Silent Alpha

"Rhea, drag your ass out of the bathroom right now!" came the grouchy shout from beyond the door, followed by her fists thudding against it. "You've hogged it for hours, and I wanna shower too!" "Five more minutes!" I shouted, nearly done destroying the toilet. I was finished at last and flushed, letting out a relieved breath. A heartbeat later, I unlocked the door and pulled it open. Maren, my roommate and best friend, stepped into the bathroom. Her face bunched up instantly, and both hands flew to pinch her nose. "Mother of mercy, what the fuck crawled in here?!" "My stomach... and my ass. And maybe part of my dignity too?" I whimpered, mortified. Safe to say my ass was on fire, and I might've gone overboard on the hot Cheetos and Taki's. Clicking her tongue, she shot me a disappointed look. "Damn girl, you need to chill with the spicy food." I groaned and refused on instinct. "That's basically you telling me to die. My life sucks without snacks. They're comfort food, and they make the loneliness shut up." Maren just rolled her eyes, all exasperation. "Okay, miss-killing-my-nose-from-your-explosive-diarrhea. We need to get moving soon. We're gonna be late." She waved a hand by her face one last time, still disgusted. Blinking, I grabbed my phone from where I'd left it and checked the time. We had only an hour to get ourselves ready and drive to the airport. I hadn't noticed that much time slipping by. Then again, between sprinting to the bathroom and showering, maybe I should've. My jaw fell open before I looked back at her. Maren didn't react to my face at all. "Get ready fast; I'm gonna go start the car," she said, leaving me there by myself. I let out a sigh and washed up again, rushing to recover the time we'd burned because I'd binged the night before. By the time I finished packing my suitcase, my wolf's voice drifted into my head. 'Wow, what a beautiful way to start a shitty morning, huh?' she teased. 'Shut up, Sable,' I reply with a huff. Sable only laughed at that before closing the link. Eventually, we made it to the gates. The attendants were nice enough to let us through even though we were a few minutes behind. Seriously, who knew humans could be that nice? Never mind that. I heard somebody bitching behind me, but I couldn't even blame them when the plane got held up five minutes because of us. So embarrassing. Maren and I dropped into our seats, and the flight attendants immediately ran through what to do if anything went wrong. Humans are funny to watch, but I was bored already. The trip will drag, and the thought of it makes me groan. "Hey, pssst, Maren..." I murmured, turning toward her. Maren had already knocked out in the seat beside me, so there went my chance at having anyone fun to talk to. This bitch seriously fell asleep that fast, huh... We were heading from the US to Canada, more exactly from Florida back toward our former pack in Canada. I sighed. I hoped my mate would be there. I was only visiting, after all, and pack members came and went. I almost never got to see them. I had no clue what I'd do if my mate wasn't at the pack. Going off at 15 to look for my mate hadn't exactly been smart, since werewolves didn't discover their mates until 16. Now I was 23 and still mateless. That meant my mate was either dead and I'd get a second chance mate, or he belonged to some other pack in another country. After a minute of stewing in it, I called to my wolf through the Mind Link, desperate for answers. Sable, what if we never find our mate? What if -- 'Rhea...' she said with a scowl, 'my book doesn't do what-ifs. That's your imagination talking, and most of those answers never come. All they do is shove you toward trouble.' 'I'm just worried,' I mutter, fidgeting. Sable sighed. 'Me too, Rhea, but my gut says our mate is out there. I swear he'll be close. I can feel him. Lately I've been restless.' I hope you're right. 'I usually am,' she said, puffing up with confidence. 'Cocky, much?' 'And you love me for it,' she shot back. 'Unfortunately, yeah,' I sighed, dripping sarcasm. Smiling to myself, I cut the link. I pull in a deep breath and gaze out the window. Let's just hope for the best. Even then, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.