Chapter 3

Eva's POV 

Jason and I drove towards the mall, it was around a half-hour drive from home. The others were meeting us there, Luke was still with his dad, and Kelvin and Lucy had gone to breakfast with Kelvin’s parents.

The whole ride consisted of Jason complaining and freaking out over a human girl who seemed to be infatuated with him, I couldn't help but laugh as he described how disturbed he was at her behavior.

To be fair to him, she did seem to be lovesick and slightly obsessive but that's what happens when you hook up with someone who wasn't your mate.

The problem was that the boys seemed to believe that if they hooked up with a human, they didn't have to be concerned about the consequences when their mates show up. Or deal with the clingy emotions of teenage girls.

"You hooked up with her three times, what do you expect?"

He groaned at my reply, not appreciating my unhelpful answer.

"I told her I didn't want anything serious. I'm going to have to meet up with her, she keeps texting me wanting to talk about things." He said, quoting the last four words.

"Don't make it a fourth time when you do." I laughed causing him to shake his head, a playful smile stretching across his face.

We soon approached the Mall, pulling in to park the car and heading towards the main doors. Kelvin had already mind-linked Jason to let us know they were already here; they were waiting for us at the ice cream parlor.

I had ordered for both Jason and me; I had asked for two chocolate chip sundaes. Within a few minutes, our server, Kate brought out our order.

We sat with Lucy and Kelvin for around twenty minutes before Luke showed up.

"So, what's happening next Saturday? Are we all going to the party together or meeting each other there?" Lucy questioned, the boys all shrugging their shoulders.

"Everyone is getting a ride over there; we should make our way over there around half past eight." Luke suggested, he was laid back when it came to minor decisions.

They all nodded at his suggestion, seemingly happy with the decision. 

"Makes sense. When it comes to the ride home, my dad mentioned that he would send wolves to pick us up if we needed." Jason added.

I just listened to their conversation as they continued to talk about Alpha Torey's party. My wolf was paying more attention than me, her presence in the front of my mind as she focused on their discussion.

I didn't take any notice; my wolf had been showing herself more the past few weeks than she had in the last year. I assumed she had slowly gotten over her own grief from the death of my parents.

"What about you Eva, are you coming with us?” Lucy's hopeful tone had me mentally groaning. 

I had never been the party type; sure, I had been to them, but it wasn't something I made a regular thing.

I thought about it for a moment, it was either attending the party or having combat training with the Alpha. Both options made me unhappy, but I'd rather go to a party than suffer training with the Alpha.

"I'll go." I confirmed.

"I need to grab something to wear while we're here though." 

Shopping with Lucy was the definition of torture, she would walk around the whole shop and then walk around it again. She was a nightmare to shop with whereas I was the opposite.

I quickly found the dress I wanted to wear, it was a sleek black dress with thin straps, and it hugged every curve on my body and stopped an inch or two above my knees.

Finally, after another hour of shopping, Lucy had finally chosen her dress. After purchasing both items, we made our way back to the guys who were purchasing some new trainers.

We all said our goodbyes before heading in different directions. Jason and I walked towards his car; he had taken my bags from me as we walked through the food court.

As soon as we approached the car, he opened the trunk placing my bags in there before jumping into the driver's seat.

"I'm glad you're coming Saturday. I've met Torey, his Beta Sam, and his Third in Command Elijah." Jason sent me a reassuring smile, he knew that I liked to keep my life simple, parties weren't my usual event.

I work more than socialize with my friends; it was just the way I liked to live my life.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be fine. It's good for me to get out a little more. I have quite a few shifts next week so it will be nice to enjoy myself at the party this weekend." I responded.

Now noticing that we had pulled into our driveway, I jumped out, grabbing my new clothes before heading straight upstairs to my room

Linda and Jaxon had informed us this morning that they were having dinner with the Alpha Erons and his mate Grace. 

Dylan mentioned it to Luke earlier and we all agreed to order pizza but for now, I wanted to get a few hours of rest ahead of training tomorrow.

I still felt exhausted from the past few weeks of extra training, extra patrol shifts, and just feeling down in myself in general. 

I left my new purchase in the bag, hanging it off my make-up chair before throwing on a large top and stripping down to my underwear, sliding myself into bed and under my comforter.

Thursday night came by quickly, my border patrol shift had been quiet. I had been running the border with Elix for most of my shift, we stuck to the south side staying close to the edge.

Elix's parents were both trackers, and she was still in training since she had only shifted around six months ago. Her wolf was like mine; she had a blonde coat with specs of brown except mine had brown paws.

I was bigger and stronger in stature; my training more vigorous than hers since she had just started out and the nature of my wolf being a warrior.

It was coming up to the end of our shift and Elix and I would always finish at the hilltop, that looks down onto our pack territory. We would always race there; wolves love competition, and our rivalry amused me. 

“Come on Elix, taking it slow today?” I laughed through our mind link, she was close behind, and I could feel her presence a few feet to the left of me.

She growled in reply, her paws digging into the ground as she forced herself forward. The muscles in both our bodies exerted themselves as we powered through the forest, jumping and ducking over fallen trees and branches.

“I'm nearly there.” I teased just before I launched myself over the finish line which we allocated as a tree stump to stop ourselves from going too close to the edge of the hill.

“You always win,” She huffed, laying down on her paws to help slow down her heart rate. 

My own heart was beating rapidly after running for over 3 hours.

“You could let me win sometimes; you know.” 

“I shifted nearly two years ago, you're newly shifted and still in training. You never know, you might one day win against me.” I replied, laying down beside her, the warmth of our bodies creating a nice heat as our fur touched.

I laid my head on top of my paws, feeling Elix do the same as we remained in comfortable silence.

I noticed Elix was more reserved than normal tonight; she wasn't as talkative preferring silence over her usual chatter.

I debated in my mind whether to ask if she was alright. I knew how I liked to deal with situations myself, I was more of the suffer-in-silence type.

Before I could go against my better judgment, Elix's voice entered my mind.

“Eva, can I ask you something?” She went ridged and tense beside me, shifting herself a little.

“Sure, of course, you can.”

She sighed; her voice tinted with sadness as she questioned me about my feelings toward having a mate.

“It's extraordinary and special, I'd like to feel the way my parents did about each other with my own mate. I'm not in a rush to find him, but I hope that when I do it's everything that it's made out to be. The tingles, the sparks, the need and want to be around them, a connection nobody else can feel but the two of you.”

She never responded to the link in my mind, known from the absence of sound.

A thought popped up in my mind, and I wondered if she had already experienced what I had described, that maybe it didn't end in the way she had hoped.

“Elix, have you found your mate?”

I peered up at her to see her nod her head, her wolf showing the raw emotions in her eyes. Sadness, rejection, and desperation.

“Oh Elix, what happened?”

“He hasn't rejected me, but he's pushing me away, he doesn't know what to do. He was in a relationship with another wolf in our pack and he's worried about hurting her. Yet he can't see that he's hurting me more.”

“It will be alright Elix; you'll both work it out. You should talk to him about it, the longer you both leave it, the worse it will be.”

“You're right,” She sighed, clearly in deep thought. 

“We should head home; I'm going to confront him about it tomorrow before Torey's party. Otherwise, it's only going to be awkward, and it needs to be sorted.”

I nodded my head, standing back up on all fours as she followed, bumping my shoulder into hers as we raced towards home.