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“Cassy! So how is it?”

Walking down the stairs of the post office, the baritone voice of the man leaning against the car put a smile on his lips. And oh, please don’t think wrong about it. He was actually my brother, Troy. Troy had the same brunette hair as mine, hazel eyes, and was one foot three inches taller than me. He looked like a delinquent but he had a good heart----He made it his job to check on me 24/7 but not in a derogatory sense, though. 

I came from a Gamma family in a large werewolf community called the Midnight Pack. Even though I, myself was merely an Omega, My father, Xanthros Clark was one of the advisers of the Alpha. And despite growing up without a mother, I never felt deprived of love. I was proud of being a daughter of a great Gamma warrior, who sacrificed herself in a war against a hostile pack that attacked Midnight Territory sixteen years ago. 

Troy flicked the cigarette away from his fingers and stood with his hands in his pockets, waiting for my answer.

“Well,” I uttered, trying not to rip my cheeks from smiling too widely, “I think I got it!”

“That’s amazing, Cassy! Dad will be so happy!” Troy laughed and opened the car’s door for me. While driving on our way home, he asked, “You know what? We can go to your favorite Cafe and you can have whatever you want.”

I envisaged what Troy would ask that so I prepared my answer beforehand, “Troy…I don’t need anything, really. All I want is to mate with Asher on my eighteenth birthday.” 

I got nervous when spotting his face turned serious but I insisted. This was what I had been wanting and I wasn't afraid of saying it aloud, “The Alpha has already announced that Carter will succeed him as the next Alpha of the Pack.”

I knew Troy was not content with me messing around with Carter but the idea of being the next Luna excited me. I would be eighteen soon and was ready for the responsibilities that would come with it. Carter’s mother liked me and had been giving me precious advice every time Carter brought me to their home for family dinner. I bit my lower lip, feeling so thrilled about the incoming event that we called “Choosing”, where Carter and I would finally be mated, on an exact date which would be my birthday as well!

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Troy shake his head looking worried, “I don't know how many times I told you already that I have bad feelings about Carter, Cassy. And it doesn’t matter even though he is the Alpha’s successor. That guy is a legit Cassanova and you shouldn’t take him too seriously, you heard me?”

I sighed. Slow and heavy. There he went again…

“I hate it when I remember how he tried to gaslight you when he called Kaya Miller to assist him with the visitors just because you were late on his mother’s birthday,” the dislike in his tone made me sad but I knew my brother was just concerned about me so I couldn’t blame him.

“It was all my fault,” the words that came out of my lips sounded lame. Perhaps I had to convince myself that I was wrong about defending for Carter, “I went late because of my part-time job and Carter needed someone to assist his mother’s guests…”

“And it’s Kaya? Of all people, he needed her to help him?” Troy said the words in ridicule with his head tilting to one side as if telling me how ridiculous that was.

I rolled my eyes at him because this conversation was starting to get exhausting. I loved my brother but sometimes, he was just getting so annoying, “I will be okay, Troy. Seriously.”

He gave me a stern look, “It’s just a warning, Cass. I don’t trust that guy.”

“Just drop me off at Carter’s house and please… Please stop nagging my boyfriend, okay?”

Like how I requested, he stopped at the Alpha’s house. Troy helplessly sighed and then glanced at me, “Call me if you need a lift home.”

I knew I couldn’t be upset with him for too long so I smiled gently and reassured him, “I will be fine. And yes, sure. I’ll call you.”

The Alpha’s house was a  two-storied white building with a spacious cozy patio and a garden scape embedded with a wide range of beautiful flowers which Carter’s mother took care of as her new hobby. Carter grew up in a rich family while mine was just an average type located at the edge of the pack’s territory...

Excited to say the good news to my boyfriend, I jumped out of my brother’s car and went straight to the door. I stood straight, patted my dress, and then combed my hair with my fingers just to make myself look presentable in front of my love. My heart was pounding with joy. I knew he would be proud of me!

Carter and I started off as friends in the local school of our pack in my sophomore year. I was just a nobody in the hallway and Carter, being the only son of the Alpha, had always been the apple of the eye of everyone. He was special. His charming smiles, his pointy nose, his bright blue eyes, and his sun-kissed wavy hair. So many girls on the campus dreamt of him.

And I was always one of them.

