Wereball Serie - Along Came A Mate

Meeting your soul mate was compared to a walk on the moon. Indescribable, otherworldly, lack of sounds around, and just like floating, without gravity.

Most of the young werewolves considered finding their mates equivalent to a forced marriage. Forced by the Moon Goddess.

All our lives, people had chanted about the magic and unique sparks you would experience. How you would no longer be alone, how the feeling of completeness gushed just from a look in your mate’s eyes.

How the first touch would set you on fire, how, from that moment on, your heart would stop belonging to you, how it will beat depending on the actions of your other half.

Our generation of werewolves was too busy with modernity and everything that came with it to spend time fantasizing about their own soulmates.

As a child, I never speculated on how I would meet my other half. But the options out there weren’t for me.

Him saving me from a group of rogues in the middle of the dark woods? Too medieval.

Meet by chance in a political meeting for an alliance between packs? Already used by my parents.

Him and me colliding, and he, with his wolf skills prevents me from falling, by catching me in an instant, and when we look into each other’s eyes, we know it, and we will we love each other forever? Only in a romantic werewolf novel on some reading apps.

Me and him who have known each other for a lifetime, since we were children, and then we realize that we were mates right after shifting? Too fairy-tale, and already taken by my dear friend Aur.

Him and me meeting in the hallway of a high school or campus? Most likely the option that was happening for the most part out there.

Not for me though.

No.

The way I met my mate was unique to say the least and perhaps special in its twisted way. When someone asks me how I met the love of my life I never know what to answer ... but we’ll get to that later.

What I remember indelibly is the day I crossed my eyes with his for the very first time. The first time my lungs filled up with that scent.

I’ll never forget it.

Well, it all started on a day like any other, a few days after my first date with Alex. I had woken up and had breakfast with my roommates, as per usual, in our nice routine.

I went to a couple of classes and then had lunch with Lachlan, listening to all of his new super wereball tactics and his new psycho training. Apparently, my always-confident brother had felt the need for a tougher (and insane) practice for some alien reasons.

“A spy told me that the Dark Diamond trains twice as much as we do in Comet,” He had grunted with a stressed look as he finished his second plate of lasagna.

And here was the explanation for his new madness.

“That maroon, even if he was a fraud player, is apparently a good captain and his team is happy with his crazy training practices”

Noticing the pressure that was starting to pay off on my brother, I decided to go with him to a Wereball event going on that same day, in the afternoon.

Amaia had joined us too.

The two of us had to hand over our documents for the Wereball Health Assistance Program where we were basically forced to participate.

And the program organizer was also present at that event, so I could kill two birds with one hit. As we approached the Main Hall, my stomach began to clench and my breath hitch. I frowned, touching my belly, hoping that what I ate for lunch wasn’t causing me food poisoning or that it would stay in my belly and be destroyed by my stomach acids... even though what I was feeling was more like imaginary flying insects roaming in my belly.

Once we arrived, a mix of multiple smells wafted in the air. The place was so crowded with fans, sponsors, members of different packs and obviously many of the players themselves.

Many merchants tried to get people to buy their gadgets from their stands while were-players were there to take pictures, do interviews and talk to their fans.

There would also be some demonstrations and friendly matches. As friendly as it could with wereball. Fortunately, the Conference Hall was a ground of peace and it was forbidden to fight, punch, bite and kick. Any dispute gave a penalty to the whole team that started it.

So, most wereball players either ignored the enemies or glared at them, with a look that said: “Don’t worry, I’ll beat you to death in the next game”.

The event took place every two months, but I had only accompanied Lachlan once because for me it was the epitome of boredom. Lachlan himself only went a couple of times a year.

At the entrance, as we were queuing to enter, while Amaia was bickering with Lachlan, a conversation coming from the group in front of me caught my attention. Three girls intent on chattering about the presence of a certain were-player and how they would try to snatch a photo with him, and how amazing that he was finally present, and that he had never attended the event before, etc.

“He’s so sinfully beautiful!” One said with sickly dreamy eyes.

“He’s too tall for you, you are a dwarf” Another countered with a chuckle.

“So what? The height doesn’t matter when you’re lying in a bed”, the first girl smirked.

“Tsk tsk! And you are so naïve that you think he does it lying on a bed?” Asked the third girl, condescendingly.

“Besides, he only fucks older, more experienced women, don’t you already know that?” The latter seemed somewhat outraged by something, probably because she was rejected by the player himself for being too young.

I shook my head. All the neurons in my brain wouldn’t be enough to understand why teenagers were so obsessed with a vain jerk who probably lived on a pedestal and had a hamster running in a wheel inside his head.

“I can lie” The first girl proposed. They all wore clothes that their fathers probably didn’t know about. There was more skin than clothes.

“What would you do when he is standing in front of you, naked with all that iron, expecting action from you?” The second girl asked with a look that knew a lot.

“You’ll probably pass out,” the second girl giggled, patting her shoulder. “Shut up! And you have a mate”

“So what? The Terminator is bigger and sexier, even my mate admits it.”

