Chapter 2
(Present)
“Quinn, wait up!” Cici calls out, “You know I have short legs!”
“Stop making excuses,” I giggle as I turn my head only to see my best friend struggling to keep up with
me, “You can run faster than that, Cici!”
I get to the littleke first and start to strip my clothes off. As shifter wolves, we are used to nakedness,
so it doesn’t bother me going skinny dipping with my best friend. I dive in just as Cici stops at the edge,
panting. When I break the surface, I look to the spot that I hadst seen my friend, but it’s empty. I
nce around and start to be frantic when there is no sign of her. I call out her name, only to get
silence as a response. I start to swim back to shore when something takes hold of my ankle and yanks
me under the surface. Once whatever has hold of me releases my ankle, I swim back up, sputtering
and coughing up dirtyke water.
Cici is behind meughing as she treads the water, “You forget that I’m a better swimmer than you,
Quinn! Paybacks are a **!” My friend grins wickedly.
I send a ssh at her, “I could have drowned, **!”
“Oh, suck it up buttercup! Isn’t that what you always say to me?” Cici muses.
“Okay, okay, you got me there, but it’s my birthday, so you’re supposed to be nice to me. It’s not every
day that a she-wolf turns eighteen!”
“Well, if we want to get technical, a she-wolf does turn eighteen every day, maybe not the same she-
wolf, but…”
“Oh, my Goddess, Cici, you know what I mean!’ Iugh.
“So,” my friend grins, “are you excited to find your mate?”
I think about it for a moment. I’m really not sure if I’m ready to settle down with a guy or if I want to live
a little bit before finding my mate. You see, shifter wolves are able to find their mates once they turn
eighteen. The Goddess Selene has given each wolf a soulmate, their other half in which they can
spend the rest of their lives with. Mates don’t cheat on you, they love you unconditionally, and it’s
always love at first sight. My only issue with mates is, how do we really know if we really love that
person? Of course, not all wolves find their Goddess given mate, and so they choose a mate. Those
are the ones that you know you really love, but they are also the ones that could hurt you by cheating
on you.
“I honestly don’t know, Cici.” I lean back and let myself float on the water.
“Well, I know that I’m super excited to be able to find my mate in just a couple of months,” Cici copies
me, and begins to float beside me,” m dying to get out from under my parents.” She realizes a little too
late about what she just said, “I am so sorry, Quinn!”
I smile a little sadly, “No, it’s fine. I know you weren’t saying it to upset me.”
“It was still insensitive of me to say that about my parents.” She moves to tread water once again as
she watches me.
“It’s been three years, Cici. It’s not as bad as it once was,” I turn and start swimming for the shore,
“Come on, we better head back before Alpha has my head for beingte to my birthday dinner.”
Once we are back onnd, I turn to my friend and grin, “How about I let T out and you let Rani out,
that way you have a better chance of beating me back?”
Cici’s face lights up. “You’re on!”
I call my wolf, T, to the fore front and my bones begin to snap and pop. Unlike the first time we shift,
it takes only seconds to let our wolf out. The first time, though, it can take up to an hour and hurts like a
***. We first transform into our wolves at seventeen years of age to help us get used to our new forms
and new senses, before we are able to find our mates. You see, our mates have a distinct scent that
only we can smell, indicating that they are our other half.
My silver wolf stands tall, shaking out her fur while we wait for Cici’s wolf, Rani, to transform in to her
sandy-colored wolf. I pounce on my friend as soon as she’s done changing, and we roll around in the
grass, nipping at each other for a few moments. Finally, I jump up and prance over to my clothes,
picking them up into my mouth to carry back home. Cici follows suit,ing to stand beside me. Being
in the same pack, our wolves can mind-link only in wolf form unless you are mates, fated or chosen.
“Are you ready, Rani?’ T giggles.
“Oh, you better believe it!’ Rani replies excitedly. Cici’s wolf is almost as fast as mine, unlike her human
side, so she always loves to race me in her wolf form.
19:08
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“On your mark..’ T starts
‘Get set… Rani follows up.
“GO!’ Both wolves say in unison and take of at a dead sprint.
We both run as if we are running for our lives, jumping over fallen trees and side-stepping anything that
gets in our way. Our wolves glide
across the terrain, no matter how rough it is, they are made for running fast, with the sight to see any
and all obstacles that may be in our way. It doesn’t take us long to get back when running in our wolf
formspared to our human forms, so as we near the pack grounds in less than ten minutes, we
both slow down and then stop when we get to the huge tree that we always use to dress behind. Just
because we are used to being naked, doesn’t mean we want the whole town seeing us in our birthday
suits.
