Chapter 1: Marina

I  had never found myself in quite this amount of trouble before… I had been in scrapes and late-night shenanigans that had driven my parents crazy…and missed curfew more times than I could count on both hands… but… this was new, even for me. 

I couldn't exactly call for help…not in the position that I was in… My family would never forgive me… And I certainly wasn’t going to call him. I shuddered involuntarily at the very idea. He was going to be furious enough as it was…but if I didn’t figure a way out of this mess…

SLAM. Fuck. They were back. I sighed inwardly, and called to him through the mind link… 

“...Gray…We have a problem….”

... I suppose the only real way to tell this story is to go back to the very beginning…

My name is Marina, but everyone calls me Mari,  and I am a werewolf, in the Silver Moon Pack. Before you go there, no, we don’t fight with vampires, no we don’t eat people, no we don’t only change on the full moon.., and no, to just about any other myth that you can think of. 

The Silver Moon pack is not a very large pack if you are talking about sheer numbers, but our people don’t often leave our lands, their mates often choose to move to our pack instead, which means we also have a lot of elderly people, and a lot of our families have a long-standing history here. We’re located in one of the more desirable places in the world, filled with lush green forests and cool, clear rivers. Our town is what I would consider small and quaint. We have cute little antique shops and the type of general store that looks more like an active farmer’s market. 

We have one diner that is worth all of the rest of the stuff put together. Seriously, try Miss Jean’s waffles.  And one coffee shop that is better than any national chain I have ever been to. We’re on the outskirts of the local University and it’s one of those towns that you could drive right by and never notice if you didn’t know we were here. Which, given everything, is the point, I suppose. 

My boyfriend’s name is Damien. He is, well, to be honest, he’s not a great boyfriend, but I love him. I just know that he’s going to be my mate. He’ll officially take over as the Alpha on his 18th birthday, but he’s been training with his dad, our current Alpha since he was sixteen. We have been dating since I was sixteen. I spent the entirety of the last two years of time constantly by his side. I’m sure there are friends of mine that I forgot existed almost the second we started dating. I was just so excited that he chose me to be his girlfriend. I truly believed that we were destined to be together, to be mates. I had asked the Moon Goddess for the same thing night after night, so many times. 

At the time, I hung on to his every single word. It was as if no one else on the earth existed when he was in the room.  My parents, as you can imagine, were not thrilled with this entire scenario. They each knew how risky it was to get involved with another wolf, especially before the age of eighteen when you could finally sense your mate.  But, as all daughters do at some point in their lives, I ignored their protests and didn’t heed their words of caution. If I had thought it through though, and stayed away from Damien, things may have turned out entirely different.

The night that changed everything was Damien’s 18th birthday party. 

My wolf, Natalia, didn’t think too highly of Damien either. In fact, she pretty much thought along the same lines as my parents, with a few more colorful adjectives thrown in for good measure. She wasn’t a fan of, as she had put it, “pompous and over-inflated frat boys” and she rarely held back when it came to reigning in her temper. 

“Can’t even be bothered to pick up my daughter from the porch? Ever the gentleman, as always, Damien…” My dad said as he heard the honking. I rolled my eyes and grinned at my dad on the way out the door,

“…Dad. Just remember that you and mom need to at least come to the party and say hello and happy birthday and all that jazz.”

“We will Mari…see you later.” My dad kissed the top of my head, and I gave him a quick squeeze goodbye and practically ran down the steps to get to Damien’s car before he started honking again.

As I hopped in the car, I heard him grumbling…

“…Gonna be late to my own damn party… all for some…” He stopped mumbling when he realized that he was talking out loud and that I could hear him perfectly well.  I arched an eyebrow at him but said nothing as he pulled out of my driveway.

His new little sports car that his parents had given him last week made quick work of the distance between our two houses. It wasn’t a very long drive, probably only ten minutes between the two places, but the difference might as well have been night and day.

Where my house was modest and warm and gave off a feeling of home and affection, Damien’s home was hard and calculating. Its impeccable interior was clearly designed by a professional to give off an aura of power and excellence. Tonight though, the house seemed cold and lonely, despite the huge numbers of people here to celebrate. Damien’s parents never seemed to pay too much attention to what or whom he brought around, but they certainly noticed when I kept showing up. They didn’t seem to pay much attention at first, but then as it got more and more frequent, they definitely made it known that they weren’t pleased with this situation. Much like my parents, they knew the danger of falling for a wolf that wasn’t your mate.