“He is, compared to most people”

At that point I felt more and more annoyed by their being so superficial. My wolf was not happy at all and was encouraging me to scratch their faces or push them to the ground. Couldn’t they focus on their studies and hobbies instead of helping to elevate the boy’s ego?

“I hope the Highlander is here too!” Someone else exclaimed.

At the mention of his name, Lachlan stiffened and I chuckled under my breath.

Lachlan hid his imposing figure behind the hoodie and black sunglasses that enveloped half his face. People were throwing weird looks at that boy too big and too tall to be a normal werewolf. His alpha aura radiated from him even though he was struggling to bury it.

“Everyone could recognize those freckles,” Amaia teased him, receiving a scoff. “Hey they’re cute!” She giggled and I raised an eyebrow at her. Since when was she laughing like a little girl?

It was quite the sight.

As soon as we reached the entrance, the camouflage tactic no longer worked as Lachlan, like everyone else, had to scan his face in order to enter. The screams, the cheers and gasps around us made me laugh. After all, I was happy to have come just to see my bro so embarrassed.

With an unhappy sigh, Lachlan told me he would join me later and was practically dragged away by some reporters for an interview.

Amaia and I went to find the wereball medical program’s manager. She was telling me how recent studies have shown that turmeric can fight cancer and prevent it and how in her free time she was writing an article about that.

Amaia’s mind and body never slept, continually working for the benefit of our society. Often, members of our pack had mocked her, even though she had never been bullied because of who her friends were. I was always surprised how people couldn’t be grateful for all of her work in improving everyone’s health and how they weren’t attracted to her undisputed genius.

“Hey Yvaine!” That voice was familiar...

Ouch.

I winced before turning to face him.

“Hey!” I said with a nervous chuckle, remembering that I had forgotten to reply to his messages that day. I often tended to ignore everything else when I was busy with the people I cared about most.

Alex scratched his neck with an equally nervous smile, probably embarrassed.

“Hi Amaia” he peeped at my friend who nodded at him, without bothering to give us privacy.

“So ...” Alex broke off, quickly observing my attire without being indiscreet. “I didn’t know you were interested in these types of events.”

Before I could answer, two little boys appeared, beaming at Alex. “Chainsaw!!! Can you take a picture with us please?” They begged with puppy eyes. They couldn’t have been more than fourteen and were wearing T-shirts with wereball players and my brother’s wolf was in one of them.

I chuckled with an encouraging smile at Alex who looked at me with apologetic eyes.

“Go ahead! See you later!”

“Wait, Ivy ...” But I was already leaving, my smile slowly dying.

My wolf was strangely anxious and bothered me a lot without explaining herself, so I decided to get some fresh air. My belly had twisted and my heart got heavier and heavier.

Amaia was chatting with two fellow doctors from the Aid Program and could manage our documentation on her own.

After informing her that I was going out for a minute, I started looking for an exit door among the labyrinth of stalls, stands and groups of people chatting to each other. Children, families, players, everyone was there, in a good mood. Cheerful.

Until that day, I had never thought about the saying: “the moment when you least expect something is the moment when that something would happen, like a thunder out of the blue”.

Right then, my only goal was to find a way out, try to sneak out to clear my mind. Mind that was full of the assignments that awaited me at home, my busy week, etc.

And then, surrounded by happy strangers, I smelled it.

The scent that our parents had warned us about all our lives. The one created to seduce our souls, hearts and brains.

It was musk and amber. It was intoxicating and rich, absolutely overwhelming.

Before my lungs could send a signal to my brain and connect the dots, my eyes fell on a blonde head in a corner, about ten-fifteen meters away.

I didn’t even realize that I was frozen in place.

It was as if my nervous system had stopped working. My brain went into a comatose state and the heart line flattened.

I couldn’t move or look away.

All I could do was keep staring, as random people passed by me, chatting to each other about their business and their lives. Unaware of my melting.

He was chatting with some people around him, whom I didn’t spare a glance, with his back to me. But even from that distance, it wasn’t hard to notice that he was very tall. Insanely tall. Probably levels similar to my father’s, who was basically a dinosaur.

Spellbound, my eyes followed the movement of that head. I watched as he lifted it up into the air, I watched how he sniffed “something”. And then I watched as his posture visibly stiffened before he slowly turned around.

It was like fireworks, Christmas lights, and lightbulbs went off.

If before I was in a coma, now it was quite the opposite. My heartbeat was out of control. My hands started to sweat.

And that was the moment I felt them: electric sparks, all around me.

He was undoubtedly the most handsome man anyone could ever think of. So beautiful it hurt my eyes.

He must have worn a lazy grin before, but it turned into shock.

A pair of steel-grey eyes widened when they zeroed in my persona; the black almost ate all the silver as they dilated.

I could see how they slowly roamed all over my face... as if they were carving it inside his mind.

The air between our eyes thickened so much that I could almost distinguish the helium, nitrogen and oxygen present.

We both heard our wolves howling the word.

The one that everyone is waiting for with fervour and dread...

The one that would change your existence forever.

Mate

~~~

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