The Mating Night

    Someone close once told me that our generation's love knows no bounds. It's against all odds as the saying goes to say, trying to straighten the bent one and right the wrong. As long as they love each other and were willing to bend rules, it's all that matter.

    As starters, I am gifted with a 6'4 height. Fair glowing skin, sinewy, metallic blue eyes, and most of all, I was dubbed as one of the living proof of the most beautiful man ever to exist throughout history. I love music that's why I chose to spend time with my acoustic guitar and a band.

    With that one-of-a-kind gift, I have been with different girls, young and old, humans or wolves. It is when I learned how to define and differentiate between love and lust.

    I was collecting and picking women starting at the age of twelve , thinking I could find the right one. Not to boast off my confidence, I broke the Guinness Book of Record, breaking with a hundred and sixty girlfriends in three years.

    Aside from that, it was undeniable that my head grew bigger, taking advantage of that certain blessing that possessed me. I became the school's most bully while searching for the right one. Pity no one. Forgive none.

    However, I never expected that the kind of love I've been searching for all those years has differed from the rest of what's fair and just in the eye of our werewolf ancestors and humankind. And it happened when I met this person on that special event. "The Mating Night."

   {Ghino's POV}

  "Dude, aren't we supposed to join the Mating Event? I mean... How can we see our destiny with those gorgeous and lanky chicks if we were here, a thousand  feet away from the rest of the wolves?" Edwin Lee muttered while stiffening his entire body behind the huge trunk of the tree to avoid being seen.

    Our eyes were as sharp as a flying but constant eagle and the range of our sense of hearing was focused while solemnly observing the crust of the ground, waiting for our very first prey to appear. 

    And my friends' sharp claws and fangs were often ready to engulf their utter madness to see fresh drops of blood that will stain their hands from the innocent. I, on the other hand, remained in my human form for a very specific reason.

    That special night was supposed to be the day for the wolves who have reached eighteen years old, including me. It was considered one of the most significant and sacred nights in our lives as wolves... To get paired. Get marked. And more importantly, to get mated.

    However, we somehow believed that the sacred "Mating Event" were governed and intended only for the wealthy and powerful lineage of wolves. For those boastful princes and princesses in town. And for those with alphas and lunas blood runs through their veins.

    Considering we were betas and omegas, as agreed by the majority, the three of us have chosen to spend our night on a hunting trip, not because we are not allowed to join the Mating Event, but because we have to store something in the fridge.

    "For God's sake, Edwin. Stop daydreaming you and Clarissa will get mated. 'Cause that will never happen... Like even for a thousand years. Aside from that, no one is willing to mate the three losers like us! More importantly, we are here to support our friend, Ghino." Nadine Fisher muttered back from the next trunk of a tree.

    Edwin, Nadine, and Jackson were my best friends since our junior years. They were my salvation when life was terribly unfair. Well, it always is, based on experience. At the time being, we did not invite Jackson to our hunting trip, not because we will have our first day of school tomorrow but because he remains a pure human. 

    And for the record, Jackson hadn't seen us shifted into wolves ever since we became friends. That left him being unaware of our dark and monstrous sides.

     Nevertheless, we choose to tag along with him because similar to us, he was also dubbed as one of the school's losers. But I was dubbed as the biggest loser in the entire school because of me... being different from the rest of the wolves.

    "Will you guys shut off your mouths for a sec? I can't focus on our target. And it is best to get accomplished tonight unless you guys wanted to eat bread and vegetables again." I slapped the back of their heads respectively. "And besides, I did not ask you guys to join me on my hunting trip. You can join the Mating Event if you want to."

    As soon as the deer, our prey, moved out from the dense bush, the continuous weird clanging sounds of my metallic legs being in a rush have reverberated through the inaudible utter darkness. The wet soil even got shoved by my heavy footsteps.

    If not because of those hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny brightness from the wooden lamps and Christmas lights they dangled on top of the trees for the Mating Event, the entire ten hectares of woodland will be as dull and cold as someone who could not make it to the said event. That's us.

    The wolf elders intentionally put those lamps so that they could have followed what is to happen in the Mating Event, especially for Prince Nathan and Princess Lilith, who were the highlights of tonight's episode.

    Every male wolf does like and adores Princess Lilith, including me, of course. Aside from her family's most feared and well-respected lineage, her beau has bestowed perfection similar to a Goddess that could melt your heart and soul in just a blink of her eyes.

    If given my least chance to be her mate, I would have kissed her from head to toe as my way of greeting her every night and day. Sadly, she was already destined for someone more deserving... Being with Prince Nathan.

    Meanwhile, as I was about to jump onto the deer, someone's body got bumped against mine. I don't know where the hell it comes from but it flashed at the speed of light which resulted in me bumping away from the deer.

    When I got the vision of the incident, my friends' enthusiasm greeted my feeble eyes. So, I shortly dragged my gaze to the unexpected appearance of the fourth wolf with us. A female white wolf.

