His Human Mate

Erick woke up, groggily. He still felt numb and sore, as if he hadn't moved his body for days. He shook his head awake as he tried to gain back his senses. It was then he realized that he was in his room, on his bed.

He looked down at his body and found that he wore different clothes from what he wore during the shifter ritual. His eyes widened. Oh yes, the shifter ritual! It seems that after Dane had bow to him, he lost his consciousness and fell into a deep faint.

He exhaled a long breath as he looked around him. His room seems normal. Nothing has changed. He looked down at his body again and assumed that one of the triplets probably had put it on for him.

As he stretched his arms over his head, he felt something inside him. In fact, he felt surprisingly strong. He could feel the strength in his body. Looking around his room, he felt like he could see better. In fact, he can even see the pin needle that was beside his trash can. 'I should pick that up,' he thought.

While he was daydreaming, he was startled by the sounds. Apparently, he could even hear voices from downstairs. And it looked like his hearing has improved a lot. He was so surprised that he did not realize that Dane had been calling out his name.

After awhile, Dane's voice finally got through him. 'You're finally awake,' he said.

Erick frowned. "What happened?" he asked, curious.

'You've been sleeping for more than two days. Congratulations,' answered Dane.

Erick was really shocked. 'For more than two days?? What exactly had happened??' He thought, raking through his mind, trying to remember what had happened. He then asked, "What do u mean by congratulations?"

"Congratulations. You're now a fully shifter. And I apologize for making you go through all the pain,' Dane said, sounding a bit remorseful.

Erick shook his head. He couldn't blame Dane for the pain. It was inevitable, anyway. Then something occurred to him. He immediately asked, "Oh yes. Do you know what happened to Hamish?" he had not seen him since the shifter ritual.

'He is still unconscious, from what I've been hearing from the conversations below. But he should be fine. We will meet him when he wakes up."

Erick nodded. He then jumped down from his bed and ran out of his room. He went downstairs into the living room, to find his father, Fergus, Latham, Aziel and Ulanni, standing in a circle, deep in discussion.

They immediately stopped what they were talking about and turned around. Each of them wore a solemn look on their faces.

Lachlan quickly turned to Aziel and spoke to him in soft voices. He assigned him to be in-charge of the dead. Apparently, there were few soon-to-be shifters who did not survive that night. And what troubled Lachlan was that the fact that even their parents killed themselves when they found out that their child had not survived. This kind of death was like a profanity to the shifters because they believed one should treasure their life, even if their loved one has passed away.

He then turned to Fergus and Ulanni. For them, he had given the task of talking with the parents whose children did not survive. He had hoped that the two of them can give some counseling and support.

Latham, on the other hand, will be in-charge of checking the new shifters. Lachlan had given him the task of supervising and training the new shifters. This was to ensure that they are used to their shifter form.

The four of them bowed their heads in respect, before going off. Before leaving the room, each of them nodded at Erick, with a smile. Latham ruffled Erick's hair on his way out, laughing when he saw Erick's disgruntled look.

After they had left the two of them alone in the room, they went quiet, studying each other. Then Lachlan broke into a huge grin as he stepped forward to give Erick a big hug.

"I'm proud of you, son. That's a true Alpha. It only took you four days to recover," Lachlan praised, patting his son on the shoulder.

"Thanks, dad," Erick grinned. "So, what had happened? You were all serious in your discussion," he asked, frowning.

Lachlan sighed before he took a seat on the sofa. Erick followed suit. He scratched the back of his head, unsure whether to tell Erick about what had happened. In the end, he thought it was better for Erick to know since he will be experiencing when he will become the Alpha.

So, Lachlan began to talk about what had happened; about how there were casualties among the shifters as they tried hard to control the soon-to-be shifters, how they even tried to control the rogues and subdue them. Even Lachlan, in the end, had to shift and used his Alpha powers to get them get a hold of themselves.

He also spoke about how Dane managed to pledge loyalty to him and he complimented on how strong Dane was. And that Erick was lucky that Dane had chosen him. Lachlan could feel the strength of Dane and he was probably stronger than Willem.

It would seem that Lachlan managed to order Noaz to bring Erick into safety before he had collapsed. Apparently, after Dane had pledged his loyalty, he had fainted out of exhaustion and unconsciousness. While Noaz quickly carried him to safety, Lachlan had stayed behind with the rest of the elders and the shifters to deal with those who had turned rogue.

Erick looked down at his feet. He then gathered all of his courage to ask how many were dead.

Lachlan was quiet for a couple of minutes. And then he answered, "Twenty of them."

Erick s.u.c.k.e.d in some cold breath as he became silent with shock. Although it may not seem like a big number but he still feel upset. Because he knew that at least, most of those who had died that night were his friends. Even if he was not close to some of them, he had this friendly bond with them.

The two of them went silent again.

Lachlan then broke the silence by saying that he will soon have a meeting with the other elders, in regards of the shifter ritual.

Erick nodded. It was usually the standard procedure to hold a meeting after an important event. They were probably going to discuss on the deaths of the shifters and those soon-to-be shifters.

He then sighed and asked about Hamish. He noticed Fergus earlier and he did not seem to be worrying too much. Perhaps Hamish was alright and just needed some rest.

His father told him to not worry and that Hamish will probably wake up soon. Earlier on, Fergus told him that Hamish was still unconscious. Though, it was more like, he was still sleeping. So, he will be alright in a day or two.

Erick nodded again. He hoped that he will be able to see him tomorrow at school.