Descendants of the Chosen (The Awkward Wolf)

5054 It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. I stood there trembling, my body sweating in places I normally did not sweat, the color drained from my face, and my knees weakened. I felt like vomiting. My brain was screaming at me. Run Jess run!!! I couldn't move though, it was as if my feet were glued to the floor. The room started to spin. Great, I'm going to pass out! I felt a hand on my shoulder and then an arm circle my waist, he was leading me away from the horrific scene before me. It was Kye, kind, loving Kye. He lifted me and carried me out of the pack house. Kye was my best friend's little brother and also one of my closest friends. He has taken great care in torturing me and his sister over the years. However, he was the only one allowed to do this. Anyone else who tried it earned a hard fist to the stomach. I could see the rage in his eyes as he calmly said, "Breathe Jess, breathe," he buckled my seatbelt. I didn't realize I was panting or that tears were streaming down my face. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. Did I just lose the two most important people in my life besides my parents? Did I just walk in on my best friend f*****g my mate? I was numb as I watched Kye slam the driver's side door after sliding in. He was furious, I could tell, and mainly it was because he could not rip my mate off his sister. After all, my mate was the future Alpha of Blood Moon. He had chosen me after I spent my entire life loving him. He ignored me for years and teased me constantly. The only guy that got away with it in front of Kye. I never cared, never let it bother me because something in my heart said he was mine. The first day I saw him after relocating from another pack when I was in fourth grade. Taller than every kid in the class, Brayden Blood was the only boy who stood eye to eye with me. He was way more comfortable in his skin than I was. Although even then he had an air of confidence that demanded respect. Whereas I slouched wishing for a rock to hide behind. Unlike other girls, I was socially awkward. The girls just ignored me, but the boys were always torn because, even with my awkward, introverted personality, I was extremely athletic. I could run just as fast, throw a ball just as far, tackle just as hard. I never worried about going down because the only boy that challenged me was Brayden. No one else could tackle me, cause no one else could catch me. Brayden had no idea how much I'd enjoyed being chased by him. This was the highlight of my days. Physical education, only because I loved being close to Brayden. I would practically drool over the boy in every class we shared, but he never really noticed me. At least I didn't think he did. My best friend, Malaysia would often tease me and say, "Pull it together girl. Do you want him to see you drooling the first time he sees you?" "He sees me every day," I would whine, "Yes, but I mean really sees you." She would then start fussing over my clothes or hair. "Stand up straight, stop slouching." She would say, and then she would grab my cheeks and pinch them. "One day that boy is going to look into those beautiful eyes, Jess, and see you and when he does...he is going to bang your sexy brains out." "Ugh," I playfully punched her arm, "stop it. Don't be so crude." She loved being crude, saying anything to make me blush. I loved Malaysia. I could not believe she had just participated in ripping my heart out. It could have been any other girl for him. Why my best friend? Why my mate? Malaysia could have any man she wanted. The girl was a hottie. More like a thottie, I couldn't help but think. I was crying like a wounded animal, practically howling, this s**t hurt. Kye glanced over, he looked worried as he drove speeding away from the packhouse and toward my house. "I don't want to go home!" I yelled, no way did I want Evelyn to see me. My stepmother was the sweetest b***h you could ever meet. She had great qualities, but at times she would be harsh as hell. Like when she said recently, "Jess, maybe you and Brayden are not equally matched." "Why would you say that?" Why would anyone say that, I remembered thinking. "Well, Jess, clearly you have differences. You have no wolf, how are you to be the Luna with no wolf?" Evelyn had said this so matter of fact. I felt like she had slapped me. I looked around the room and noticed everyone seemed to be avoiding eye contact with me. Malaysia suddenly became very interested in the wrinkles on her skirt. She kept trying to smooth them out while her mom looked toward the door as if she wanted to make a quick exit away from this awkward conversation. However, Kye gave me a sympathetic look. Now, as I thought back and looked over at him, I asked, "Did you know?" I croaked out, "It was not my place to say anything, Jess." His lips had tightened to a thin line. "How long!" I yelled at him, and he continued to drive. I punched him in the arm, "HOW LONG!" I screamed, "DAMNIT JESS I'M THE BETA. I CAN'T DISCUSS THIS. