Chapter 1

It was another mating ceremony. I glanced over at Luke as we both watched the couple perform their rites, it was sundown, by the time the moon was out they would walk into the woods and come out by the morning. That was how these things went down.

I could feel the waves of emotions; possession, longing, hurt … as it pulled through Luke all in my direction. I was shocked at how others couldn’t feel it. 

Luke was standing next to his father, at a closer distance to the couple. Not many humans turned up for ceremonies like this, except you were close to the couple. Luke’s brother was standing next to his father, who was in between Luke and Callum. Callum’s mate Raina was next to him, Luke looked not necessarily like the weaker one of the two but looking closely you could just tell there was something meeker about him. 

He finally glances at me and I manage to give him a huge grin which he returns and turns his attention back to the ceremony. After the ceremony both my parents and I walk towards the reception, at the Alpha’s house. Luke runs up next to me.

“Hey Cher,” he says, slowing to a more human stride to keep up with me and my parents.

“Hey, Lukey.” 

He turns to my parents. “Good evening Mr and Mrs Stormhound.”

“Hey Luke, looking sharp,” my dad says, patting him on the back.

“Good evening young man.” My mom replies before they give us some space to talk alone, starting up a conversation with some other couple walking close by.

“Hey.. are you okay..?” I turn to Luke when they are out of earshot.

“Yes…” he replies slowly. “Last I checked.”

“Come on, I’m being serious.”

“Its been years Cher, don’t you think I’d be used to it by now..” he says teasingly.

We’re almost at the location now and can see people already taking seats in the distance.

“It’s just…” I start, my hands nervously find my necklace and my fingers start playing with it. 

“If you don’t think I can keep my wolf in check for one night then I don’t know what to say to you. I’m fine I promise, I have years of practice.” He assured me, smiling. We’re the only ones left on the path as everyone else is already seated at the location. Luke stills as if getting a message. He had explained to me once how the bond works. It’s like a feeling, a tug, and you just hear from your pack, you’re in each other's head but at the same time not. It sounded cool at the time but now I realize how scary it sounds, imagine someone being in your head 24/7, no privacy. He said it’s worse with a mate you’ve bonded with. You could feel everything they feel.. emotions .. pain and suffering.It was an interesting concept.

I was peering at Luke to see maybe somehow whatever he was getting would transmit to me. He notices and shakes his head.

“Come on, let’s go.” He starts towards the location.

We walk in and Luke takes a seat next to his father, it’s a long table Luke’s father, Cillian sits at the top of the table by right, his brother on his right hand side and Like takes his rightful place on the left. If there’s anything to learn about wolves is that they are hierarchical creatures. Everything has a hierarchy to play in, the Alpha, the Kings and rulers of the pack, next is the Luna, the Alpha’s mate, the beta the are the Alpha’s right hand, next in command, then the pack members all playing different roles to ensure the pack works in harmony. 

In this case, Luke’s father Cillian is the Alpha and his brother Callum is next in line. Sitting next to Callum is his mate Raina, typically werewolves start to find their mates in their own, from anyone as young even as 12 years old you could find your mate, there is no age limit as people could go years without finding theirs and one day, they meet them, but cases were that happens too late in life are rare at least in Raven town. Most wolves here are already mated by 17. The mate thing is sometimes more of a suggestions as people don’t always get with their mates in some rare occasions that your mate does not feel connected to you, it happens mostly with human mates, they are rejected or worse left to pine for years, something as terrible as that could cause a wolf to go feral. From what I know, mating in wolf culture is a big deal.

One could find their mate at any time, Luke described it as sometimes a smell but it’s more of a bond he says, a tug, everything pulling you to that particular person. It feels like your existence is tied to that person and you living without feels so empty, incomplete it often drives wolves crazy to be without their mate. That’s the reason why sometimes when wolves are rejected or their bonded mate dies or suffers they almost go feral. It’s not uncommon, a wolf being rejected by their mate becoming an omega, he says it’s that they feel lost and without a purpose. A wolf always needs an anchor and if that anchor happens to be your mate and you lose them… you lose the will to live.

I glanced again feeling his eyes on me, how we’d managed to hide this for so long I wonder. There he was… my mate… unable tokeep his eyes off me.