"Atlas, what are you doing here?" Niel had just put on the light and could see the contours of the big guy. The shadows made Atlas even more intimidating, extenuating his muscles and sharp features.
Niel immediately sat up straight, his back touching the headboard. He could see Atlas was startled as well. Probably because he didn't expect him to wake up, Niel thought, which scared the teenage boy even more. Was this guy seriously watching him while he was asleep?
"I-I, I don't know." Atlas stood up trying to make his way to Niel.
Niel tried to move backward, pulling up his knees and pressing his back against the wall. Creating as much space as possible between the two.
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?"
"I am sorry, I shouldn't be here."
Niel scoffed. "Now you are realizing that." Niel couldn't believe this guy. He was all about telling the boy how he should trust him and wouldn't hurt a single hair on his head. Meanwhile, he was acting like a sinful pervert.
It was an unfortunate misunderstanding.
"Once again, I am sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Now all alarm bells were ringing inside of Niel's head. He knew it, this guy was a creep. Of course, no one was as friendly as Atlas without any intentions. He tried to get up, which Atlas tried to prevent.
"Don't, please. Don't get up, your ankle." Niel couldn't comprehend what he was hearing and seeing. Atlas' actions were so conflicting.
"No, I want to go home. Now." Niel may have sounded stern and dominant but he felt the exact opposite. The boy felt scared out of his mind, what he didn't know was that Atlas felt just as scared but for different reasons.
"Please, let me explain."
"What is there to explain, you creep."
Atlas sighed. "Okay, let me make a promise then. I promise I will let you go home after you let me explain myself."
Niel had no idea if this was some kind of trick or if Atlas was speaking the truth. Nevertheless, Niel had nothing to lose hearing the big guy's explanation other than time.
"All right."
Atlas let out a breath of relief and walked back to the chair from which he was observing the boy. He sat down and took another deep breath. Rubbing his knees nervously, which was out of character according to Niel.
Niel saw Atlas as a stable guy, a guy with strength who could make anything happen to his will. Even though he witnessed Atlas didn't always get his way, he knew Atlas could do basically everything he want with the physical and mental power this guy had.
The teenage boy expected some bad made-up reason, seeing how out of character Atlas acted. But what he heard that night would change his life forever.
It was quiet for a couple of minutes. The silence felt heavy on Niel's body, deafening for his ears. He wanted answers and he wanted them now, or at least a bad excuse for Atlas's behavior so he could go home. That was all his mind was filled with. Hearing Atlas' excuse and then leave this place as fast as possible.
Only Niel didn't know this place would soon become acquainted with the big mansion.
"So, Niel, do you believe in faith or destiny?"
It was an odd question, to begin with, but Niel answered nevertheless. Anything to get out of here. "I guess, I mean I am a Christian so with God's plan and all I think there is something as destiny."
Niel was never close to his beliefs and religion, he pretended for his mom's sake, but he never got into the material, so to speak.
"So you would say that some things are meant to happen."
"I guess yeah."
Niel got impatient. He started to rub his hands over the sheets and looked out of the window where he saw blackness. How much he wished to be home.
"I am no Christian, I do not follow any religion of that kind, but I, too, believe that destiny is real and some things, important events, good or bad, are meant to happen. Only we take it a step further."
Atlas took a break, searching for the right words, and carried on. "In our religion, the religion this community follows, we belief in soulmates."
"Soulmates?" Niel couldn't fantom what he was hearing. How were Atlas' religion and his belief in soulmates connected to him being a creep? Niel groaned inside his head, wanting this to be over, sooner rather than later.
"Yes, two people who are meant to be together and we take it quite seriously. We believe our goddess paired us up with somebody else. One soul split into two halves who find each other and be together for eternity."
Niel couldn't help his laughter. "Moon goddess, really? What kind of sick cult are you people?" The teenage boy couldn't take Atlas seriously anymore. That was until he saw the serious expression on the big guy's face.
"We are not a cult, just for your information." The tone Atlas spoke with made Niel's neck hairs stand up, giving him shivers running down his spine.
"As I was saying, our goddess pairs our sort of people with each other. Normally it stays within... the community but sometimes she pairs us with someone outside of our... religion."
"Your sort of people?" Niel couldn't help but ask. Were they some kind of ethnic group?
It didn't seem like it as the ginger looked like the ultimate Caucasian and the man in front of him had Asian features. They did have all these extraordinary body types, Niel suddenly thought.
Niel could visibly notice Atlas grew uncomfortable. "Yes, our sort of people. This is the harder part of the explanation, but I need you to hear me out."
The teenage boy grew wary again. A second ago he thought this was all a sick joke, now he was afraid he was stuck with some psycho.
"So our religion is only practiced within our community, within our sort of people. You might have heard some things about our kind from pop culture and most importantly folklore. I believe they tell children of Wheaperlyn Lake you shouldn't come near the lake as there live neither humans nor animals, but some type of creature you should be aware of... We are that type of creature."
Niel was now captivated by everything Atlas said.
"What type of creature?"
Atlas sighed again. "Before I continue, you have to keep in mind we are not dangerous nor do we hurt people without good reason."
"What are you talking about?"
"We are the ones who suffer from lycanthropy or what you call half man, half wolf, or the most famous one, werewolves."
A short silence fell before Niel burst out into nervous laughter. Werewolfs! Werewolfs? What was this? A surprise episode of Teen Wolf? This had to be a sick joke. Werewolves were fictional creatures, created by writers for young girls to simp over.
This couldn't be real... right?
His laughter died down however when he saw no similar reaction from Atlas other than an increase in his seriousness.
Slowly Atlas stood up. "You think this is funny? You don't believe me?" He stalked the teenage boy as he asked him.
Niel could see how Atlas' eyes changed from a dark brown, totally black, to a bright gold. The boy had never felt such fear in his body. If his vocal cords didn't feel so restrained he would have screamed like a girl.
The moment Atlas realized he had scared Niel he sat back down and tried to keep his dominance at bay.
Atlas disliked the disrespectful behavior of the teenager. His lifestyle meant everything to him and he wasn't going to be ridiculed by some youngster.
When Niel had found his voice again he stuttered, "S-so, so what does this have to do with s-soulmates and m-me?"
"As werewolves, we have the moon goddess as our deity. We believe and know our goddess pairs us with other werewolves. This is to keep the wolf gene in the bloodline and to protect the secret of our existence. But sometimes she pairs us with humans like yourself. Although it's quite rare that a human is paired with an alpha. Especially because you are a male." Atlas mused.
"A what?" Niel's head was spinning. He couldn't grasp the fine lines of reality anymore. This had to be a nightmare, he thought. "I still don't get it," Niel whispered.
"You are my mate, my soulmate Niel Johnson."
A/N: I hope you like the story so far. If you want to read ahead until chapter 11 is available on my Patreon (see for link my bio).
Thank you for reading and have a nice day or night!