Life-Times Apart

*Ch.1: Never had a mate

AN/: LANGUAGE LOTS OF BAD LANGUAGE

 Levi likes her sleep. She is a night owl until the sun starts to rise, and then she crashes. And crashes hard. She is an immobile lump on her bed, resting peacefully, dreaming of nothing. She never has dreams anymore. But soon enough she'll have to wake, and she'll be pissy about it.

And so it goes. The sun is shining like every other fucking day here. The sound of manly voices wake her at dawn. Can't they just let her sleep!? I mean really! Who gets up at the ass crack of dawn just to go running? It's like they're trying to piss her off. That's what she thinks anyway.

And to be fair she has a point. They don't HAVE to get up so early, but they aren't like her. And she doesn't know that.

She closes her eyes and stuffs a pillow over her face to muffle the sound, but it does no good. Her ears are much too strong to be fooled by a pillow. She yanks it off her face with an angry sigh.

"Why do I have to live here? Huh? Whyyy???" she nearly cries, looking at her ceiling. Sighing, she rolls out of her bed and lands with a thump on the floor.

"Uuuggghhh." she groans and army crawls over to her bathroom. She heaves herself up with the door handle and stands. She uses the door like a cane and shuffles her way over to the sink with closed eyes. Too early. Much too early.

She turns the water on with blind hands and splashes her face a bit. When she opens her eyes to look at herself in the mirror she is highly amused.

"Hello gorgeous." she laughs at herself. Her face is still covered in dirt, dripping off her face. Her auburn brown hair has leaves and branches in it, it's one giant knot that's gonna be hell to get out, and she's still in her shorts and tank top from yesterday morning.

Every inch of her bare skin is covered in dirt and has scratch marks. Only her eyes seem to be better off today. They are no longer clouded and tinted gray, they are bright electrifying dark blue. Almost like the ocean, but rimmed with ice. Her eyes are her favorite feature. They can be cold and fierce, or dark, deep and warming. She prides herself on being the only one in her entire pack with blue eyes. They all have hazel or brown eyes.

She rolls her shoulders a bit and turns on the shower to her right. It's going to be a long day. Very long. Very boring and very long. Just the thought gives her a headache. But this one she can handle.

She clambers in the shower still fully clothed and rinses off before peeling the remaints of her clothes off. They land in a dirty wet heap on the floor next to her hamper. She proceeds to wash herself carefully and thoroughly with her body soap. And her hair is a whole other challenge.

She has to pick through it and pull all the leaves and debris out of her nest of hair. She then proceeds to wash it and condition it before just standing under the water and running her fingers over a few scars on her back and abdomen. She opens her eyes and quickly exits the shower, not keen on the memories the scars bring.

Wrapped up in a towel Levi heads back into her room not at all happy with the sun that's streaming in happily.

"Son of a bitch. One day! Just one, I want some fucking rain, please!" She explodes, throwing her hands up and yelling at the sun light. She eyes it distastefully before walking over to her dresser and pulling out clothes.

She gets her costmary pair of dark jean shorts and goes with a black tank top with lace on the back. She then pulls on her light jean jacket and slips on her black Vans, still a bit muddy from yesterday's activities. Tossing her hair up into a ponytail she trudges down stairs to see the remaining members of her pack lounging around in the kitchen having breakfast. Did I mention that she's the only female in the house?

"Holy shit she's up!" One of them shouts completely impressed. That's Sam, a good fighter, but otherwise lazy.

"I thought she melts in the sun!" the youngest laughs. Damion. He's a spaz.

"Har freakidy har. Where's the orange juice?" she asks from the fridge, her eyes as cold as nitrous.

"I think-" one of them starts.

"If you say we don't have any it's your head getting bitten off. I can do that. I WILL do that." she warns with narrowed eyes.

Suddenly someone pulls back a curtain and Levi hisses like a cat as the sun hits her. She rolls, and hides behind the island.

"It burns!" she cries. Everyone laughs at her. And someone passes down a half gallon of OJ.

"I love you whoever you are!" she cries tearing the top off and drinking as much as she can. Nearly half the jug.

"I love you too Levi." a familiar male voice laughs at her. It's Jeremy. Of course it's Jeremy.

Jeremy Vander has been her best friend since she was 11 years old and allowed to talk to the males other than the ones in her adoptive family. He was the first face that stood out to her because it was getting punched in. Now 7 and a half years later he's the one doing the punching. To rouges faces, not 11 year olds.

She can still whoop his ass in a fight though. Especially if she lets go of the reins a bit. Her wolf would really love that. A lot. But in a fight, in front of other packs, or even in front of a rouge, she can't lose control or her secret will be revealed, and apparently that's a bad thing. She doesn't know why.

"So, you guys are all fucking nuts. You understand that, right?" she says not having moved from the floor. They look at her and roll their eyes.

"And why is that little pup?" the eldest, Marcus asks. He's the eldest, and the doctor, and the Beta. He was her adoptive father.

"Because you're up so EARLY!" she complains.

"I'm awake with the moon and I feel amazing, but when the suns up I want to die!" she groans. The room gets really tense at her words.

"Speaking of which, you left your room last night even when you knew how dangerous that would be. Dangerous to your life Lee. You could have died yesterday." Marcus tries to explain. She brushes him off.

"News flash Marc, I'm dying! I'm not dead, it won't be years away, it'll be swift, and any day now. I want to spend the end doing something that I love, and today I feel amazing! My eyes are clear and the headaches gone! Let me have today." she says, nearly pleads as she stands. They just don't get it. She doesn't want to take death lying down. She wants to be jumping over waterfalls and fighting rouges and running until she can't feel her legs and then running some more! She wants to go out swimming and feeling like there's nothing left for her to do on this earth anyway.

"Alright. Alright you can have today, but today only. Alright? We have to go see Hannah DeMoines anyway. It's her birthday." And there goes any semblance of Levi's good mood. The room, already tense about the speaking of her death, completely quiets.

Hannah is turning 17 years old. The age one is supposed to find one's mate. She is the Alpha's daughter, and there will be a party in which she will meet men from all packs, men of mating age. She will find her mate, and when the party is over, and the men leave, she will be mated.

Levi had that same party, the same ritual, and it lasted two days, but she never found him. Ever. She meets the new men that come into the pack visiting and staying, but it's almost been two years. And after a few months, she began to get sick. And she began to get weak.

After many tests and many diagnoses, they realized she was dying, and there was no reason for it. That's when her dreams stopped. That's when she understood some of the old sayings.

'Your mate is life itself, the love and life given to you by the moon. There will be no other, there can be no other. Mate and life are together your purpose-' it cut off there, but Levi suspected it went on to say something like,

'For without one, there cannot be the other.' Without her mate, she was dying. And for without her, her mate was dying. And she's been hiding from every single 17th birthday since.

"Alright, let's go. Now. Before I run and vomit." Levi says, turning from the male pack house. She lives there, because the doctor is so close.

"Never had a mate, doesn't mean I should shit on anyone else's parade." she mutters to herself.

"That's the spirit!" Jeremy says behind her.