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Sixteen: Clara
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2024-11-10 10:14:23Related chapters
Never too late Seventeen: Kyle
My eyes keep drifting to Noah driving beside me. I’m not surprised when he takes a right turn, different from the one we would have taken if we had been going to school. At least, I know something good will come out of this trip we are taking, I’m going to miss a whole day of school, a place I don’t want to be. My thoughts drift to my mate, whose name I still don’t know. Not going to school also means that I will be missing out on the opportunity to see her and be close to her. If my gut clenches in pain at the thought, I don’t think about it much.My mind is going back and forth over every word that has passed between Noah and me. I can’t help but think twice about every snide comment and sarcastic moment, just like I did last night. I’m anxious about where Noah is taking me; not because I’m worried for my safety. If there had been any danger, my wolf would have warned me before I got into this car with him. I’m anxious about what I’m going to find at the end of this journey we are t
Never too late Eighteen: Clara
Twenty years ago…The two months after Samuel’s birthday was the only time in my life when I had my mate all to myself. To this day, I remember them as utterly sweet where Samuel felt like the closest thing I had to a confidante and best friend. And I hope I was one to him too, for that very short time.Many times, we never even spoke to each other; we just lounged around the lake, basking in each other’s company, and taking comfort from each other. I listened to him when he told me how disappointed he was that he hadn’t found his mate yet and I always pointed out that it had only been a couple of weeks since he even became eligible to sense his mate. I asked him to have some patience, even though I was sick of it too. There was this feeling in my gut that told me again and again that Samuel and I were mates and my birthday couldn’t come soon enough. I didn’t dare to voice my opinions to him though. I wouldn’t have been able to live if he had scoffed and made fun of me for having a ch
Never too late Nineteen: Kyle
I’m very unhappy to say that my wolf has now successfully turned me into a full-fledged stalker. Over the past few weeks, my wolf has forced me to follow my mate everywhere and if I resisted, I would experience the loudest and most irritable headache, coupled with some serious attitude from my wolf. So, I acquiesced. But now, if I am honest with myself, I stalk her of my own accord and it doesn’t make me feel any better. Before I didn’t want to do anything with my mate, I didn’t even want a mate and now I’m following her everywhere, trying to see more of her, trying to just be near to her, trying to know her better, wanting her. Trying so damn hard to not want her.Lea. Lea Beaumont. That’s her name. I came to know about it when I was following her after school. She took a turn towards the kindergarten school in the pack and I saw a little boy perk up at the sight of her. He ran with his little legs and screamed her name at the top of his lungs, laughing when he fell into her arms for
Never too late Twenty: Clara
Twenty years ago…I eye the line I’ve tried to read again and again for the past fifteen minutes. If anyone would pay slight attention to me, they would know I’m not concentrating on my homework. All my attention is focused on Samuel, who is perched on the other end of the kitchen counter and I’m having a very hard time trying to keep my eyes off of him.Normally, he wouldn’t be here, in the kitchen of the pack house, but it’s an important day. Today’s the day my mom makes her favorite cranberry pies and Samuel is addicted to them. He needs to have a piece of them fresh out of the oven and the very last piece to know how the pie reacts to being stored with time. I call bullshit because the whole pack knows that the one thing, he is crazy about are, are those pies and I don’t blame him. My mom’s pies are the very best.This is my routine; every day I come back from school, sit at the kitchen island, watch my mom make the best available on the planet, and do my homework. I watch as my m
Never too late Twenty One: Kyle
My eyes are trained on the screen but my mind is far away, which is why Noah shoots my avatar down four times in a row. “Seriously man, you’re not even trying.” Noah weirdly looks at me, as if he can peer into my mind, reach into my soul and grasp whatever has been torturing me the whole weekend. I’d like to believe, however, that I’m not so transparent and can hide my secrets well enough that a practical stranger isn’t privy to them.“Where has your mind been? Even Ben will have no trouble killing you the way you’re playing,” Ariel huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. I would have felt amused at her actions if her words didn’t make me immediately guilty. Ever since coming to this pack, I haven’t had the time to be with my siblings and I can see that it upsets them. Playing video games has always helped us bond back home and I was hoping the same thing could happen right now.“Ok, I will promise I’ll play better this time,” I vow to her and look at Ben who hasn’t said a single w
Never too late Twenty Two: Clara
I’d been initially very surprised that Samuel wanted to see me. Earlier I had thought that he was ignoring me and trying to not come near me, or talk to me about Kyle’s future here but as the days went by, my suspicions solidified. I don’t know the man he has become but I had at least hoped that he would take responsibility for his being here, in his pack. I have done everything but directly accost him and my patience is wearing thin. Now that he has invited me and Kyle to his study, I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what I want him to say. I don’t know what I want. Sometimes, I think coming back here was a big and rash decision but we are here and I have observed some serious changes in Kyle’s energy and his wolf seems to be much calmer here. Ariel and Ben have settled in well. I will be lying if I would say I am at peace here but if my children are happy, then this is the least I could do for them. This is the least I could sacrifice for them.Having expectations and having n