It never occurred to me that a simple girl like me would attract a famous guy like Carter. My friends told me that I could have been the prettiest girl in school if only I had known how to be confident with myself. But I was too apprehensive and a klutz so I hated socializing. But with the help of my best friend, Macy, Carter finally saw me after an amazing makeover that my best friend did to me at our Senior Winterball and Carter asked me as his date.

It’s like a fairytale story for me and Carter.

“I told you you should tell her about it…”

I frowned.

“What are you expecting me to do?!”

My heart started to ram against my chest. I got nervous. I felt there was something wrong. Was that Carter? And he was speaking with a girl…

Flustered from what I heard, my hands quickly turned the knob and opened the door. But the creases between my brows deepened when I saw Kaya and Carter standing in the lobby, both flabbergasted by my unexpected presence.

Kaya Miller. A Delta she-wolf that had been eyeing Carter ever since we dated. Everyone saw her as the girl-next-door and Miss Congeniality of the pack. It’s fair to say she was my sworn foe for being a two-faced brat with a rotting personality hiding behind that angelic face of hers. I couldn't deny that I was a bit insecure with her because the whole pack adored her. And it scared me every time I heard rumors that she was destined as the next Luna of the Midnight Pack. But I trusted Carter. I knew he loved me because that was what he always reminded me whenever I got too paranoid about him and Kaya.

The first thing that came to my mind was to sniff Kaya so I did. My paranoid brain told me to check whether Carter’s scent was all over her. She flinched at me, looking scared but I knew she was just faking it.

“I-I’m so sorry, Cassy! I just came here to tell Carter something about the upcoming event—”

“Is that so, Kaya?” I questioned her sharply with sarcasm. My breathing turned heavy with jealousy.

“Stop it, Cassy! Can you hear how rude you are to her?!” Carter’s lips pursed against his teeth, unhappy with my ugly approach to them, “Why are you here anyway? You didn’t call me but you will come over!”

My heart just suddenly softened when I saw the anger on Carter’s face. I didn’t want him to get mad at me so I dropped my attitude toward Kaya and stepped closer to him, holding tightly the admission letter in my hand, “I just came here to surprise you—”

“You know what? It doesn’t matter,” Carter gave me a stern, dismissive look. His jaw clenched as he spoke, “Just stop being too prissy and ruin everything with your unnecessary apprehensiveness! My mind is so occupied with the succession procedures and Kaya is just here to help!”

I lowered my head and glanced at Kaya who’s faking her intimidated look. Seriously? Who would believe a strong Delta like her would feel scared of a small Omega like me?

Biting my lower lip, I lowered my eyes, feeling guilty. I should be angry with them, of course. But why did I feel this irrational guilt in my chest? Was it because I couldn’t be of any help to Carter and now here I was, giving him some problems?

Tears threatened to appear in my eyes so I decided to just step away and leave Carter and Kaya while I ran back to the highway, waiting for a taxi to drive me home. The first thing I searched for when I came inside the house was my dad, who was reading a book and was baffled when I jumped onto him and cried on his chest.

“I don’t understand, Daddy! Why is Carter being such a jerk!” I sobbed. It hurt that Carter preferred Kaya rather than me, particularly on such an important day for me when I passed my college admission!

“Oh, my dear Cassy… this is why I told you waiting for your destined mate is more important than insisting on what your mind deceives you to feel,” Dad uttered the words gently while patting my back to calm me down.

“If you are patient enough to find your mate, you will know the meaning of how the bonds work between two werewolves destined as one soul who can feel each other’s happiness, and pain—that there is nothing in this world that could ever severe that unless both of you agree to it.”

With swollen eyes, I lifted my face to look at my dad, feeling all so defeated and hurtful, “Is that why you chose not to find a mate again? Because you still love Mom?”

Dad smiled and I saw both the longing and happiness in his eyes, “Of course, my dear daughter. Nothing can replace your Mom in my heart…”

Someone rang the doorbell and Dad released me from his embrace and opened the door.

It’s a messenger from the Pack’s Hall.

“What is it, Dad?” I asked in my eager curiosity seeing the Alpha’s seal on the letter.

“An invitation from the Alpha, for the coronation of his successor.”

I almost stumbled down on the floor when I ran towards Dad. He shook his head when I took the letter from him and read it.

I gasped.

They were going to introduce the future Luna at the convention!