1 Eighteen

Scarlett

Eighteen. The number was cardinal for all the werewolves. All the werewolves shifted into their wolf forms mostly after turning twelve but that wasn’t the case for me. Unfortunately. The pack doctor declared me a lantern on my fifteenth birthday.

It’s my eighteenth birthday and my family has thrown a great party. I was waiting for the full moon, I had a hope that on my eighteenth birthday, finally, I would be able to shift and won’t be a disguise for my family anymore. 

I was deeply buried in my thoughts whilst my sister was applying lipstick on my lips, holding my chin in her hand like a baby. “My baby sister is thinking about drinking wine or her mate?” Rhea mocked, playfully nudging my elbow.

Looking at my shadow in the mirror, I gasped in amazement. “F-ck mate and wine. Is it me?”

“Hmm? Already thinking about f-cking your mate, huh?” Rhea teased me besides that I was already nervous about the shifting process.

“I don’t have a wolf and without a wolf, I won’t ever be able to find my mate, Rhea.” I bit my lower lip guiltily.

Rhea took my hands into hers and stroked them gently. “You have the werewolf genes, you have a wolf. It’s just that you're a lantern and your wolf is a lazy ass but you aren’t a wolfless werewolf so you’ll have a true mate and when he’ll kiss you, all your doubts will end,” she said in an assuring tone with a sly smirk and a wink.

In my crimson red gown, I was looking like a princess. The diamond tiara on my head, a birthday gift from my father, doing justice with my princess look.

When I was done with staring at myself and fantasizing about my mate, Rhea took me to the blackberry forest where everyone was waiting for her arrival so the feast could start.

As soon as I arrived, Alpha Aiden tossed the champagne and the party started. 

My parents, siblings, and friends wished me birthday wishes and they teased me about my mate because according to the pack's doctor, Layla, I would be able to find my mate after my eighteenth birthday.

The party was in full swing, I danced with my friends and cut the cake, and received presents from everyone. And now, everyone was waiting for the full moon's appearance so the howling ceremony could be done.

But I escaped from everyone’s gaze and strolled deep into the woods. I had a different plan for my birthday. 

Though my pack treated me so well, sometimes I felt suffocated because I was the only lantern in my pack. 

Squatting on the coast of the small lake which was my secret place, I closed my eyes and took a few deep relaxing breaths. 

A cinnamon and pine scent filled my nostrils, a small gust of wind made me shiver a little, and abruptly, I felt a masculine hand on my arms. Someone embraced me from behind, the contact with a strange male’s skin flabbergasted me. 

If it would have been someone else, I would have pushed him off and ripped his throat out. After all, I was the daughter of a Gamma and my father had trained me so hard that I was the only female warrior who could win against an Alpha in a duet while training. 

But his touch made me feel butterflies in my stomach. “Mate,” something in my mind proclaimed. I felt that it was my conscience, my overthinking mind. How could I feel the mating bond without a wolf? I had never heard any voices in my head before. 

“Mate,” he whispered, exhaling his sharp breaths on my earlobe as he tightened his grip on my waist. His hands slowly moved to my breasts from my waist, giving me goosebumps everywhere.

I held my head back shamelessly, my breathing slowed due to his caressing to the mounds of flesh. “Who are you?” I dared to ask which turned out to be a moan when he started kissing my neck. 

His face in the crook of my neck, full moon from the sky, showering silver moonlight on their physiques but they couldn’t see how beautiful they looked beside the lake and entangled with each other in solace as they couldn’t see each other’s face. I thought while he continued worshipping my body with his wet kisses. 

“Ain’t you feeling the sparks between us?” He murmured in my ear, deliberately biting my ear gently. And I spontaneously nodded my head in response.

Sprawling his legs lazily on the shore, he made me sit on his lap by lifting me with his hand on my waist. I felt his hardened c-ck pressing hard against my body but I didn’t react. I was feeling too shy to say or do something.

Cupping my cheeks, he finally made a move to see my face, my aqua blue eyes met his hazel eyes and I felt like I was closer to a Greek God. His eyes burning intensely with desire and piercing through my soul, the thick eyelashes making him look more gorgeous than any man I had glimpsed at ever.

He had a powerful aura that demanded respect and challenged to disobey him. He must be an Alpha, my heart went haywire, just one look of him could make me wet then what would happen when his luscious lips…

Before I could contemplate my thoughts, he crashed his lips against mine. He must have smelled my arousal as an Alpha, it was one of his privileges.

Embarrassment plunged in my body and I was damn sure that my cheeks would have deep red blush as the remark of my thoughts.

My hands circled his neck as he deepened the kiss, I forgot everything and focused on him. His touch. His kiss. 

His hand was roaming in my hair and pulled me closer. I again felt his hardness but this time, I couldn't hide my response and gasped which allowed him to explore my mouth.

He slowly savored every inch of my mouth and left me breathless with his passionate yet slow kiss. 

This was way far better than I had imagined, my first kiss fantasy turned into reality and the moment I looked into his eyes, I wanted nothing but to cling to him.

I had always dreamed of kissing my mate under the moonlight at the shore of this lake, this place was so special to me.

My sister's words echoed in my mind and Rhea was right. All my doubts had ended when he kissed me, I wasn't thinking about the shifting process or my being a lantern when he kissed me.  

There was a bond that calmed my anxious mind, a magnetic bond and attraction that pulled me to him.

I kissed him back with the same passion and he smiled against my lips before holding my face in his hands and tracing the jawline with his lips.

Snatching this moment to fill my lungs with the air though his wet kisses were making it hard for me, I almost clung to him when his lips lingered over my marking spot. 

Was he going to mark me tonight?

Without even knowing who I was…?

My hands sloped to his lustrous hair and held them tightly into my fists. He licked my marking spot with his tongue, sending chills down my spines. 

A sharp shriek of Rhea from the North terrified me and with a jerk, I pushed his body off me. Without even explaining anything to him, I started sprinting towards the north from where the voice came.

A wolf's claw on my shoulder made me halt, his claw tore the fabric of my gown. I could smell, it was a rogue and I was so enraged because he was stopping me from finding my sister.

Before I could punch that rogue, my anonymous mate shifted into his wolf immediately and growled loudly. The rogue raised his hand to attack him but my mate caught his throat and punched him in the guts.

Werewolves don't show mercy to the person who dares to touch or attack their mate. Moreover, he was an Alpha. His protectiveness, powers, and predator were ten times stronger and more than the other werewolves.

I just nodded my head towards him which he reciprocated as a signal to move ahead and I started running again as fast as my legs could make it.

After five minutes of haste, I found Rhea's body coated in her own blood and lying on the dirty lane of the forest. 

I immediately ran to her and checked her pulse. The darkness of the night didn't let me see her limbs torn from the middle which I could only see when the moonlight helped me to observe her body.

My knees weakened and collapsed on the rustling and dry leaves lying on the road. She left me alone… she was gone…

"No!" I whined loudly, "no, she can't leave me."