AFRAID OF THE DARK

CHAPTER 1

I spent the summer traveling with my uncle and his family after I moved in with them. They helped greatly while I was still in mourning. My twin cousins, Lucas and Locus, were already close and I considered them my best friends as well. They would visit every summer before the loss of my grandparents. They made me feel welcomed when I got off the airplane with tears still brimming in my eyes from the funeral. That's when my uncle had decided to take the summer traveling. Lucas will take his position as Beta at the end of summer. His father had thought it would also be good for Lucas to explore the world and experience life before taking on a demanding role.

I knew there would be a chance I found my mate when we returned to their pack territory. I was nervous, but excited at the same time. I would wake up with thoughts about what he would be like. Locus and I had talked a lot over the phone the past few years. She would keep me updated on the people in her pack. I knew who the players and the sluts were. I knew who would make a good mate and who wouldn't. Perhaps that is what scared me the most. Knowing.

"Don't worry, Camilla. Your heart is too pure to have a horrible mate. He's going to be as wonderful as you are." Locus chuckles at my nervousness.

I straighten my favorite dress to prevent wrinkles and move my whitish-blonde hair forward, then back behind my shoulder again. My usual lightly tan skin has the perfect tan from time on the beach. I know I may never achieve this tan again. Locus claimed I looked at my most beautiful and I'm glowing, but I still fidget with worries.

Locus also looks beautiful and has dressed her best for the first day of school. Her chestnut brown hair has been straightened and her blue eyes are brought out with the colors of her makeup. She and Lucas look like our fathers. Where as I have taken the features of my mother, but with my father's sparkling grey-blue eyes.

I adjust my dress and fix my hair again in nervousness. My last school was a mix of humans and werewolves. The school structure was different. We were careful. There were orders and rules. We all got along and respected each other. This is a school of competitive werewolves that don't always follow the rules of the old ways. It's a wolf eat wolf world here and every man or she-wolf for themselves.

"Say cheese." I startle when Lucas turns around from the driver's seat to snap a picture of me.

"Why did you take my picture?" I frown.

"I wanted something to remember you by before you spend every second with your new mate and forget about us little people." He laughs.

I reach over his seat to give him a hug from behind. "You're my best friends and family. I would never forget you."

"Besides," He lifts the camera. "You won't have those disgusting hearts in your eyes in this picture."

"Funny." I slap his arm lightly and laugh.

"Time to go." Locus lets out an excited squeal.

I follow them to the entrance and break from them when we get inside the school building. I go to the school office and they head towards their lockers. I look out the large window as I wait for another student to finish at the front desk. The high school isn't very large and only contains students for this pack. My old high school consisted of my last pack and a neighboring one, plus the humans. This school is about one fourths the size, but their pack is much larger and there are more teens. Most of the school ground consists of their athletic fields and the woods that surrounds the pack lands.

I turn with the sound of a disgruntled voice. "Can I help you?"

The clerk, an older lady in her fifties, shows her distaste when I walk up. I haven't been inducted into the pack and still have the scent of my old pack. I bite my lip to keep from remarking about her rudeness and walk towards her desk but stop when I hear her growl. My wolf is beginning to growl back, but we become quiet when another door opens. A slightly younger woman with short blonde hair walks out and smiles when she notices me.

"You must be Camilla, Beta Robert's niece." The younger woman introduces herself as the principal. "Welcome."

"Thank you." I give a tight smile as I try to reign in my previous anger.

"Gretchen, can you make sure Camilla gets her schedule. I placed her paperwork on your desk this morning.

"Yes, ma'am." Gretchen looks through her papers until she finds the one for me and begins typing into her computer and printing out my schedule.

My wolf begins to stir inside me and I feel a slight dizziness overcome me. My wolf keeps yelping, but the sudden feeling in my body has my heart pounding too loudly to hear. Gretchen is also trying to talk to me, but I'm having difficulty focusing. I hear a bell ring behind me and seconds later I'm being yanked into a hard chest.

"Mate." Somebody with short hair the color of copper sniffs my neck.

I now understand what my wolf is telling me. "Mate."

"Alpha Logan!" Gretchen yells out.

Both the guy and I stiffen. He moves back and looks at Gretchen. The principal is now glaring at me. My mate whispers for me to meet him outside before he turns around and walks out. He's the future Alpha. The one that has slept with almost every girl here. Arrogant, spoiled, and a player. The one Locus finds a way to complain about in a 'nice' way. The reason this school has no rules. He's my mate.

"Here's your schedule." Gretchen hands me a piece of paper and snatches her hand back after I take it. She looks at my hand like my touch is infested with every kind of disease in the world. "Make sure your teachers sign it."

"Thank you." My wolf is too distracted to growl when Gretchen growls again. I walk out of the office with the schedule in my hand.

Logan is nowhere outside the door, but I sniff the air and can smell his scent leading out front. I frown when I smell the scent of another she-wolf on him. He had been with somebody intimately this morning. I head towards him and exit the large windowed doors of the school building. Again, I'm tackled into his arms and feel his cold nose against my neck as he sniffs. He releases me and stands back to get a better look at me up and down. I blush when his sky blue eyes begin to darken and his wolf comes forward.

"You're hot. Let's say we bail and spend the rest of the day hanging out." He gives me a smile that I'm sure is the reason behind so many panties falling for him.

"I-I can't. It's my first day. I don't want to do anything that will tarnish my education." I blush again.

"Are you serious?" He laughs, but stops when he can tell that I am serious. I've never skipped school unnecessarily. Education was important in our old pack. If I'm going to be Luna, it will be especially important. An educated Luna is seen as strong and admirable. "Fine. Can you at least meet me between classes?"

I nod. "I can do that."

"What's your name?" He lifts a brow.

"Camilla. Camilla Fields." I get lost in his blue eyes when he stares down at me.

"Camilla." He tests my name on his tongue and I shiver hearing it. "Come on. I'll show you to your first class."

It turns out we have our first two classes together. He plans to walk me to both classes. Logan lets go of my hand and winks when we reach the classroom. He finds his seat in the back and I hand my schedule to the teacher. The only desk available is on the opposite side of the room. I giggle when I see Logan pouting cutely. My wolf is not happy about his player ways, but she can't stop appreciating how hot and adorable our mate looks.

I'm just barely sitting down and he already has several girls flirting with him when I look his way again. He talks to them politely, but he doesn't flirt back. I know he must have already slept with at least one of them, if not more. It's something I will have to overlook. My wolf is angry that our mate didn't wait for us and has been with another, or in Logan's case, many others. I was raised by my grandparents who taught me to be respectable of my future mate. The worse I have ever done was make out with a guy I had just met at a party. It was a pack party meant for families. I was only fourteen and didn't have my wolf at the time. It's the first and last time I ever kissed a guy. I felt guilty after, but my young teen heart had really believed we were going to be future mates. I was obviously wrong.