Chapter 10: {9}

So... this is the chapter that I'm sure most of you have been patiently waiting for!! Enjoy!

Perhaps drinking in the woods was more fun when Nate was sixteen and he had felt like the biggest bad ass in the entire camp as he snuck out of his room with a bottle of vodka in his hand. He had met his friends by the pond, sharing alcohol and funny stories until the early hours of the morning. In his memory it had been one of the best times of the entire camp, sitting in the woods where they weren’t controlled by rules and people. They had been just teenagers, they had no responsibilities, no expectations placed upon them.

It had been fun, hadn’t it?

Nate sure had thought so back then, but it didn’t seem so great right now.

He was sitting on a log, a cup in his hand of whatever Kayden had handed him when he arrived but he was yet to take a sip of the liquid. There were portable speakers on the ground by his feet, the music loud enough to echo around his mind but not enough to reach those back at the main camp base.

A bunch of Alphas were dancing around him, girls in tiny clothes dropping it like it was hot while boys stared after them, probably cursing the fact that they were both Alpha’s so there was no chance that they would end up with the beautiful dancing girls. He could see Lucy out there, dancing close to the water with Tye, a red cup in her hand that she was sipping from periodically.

There must have been about thirty people around him, all dancing or laughing or talking, everyone seemingly having a great time.

Nate looked up at the glowing moon above them. He could feel its effects, the way that his skin seemed slightly uncomfortable, the need to transform into his wolf like a physical force pressing into his skin from the inside. He knew that he could control it, it wasn’t too bad.

He also felt the way that his emotions were magnified and he definatley saw that particular fact in the people around him. One couple was making out before, the guy had her back pressed up against the trunk of a tree while their mouths seemed to attack each other.

Nate had broken it up before it got too far, walking up to them and suggesting that they separate. Morals were looser under the full moon, and he could tell that the two had been lost in the heat of the moment as soon as they both turned their gazes onto him. Their pupils had a bright golden ring around them. The gold seemed to glow from their eyes, the primal instinct in them coming to the surface. The rings had gone down in a few seconds and Nate had been glad that he had caught them before they did something they would have regretted.

He was drawn from his thoughts when Kayden sat down next to him, sipping from the cup in his hand.

‘Why aren’t you drunk or dancing? Or both?’ Kayden asked, nudging Nate with his giant shoulder. Nate had to plant his feet on the ground to keep balanced after Kayden’s large muscular shoulders barged into him in what he was sure had intended to be a friendly nudge.

‘I don’t know, I just don’t feel like it,’ Nate supplied, still not sure what had spurred this sudden bad mood. It just felt like something was missing. This was his last chance to really break loose and have fun without people watching his every move and yet he wasn’t enjoying it.

‘Is this about Brody not coming?’ Kayden asked in a sudden burst of intuition.

Nate shook his head, ‘No, it’s not that,’ but even he could tell that he was lying.

He missed Brody, he wanted his best friend to share in this with him and yet Brody would rather spend time reading than partying. He didn’t blame him, he simply just missed him.

‘Then what is it?’ Kayden asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Nate shrugged.

Suddenly Kayden’s phone lit up in his hand, the glow illuminating around the object. ‘I’ll be back, it’s my mate,’ Kayden told him, standing and pressing the phone into his ear.

As he watched Kayden smile into the phone as he walked away, Nate felt an unexpected urge or jealous run through his veins. He wanted his mate. How was it fair that it seemed like everyone had a mate but him?

He looked down at the cup in his hand, twisting the cup around in his fingers so that the mystery liquid sloshed around the cup.

Why did he have to be so god damn alone?

He down the drink in three seconds flat, the burn of alcohol rushing down his chest until it came to rest in a warm pool in the pit of his stomach. Nate stood up, deciding that his pity party was over, and it was time for the real party to begin.

He walked over to where a box of drinks had been left under a tree, finding a bottle of vodka underneath some whiskey. He picked it up and poured a couple of shots into his cup.

‘Look at you, getting into the party!’ Kayden was back, he grabbed the bottle from Nate’s hands and poured twice as much into the cup, ‘It’s your last camp, better make it count!’ he smiled.

Nate shrugged, grabbing some soda and filling his cup to the top.

‘Quick conversation,’ Nate observed.

