Chapter 5: The Alpha's Son

I don't know how I eventually managed to fall asleep, but I did. Opening one sleepy eye, I gazed at my phone. I'd fallen asleep with it in my hand, clutching it like it was some kind of lifeline, and I saw now there was a light blinking to indicate I had a message.

With absolute urgency, I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes as muted daylight streamed in through a crack in my curtains. My fingers worked as if they had a mind of their own, opening the text message, desperate to see who it was from. I was certain it was Tyler and beamed with excitement when I saw his name come up on my screen.

The message was simple, but still managed to make my heart race and my breath hitch.

Tyler:

Morning 🌞 Hope you slept well.

My entire body felt tingly as I read the words, thinking about our unexpected meeting the day before.

I'd spent a good chunk of the night trying to justify the feelings I'd felt with him and reconcile these with my denial of the 'mate bond', but I'd come up short. There was something there that I couldn't explain, and the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to. I didn't want to try and second guess every thought and feeling I had. So instead, I made the decision to simply fall into this head first and let it take me wherever it wanted to go.

I started to type my response with nimble fingers.

Me:

Good morning. I slept pretty good. How about you?

I sat up on the edge of my bed, a glorified pull-out couch if we're being honest, stretching and yawning before I scooped my mess of tangled purple hair up in a bun. I looked around my room, half my clothes still packed in my suitcase and the other half strewn about on just about every surface the eye could see. 

Aunt Mara was right... I did need to clean this place up.

I stood, stretching my limbs once more before heading to the bathroom I shared with my aunt. On my way, I dodged the exercise bike and treadmill that took up the majority of the room. Aunt Mara promised me she'd find another spot for them, but the reality was that the house was a shoebox. The only other 'spot' for them was outside. And to her credit, she used them almost daily, so getting rid of them wasn't really an option either.

That being said, the house was small, my room was doubling up as a home gym, my bed was a pullout couch that probably would have killed my back had I been just a couple of years older, and I had to share a bathroom. But this was like heaven compared to where I was before.

I might have lived in a nicer house and had my own huge bedroom with my own en suite bathroom, but let's just say that the company was subpar.

I was brushing my teeth when I heard my message tone. Like a cheetah, I dashed back to my room, snatching up my phone to see if it was Tyler. It was.

My heart pounded wildly as I opened his message, my toothbrush still hanging out of my mouth. He was asking what time I'm free to hang out today.

Torn between desperately wanting to see him again and not wanting to appear like I desperately wanted to see him again, I sighed and began typing with my left hand while I finished brushing my teeth with my right.

Me:

I've just got a couple of things to do this morning, but maybe we could meet up around 12ish? ❤️

However, to my absolute dismay, I pressed send before I realized that my stupid left hand had selected the heart emoji instead of the smiley face emoji at the end of my text.

"No, no, no!!" I wailed, desperately trying to figure out how to unsend the message. Was that even possible? But before I could look into it further I saw the little ticks next to my message turn blue. He'd read it.

"NO!" I howled, collapsing back on my bed in despair, foamy toothbrush still in hand while I tried to figure out how I was going to handle this.

"Is everything okay?!" Aunt Mara asked, rushing in to check on me.

"Nothing unusual... Just my love life up in flames again," I groaned, pulling myself to my feet and heading to the bathroom to finish brushing my teeth.

"Sorry to hear that, hun. Wanna talk about it?" my aunt offered, her voice kind and reassuring.

I gave a deep sigh before I replied. "I met my mate last night. And now I just sent him a text with a heart," I explained, mortified by my own stupidity.

"You met your mate?!" Aunt Mara asked in shocked disbelief, rushing into the bathroom as she watched me wash my face, waiting for me to confirm or deny the fact.

"Yeah. But not at the Mating Celebration, just in case that's what you're thinking. No... In true Katelyn fashion I made my mate follow me into a public toilet," I explained, cringing as I thought about it.

God... Why hadn't I just got to the stupid celebration? At least we wouldn't have had to sit on a dirty, cold restroom floor all night then.

"Oh honey, that's wonderful!" my aunt exclaimed, rushing at me and giving me an enormous hug. "I'm so happy for you. What's his name?" she asked, her face illuminated with the most heartfelt smile I'd ever seen.

"Tyler," I replied, blushing a little as I applied my moisturizer.

"Tyler?" she asked, sounding a little puzzled. "You mean Tyler Valentine? Alpha David's son?" she asked, clearly perturbed.

"He didn't tell me his surname. What do you mean 'Alpha David's son'?" I asked, anxiety suddenly rushing through my veins.

"I mean, if it's Tyler Valentine, he's the Alpha's son, honey," my aunt replied.

I wasn't sure whether her tone was one of reassurance or worry.