The Destiny Makers - Book cover

The Destiny Makers

Constance Marounta

The Little Human

PATRICK

It’s the day after my eighteenth birthday, and my official appointment as the alpha of Half Moon Pack is yet to come.

See, my father is strict about this: we stick to the tradition. This means I cannot establish my birthright without a luna.

It has been like this for generations of alphas in our pack: you can only become an alpha if you are of age and have found your mate.

It goes without saying that the mating must be completed first.

The only exception to the tradition is the death of a previous alpha. In this case, the next takes over, even without a luna, but just for a while.

If the serving alpha cannot find his mate within a year after taking over, he has to make do with another, whom he chooses through a special ritual.

This happens if he is already of age. If not, there is a certain leniency.

Complicated, I know. Anachronistic? Yeah, that too.

One should prove his worth in other ways and earn the alpha position based on skill. Finding your mate quickly is purely a matter of luck.

Each pack has its own way of doing things, so the rules mentioned above don’t apply to every pack in the world. Thankfully.

Anyway, this ritual has not been performed for a very long time now. This means that all the alphas before me (including my father) have been lucky.

I really wish for luck to be on my side as well.

I want to be the new alpha.

But, if I have to be honest, what I yearn for more is to experience the effects of the mate bond. My parents are forever in love. I want to be like that too.

Yes, I guess I am kind of romantic in an old-fashioned way.

This, I have admitted only to my best friend and first cousin, Max, who insists that our tradition is nothing short of fascistic and puts unnecessary pressure on future leaders.

Max is not a romantic. He never really was. For the last two years, he has been the playboy of the pack.

Of course, the bastard is quite good-looking and a total charmer. I give him that. Still, it has always made me wonder if he is cool about the mate thing.

There is no eagerness in him to find his destined half. He just started going through girls carelessly once he turned sixteen, gathering references, he called it.

For a girl to have Max twice in her bed would be like hitting the jackpot.

Max is a couple of months older than me, so his birthday has passed without him discovering his mate among his past or future lovers.

Naturally, he did not seem upset. As he constantly reminds me playfully, he is not in a hurry to be the next alpha of our pack.

“I am merely to be the pack doctor, my friend. A mate is desired—or not—but not required.” And thus, he shrugged it off, adding that expecting to find his mate so soon was foolish.

“I have a life to live and a profession to conquer and excel in. If I fuss over one woman and become so possessive over her that I won’t be able to see beyond my nose, then I will become a shitty doctor.”

I hate to admit he has a point, although I don’t think fussing over your mate is as bad as he thinks. Some multitasking skills are necessary, however.

When I told him that, he retorted that he’d prefer to multitask with two girls in his bed, and I think he is indeed capable of doing that.

I don’t know the details of his sex life. I am not that interested.

All I care about when it comes to Max is for him to be happy (and I can’t imagine him being otherwise) and that he is there for me as I will be for him. So far, we are tight.

***

To celebrate my birthday, we skipped our training, shifted, and took a long run toward the borders with the human territories.

They, humans, I mean, know nothing about us. It is forbidden to reveal our true nature to them unless it is a mate thing.

But my pack, at least, has never found mates in humans. This, and the ritual I mentioned before, has not happened in years.

Anyways. We were running. I did not race Max. There was no need. I was much faster than everybody, thanks to the alpha gene, although my cousin is quite a runner.

Hence, I let him run ahead, his dark-gray fur glowing in the sunlight.

It was all good, and I was feeling rebellious for ditching my routine, and I could tell it was the same for Max.

But then the smell hit me.

Blood.

Human blood.

Through the mind-link, I knew Max had picked up the scent too and was alarmed, his doctor instinct kicking in.

We followed it as cautiously as we could in case rogues were still there. Yet, we could not smell any of them. The only scent in the air was blood, burned flesh, and metal.

Entering the human territory, we shifted back to our human form without a second thought.

“Damn,” I heard Max cursing through the mind-link.

“What?” I asked. “Do you see anything?”

“No. But we are fucking naked, man!”

“Shit!”

Yet there was nothing we could do about it. We were already on human land, and by the time we reached the source of the smell, our nudity did not matter anymore.

What was supposed to be a big family car was now fuming charcoal, split, or more like squeezed, in the middle and stuck onto the thick trunk of a tree.

