Mate of a Wild Wolf (SAMPLE)

Part One. Chapter One. David

From the first moment that a teenaged wolf glances at a member of the opposite sex and doesn't consider them some gross creature covered in fleas, the adults insist on having 'the talk.' And I am not talking about some birds and the bees sort of talk, you know, where pups come from. This talk is about waiting for your Goddess given mate. But just as there will always be Elves living in their woodland domains and Vampires looking down on those who grow wings or fur, there will be Shifter wolves that don't listen to their elders.

I can't say that I was completely deaf to their words, I always planned to wait, always thought that I would be content to wait until my mate and I had reached adulthood and we'd live happily ever after. Just like my parents. Just like my older sister. I would do the same.

Tamara was like a shooting star crossing my heavens, bright and spontaneous, insisting on sparkling in orbit above me. She was older than me by about nine months, meaning she was also in the school year above me. Of course, I had noticed her, few Male wolves hadn't. Her long, wavy hair was the colour of chestnuts and her eyes a vivid green. She was fairly petite, but anyone who knew her could have sworn she was much taller, for that was just the sort of presence that she had. And for whatever reason, she chose to pursue me.

I came into my growth fairly early; I was a head taller than my friends by the time I was thirteen, even though I was one of the youngest amongst us. With the training that my old man insisted upon, I bulked up until I could look in the mirror and compare myself with my muscular brothers. We dwarfed my poor mother even as tall as she was, but she still ruled our home with an iron fist. Mum would call us gorgeous, but I always figured that her words were biased. I never expected another to speak of me that way.

"You're gorgeous!" Tamara would tell me. And I would always tell her that I had nothing on her.

I originally never planned to answer to her request to date me. I was a wolf, my Goddess given mate was out there, Tamara was a wolf, her mate was also waiting for her.

"You are my mate," she insisted.

"You cannot know that," I chided her as I tried to reject her gently.

"I do know that!" She replied, her hair caught by the wind, yet managing not to tangle as it fell about her shoulders. "I can feel it in my soul when you howl at the full moon before a pack run!"

I laughed at her then. "How does that make any sense?"

"You'll see!" She assured me.

She was persistent bordering upon the obsessive, she seemed so certain, that I began to waver and she was so clear with her intent that it was hard to keep denying her feelings. I knew I had been won over when her fox-red wolf approached my large, brown beast and he allowed it.

Our inner beasts are a part of us, but most would claim that they are also separate from us. I say 'inner beast' as although all werewolves are shifters, not all shifters are wolves. Our inner animal represented not only the form that we could shift into, they were our instincts, our animalistic side. They often had their own thoughts and feelings and would share them with their human half's, should they feel like it. Not in words, but using images and emotions. One shifter was like a partnership of two minds. At least that was how it was for others.

My wolf and I were of the same mind on most things. If he disliked something, then I hated it too. If I wanted something, then he wanted it too. There was no restraint when I ran on all fours through the woods nor when I ran on two legs around the school track. But we were equally quick to anger, to laugh, to voice our opinion or throw a punch. We held ourselves back when it came to Tamara's pursuit, but we both gave way when she wormed her way into our heart.