Never too late Twenty Three: Kyle
I am fuming and all I want to do right now is go back inside the alpha’s office and land a punch on the asshole’s face. He has no idea who I am and how I make my decisions. Still, he had the gall to look down on me, insult me, and dismiss me, that too, in front of my mate. He even forbids me to go near the pack borders, which means he is indirectly forbidding me from going near Lea’s home. I mentally scoff at his orders, as if his dictates work on me as if anything he says would affect my desire to be near my mate. Not everyone is like him; he has no respect for a mate, and he rejects his own. He has no idea how hard it is to be without your mate once you find her. So, I don’t care about him ordering me to stay away from pack borders.I take a deep breath and try to control my spiraling thoughts which all focus on murdering the alpha of this pack. I don’t know how he manages to be so obnoxious, high, and mighty and still manages to govern a pack. My thoughts halt when I see Lea turn a
Never too late Twenty Four: Clara
Twenty years ago…It has now been a month since Samuel and I have been sneaking off to the lake during the night and violating curfews. If the alpha came to know about it, there would be some serious consequences for us. They would be much more severe for him. Sneaking into the night with the future alpha when he already has a girlfriend and is looking for his destined mate is very tricky. If anyone were to see us or know about it, it would be an extremely embarrassing feat for me and my family, especially when my father is in the upper echelon of the pack and is so close to the alpha. Somehow, all of the disastrous consequences escape my mind when I find Samuel sitting by the lake, waiting for me. Only I get to have this, to find him waiting for me, beside the lake shore, which has become our very own special place.I can feel my heart pounding harder the closer I get to the lake. I try to slow down, knowing that werewolves have keen senses and any snapping of twigs and crunching of
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Never too late Sixty Five: Epilogue
LeaI watch Ben and Mason circle each other, judging each other’s stances and anticipating each other’s moves. These boys were growing up too fast, they were already too eager to participate in the pack’s training sessions and they still had years before they could officially attend those sessions. It still didn’t stop them from watching every practice session and cheering for the older werewolves. It didn’t help that Kyle encouraged them all the time, boosting them up, and telling them to aim to be the best pack warrior there has ever been. I think it was cute how they both looked up to Kyle, wanting to impress him, to spend time with them, and to just be near them.Ever since Kyle has officially started training to be the future alpha of this pack, he has become incredibly busy. He barely has time for himself, and I know he feels guilty about not being able to give me enough time. If he had been here from his birth, Alpha Samuel would have groomed him to be the next alpha from the m
Never too late Sixty Four: Clara
I know I wasn’t supposed to eavesdrop, wasn’t mean to listen to their conversation, but how could I not? Even a saint would have had trouble to avoid listening in on them, and I am no saint. I had been reeling from the revelation after the pack initiation ceremony, about how I had magically changed packs, and I was so confused about everything that I didn’t know what to do. I kept trying to deny what was happening, what had already happened and it had gotten me nowhere.When I ran out of Samuel’s office, I had no idea where I was supposed to go, and what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t go back to my room, or talk to anyone. The thought of interacting with anyone or sitting alone in my room made me claustrophobic. So, I did the only thing I could think of, I ran to the lake so I could think and re-think everything and decide what I had to do now.An epiphany slammed into me when I was there. I realised I could go on thinking about everything, thinking about the past, present, and the
Never too late Sixty Three: Kyle
The party after the initiation ceremony was still going on in the dining room of the pack house. Everyone was assembled there and I couldn’t catch a breath or take a step without someone congratulating me or telling me how amazing the hunt was. Pack hunts were rare because we didn’t want to disturb the ecosystem around us, but they were sometimes a celebration, like today. I was lucky to spot a herd of deer, and we managed to hunt down a couple of them, enough for everyone in the pack to take a celebratory bite of the hunt. Now, I was tired, both from the day and everyone frolicking around me.I wanted to retire to my bedroom already, but before I could do that, I wanted to see Samuel. So, I went upstairs to his office and knocked on the door. It is probably the first time I’m coming here without being summoned for doing something wrong or breaking the rules. It felt nice to not be the troublemaker for a change. I waited for his call to come in before swinging the door open and going
Never too late Sixty Two: Clara
