Chapter 1

Liam's POV:

One week.

Seven days.

One hundred and sixty eight hours.

Ten thousand and eighty minutes.

Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred seconds.

Approximately.

The numbers danced around in my head, seeming unfathomable from how small to how large they ranged. My slow thinking did nothing to deter them; even though I had only memorized them the night before, they seemed stuck in my mind.

You really shouldn't be thinking about this, I thought to myself, you'll just stress yourself out even more. My eyes drew to the blinking red alarm clock on the side of my nightstand. Four oh six. Why my body had decided I needed to get up at four in the morning, I wasn't sure, but I was awake and showing no signs of falling back asleep.

At least it's Friday, I thought drowsily, rubbing my eyes with one hand. Look on the bright side, Liam. It may be four in the morning, but at least you can sleep in tomorrow.

Except I couldn't, since there was a pack training session at eight and I was expected to be there, to show face and keep status. I didn't know how much it actually did for either of those things, but at least I would get a good workout and some community building time.

Let's go for a run, I thought to myself firmly, determined to do something semi productive with my morning. School didn't start for another four hours, so I didn't really need to worry about running out of time.

Out of the warm bed in one moment, shivering in the chilly early-morning air in the next, I took off the sweatpants I'd been sleeping in and grabbed a pair of shorts and a T-shirt instead. Simple clothes and nothing to be proud of, but at least I'd be clothed while walking through the town in case any toddler was peering out their window, trying to find the moon. Unlikely, but it soothed me nonetheless.

Downstairs, I flicked on a lightswitch before wincing at the brightness and turning it back off. A banana enticed me from the fruit bowl and I grabbed it along with a sticky note and a pencil to scrawl a note about where I'd be. As I was rushed, my handwriting gradually dissolved into meaningless scribbles, but I knew it would soothe my mother's worries, at least.

I could smell my father approaching from behind before he said anything. He was tired, that was for sure, and his scent was always stronger after he slept. It had something to do with the scent being trapped in one place for so long while one slept before it could disperse throughout the air during the day, I hadn't bothered to listen closely while he was explaining.

"Liam," Dad said, sounding exhausted. "What are you doing awake?"

"I couldn't sleep. Thought I might go for a run instead."

"Ah, I see."

I took a bite of the banana and offered the bowl of fruit to my father, who smiled and took an apple.

"Is Mom awake?"

"No. I just heard the footsteps and came to see if it was Paisley sneaking candy again."

"Are you going to tell me where you hid the candy stash yet?" I asked, feigning disappointment as he shook his head, a smile on his lips. In all honesty, I didn't care too much about a couple bars of manufactured chocolate. Just because Paisley enjoyed them didn't mean I did. There was just something about the triumph when finding a candy stash- like you were finally invincible with the power of chocolate and sugar on your side. Similar to how my father felt when finding a vampire coven's hideout, I supposed. Maybe he wanted to install that sense of joy in us young. "Ah, well. I'll find it soon anyway."

"No you won't," Dad said confidently, and I laughed along with him. It was the truth, I wouldn't. My father was better than anyone else I'd met at hiding things. "Better get going on that run, son. You want to be back before your mother gets up. She said she'd make pancakes for breakfast."

I nodded, the thought of Mom's delicious pancakes filling my mind, and turned to leave the house. Dad smiled at me as I closed the door behind myself and sighed, exhaling my smile away. I looked around, my eyes narrowing as I unconsciously scanned for danger, though of what sort, I wasn't sure. This was within the pack boundaries with sentries at every station, there was no way anyone could have gotten in. Habit, I guess. I was supposed to be the protector, as a future Alpha, it was my job to protect the pack. Of course, I was still in high school, but one more year and training to be an alpha would become my full-time responsibility. Along with caring for my mate, of course.

Of whom I would find out in a week.

Assuming they were nearby. There was no guarantee of that, but typically the Moon Goddess made it so that we were at least in the same country, though it was important for alphas to find their mates so that the pack could live on. My parents had been in the same pack all their lives and never spared each other a second glance until my father's eighteenth birthday, when they found out they were mates. And then, only a few months later, my Aunt Eva, the beta of the pack, found out that she was mated to my mother's brother, Uncle Nolan. So now the Beta and Alpha families were intertwined, which could sometimes be a downfall to the pack but most of the time was an awesome upside to being the alpha's son. Aunt Eva was the coolest aunt ever.