    "Oops! So, sorry." Edwin breaks the bridge of silence between me and the female wolf. The worst part was that he clenched the head of the deer. Hard enough its blood and brain particles got sprinkled and stained our bodies.

    Despite my furious expression, Nadine's and Edwin's expressions are telling me the other way around. They were continuously shivering as if something or someone was tickling them. Though none of them has shown it literally, it already does with my wolf's senses.

    "You touched and marked my wolf. My name is Princess Lilith of the Blue Moon Pack. I now pronounced you... My Mate!" she said in an established tone which resulted in me enlarging my eyes. I mean, who could not be? We were just in the middle of our hunting trip but now I got mated all of a sudden.

    My entire body got stiffened. I am supposed to feel the pain from getting pushed away by force. Could even hear the cracking sounds from my metallic legs. But after seeing and knowing the wolf was no other than my ultimate nightmare crush, everything has changed.

    Not to mention she proclaimed me to be her mate which I thought will only happen in a dream. But I'm pretty sure everything is real. She was real and was standing in front of me.

    "Dude, better seal with the Princess before she changes her mind." Nadine pushed my body by force, closer to Lilith. Don't know how but half of my body got bent and my forehead voluntarily leaned against her to seal the mating process.

    "I, Ghino Frost, of the Blue Moon Pack, accepted you, Princess Lilith, to be my mate," that was the most blessed statement I've ever heard in my entire living life. "And will forever bow to no one but you in sickness and in health. Till death do us part."

    Nadine and Edwin immediately and eagerly clapped their hands as soon as the deal got sealed. My friends knew I have been waiting for this centennial event of my life as they believed that there was no chance I could find someone deserving of my love and care.

    My happiness that night was immeasurable to the extent that I could barely put my ear-to-ear smile back to its normal state. I felt my jaws were numbed as I could barely take off my eyes of her. She was happy. But I am more.

    "What's the meaning of this, Lilith?" a male's furious tone suddenly appeared behind me. Despite that I haven't seen the wolf's face, the tone of his voice already does tell me he was against the sealing of our mating process.

    "Dude, I guess you need to end your hallucinations," Edwin muttered in a worried tone. His and Nadine's eyes were wide open while focused on one direction. Lilith also curved her brows and dragged them towards the man behind me.

    Could not help but gulp a bulk of saliva down to my throat as I slowly lifted my feet and eyes toward the male wolf's direction. However, as I got an eye on him, he was already in his human naked form. So, I shortly scanned him from head to toe.

    From my quick observation of the man's aura, my brain immediately remembered him as one of the big bullies in the school with the precise definition of every women's dream. And as far as I could remember, our one-time encounter didn't go well.

    I remembered every angle of his face after he blocked my metallic feet as I was heading to my friends' table in the school's canteen back in my first year at the university. Yes. I could barely forget his face. But I did not get the chance to know his name. But at that moment, he was standing in front of me.

    In addition to that, a few students who had seen that terrible incident, made fun of me, especially when they saw me as a half cyborg. Some even took photos and videos of me and then posted them on their social media accounts with the caption "meet the lousy metallic boy in school."

    After that most awkward incident of my life, I barely tag along with anyone else. My entire reputation as a wolf and a human has been ruined. Got humiliated and bullied endlessly since then. But I endured the trauma. Good thing that man who stood in front of me at that moment never looked for me after that.

    "Apology," was Prince Nathan's first and last word before he respectfully bent half of his body right in front of a beta like me. I can't imagine a prince like him bowed before me before he disappeared from his spot.

    We don't know what exactly happened considering the incident was fast. But I'm pretty sure and heard his apology loud and clear in my wolf's enhanced sense of hearing.

    "Did he just...?" I was supposed to say disappear but I shortly turned around and still found Princess Lilith standing behind me. That was all that mattered, telling and proving to me everything wasn't just a product of my helpless and feeble mind.

    "Yes. Perhaps the prince has already accepted his fate that you belonged to me now." Princess Lilith smiled at me for the very first time.

    That was her last words that kept on repeating over and over again when we separated ways back to our respective dorms. So do my friends. But before I went to sleep, I  removed the metallic legs from me at fused them to the electricity to get charged and ready for the next morning.

    Later that night, the profuse and cold sweat throughout my body down to my soaked bed mattress woke me up. At first, I thought it was only a nightmare that someone, a wolf to be exact, has kept staring at me in the middle of my sleep.

    But when I saw the open windows beneath my head, part of me wanted to believe it was not just a dream. It may sound strange to me but I somehow remembered the resemblance of the wolf with glimmering reddish-brown eyes that kept staring at me.

    However, I somehow did not consider the nightmare to be a threat to my wolf but the mysterious wolf's eyes were giving me a warning, trying to advise me to be keen and be cautious in my future endeavors.