When Niel made his way down the stairs to the heart of the house, the main foyer, Atlas was waiting for his arrival, doing so while pacing like a madman. Dare he say the big bad werewolf looked anxious?
The moment Atlas noticed him, his eyes widened, and hurried his way to the bottom of the stairs. Niel had a hard time understanding the anxious character that didn't fit with his mate. He tilted his head in confusion, hoping Atlas might give him an explanation of any sort.
"I like to apologize, again, Niel."
"For what?" Niel could name numerous things Atlas could apologize for, he just wanted to know for which one he was apologizing now. Unfortunately the answer the big guy would give him would not satisfy the teenager.
Atlas tried to take Niel's hand in his, Niel didn't appreciate the sweet gesture and waited impatiently for an answer. "My parents got word of me finding my mate and when they also heard you were a human, well... they wanted to meet you right away."
Truth be told, Niel was not, absolutely not, in the mood to meet someone's parents. He had enough parental troubles of his own. He couldn't possibly add more to the mix by meeting Atlas' parents.
"Can't you just ask them to meet me later?"
Atlas scratched his neck. "I am afraid that's not possible-"
"Why not?" Niel quirked up a brow.
Atlas remained silent, not knowing how to explain to his mate why you couldn't say no to alphas, even if they weren't in charge anymore. He wished they could have the day together as there finally wasn't a barrier between them that kept them apart.
But as the son of Maddoxe and Katherine Adkins, Atlas knew his parents wouldn't take rejection very well. He also knew it would be a difficult first meeting. His parents weren't big fans of humankind. The Black Lake Pack had a history with humans. For many generations, they had quite a neutral relationship. Humans helped hunt down the rogues, the werewolves made sure they would keep out of sight and keep the rogues as well at bay so no one who was involved in the world wouldn't get hurt. They helped each other with the same problem because rogues could be cruel and would like a human for a meal if they were hungry enough.
Nevertheless, their neutral relationship changed after a tragic event that would go down as the black days in the history of the supernaturals.
On an ordinary day, a huge amount of human hunters attacked every werewolf on the North American continent they could find, men, women, and even children. No one was safe from their wrath. It was a merciless bloodbath, something no one wanted to be reminded of as some of the traces were still seen and felt within the werewolf community. Therefore an unwritten rule was set, everybody hated humans and the supernaturals would hide themselves deeper into the shadows of the earth.
Of course this was unbeknownst to Niel and he had no idea what was coming to him.
Niel sighed. "Fine, I guess nothing can become even more worse..." Atlas disagreed, but kept it to himself.
Both of them walked into the library to the far end so they were hidden in a corner surrounded by bookcases. Niel was blown away by the fact this mansion had a full on library. But then again, it was a mansion, Niel thought. Hundreds of books surrounded Niel and Atlas, every single one different. Most of them contained the history of werewolves, information about werewolves and also some books about other supernaturals beings and their history. Niel wasn't much of a reader. He never liked books, as a kid and as a teenager. The teenage boy found more joy with being active rather than hiding in a corner lounging in a big armchair and escaping in the fantasy worlds the books described where hero's would win and villains would lose.
Atlas was the first one to made himself known to Maddoxe and Katherine, soon followed by Niel.
Niel couldn't believe his eyes, in front of him stood two giants who were despite their age in good physic. It was when Atlas' father stood up he noticed a small limp in his step. He tried to be polite and avoid to look at it to draw any unwanted attention.
Atlas' mother was a beauty who embraced her son with warmth and grace. Niel could see how deeply these parents cared for their son. A small stab of jealousy hit Niel. How much he wished his own parents would look at him like that, treat him like that.
When Atlas and his father were done exchanging greetings all the attention was then on Niel. Immediately he could see how their expression changed once their eyes snapped to him, the teenage boy who was mated to their son.
"Well he looks like he is stronger than an average human of his age, but he is still so tiny." The former luna spoke.
"Mother please," Atlas begged, which was an odd sight to see.
"All right," She turned to the boy fully and introduced herself. "My name is Katherine Adkins, former luna of the Black Lake Pack and mother of the current alpha Atlas Adkins." Her voice was cold as ice and Niel was almost too intimidated to reply.
"I-it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Adkins, my name is Othniel Johnson, although many call me Niel." He held his hand out while introducing himself, but when Katherine didn't take it Niel was confused and looked at Atlas for support. Before Atlas could offer any help or information, his mother beat him to it. "My dear son, you haven't even educated this uncivil human. First, he calls me Mrs., and now he is offering his hand. You, Othniel, are everything but the very thing this pack needs." Katherine turned then to her son. "I think he would sooth better as a, how do the humans call it again? Oh, yeah, a housewife. He will be better of in the kitchen out of the pack's sight than to be a fighter or adviser, don't you think Atlas?"