The pack streets were dark, streetlights lining the roads, casting an almost eerie glow across the streets and the silhouettes of the buildings seeming much creepier than they were in the broad daylight. I was used to it, however, so it didn't bother me much. I knew Paisley hated venturing around the pack at night, though.

I finally arrived at the gate leading out to the forest. Nodding a greeting to the tired-looking sentries who were meant to be keeping intruders out, I smiled to myself, cracking my knuckles and neck before taking my shirt off and passing it over the counter for them to hold until I finished my run. They accepted it, looking exhausted after a night of keeping watch. I stepped into the forest, exhaling my breath before shifting into my wolf form, almost beaming on the inside.

It was going to be a great day.

-

Two hours later, I was heading back through the forest, loving the feeling of the wind brushing against my fur. I had already exhausted most of my energy by that point and was mostly just enjoying the scenery as I made my way back to the path leading back into the pack. And the scenery, of course, was beautiful.

The trees swaying lightly in the early morning wind, the light filtering in through the canopy above, and the flowers just opening to show their bright colors. This was the forest I loved, the scene I loved, the pack I loved, the world I loved.

The sun was just rising over the buildings and houses, causing a bright glow to wash over the town. I waved at the sentries guarding the entrances, these ones bright-eyed and new, as I made my way to the Alpha House, the house that my family and I lived in. The cast iron crescent moon on the highest roofed peak was a familiar sight that beckoned me. It was a sign of tribute to the Moon Goddess, showing the Lightfoot Pack's alliance to her.

"Lili!" My younger sister Paisley squealed as I let myself into the house, rushing to embrace me tightly.

I smiled in response. "Hey Paisie."

"Mom's making pancakes for breakfast," Paisley told me intelligently after pulling away from the hug. "But you need to change first," she continued, "you stink."

I laughed a bit. "Got it."

Paisley returned to the kitchen as I took the stairs three at a time, getting to the second floor in about four seconds. After grabbing some clothes, just a T-shirt and some shorts, I made my way to the adjourned bathroom. A couple minutes later, I left the room with water dripping off my hair.

"Good morning," I smiled as I slid into my spot at the large oak table we shared. Mom beamed in response as she set a porcelain plate of chocolate-chip pancakes in front of me. Paisley grinned at me, dunking a strip of her own pancakes in a bowl of maple syrup. Dad simply nodded, absorbed in a few pieces of paper he was holding, what looked like a graph with red, blue, and green lines showing pack growth.

"Good morning honey," Mom replied. "Orange juice or milk?

"Orange juice," Paisley and I said in unison before glancing at each other. "Jinx," we both continued before laughing quietly.

"Milk please, dear," Dad said as Mom disappeared back into the kitchen only to return moments later with glasses filled with our favored drinks.

"Chase," Mom sighed as she set the glasses back down in front of us. Dad glanced up at her. "Put the papers down, please. We're eating breakfast as a family."

"One second, dear," Dad replied distractedly, scratching behind his ear, still focused intently on the papers.

"Chase."

"Dad, put the stupid papers down," Paisley added, crossing her arms.

Dad sighed, reluctantly closing the pamphlet and setting it aside, folding his hands in front of him as he leveled a stare at Paisley, not speaking a word, just unnerving her.

"Stop it," Paisley demanded.

Dad laughed. "Fine."

The breakfast continued, conversations continuing as normal, the topic of eighteenth birthdays as taboo as ever in my household.

-

"Good morning, Liam," Juliana, my girlfriend, greeted me with a smile as I walked into our homeroom class that Friday morning.

"Hey Julie," I smiled at her and Sage, my best friend, cousin, and future Beta.

"Hi," Sage replied, looking up from fiddling with the bracelets on his wrist.

"Are you ready for the weekend?" I asked, sitting down in my seat.

"I think so," Julie sighed. "It's been a long week."

"I'd agree," Sage replied. "That English essay made me die several times."

"But you're still alive," I couldn't help but point out.

Sage wrinkled his nose at me. "You'd be surprised."

We laughed as the teacher walked in. Mrs. Barnes was the most boring teacher in the school, and you could tell it just by looking at her. Her needle-straight gray hair that had been a dusty brown color many years ago made her seem much older than she was, and her pasty pale skin made her seem like she hadn't gone outside in centuries. Her frown lines were more pronounced than they should be at her age- despite her appearance, she was actually only in her mid-forties.

"Good morning," she said without emotion in her voice, the mere sound singlehandedly causing the class to quiet down. "Take out your homework from yesterday and hand it to the front. You'll get it back on Monday."