Three burned bodies were still in it, and one was out right next to the car, all still sizzling. Two of the bodies were smaller. They must have belonged to children.

The realization made my stomach turn as if the sight wasn’t enough already, and that smell got to my head.

I was about to tell Max that we had to hurry back to collect our clothes and call for help when I heard him growl as if he were in deep pain.

Before I could ask him what was wrong, I saw movement behind the tree where the car had crashed.

A very young girl, not more than six years old, revealed herself. Her clothes were half burned, her body and face were all smoky, and her big brown eyes were full of terror.

Other than that, she looked mostly unharmed.

Poor thing, I bet these dead people were her family. I could only imagine how she was feeling right then, but I could not put myself in her place.

In fact, I couldn’t even bear to think about something like that happening to me.

Not that a werewolf really has a chance of dying in a car crash, but still we have the rogues that slay us from time to time when they get too lucky.

I approached the little child and knelt to be more at her level. My moves were slow because I didn’t want to scare her.

She was not paying attention to me, though, and she did not move from her spot when I came closer.

Her gaze was fixed on something beyond me, and I turned to see what had caught her eye.

Max.

He was behaving weirdly all of a sudden, leaning his strained forehead on the nearest tree while his clenched fists were punching the trunk furiously.

He was cursing under his breath too. I swear on my life I had never seen him so frustrated in all the years I’d known him.

The child was gazing at him wide-eyed, obviously scared but somewhat curious too. Hell, I would be scared, too, if I were in her place.

I was already curious as well and unsettled by his odd behavior, but I decided to push it to the back of my head.

The current tragedy was more important than my cousin’s inexplicable discomfort. Heavy-hearted, I tore my gaze from him and returned it to the girl.

“Hey,” I uttered softly, trying to make her focus on me. “What’s your name, little one?”

As I reached for her tiny hand to distract her from Max, I was suddenly knocked over violently, my back colliding with the ground.

Max was on top of me with his claws on my chest and his teeth bared. He had shifted again.

“Mine!” he growled through mind-link.

I shifted my gaze between the girl and the angry wolf pressing me down as realization sunk into me.

Yet, it could not be. This had never occurred before, nor in my pack, nor in any pack to my knowledge. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

I reached for Max, but he released me instantly, shifting back into his human form and walking away from the little girl and me.

I got up and dusted my body, still a little shaken. He had never attacked me before, and he was the last person on earth that would do that. Or so I believed.

“Sorry about that, Patrick,” he muttered, contrite.

“Max!” I called after him, yet he did not bother or dare to face me again. Knowing him, I would bet on the latter.

Behaving like that was highly unlike him, as I implied already. He was the least possessive or aggressive person I had ever come across.

He was usually very cheerful and carefree. To see him like that pained me a great deal.

However, I had to see past his frustration. The girl needed care, and the bodies had to be retrieved and properly buried. The police should be called too.

The smell of death all around was getting to me more and more and was doing harm to the little one too. We must remove her from this place.

“Max, get your ass back here!” I ordered, and he stopped in his tracks.

“We will deal with it later,” I added more softly. “We have more pressing matters to take care of.”

He made his way back, hesitating as he passed by the girl, trying not to throw a glance at her. Yet, she was looking at him still.

I could not begin to guess what was going on in that tiny head of hers. It must have been madly confusing for her.

When Max was close enough, I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, but I doubted it had any effect on him.

The man was close to tears, and there was nothing I could do for him. Not then, at least.

“Shift,” I told him simply, and he complied.

I made my way to the girl and knelt beside her once again. That time she did look at me, cocking her head to the left, gazing at me very perplexed. I thought she would speak, but she did not.

“What is your name, little one?” I asked as I had before but did not make an attempt to touch her again.

She did not respond immediately.

For a moment, I thought she had gone mute from the shock of losing her entire family at once.

And then being found by two werewolves who had shifted in front of her into two naked men, but I was wrong, as she did finally speak.

“Estella,” she said, and her broken voice was barely above a whisper.

“Beautiful name, Estella,” I replied with a lump in my throat. “I am Patrick.”

Her face remained expressionless to my kind smile. Instead, she shifted her gaze to Max.

“This is my friend and cousin, Max.” I introduced him since he was unable to do so himself.

“Is he a dog?” she asked curiously.

“A wolf,” I corrected. “As I am. And you can ride him if you like.”

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