He's My Mate

Chapter 1- Run Ins

There is an edited version of this story that can be found on my profile. It has the same name, but (EDITED) after. It also has a new cover. You can read this version, that version, or both if you'd like. The edited version is just to help with the inconsistencies and errors of this version. 

Now... on to the story

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I had always laughed at those girls running around, trailing after guys in the pack like lost puppies. What did they ever see in that loser they were with? I was determined to never end up like them. It seemed easy enough, considering I couldn't stand a single guy in the Moon Rise pack. We were all in mutual agreement, their punk asses stayed away from me, and I kept far from them. 

That all changed however one day; that fateful day. 

~~~~~~

A shoe flew straight by my head, the stiletto nearly hitting me between the eyes. 

"Cassie, what in the heck are you doing?" I shouted at her. 

"Helping you, obviously. It's your birthday. You're finally of age and you could bump into your mate at any point. Do you honestly think I'm going to let you out of your house looking like that? On your birthday no less. Come on, Allison."

I rolled my eyes at my friend. I loved her, but sometimes she just went overboard.

It was sweet of her to want me to look nice for when I found my mate, but she had been just a little obsessed with it. She had even started buying me new clothes. It was like she was trying to live vicariously through me until she came of age. 

"I already told you. My mate isn't going to be here, and if he is, there's no way I could possibly stay with him. None of the guys here are for me. I don't want to be bound to a mate anyway."

Cassie rolled her eyes back at me and threw a little red dress my way. 

I held the scrappy piece of fabric up in front of me. No doubt it would look good on someone, but that someone was not me. 

"What are you waiting for? Put it on," Cassie demanded. 

"You aren't serious. This covers nothing." 

"That's the point, now put it on."

I grumbled as I stomped my way past Cassie, slamming the door to the bathroom closed. I wiggled my way into the red scrap, trying to pull it over my large chest. That was apparently the easy part. I looked in the mirror. Everything was hanging out. 

"Are you sure this is a dress? It looks more like a shirt!"

"It's a dress, just pull it down!"

"Then my boobs will be hanging out!"

"That's the point."

"That is not a point I want to be making," I grumbled.

I pulled on the fabric as it tried to cling to my skin. How in the world could people breathe while wearing these things? When I finally got the dress to cover my butt I took another look in the mirror. 

My long, tan legs were accentuated by how short the dress was. I wasn't thrilled with it, but even I had to admit I looked good. I bent over at the waist and ruffled my long, brown hair, flipping it back. The slightly messy, but still stylish look; Cassie would most definitely approve.

When I stepped out of the bathroom Cassie's jaw dropped to the floor. 

"I think the temperature just went up in here. Girl, you are smokin'!" She said fanning herself. 

I smiled and did a little turn and flipped my hair for her. 

"You will kill them. I'm serious, you're going to leave a trail of boys behind you in search of your man."

"I'm not searching for my man," I said as I dug around for some shoes. 

"Nope, you're wearing these," she said handing me a pair of shoes. "And what do you mean you're not searching for your man? Don't you want to find your mate? It's the one thing we have to look forward to in life."

"And then what? Find your mate and live with him forever? What if he's a jerk? What if he's immature? I would have to be with that for the rest of my life."

"But he would be your mate. Despite whatever flaws he may have, you would have been made just for each other," she said. Cassie had built up her idea of what mates were like. We all heard the love stories of course, that's what they wanted us to think of when it came time to find our mate, but I just wasn't buying it. 

There wasn't anything that could possibly make me look past all the flaws a guy had and make me stick with him. It was just absurd to think like that. What if he was a homicidal maniac? What would that make me then if I was made to fit perfectly with him?

I didn't respond to Cassie, it was better to just let her think she won the battle. I put the black stilettos that she had chucked at my face on and we went down the hall. 

"We'll be back later mom! Cassie's taking me out."

"You girls have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

I wasn't sure if that was an invitation to go wild or try to be conservative. I knew my mother hadn't been the most innocent of teenagers. She had admitted that her seventeenth birthday had been a wild night. If anything, she expected the same thing from me. Granted, her wild side had been something that created a close bond between us. I could tell her anything, and it felt like I was talking to Cassie.

Cassie and I walked down the sidewalk, making our way to the Nightcrawler. It was the local club where most people gathered on a weekend, but we had other plans. 

As we passed the door for the Nightcrawler and stumbled onto the alley next to the entrance. We looked both ways, making sure no one was watching us. Cassie grabbed my arm and we ran down the dark space. Well, ran as fast as we could in the ridiculously high stilettos  

We could see the faint glow at the top of a set of stairs that went down. The glow marked the Underground, the other club within the pack. This one however was kept relatively secret. Not many knew about it, and that was how they liked it. If pack officials caught wind of what went on, all hell would break loose. 

The bouncer for the club took one look at us, and let us stroll right on inside without a second glance. Well, there was a second glance, but it wasn't because he was thinking about stopping us. 

Cassie and I strolled right across the floor and up to the bar, perching up on the stools. She waved down the bar tender and ordered us both a drink. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it sounded fruity, and I had no problem letting go tonight. I may not seem excited about the fact that I could find my mate, but I was excited that it was my birthday. 

Two and a half drinks in and Cassie had coaxed my out onto the floor. People who know about werewolves assume that we can't get drunk because of our high metabolism, but that's not quite true. We can still get drunk, just not as drunk, and it doesn't last as long.

With the slight buzz that had started to form, I began to dance, no longer caring what I looked like. Who would care if I was acting like a fool in a dark crowded room, it wasn't like anyone was sober anyway. And it wasn't like they could see everyone clearly, even with our heightened vision, the flashing lights still obscured things. 

The bass pumped through my body and I swayed in time, my hair falling all around me. 

Something made me stop, I hadn't been sure what it was at first, but it nearly knocked me over. My head whipped around and through the dark crowded room my eyes fell onto one person, their piercing blue eyes fixed on me. 

This can't be happening, I thought to myself. It was the last possible thing I wanted. I didn't want someone from my pack, I wanted to get out of here, to get far away from these people. I didn't really want anyone to be honest. But as I stared into those eyes I knew that wasn't going to happen because I had just found my mate. 

He was Alarik Trenton, the Alpha's son.