‘Yeah, the cell reception out here is pretty crappy, I only heard a few things she said. I’ll just call her in the morning.’

‘Good idea.’

‘Nate!’ Lucy ran over to him, her dress, the same fiery red as her hair, swishing around her legs as she ran. ‘Come dance with me!’

Nate swallowed a few sips of his drink, holding back a hiss at the strength of it.

‘Anything for you Luce,’ he smiled, taking her by the hand.

They walked into the middle of the group of dancing Alphas. Lucy moved her body with a purpose, every move strong and perfectly matching the beat. Nate smiled as girls started coming at him from all angles, dancing with him and Lucy like they were old friends. Nate drank steadily, the buzz starting in the back of his mind, telling him to dance more, drink more, and forget everything else.

Thoughts of the future were as far from his mind as they could be as a pretty blond danced up against him. The entire group smelled so strongly of Alpha that he had to fight the urge to get away for the first few minutes, but after that their scents were dulled by the buzz that filled his body.

The music was turned up and the base became like an extra heartbeat, each beat of the music echoing through his body like a life-force. Everyone around him moved with drinks in their hands and smiles on their face and Nate moved with them, a silly grin plastered on his features.

‘Want another?’ Jace was standing next to him, two drinks in his hand.

Nate looked down at his hand to see that his cup was empty.

‘Sure,’ Nate accepted the cup, throwing his other on the ground carelessly.

He didn’t know what was in the cup, and he didn’t care.

He drank steadily as he danced, the moon high above them.

Time was passed with drinks and laughs and eventually Nate couldn’t dance anymore. His feet felt heavy when he moved and he made his way to the log on stumbling feet.

‘Having fun?’ Lucy was sitting on the log as well and Nate wondered why he didn’t noticed her before. When did she stop dancing?

‘Yes, I am,’ Nate stated, pressing his lips to the top of the plastic cup which rested in his hands.

‘How many have you had?’ Lucy asked, looking over Nate.

‘Not enough,’ Nate declared.

‘Nate, you should probably stop soon, you’re going to have a bad hangover as it is,’ Lucy told him. ‘Do you want me to get you some water and then we can dance more?’

‘Water is for people who are looking forward to the future. Vodka is for me,’ Nate mumbled.

‘Nate, don’t say things like that. Your future is brighter than anyone else here.’

‘I don’t have a mate,’ Nate told her, looking into her doe eyes. Lucy’s expression softened and her hand came out to rest on Nate’s free hand, her fingers wrapping around his palm slightly as she spoke over the thump of the music, ‘Nate, you will find your mate. She will be beautiful and perfect for you, and you will have beautiful babies with your dark brown hair and her bright blue eyes or something and it will be amazing.’

Nate smiled at her words, hearing the truth in them. She actually believed it, she believed that he would find his mate and that everything would work out. Nate just had to believe it himself.

‘You really think that I will find my mate?’ he didn’t like the amount of vulnerability in his voice. Her words really did matter to him and he needed his reassurance.

‘I do,’ Lucy told him. ‘The Moon Gods, they don’t make mistakes. You will find your mate when you were meant to find her.’

He got a feeling then. It was a tingle in the pit of his stomach that told him that she was right. He felt it through the buzz of the alcohol and over the thump of the music. He would find his mate when he was meant to find her.

‘Nate, come on, just dance with me,’ Lucy asked, her hand leaving Nate’s as she stood up.

Nate nodded, ‘Just give me a moment, I’ll be out there in a second.’

Lucy nodded, her fiery hair bouncing around her waist as she did so. The girl tumbled back into the group of dancers, her silhouette getting lost amongst the sea of flowing dresses, dancing men and bright red plastic cups that were held by almost everyone.

Nate walked over to where the drinks were, bottle after bottle lined up now on the ground instead of in the box.

Instead of reaching for another drink, he picked up a bottle of water, swapping it for the plastic cup in his hands. He took a few gulps of the water, leaning back against the hard trunk of the tree.

He looked around himself, noting the drunken girls who were giggling with their friends by the water and the guys who were dancing sloppily, their movements obviously less precise due to their alcohol consumption, and he realised that he didn’t want to be there.

