The Chosen One •

4

Kun

I stood outside letting the cold air beat against my skin. It was a beautiful night and the stars shined brightly through the sky. The music from the pack house created an echo breaking the serene silence of outside. My parents decided years ago it would be nice to celebrate Thanksgiving a day early so that we weren't participating in this colonizers holiday.

I just wanted to get away from everyone and all the noise. I hated seeing everyone cuddled into their mates and I have yet to find mine. I'm almost 27 and I haven't found my mate yet. I've gone to different packs in this state, traveled across America and still nothing after 8 years of searching. My parents haven't said anything about it other than encourage me to keep looking, but I know my dad is slightly worried. I'm next in line to take over this pack and it's known to our kind that an Alpha with a mate is stronger than one without one.

"Yo," The familiar voice of my best friend, Jacob sounded in my ears. Jacob is the son of my father's Beta and next in line to be my Beta, my right hand.

"What's up," I nodded at him as he stood shoulder to shoulder with me.

We stood at the same height but that is the only similarity between us. His caramel skin is a contrast to my pale skin, his hair kept short while my hair wrapped into a bun that passes my shoulders. We were raised more like brothers than best friends because our fathers wanted us to know that we should always have each other's backs.

"Trying to hide from your girlfriend?" He teased and bumped my shoulder with his.

"Her and everyone else. I just feel weird tonight, like something is going to happen," I sighed and my breath showed in the cold air.

"Does it feel bad?" He looked over at me with a worried look.

"No. I don't know. Gray won't stop pacing in my head and he's giving me a headache with his panting,"

"Well, let's go for a run. Your sister is stressing me out. She left an hour ago to get her human friend from the airport and cursed me out before she left," He ran his hands over his face. Jacob and Kitara found out they are mates when she turned 18 three years after we did. She never cared for the whole mate thing and tries to avoid him at all costs. When she couldn't avoid him, she'd be mean to him and hurt his ego.

I smirked as I thought about my little sister yelling at him. "Just give her time. She's still young and she's always said she doesn't care for mating. She hasn't rejected you so she has a part of her that cares,"

"Yeah, yeah. At this point it's been 5 years of her breaking my heart. She's 23 now, almost 24. I can't keep putting my heart and my wolf through the constant pain. It's going to weaken me," He lowly growled.

I nodded in agreement with him. I can't imagine having my mate right in front of me and they want nothing to do with me. Hell, I feel weaker as the years go on without my mate, I couldn't imagine her in my reach yet so far.

We started walking away from the pack house and towards the woods. The smell of soil and trees filled my nose which relaxed my body. We kept silent until we reached our favorite area of the woods near a creek.

"Why don't you try to make her jealous?" I asked. "It's not like you don't have women lining up to be chosen mates,"

He scoffed. "Yeah, I forget that you're stupid," I let out a low growl and he laughed. "I'm joking. If your sister saw me with another woman she'd kill me or her,"

"Or she might realize that she needs to stop playing with you. I know my sister and all those things are possible with her, so just try. You kind of have nothing to lose," I shrugged.