Chapter Two

"Hello Mummy, Hello Daddy," I greeted them as I walked into the house. "Welcome baby", my mother said as my father just gave me an approving nod. 

I sat down on one of the large sofas near the table. " We lost my boss this evening", I said looking at my father who was no longer looking at the paper but was peering into space. "We keep losing more and more important members of our pack", my mother said. "If care is not taken, our pack would be wiped off in the space of a week. Hopefully, this would save our pack". My father said, "What I asked?"

"We got some information today, we found out that this illness is being sent by the alpha of the Darkmoon pack. He really would go to any length to get power into his hands. The illness is not contagious so we don't know who else can get it." My dad added sadly, "I hope this works", my mom said looking at the paper. That was the paper they were looking at before I came in, so I just took it and glanced through it.

The Alpha of my pack was always keen on carrying his pack members along, he would always communicate even the tiniest project to the pack members. So it was no surprise as everyone had been expecting a letter from the Alpha regarding the illness.

"We decided to organize a mating ritual for our pack and neighboring packs. Since the sickness is not normal and was produced by the black moon pack, we can be able to control it when the strongest warriors of other packs mate with our pack. We are not sure of how productive this ritual is going to be but we can't afford to let our people keep dying, we have to do something". The letter requested everyone in the pack that had not been mated yet to come out the next day to the general pack house as other packs would be arriving the next morning.

"We are very hopeful about this", my father said. I was too tired to speak as I picked up my bag and headed to the room.

"You might finally find your mate tomorrow", my mother said with a tinge of excitement in her voice. I flashed a warm smile to her and moved to my room. No matter the situation, the idea of finding my mate always had my mom so excited.

As I headed to my room, the thought of meeting my mate came in. As a child, I had always fantasized about being with someone like my father and getting to have the same kind of relationships my parents had. I wasn't very social growing up so I did not have a lot of male friends. I once had a crush on a guy in my school when I was 14. I had always envisioned him to be my mate and imagined us making babies. 

But as I grew older, I found out that it was just a crush. The thought of finding my mate took over all the thoughts in my head as I imagined a tall guy with the body of a god who would be obsessed with me. Suddenly, Bri laughed. I had forgotten about her and the fact that she could hear and listen to all the conversations in my head. "What's funny?", I asked. Nothing, you just have a way of painting pictures in your head.  She said, I ignored her. Don't be mad at me. She purred. *Can we talk about why I can speak to you when I have not yet shifted?" I don't know, you will find out later. She said, I went into the shower and came out ready to go to bed. Within minutes, I drifted off into a world of just me and my imaginary mate.

I woke up with a weird feeling, I laid in bed as I tried to remember anything that would have been the cause of this feeling, I laid in bed for over thirty minutes not wanting to leave the comfort of my bed. The sun was already up and I could see the pack buzzing with people from my window. There were a lot of faces I couldn't recognize as I recalled my conversation with my parents the previous night. The people from our neighboring packs have started to arrive. This was a familiar feeling, these neighboring packs have always been subordinate to the black wood pack as the Alpha of my pack was the head of all the other packs, most times, there is always a big celebration, and all the other packs are invited to our pack for the celebration. This was the same feeling I felt, except that this time, worry was written on the faces of the members of both the black wood pack and this strange illness was on the verge of wiping out the entire pack.

I got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom to do my morning routine. I picked out the most comfortable clothes I had as I wasn't ready to be uncomfortable in any clothing today. I could hear my mom's voice downstairs, as she chatted with someone. I figured out it would be my best friend, Emma. My home was just like her second home. My father would no longer be home at this time as he would have headed to the pack house to help the Alpha set up things for today. 

I picked up my bag and packed in everything I knew I would need inside and left my room. I met my mom making pancakes as Emma sat down beside her laughing at her jokes.

"Good morning, Mommy". I said as I sat down while my mommy handed me a plate of pancakes.

"Good morning baby", she said

"I thought you would never come down", Emma said jokingly as she stuffed the pancakes down in her mouth. "I can never get over your cooking, Lucy ever," she said to my mother as she ate like a child.

She was used to calling my mother by her name and they got along so well that people sometimes thought Emma was my mother's daughter and not me. My mother filled our plates with more food as she rounded up the cleaning. 

"You guys are already late, you need to get going". She said, I emptied my plate at the same time as Emma as we waved my mother goodbye and left the house.