2: ONE YEAR LATER

ONE YEAR LATER

"Come on, Pookie-Bear, you know I love you," Cory used his fingers to unbutton Jessica's blouse. His wolf, Curtis, was on edge. He had wanted to do this since the moment he found out Jessica was his mate.

"But Cory, I'm not ready," Jessica said as she held onto his wrists to prevent him from unbuttoning her shirt any further.

Cory grunted in frustration. His eyes glowed black, showing Jessica that his wolf wasn't pleased. "I am your future alpha, and how dare you refuse me!" He spat through gritted teeth, squeezing her neck while pressing her firmly against the wall of the supply closet. She flinched, the wounds on her back were still raw from the beatings the Luna gave her a few days before. She had forgot to pick up the Luna's dry-cleaning which caused the she-wolf to go berserk.

"I-I'm so-sorry," Jessica stuttered. Cory might have been her mate now, but before he treated her just as bad as his mother. She remembered the many times where he tripped her or pulled her hair, dragging her over the floor. A pang of pain crippled her heart as she thought about that, but she quickly removed them from her mind.

None of his previous abuse mattered. Cory was her mate now and he loved her, even though he had never said it, but his actions behind these closed doors told Jessica all she needed to know. Plus he apologized about a million times for the way that he'd treated her in the past and she had forgiven him. How could she not? He was chosen by the great Moon Goddess.

Cory observed the fear reflected in Jessica's eyes, and he could taste and smell it lingering in the air. He relaxed, letting go of her throat and burying his nose in the curve of her neck. "Pookie, it's just that you make me so horny. I want to have sex with you so badly and I feel you don't really love me."

"Don't say that, Cory," Jessica began. "I love you so much, my heart can't contain it. It's just that I always dreamed of being properly marked by my mate before I have sex, plus we found out we are destined mates three weeks ago, and you still haven't told your parents."

Cory celebrated his eighteenth moonday a few weeks ago and on the night of his celebration, he found out Jessica was who the Moon Goddess had chosen for him.

"The Alpha and Luna have been busy with rogue attacks and gathering food for the winter, so I haven't had the opportunity to tell them as yet, but I will over the Christmas holiday," he explained with a wide grin on his face.

"Do you promise?" Jessica bit her lip, her eyes pooling with tears.

"I promise, my mate," Cory peppered her neck with kisses, squeezing on her breasts and pressing his hard member against her thigh. "You are the most beautiful mate in the whole wide world."

"You don't have to say things you don't mean," Jessica blushed.

"Look at me," he used his fingers to angle her face so he could look into her eyes. "I mean every word. I always thought you are beautiful, even before I knew you were my mate. I just can't wait to tell everyone so we can be a family."

Jessica's heart fluttered with joy and happiness. She yearned for a family and a place to call home. Her parents died when she was just five years old and even though the Luna took her in, she became a slave to her and not really her daughter. She missed her parents so much.

Her father, Steven was an ordinary wolf, a skilled farmer and a famous storyteller. Even though he was an omega, wolves of all ranks loved to hear him tell his fairytales. There was just something magical about his gravelly voice and tranquil tone that could put anybody in a trance.

Her mother, Lisa served as the head maid for the Luna. They maintained a close relationship, but the Luna constantly felt jealous of the omega's attractiveness and was uncomfortable with how her Alpha husband would always look at the pretty omega. Jessica's mother had the voice of an angel and would sing for the alpha every night at supper. Everyone in the pack knew the alpha secretly had a crush on Lisa, and he was devastated after she was killed.

After the couple's deaths, Jessica had no more family and out of courtesy the Luna decided to raise the orphan girl. But when Jessica turned thirteen and her features began to resemble her mother's, the Luna couldn’t bear to see her parading around her husband, so she sent the girl to go live in the barn with the farm animals and that was where she had been staying for the last five years.

But soon this would all change, now that Cory Graceland, future alpha and son of the alpha and luna of the Graceland Pack was her mate.

Jessica truly believed that Cory would save her from sleeping out in the barns with the animals and their filth. She felt it in her heart, that her mate would rescue her from the tauntings of her superiors and sure enough his mother and sisters would have to stop beating her since she would be their future Luna. For the first time since her parents died, young Jessica had hope; hope in her mate and hope in the Moon Goddess.