The Sixteenth Moon: A Rejected Mates Romance

Chapter 2: Mine!

"Come on, Kana, if we don't hurry we're gonna get stuck in the back," Jill huffed as she hurried up the hill leading to the large building in the center of the even larger complex housing the even larger Great North Territories wolf Pack. In one hand, she held a Tupperware container holding two batches of chocolate chip cookies. Her other hand moved excitedly as she rocketed along the paved path leading from the front of her cottage toward the middle of the compound.

Thankfully, Kana's shifter speed helped her keep up with her overly excited friend...and her shifter sense of smell told her the cookies would taste delicious. Her mouth watering, she kept pace, eager to get her hands on a few—or more—of her friend's treats.

She wasn't just eager to eat the cookies—because chocolate!—she was also eager to finally see an actual Pack gathering. While her parents had been happy being Pack adjacent, she had always wondered what happened at the gatherings her parents avoided like the plague. Also, she wondered why they'd been so adamant that she skip Pack gatherings in the first place.

It hadn't mattered to her much, though, since she had her parents, her life with them. She hadn't really needed a Pack.

She grinned at her friend, one she hadn't seen in nearly years, since before Jill had moved north to Canada from Tacoma, Washington with her parents to join the Pack after her brother's death.

"You're the one who needed to put on all that extra stuff on your face. I was ready to go an hour ago," she remarked, her grin growing when her friend stopped to turn and glower at her.

"Hrmph. Not everyone is as naturally gorgeous as you are, with your gigantic and exotic eyes, perfect skin, and silky hair! You look like the most badass K-Pop star! How is that fair that one woman gets all the good stuff?"

It was Kana's turn to huff, rolling her eyes. "First of all, I'm half Japanese, not Korean. And second, all the good stuff, huh?" She moved past Jill and started up the hill again. "When did the good stuff mean extra weight around my hips and butt, and being short enough to walk under a low hanging branch? I feel like I'm the only shifter on the entire continent that doesn't look like a Swedish magazine ad for lingerie. Oh, and don't forget that my wolf is shy as hell."

In the world of wolf shifters, a shy wolf was a weak wolf, as aggression and physical strength were prized above most all other attributes, with Pack loyalty and general mate-ability coming a close second. She was neither aggressive nor physically stronger than any other shifter; her wolf was slight in build, skittish, and only allowed her to shift into her wolf form once a month.

She wasn't a naïve idiot. She knew she wasn't like other shifter females, especially in looks. While most females were tall, lithe, and sensual, she was short, curvy, and blushed like crazy whenever a male even glanced in her direction. To me, the idea of finding her fated mate was a dream. Having her parents as an example of how truly happy her life could be with her mate made her want to find him above all things. But she was also practical. Her chances of finding her mate while also being without a Pack was infinitesimal—it was one of the reasons she'd finally given in to Jill's demands that she come north and apply to join her Pack. Though she hadn't been around the Yuba County Pack all that much, she'd spent enough time with them to know mate wasn't there.

Having only been on Pack lands for three hours after a journey that took a week by bus, she wasn't sure what to make of it other than the Pack lands were huge and beautiful, the clusters of community buildings were well kept and modern, and the people seemed friendly enough, even to an outsider.

"Are you sure Alpha Rueger won't have a problem with me being there? I'm not even Pack yet," Kana asked, eagerness turning to apprehension in her already roiling belly. It felt like she was walking toward something dangerous, something that would change her life. But how could she explain that to Jill who always seemed so danged happy? Like the bad things in life never touched her.