Chapter 1 - Waiting for the mating season

Lilith Venerelli heard a rustle in the bushes on the opposite river bank. Her eyes flew open in alert. She quietly propped herself up against the river bed.

Her lips tugged up into a smile when Jayden, her boyfriend, appeared through the bushes. Her wolf growled in displeasure before disappearing to the back of her mind.

He was shirtless. His chest and arms were glistening with sweat. It was obvious that he had been on a run. Lilith shamelessly let her eyes trail the length of his body knowing well enough that he was also staring at her.

“I’m required to guard the pack borders today. Just thought I’d check in on you, babe. I knew I would find you here.” Lilith melted at his simple, yet sweet words.

“You should really get going then.” She said softly, unable to keep the smile off her face.

He ran his long fingers through his silky blonde hair as his eyes glazed over, indicating that he was mind linking someone before he smirked.

“I still have about fifteen minutes to spare.” Jayden said and joined her, sitting incredibly close to her.

Jayden captured her eyes with his once Lilith glanced at him. 

He looked deep into her deep maroon eyes, lightly touching her hair with his calloused fingers.

“I love you.” He breathed, bending down.

Lilith gasped, knowing his intentions.

“Jayden, stop it!” She giggled and swatted his wandering hands away from her waist.

“You agreed to wait till the mating season.” She quickly reminded him when he leaned dangerously close to her neck.

They had already planned that they would mate under the Moon Goddess’s blessings at the caves once the clock hit midnight tomorrow night, the time she was born, the time she would turn eighteen and the time she would know for sure that Jayden was her mate.

“Of course” He leaned back; sounding slightly miffed seeing Lilith’s reluctance.

Lilith rolled her eyes before pulling him in for a kiss.

Jayden responded with such enthusiasm that Lilith was taken aback, but she briskly regained her composure and held him close.

Lilith shivered in pleasure when she felt Jayden’s warm hands travel the length of her back. Her wolf growled at Jayden’s wandering hands.

They spent the rest of his spare time kissing and making out.

“I’ve got to go now, you know, prepare for tomorrow night.” Her face was still red from the kiss.

Lost in her thoughts about Jayden, Lilith’s face lit up with glee on her way back home. She was brought out of her trance once she noticed Aria Halliwell, her childhood best friend making her way towards the pack training area.

“Hey!” Noticing Lilith too, Aria gleamed at her and met her halfway.

“How was it?” Aria asked, giving Lilith a nudge suggestively.

“What?”

“Oh spill it, woman, I can see that blush and I can smell Jayden all over you.”

Lilith covered her flaming cheeks.

“We just kissed, nothing else happened.”

“Uh-huh! Someone does not sound quite pleased that they just kissed !”

“Come on, you know why.”

“Yeah, yeah, someone wanted to wait till the mating season. I know.” Aria rolled her eyes at her. She never understood Lilith’s reasoning behind this.

“You’re coming with me tomorrow night, right?” Lilith took a deep breath before spilling out the sentence. She was nervous and would really need some support from her best friend.

“You already know that mated couples can’t attend the mating season.”

“Come on, please. You can bring Chris.”

“Okay, fine!” Aria agreed with a reassuring smile.

Standing by the window in her mansion and admiring the beautiful morning scenery, Luna Mary’s lips quirked up into a small smile when she spotted Lilith strolling back from the woods.

“What is my gorgeous wife doing?” Alpha Cole pecked her rosy lips before glancing down at what caught his mate’s attention.

“She is a fierce she-wolf this one, just like her mother.” She said, feeling proud that Lilith will soon start fulfilling her duties as a warrior.

“What more did you expect from her? She was fated to become a warrior the day she was born in such a high rank family but like her parents, she would lead an ordinary life too.”

“Not all warriors’ lives are ordinary, Cole. Just like our Blaze, Lilith is working hard to be worth of her ascribed rank.”

“As a warrior, she is responsible to protect the pack even when her life would depend on it and think about nothing else but the pack’s wellbeing and benefit.”

“Still, she proved her strength and seeing her performance so far, she would be a great warrior, more so than her parents.”

“How can you be so sure, sweetheart?”

“I don’t know why but I have a feeling that Lilith wouldn’t just be an ordinary warrior.”

“What if the Moon Goddess proves you wrong?”

“Well, everything depends on tomorrow’s pack event.”

Lilith was not the only one nervous about the mating season. Her parents waiting at home were anxious about their daughter’s birthday clashing with the same day as the mating season held every year.

The mating season is organized for unmated werewolves to find their mates under the full moon. It was a night where werewolves who have not yet met their mates, would try their luck to find their other half with their wolves’ instincts.

The entire forest surrounding the Blood Moon pack would be left unguarded for the unmated ones to be free. Their wolves’ sides would be more induced than their human sides.

Since Lilith will turn eighteen while she would be at the mating gathering, it was uncertain whether Lilith would find her mate during the gathering which would leave her unmated among all those unmated males in the dark forest.

“I’m afraid that the myth of the last sigma would repeat itself.”

“Erica, that happened one hundred years ago.” Andrei was surprised at his wife’s thoughts.

“What if it happens again, Andrei?”

“There’s a reason why it’s called a myth. Maybe, it never happened.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Lilith’s father remained silent when his wife’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

“I don’t have a good feeling about tomorrow.” Erica insisted.

“Just have faith in the Moon Goddess. She would not wrong our daughter.” Andrei said despite feeling doubtful about the whole situation.

“What if we tell Lilith to stay at home tomorrow?” Erica suggested.

“And miss the chance of her finding her mate? Come on now, Erica! She will turn eighteen tomorrow. There’s no chance that she would not find her mate.” Andrei reassured Erica.