future mate since you saved him.”

He said after a few minutes of silence. I sat there in silence still in shock. A knock on the door had me looking up. Doc opened the door and let in Brayden. I looked at him in silence. Brayden walked over with a huge smile on his face.

“My brother said you are his future mate, Little One.”

Brayden said with a wide smile. I looked back at the bed and blinked then looked back up.

“Um…I don’t know..I just didn’t want him to get hurt..”

I said causing Brayden and Alpha Tiberius to laugh softly. I looked at Brayden and wondered where his dad was.

“Where is Beta Cornelius?”

I asked softly. Brayden bent his head down and shook his head no.

“I’m sorry, Little One, He didn’t make it.”

Brayden said with a deep sadness mixed in his voice. My heart hurt for him and his family.

“I’m sorry.”

I said softly causing him to look up at me. He wore a sad smile then placed his hand on mine in an act of comfort. I gave him a sad smile in return.

“If you really are my baby bro’s future mate then that means our dad would have been your father-in-law. He would have loved having you as part of the family.”

Brayden said causing me let out a few tears over the loss of the Beta.