Any last bit of confidence Niel had was now shattered by this beast of a woman. He let his hand fall by his side and looked down at his shoes. Not knowing how to act after being humiliated like that.
"Honey, give the boy a chance." Atlas' father tried to calm down his mate. "The name is Maddoxe, former alpha of this pack."
Katherine shook her head but remained silent and sat down again. Soon the rest followed suit. It was awkward. Nobody talked, Katherine didn't agree with the whole situation, Maddoxe didn't know what to do, Atlas wanted to keep the peace but had no idea how, and Niel didn't want to speak ever again afraid he would do something someone would disapprove of.
"Well you got to educate him Atlas." Katherine chided.
"Yes mom, I will teach him."
"Why would you do it? I think there are pack members who are more than capable of fulfilling that job. You need to focus on bigger problems, I hear the number of attacks has increased."
Atlas sighed. He loved his parents and he had a healthy relationship with them. It was just that his family fell victim to the attack years ago and he couldn't blame his parents for their resentment. If Niel wasn't his mate he might have still thought the same about humans as well, although he never had such an extreme view as his mother had.
"Yes, that is true, but not the nature of why this meeting is taking place. Let's talk about that later." Niel couldn't help but grow curious. He wanted to know what these 'attacks' exactly were. Mostly because he was surprised there was some kind of violence happening here, nearby his family hometown, and none of the residents of Wheaperlyn Lake had ever taken notice.
Soon the conversation shifted and the Adkins were making small talk, catching up about little things that changed in their lives. Niel wasn't brought up again and the teenage boy was grateful for that. He had no idea how he would survive another degrading blow from Katherine.
When they left Niel felt as if he could finally breathe again. "I am truly sorry about that Niel. If I could I would have prepared you more, but it seems time didn't let me." Atlas picked at the hair tie on his wrist and got lost in the view from the library in the forest.
"Anyway, I have to get going again. My cousin will show you more around." Before Niel could interject, Atlas was already out of sight and on his way to his office, where mountains of documents were waiting for the alpha.
Truth be told, Atlas wanted more than anything to show Niel around the pack. He was his mate after all. But with his parent's visit, he felt an ever bigger pressure to perform well, take care of his pack and show his parents he was worthy of the title of alpha.
Niel just stood there at the entrance of the library. The sudden intrusion of Maddoxe and Katherine into his life, made him forget for a short moment about the crap show he was in. But it hit him right back when he was left alone. Well, he wasn't alone for long.
Shortly after Atlas left, his cousin Rain, came around the corner. Again, perfectly timed, just like with the doctor. "Hey, fresh meat, what you standing there for? Come on, I will show you around."
"I-I would rather not. I am just gonna-" Niel was just trying to make his way to the room he was staying in.
"No, no, no, I am not taking a no for an answer. Come on, fresh meat. Let's have some fun." Rain pulled at Niel's arm and dragged him with her. The teenage boy thought he could escape her grasp but he forgot Rain was a werewolf as well. Just like everybody else.
The whole time Rain and Niel were exploring the pack's grounds it was her who did the talking. Everywhere they went people, werewolves were looking at them. Niel first thought it was because of Rain's loud talking, which was mostly complaining about the pack's rules, but after a while, Niel started to notice it was him who was the center of attention.
They were just making their way back to the mansion, the pack house as Niel had learned when they were stopped by an elderly guy. "Rain, what are you doing with that... that thing?" He grumbled while pointing at Niel.
The young werewolf sighed in annoyance. "Marcus, if I were you I would be a bit more careful. This thing, is the future luna of this pack, so go back to your mate and enjoy your retirement, okay? This doesn't concern you."
Rain didn't leave any room for a response and dragged Niel away. "Some people really don't know when to stop." She mumbled.
Niel looked over his shoulder and saw how the elderly guy named Marcus gave him one look of despite before he left as well. "Who was that?" He finally asked.
"Just some old geezer, he was a brilliant warrior back in his day but he never came to the acceptance he isn't that warrior anymore."
Many questions came to Niel's mind. "Warrior?"
"Yeah, it's a pack thing. I will tell you about that someday." When they both neared the pack house Levi stood there as if he was waiting on their arrival.
"I don't know how you do it, Niel. I would want to kill myself being that long in the presence of her." Niel was confused. He looked at both of them, first at Levi and then at Rain. The teenage boy expected Rain to be hurt but her response was quite surprising.
She looked at Niel and said with a grin on her face, "You see, I didn't even feel that." Then she brushed against Levi's shoulder as she passed him and taunted, "I know you can do better than that beta Barlowe."
A low growl escaped from Levi, which terrified Niel. "Watch your mouth pup." The threat never reached Rain however as she was laughing whilst walking away.
When Rain was out of sight, Levi turned to Niel. "The alpha is asking for you."