That was another thing about Mrs. Barnes- the woman never stopped working. None of the other teachers could seem to grade a single paper overnight, yet the forty-year-old history teacher could grade two hundred seniors' essays over a weekend.

Groans resounded around the room and I remembered with a smile that I had actually done my homework this time. It didn't matter much, Mrs. Barnes already knew me as the senior who didn't try, and my grades weren't actually important as long as I graduated, but it brought me the small amount of satisfaction that could only be gotten by surprising Mrs. Barnes.

I turned around to get the papers from the person behind me. Adriel Scott, another werewolf, was there, his pale skin almost glinting in the sharp overhead light. It was strange, but I was used to it at this point. Adriel had been a mystery to the pack all his life, it wasn't exactly anything new. Next to him, Milo Lazos-Rodriguez stared at the table. He was very shy, not an uncommon trait for an omega, so I wasn't surprised that Adriel was handing his paper in for him. Adriel and Milo were some of Mrs. Barnes' favorite students, which wasn't surprising considering how they were also her quietest students.

"Good," Mrs. Barnes said in her emotionless voice when all the papers were handed forward. "Take out your textbooks and turn to page four hundred and twelve. Read the unit and sit quietly when you're finished. You have ten minutes."

And so we began.

-

"That was brutal," Juliana complained as we left the class.

I grimaced. "I can't believe she assigned us a whole twenty-page essay to complete over the weekend."

"It's not the worst it could be," Sage reasoned.

"What's worse?" Julie asked bitterly.

"A... twenty-one paged essay?"

A pause, then I laughed once. "Smooth."

"Hey, I tried," Sage defended himself. "Anyways. I'm off to Trig."

"See you two after Spanish," I waved as I walked the opposite direction from them, Sage going to Trigonometry and Julie going to English 12. I noticed myself walking faster towards the Spanish 4 room; it honestly was my favorite class of the day despite the fact that I shared it with none of my friends. Perhaps it was the teacher, a young woman named Ms. Solde, or perhaps it was the immersive nature of the class. Either way, I was doing the best in it out of all of my classes- which wasn't surprising considering how Ms. Solde granted everyone who was actually trying A's. Most of the students in my class period were human, but Adriel and Milo were also in the class. Both were probably Ms. Solde's favorite students as well, since they both spoke Spanish either fluently or something close to it- where was the line? When did one become fluent?- As such, they weren't the ones bothering her with repetitive questions concerning grammar or tenses. Not that she seemed to mind it- in fact, she seemed very pleased that her class wanted to learn Spanish and wasn't just doing it for the credit.

Either way, the class finished way too quickly and I moved on to English 12.

-

That night, Sage and I walked through the streets of the pack, our hands stuffed in our pockets to protect from the chilly night air. The moon was already high in the sky; it was around eleven o'clock and we were walking together as an excuse to not work on our research essays for our Forensics class.

"Liam?" Sage asked after a moment of silence.

"Hmm?"

"Are you... excited to meet your mate?"

I paused walking as I looked over at him. We were in the park now, the jungle gym vacant and the trees leaning back and forth, the wind whispering between them. "That was deep."

"Sorry. Just wondering."

"No, it's okay. I guess I don't know."

"I think I get that." Sage stared at the ground, his hands in his pockets and his ginger hair whipping around his head with the wind. "Like you want to get to know your mate and everything but there's always the fear that they'll reject you... that they won't want you. Right?"

"Wow," I laughed, allowing myself to smile and shove away all my degrading thoughts. "It's like you reached into my soul and just yanked out all the thoughts. Rude."

"Sorry."

"What brought this on, anyway?"

"I think I'm still trying to decide if I should look forward to my birthday or dread it." Sage gave me a half-smile. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. You really shouldn't be stressing about it... whatever happens happens, right?"

"I guess."

"Okay. Should we head back? Training in the morning."

"Okay." We turned around, heading towards the main part of town where both of our houses were located, walking in silence again.

"Hey, Liam?"

"What?"

"If Julie isn't your mate... we're still going to be friends, right? All three of us?"

I sighed heavily. "Yeah. I promise, Sage, even if Julie and I don't turn out to be mates, we've been friends since kindergarten. I don't think this is going to change anything."

But we'll find out soon enough, I thought anxiously.

Either way, Sage nodded in contentment and turned to look at the stars as we walked home.

It was nice out, I noticed. Too nice for such a tense moment in my life.

--

Heya! This was Chapter 1 of Alive- let me know if you enjoyed it! I definitely enjoyed writing it!

-Bloom :)