"I'm not going."
My father, the alpha of our wolf pack, RainDancer, gave a fierce growl that would have scared the heck out of me if I hadn't been on the opposite side of my locked bedroom door. Then again, maybe I should have been scared. My father was definitely strong enough to break the door down. I don't know why he hadn't already.
"Hey, Dad?"
He stopped growling long enough to snap, "What?"
"Why haven't you kicked the door in or something?"
"Because eventually you're going to realize that you going to the CloudCatcher ceremony is nonnegotiable."
I sighed, rolling over on my bed so that I was facing the ceiling. I stared hard at the white paint, feeling like it was the reason for every last one of my problems.
You're being ridiculous, I thought to myself. It's only supposed to be half an hour. Chill out.
***(later that day)***
I looked around as we made our way through the woods and into the clearing. Every ceremony was held in a different place, and the CloudCatcher alpha had picked this area to hold his birthday ceremony. He was turning eighteen today.
If the leader of a pack didn't find their Life Mate by the day they turned eighteen, then a ceremony was held to find a long-term, but still temporary, stand-in. The pack leader had to choose a partner to lead with them. So for this ceremony, a group of women would basically be put on display and CloudCatcher's alpha would pick which woman he wanted to stand as alpha female. Most likely, nothing romantic would happen between them.
But sometimes the alpha, or alpha female, would get tired of waiting for their real Life Mate, so they would get together officially with the stand-in. I can't explain why, but every time I thought of the handsome CloudCatcher alpha taking another mate, even if just for pack business purposes, I felt like my heart was cracking in two. And that's stupid, because I've never met him.
But I've seen pictures. He's pretty freaking gorgeous. You know how it is: wavy black hair to his shoulders, so-dark-they-look-black eyes, rugged good looks, muscular six foot plus frame…
I felt my heart flutter at the thought of him, but I shook my head and tried to focus on my surroundings.
My mother was, in all her female alpha-ness, glaring at any guy who looked my way.
"Mom," I said pleadingly after she'd scowled fiercely at a middle-aged man with a wedding ring on his finger, "You're being silly. How am I supposed to find my mate if you don't allow boys to even come near me?"
She wrapped a slim arm around my shoulders and grinned dreamily. "Glendaya, sweetie, if he's really your mate, he'll know it. The boys feel it sooner than the girls, you know. The second he comes within a mile of you, he'll know you're around him somewhere. And then he'll find you, and look into your eyes, and you'll get to feel that wonderful merging of mind and soul where you hear every thought he's ever had and he'll know everything about you and you'll fall in love the first time he touches you and you'll live happily ever-"
"Mom."
"Sorry, sweets. My point is, when he finds you, he won't let a silly little thing like an overprotective mother get in his way."
"How do you know?"
"Because." She gave my shoulders a squeeze. "I know you, and I know what you need. Your mate is going to be strong and very…male. I can feel it in my bones. No wimpy submissive for you. He's going to be dominant, definitely."