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CONFRONT THEM OR WAIT UNTIL ONE OF THEM GROWS A CONSCIENCE! I'M SORRY!" He yelled back at me, steering with one arm as he drove erratically holding the spot where I punched him. I grabbed the door and pushed it open, "Holy s**t are you crazy!" I heard him yell as I jumped from the moving car. I tucked and rolled and took off running. There wasn't anything he could do. He would never catch me. I was too fast. I didn't know where I was running to, I just knew I had to be away from all of them. All of their faces. The thought of seeing them made me sick. So I ran until I was no longer in Blood Moon territory. Until my lungs ached, and my legs gave out. When I did collapse, I curled up into a fetal position on the ground and cried. At this point, you would think I had no more tears to cry, but no, I still had plenty of tears to shed. Because now memories began to come back to me, conversations, occasions when we had all hung out together. All I kept wondering is, did everyone know? Was I the last to know? Why didn't they just tell me? Were they in love or was this for the pack? I am being ridiculous now. I knew good and well it was not for the pack. Times had changed, traditions had changed. The era where people married true mates had long ago passed. A lot of packs had Alphas with human mates. Long ago, Selene, the Moon Goddess, created a Chosen. During her time on Earth she faced a great challenge. A vengeful goddess wanted to destroy Earth and during the battle, a lot of our kind died. That is when a lot of Alphas took a chosen mate. My mother was the chosen mate of my father. She passed away in a car accident when I was six and left me and my older brothers Connor and Dylan alone with my dad. My brothers had both taken chosen mates and both lived on other packs. They, of course, both had wolves. I was not so lucky. My father was the pack's war general. His role wasn't much needed. Blood Moon was one of the few packs that held onto old traditions. There was no true need for it though. There was no war in the world anymore. The Chosen had brought peace to the world. They say after her last mate she perished, or she had chosen eternal sleep, but she +had left her children behind, all of them powerful enough to keep the balance they ruled in every part of the world. However, over time it seemed more like folklore. In fact, they say now most of the Chosen's offspring are no more powerful than the average wolf. This infuriated my father when he heard talk like this, just because my dad proudly insisted we were the offspring of Earth Walker Black. One of the Chosen's firstborn was a dream walker. He failed to mention we were rumored to be his bastard children and not even the Chosen knew of our existence. This is why my not having a wolf was such an embarrassment and a shock to my family. Because supposedly there was royalty in our veins, it sounded like bs to me. Right now, that was the least of my worries. I was not going back to Blood Moon. I had options. I could go to my grandmother's. She lived among humans. I could go work for the council full time. I had plenty of savings from the part-time work I did as a lab assistant. See, I was gifted my test scores were off the charts. I took high school courses in middle school and college classes in high school. When I graduated from high school, I already had three years of college courses under my belt. I could have completed high school forever ago, but Malaysia begged, "Jessie, stay you have to get the high school experience, it's important as college." She insisted. I stayed for them. I wanted to be close to them. I cried until I fell asleep, and then I started to dream. I saw myself standing in a field, but I didn't look like me. My tall lanky body had curves, I stood confident as my hair blew in the wind, glowing with radiance, I looked peaceful. I stared at this unknown version of myself that did not exist and somehow found comfort. I woke up as the rain poured from the heavens. I raised my body into a sitting position, hugging my knees. It was cold rain. I looked around for shelter, but there was none. So I just got up and started to walk. I came upon a road and just started following in. As I got closer to town, different scents began to assault my nostrils. I felt beat up as I opened the door to a small coffee shop. Shivering and soaked, I walked up to the counter, "Coffee please," The busy waitress looked up, "s**t," she said, "Chile, you look like something my cat drug in." Now how the hell was I supposed to respond to that? "You need help, need me to call someone?" She asked me, and she sounded genuinely concerned for me. "Just coffee," I said, shivering. She pointed at a booth in the back and I made my way to it. Seconds later after sliding in, I felt a warm blanket slide over my shoulders. "Hey beautiful, Pam said you look like you needed to warm up." She gave my shoulders a squeeze and walked away only to return a few minutes later with a cup of hot cocoa, "coffee here takes like shit." With no further explanation she walked away. I smiled at her kindness as I sat staring out the window thinking, where the hell do I go from here?