HER Young Mate (Completed)

Part Two: As the Night Approaches

"Cora!" I heard Frea calling my name outside my room, and just like yesterday I shot up. I went to check the clock, but remembered it was Saturday, and my birthday. I shot out of bed to open the window. "Hey there Miss Wolf." She said with a beaming smile.

"I'm not one yet!" I said, though I couldn't contain my smile back.

"By tonight!" She laughed, looking up at me. "You gonna let me in?" She asked. I nodded, but heard the front door opening already.

"You coming in idiot?!" My brother called from the front door.

"That's weird..." Frea started. I waved him off.

"He's always like that though-"

"No- it's just- I never knocked." She said, looking up at me again. She went to the front door quickly, and I threw on a dress and met her in the living room. My dad was already cooking a huge breakfast, and Owen rubbed his eyes as he sat down at the island to watch. Frea looked nervously at him, but said nothing as we both sat down too. "So I couldn't help but come by, I know you guys have a lot to do, but you're my best friend Cora, and I just- well I couldn't not be here." She laughed. My brother scoffed.

"Well you could have not been here..." He argued jokingly. Frea rolled her eyes and ignored him, causing my dad to chuckle and shake his head.

"Here I brought you this." She said handing me a necklace with a piece of rose quartz.

"What for?" I asked, putting it on.

"My grandmother said it would keep you safe from unsavory mates." She said. I looked at it and groaned. It was beautiful, but...

"Frea, I told you, I don't want a mate." I said. I was gonna pull it off when my dad pointed at me with his spatula.

"Hey hey, Frea's grandmother is an elder, and what did I always teach you about your elders-"

"I know, I know, 'they are history, they are memory, they know what's best for us, even when we don't." I said with a groan, but Frea seemed pleased with herself. "Hey Sammy!" I cheered as he walked in, his older brother Jeremiah following in.

"So it begins." My dad said as he waved them in towards food.

"Hey Cora." Sammy's brother said as they sat down for the meal. "My father wanted us to stop by to ask if your dad needs help." He said, Sam nodded, then looked at me nervously.

"Yeah, I'm sure he did." My dad chuckled, causing Owen to laugh into his drink and nearly spill.

"What?" Frea looked at the two and then back at Sam. "I don't get it." She said as Jeremiah turned red and Sam looked like puking.

"Well..." My father started. "Let's just say we might have a lot of visitors today." He chuckled again.

"Why?" I asked, half a pancake in my mouth as I slouched over my plate.

"Well, you will need a mate." My dad said. I spit out my food so much that Frea, disgusted, started to clean it up as I stood.

"That's it- out!" I said as I stomped my foot.

"They are welcome to food, just like any pack member, any other day Cora. Don't be so touchy." My dad laughed. "Now sit, eat." He waved at me, and Sam and Jeremiah's fearful selves, to sit back down. Frea passed me her plate of food to replace the one I had spit up on.

"I didn't want to come see you Cora, he did- and our parents made us." Sam groaned as I glared at him.

"Well I'm sorry Jeremiah, and tell your parents I'm sorry too, I won't be having a mate anytime soon!" I said, eating food with my hands to show how much I didn't care to impress anyone.

"Worth a shot." Jeremiah chuckled. "You are the Alpha's daughter."

"Well it's never going to happen!" I said, food splattering from my mouth. Frea chuckled.

"Well of course not, not if you keep acting like that." She laughed. "Oh thank you." She said, when Owen placed a plate of fresh food in front of her. He never did that. I gulped nervously. He's just being nice to her. I tried to convince myself. He's never nice to her.

******************

"No! Move it to the left a bit!" My dad ordered. I handed him a cold drink.

"How's it going?" I asked him. He sighed.

"Trying to get all of this done with a bunch of hormonal boys is driving me crazy," he chuckled as he popped his beers top open, "they can't even set up the stage properly." He added as he shook his head. "How's the food coming along?" He asked.

"Well, considering there are twenty girls in there fighting to make everything perfect for Owen, me and Frea have been needed so little we've decided to go to the mall for a little while." I said. He looked at me in a parental way, warning me.

"You should nap like Owen, you'll need your strength, and I know you must be feeling over heated and tired from all the blood changes." He said. I nudged him and he smiled reluctantly.

"I know, but I need a dress for tonight, and all the other girls don't want us around, so we want to get out for a bit..."

"Okay, take the car instead of the truck though, I'll need it, and here..." He rifled through his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and handed me way too much money.

"Dad-"

"No, no, take it. It's a birthday present" He said. I chuckled.

"Okay dad, thank you." I kissed his cheek. "I'll see you soon!" I called as I jogged back to the house.

"I'm just getting a drink! Jesus you vultures!" I heard Frea say loudly at a few girls who glared at her. Then again they were all glaring at each other as soon as the other looked away.

"We're leaving you heathens! " I laughed as I pulled Frea from the mob, all of whom were Owens prospects. She stuck her tongue out at the rest of the pack females and I laughed again as I tugged her out the door to stop her. "Come on, let's go have some fun!" I said as I jogged to my dad's station wagon.

"Sweet! I love the old hearse!" She joked as she climbed into the passengers side.

******************

"Are you sure you don't want to find a mate." Frea joked as I tried on the fifteenth dress today. I had plenty of white dresses at home if I couldn't find one, but I wanted to wear something new, something perfect.

"This isn't about my mate. Of which I will never have. This is about me." I said as I looked in the mirror. I shook my head and went back into the dressing room. "All you think about is mates: all I can think about is turning into a majestic wild free thing, running with the other changed ones. Can't you see how much more important that is." I said, as I changed dresses. I stepped out of the dressing room. I didn't even bother looking in the mirror in the booth, just went out to show her, and then I stopped.

"Woah." Frea said as she gave me a face of approving shock. I had stopped because I felt the same way about it. It was perfect. It was a simple white dress, with a tight bodice that perfectly cupped everything, and the bottom flowed loosely away, to just the right height. I turned in it. It was so simple, but it fit so perfectly, it was the one.

"This is it." I said, nodding. "This is the dress I'll wear when I first change." I added. It felt sudden for the first time in my whole life. It was today. Today I would change. I felt a million butterflies in my stomach and had to run back into the dressing room to take the dress off.

"You okay?" Frea asked.

"Yeah- I just- I'm hungry- I think I need to nap like my dad said to." I lied, I just had to get out of the dress. It didn't feel right looking at myself in it, but it felt so good wearing it. It must be my nerves. Tonight everything will be perfect.