He didn’t want to be surrounded by people he didn’t really care about while Brody was probably still up in his room, his face buried in a book. Brody was all alone up there, and Nate had ditched his friend in favour of this. His earlier thoughts about the future were thrown to the wind as he imagined his friend all lonely in his room, besides, what Lucy said about him finding a mate had made him feel much better, and he figured that he should just enjoy the rest of camp with his friends and let himself find his mate whenever it was right.

Nate pulled his phone from his back pocket, clumsily typing Brody’s name into his phone until he found the right number.

The sound of the phone ringing was dulled by the music around him, and Nate pressed his palm to his other ear to try to dull the pounding music slightly.

‘Hello?’ a sleepy voice answered.

‘Hey Brody,’ Nate said into the phone, hoping that he hadn’t woken his friend.

‘Are you alright?’ Brody asked in a concerned voice.

‘I’m fine-’ Nate replied but was cut off.

‘Are you hurt?’

Nate rolled his eyes but he was not so secretly happy that his friend cared so much, ‘Brody really, I’m fine. Can I come to your room and hang out?’

There was silence for a few moments.

‘Uh, yeah, but aren’t you at the party?’

‘I would rather be with you,’ was Nate’s reply.

Brody seemed flustered, ‘Oh, uh, okay, you can come up.’

‘I’ll be there soon,’ Nate told him, hanging up the phone.

Nate gulped down the rest of the water and walked past the crowd of people. He bumped shoulders with Kayden, the other guy spilling his drink on the grass with a laugh.

‘Watch it dude,’ Kayden laughed, speaking in a humorous tone. Nate could smell the alcohol on his breath, but he could tell that his friend wasn’t even tipsy, he knew how well a big guy like Kayden could hold their alcohol.

Nate smiled, continuing on his way, but Kayden’s arm shot out, grabbing Nate’s wrist gently, ‘Where are you going? Come dance with us!’

‘I am going to go hang out with Brody,’ Nate replied.

Kayden’s face dropped, ‘Oh.’

‘What?’

Kayden shrugged, ‘being best friends with the future leader of literally the smallest pack isn’t going to help you when you become a council member. You want real connections.’

‘I want real friends,’ was what Nate replied with, ripping his wrist out of Kayden’s grasp.

Nate shook his head as he walked away. Why did his entire life have to be about the future? So much for his previous plan of just focussing on camp.

The woods were usually quite dark at night, but tonight the moon seemed to light up the entire forest. To see this well in the dark, Nate would usually have to transform into his wolf, but right then, the giant moon shining over him, he could see the outline of each leaf on the ground, see the birds as they flew around the trees under the cover of night.

He reached the camp grounds on slightly stumbling feet, his balance and coordination slightly off. He had sobered up quite significantly but it seemed that his body hadn’t quite caught up to his mind in the way of clarity.

The camp grounds looked different at night, Nate noted. It looked so peaceful when there wasn’t swarms of teenagers on the lawns, having lunch or talking with friends. There was no activity, just silence, and Nate liked it. He liked the solidarity of it as he passed those colourful flowers, stopping for only a second to look at them in the moonlight.

He walked straight up to the accommodation building then. The lobby was dark, only the small lights against the walls were on, and even they were dimmed. He hoped that he wouldn’t run into a security guard or anyone, and to his pleasure he didn’t encounter any other person as he got into the elevator and pressed the button labelled four.

The elevator rose slowly, the mirrors gave him a good look at himself. He didn’t look as bad as he should have for a guy who had just drowned himself in liquor and danced for a couple of hours. His dark brown hair was slightly tousled, but in a way that just made him look like he didn’t care about his looks and still looked great.

The doors opened and revealed the similar hallway to Nate’s own. His footsteps against the hard floor was the only sound in the hallway, and the little thumps seemed to echo around Nate’s head.

He reached Brody’s room, knocking on the hard wood.

Nate could hear shuffling around inside the room before the door was pulled open the hard wood removing the barrier between them. As dark brown eyes met emerald green ones, it seemed like the entire world came to a standstill around them.

It hit Nate like an eighteen-wheeler and his jaw dropped as one word swarmed around his mind like bees in a hive.

Mate.

Brody’s emerald eyes widened further than Nate had ever seen them before. The two of them just looked at each other, shock and disbelief written all over their faces. They were standing in the doorway, and neither of them seemed to dare to move a muscle, shock keeping them at a standstill.

Mate, Mate, Mate was all that Nate could think, Brody is my mate.