The entire thing had an overbearing feeling to it but having been there for most of the past two years, spending all of my free time with Damien and his friends, it no longer bothered me or was something that I paid much attention to.  His parents had spared no expense for his party, it seemed. There were tables of food laden with just about every dish you could ever want. There was an entire culinary team turning food out just as fast as it was being eaten by the guests. Werewolves, as you can imagine, have rather large appetites. There were other packs here, by the look of things. I suppose that was only to be expected as he was soon to be the Alpha of our pack. It was a sign of respect for the other Pack Alphas to attend and be introduced to Damien, as the next Alpha. 

Damien had picked out my outfit for tonight, saying that I needed to look the part of his soon-to-be Luna. I had rolled my eyes at that, which he didn’t seem to appreciate. The dress he chose, however, had left me feeling rather exposed and uncomfortable. He smiled at me as he turned to face me and pulled me in close, pressing his lips against mine.

I giggled, making what could only be described as the world’s most ridiculous face, and leaned into the kiss, letting it go farther than I normally did, loving the butterflies that were swarming. Tonight, I was going to give him what he wanted. As soon as I knew we were actually destined to be mates.

Damien began running his hand down the deep V at the front of the dress that I was wearing. 

“No more waiting, Mari. Tonight?” Damien asked. 

I smiled back at him, nodding. “I’m ready.”

 It was mere hours until he officially turned eighteen and was able to sense his mate. He had been pushing me for months at this point to sleep with him and let him take my virginity. I continuously turned him down, waiting until we were officially mates. Sometimes I wondered about what would happen if we weren’t mates, but I never liked to dwell on that thought for long.  Natalia on the other hand was a champion of that idea. She’d give anything to the moon goddess to make sure Damien and I WEREN’T mates. 

"Tonight, Damien.  I promise.” I bit my lower lip, looking up into his face.

His smirk grew larger as he pulled me in for another kiss, he mumbled against my lips “About damn time.”

We climbed out of his car and went to the area of the yard where our friends were waiting.  Andrea was there and I linked my arm through hers, talking to her over the music played by the DJ. Andrea was one of those people who knew exactly what she wanted out of her life, or so it seemed. She was, I suppose, difficult to get along with and for most people easy to hate on most days. She was, by all accounts, a shallow bitch and usually pretty mean for no reason, but once I had started dating Damien, it was as though I couldn’t get enough of her attention.

Standing next to Damien were his best friends, Tyler and Eric. I happily clung to Damien’s side while he talked to his friends. He pretty much ignored me while they were around, but tonight he seemed much more attentive, as I eyed his drink enviously, he never liked when I drank in front of people. Time was ticking by and before I knew it the party was in full swing, and it was almost midnight.

Andrea and I were chatting amongst ourselves when suddenly I felt Damien jump and rip himself away from me with such force that Andrea and I were thrown into Tyler and Eric.

“What the hell, Damien?!” I snapped at him, but he was paying no attention to me. He stood straight and perched like he was ready to run to chase after whatever had caught his attention. 

Murmuring more to himself than to anyone else, “Do you smell that?” He asked.

All around me, I heard shocked gasps and whispers coming from members of our pack and our friends...

I watched, frozen in one spot, unable to move, or speak,  while my boyfriend found his mate. A tall, leggy, blonde mystery girl who I had never seen before. The moment she and Damien locked eyes, it was like a romance movie, playing in slow motion. They ran into each other’s arms, everyone else forgotten. Damien had found his mate, and it wasn’t me.

So I did what any rational teenager would do when they’re both heartbroken and humiliated…I turned, but Damian’s friends were just gawking at me. Andrea didn’t last more than a minute trying to look sorry for me, before she just started laughing, cruelly. So… as could be expected, I turned on my heel and ran into the night. 

At the edge of the forest, I couldn’t bear to think about it anymore, so I shifted and let Natalia take control. I just ran. I could tell when I hit the pack borderline because the second I decided to cross, the mind-link snapped… and finally, there were no more voices in my head. All I heard was blissful silence.