I had witnessed pack initiation ceremonies a few times in this pack and back home. They were rare because it was unusual for an alpha to induct a wolf into their already blooming pack. Often, these ceremonies were held after an extensive background search and interviews, and all for a very good reason. Alpha has to make sure that they’re not introducing a sneaky snake in the pack that could harm them or the pack in the future. But this ceremony was an exception because not only Kyle was Samue’s blood, but Samuel was sure of Kyle’s heritage and I’m sure he is excited about having Kyle in the pack because it means that he will have his son in the pack and a legitimate future alpha.I had gone through the pack initiation ceremony myself when I had chosen Brad as my mate. I was as unprepared for it as Kyle was for his ceremony. I would have told him about what was supposed to happen but werewolf law states that the person is supposed to be initiated is supposed to go with as little knowle
Never too late Sixty One: Kyle
Ever since the pack announcement, everything in the pack has been a whirlwind. Everyone has been running around to organise the pack initiation ceremony as if it’s the most important even to happen in their lives. Decorations are being torn apart and hung again, menus are decided and then discarded, everyone is striving to make the even perfect. And it is all making me antsy. Surely, it is not that big of a deal, getting initiated into a pack. Even people’s attitudes toward me have changed, they somehow stand straighter whenever I enter a room, their heads bowing to me in deference, their voices going quieter and their smiles becoming brighter. I don’t understand what the big deal about all of this is because I have been living in this pack for the last couple of weeks and I’m still the same person. I’m still me but the way I’m being treated is completely different and disconcerting.I’m being treated like an alpha son, exactly how Ryder was used to being treated back home. I feel a l
Never too late Sixty: Clara
Twenty years ago…After I talked to Samuel, I made my way home, tears blurring my every step. I felt like the world was crashing around me. I couldn’t breathe, I felt the air around me had been sucked out and I was stuck in a vacuum. How had this happened to me? I couldn’t for the life of me figure this mystery out. All my life I’d just wanted to have a mate, love him as truly and honestly as I can, and be there for him in every aspect. Now, here I was, practically rejected by a mate who had a pregnant girlfriend that he was planning to propose to. On top of everything, he had the gall to reject my child, choosing to stay with his girlfriend rather than his mate.Tears were already leaking out of my eyes when I reached my home, but as soon as the door closed behind me, I started bawling. I had expected my parents to be there, I wanted their support at the moment, I wanted their love. I also hoped selfishly that when I told them Samuel was my mate and that I was pregnant with his chil
Never too late Fifty Nine: Kyle
I’d thought Lea’s father was in bad shape but I hadn’t expected it to be this bad. I could see an endless number of tubes going in and out of him, several machines beeping continuously, and he was sedated with such a high dose that I was sure he wouldn’t wake up if someone set him up on fire. His face looked black and blue his whole body is mottled with bruises and it’s crystal clear that he had been brutally beaten by the rogues before being left to die at the pack border for us to find.Lea had gone ghostly white after seeing her father in that condition and I couldn’t blame her. The scene reminded me of the time Brad was stuck in the hospital during the last couple of weeks of his life, how emaciated and weak and sickly he had started to look. It took me back to the time when Mom used to worry about him leaving us behind all the time, how the twins realized that he would leave and never come back. I’m sure these thoughts must be running in Lea’s head too, and I wanted to take her a
Never too late Fifty Eight: Clara
I’m once again in Samuel’s office. Surprise, surprise. In the short time we’ve been here, I have been here more than is normal for any pack member. I may as well set up my chopping block in this office because I’m summoned to be here so often. I think Kyle has also done everything possible to make sure we’re called again back to this office. Every time I’m here I’m brought back to the past when I and Aaron had been asked by Samuel’s dad to not see each other since we weren’t fated mates. My life has moved so far away from that trajectory, that it feels like a fictional tale someone uninvolved with my life is reciting to me. I can’t say my current life feels familiar to me because, for the first time in forever, Kyle hasn’t done anything remotely wrong. We’re here because of Lea and her father, and I’m a bit relieved that at least, we’re not the bad guys right now, always seemingly disrupting the pack peace, rules and regulations.For once, I wished we were called here for a good reaso
Never too late Fifty Seven: Kyle
Samuel only summoned Lea to his office but Aaron didn’t raise an eyebrow when I volunteered to accompany her. I didn’t know how many people knew about Lea and I being mates but I’m guessing since Aaron didn’t stop me, he knows or Samuel must have hinted to let me come. If it had been any other situation, I wouldn’t have felt the need to be with Lea but since the issue is so sensitive, concerning the rogue attack on the pack and possibly, her father’s involvement in it.The idea hit me when I was running from the dungeons towards the pack house to talk to Lea. I didn’t believe she had anything to do with the rogue attack. I know she’s loyal and holds real regard for Samuel because he accepted her and her brother in his pack and gave them home without any prejudice. It would also be rare for a pack member to have any connections with a rogue and leak pack information for a planned attack. The only thing that made sense was for her father to be the mole. He is only an honorary pack membe