Cici transforms back into her pretty human self, with sandy-blonde hair and pretty brown eyes, with
lashes to die for. She stands a few inches shorter than me and has all the right curves. Me, on the
other hand, i’m a bit taller, standing at five-foot-seven, with my auburn hair and baby blue eyes, I’m not
stick thin, but I could use a few more pounds around my assets. I’m lean and toned, with a barely-
there-**and an okay rack. I’ve never been one to be self-conscious, except for when I’m standing side-
by-side and naked with Cici. Of course, she feels the same way I do about herself. We have always
compared ourselves to one another, it’s what helps us push ourselves to be better. We each have our
own attributes that the other wishes they had, but we are never jealous of each other. If anything, we lift
each other up and help the other improve themselves. We are sisters at heart and that will never
change.
NNNNNNNNNN
I walk in through the back door of the packhouse only to walk smack dab into L, Alpha Den’s
vor of the month, “Watch where you’re going! She jeers.
“I’m sorry L, I didn’t see you standing in the doorway.” I look at what she’s got in her hands, “holding
a handful of condoms?” I question, quirking my brow.
She quickly shoves them into her pocket, “Yeah, well, Den ran out, so I had to bring more over. You
can never be too careful you know.”
“Yeah, okay.” I go to walk by her, but she steps in my way, so I sigh, and stare at her, “Did you want
something?”
She leans in close, “Now that you’re eighteen and you know that Den isn’t your mate, stay the
***away from him.”
Igape at her in confusion, “What are you even talking about?”
“Don’t y dumb with me, I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other, it’s disgusting.” She
sneers, “He is mine, so you better keep your hands off.”
I don’t know who she thinks she is, but I’m not one to be disrespected in my own home, so I get right
up in her space and re down at her, “There is nothing going on between Den and I, he’s like a
brother to me, I owe him everything. If you ever get up in my ***again, there’s going to be more than
words being said.” I shoulder bump her as I walk away, only to stop when I get to the doorway. “Oh,
and unless Den has his ***in your nasty ***, it’s Alpha Den to you.” I walk away, leaving her
standing there with her mouth hanging open.
Carter ising down the stairs as I’m going up, “Hey Beta-Bay have you seen the boss man?”
He rolls his eyes every time I call him by the nickname I gave him, “Yeah, he’s in his office. You came
just in time, because he’s in one of his moods and you’re the only one that can get him out of it.”
“Oh, did loosie L pay him a visit?” I grin. Sometimes after she’s visited him, he gets into one of his
moods.
Carter grins, “Don’t let him hear you call her that.” He chuckles.
“Why? I like giving people nicknames!” | wink at the Beta and then take the stairs two at a time.
I stop outside of the Alpha office and straighten my clothes. I don’t know why I have a habit of making
sure ***decent whenever Ie to see Den, but something like OCD hits me every time, and I have
to straighten myself up. Raising my fist, I rap five times and then two, letting him know it’s me, and then
I walk in. He’s hunched over his desk writing something down in a ledger of some sort.
All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.
I clear my throat, causing him to look up, “Oh, hey Quinn. Sorry, I’ve been super busy today.” he closes
the book he was writing in and sets it aside before standing up anding around the desk. “Happy
birthday, sweetie.” He pulls me in for a tight hug, lifting me off my feet before setting me back down.
Holding me out at arm’s length, he scrutinizes me, “You haven’t met your mate already have you?”
I roll my eyes, “No, I haven’t, and I doubt I will. I’ve been all around town today and didn’t smell
anything.”
Den’s forehead creases, “You went around sniffing for your mate?”
I chuckle, “No, Cici pulled me around town trying to see if i’d smell him. I really don’t have any
motivation to find them just yet.”
He throws his head back andughs, “Leave it to Cici. That girl is going to give her own mate a run for
their money.”
| grin,”I’ve said the same exact thing.”
He taps my nose with his fore finger, “That’s because great minds think alike!”
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“Oh yeah?” I close my eyes, “Tell me what I’m thinking right now.”
“You are thinking about what my birthday gift to you will be.” He smirks.
I open one eye, “Are you serious?”
He shrugs, “That’s what I would be thinking.” He chuckles.
p his chest, “Ha, ha! You’re such an Alpha dork.”
He ps his own chest. “You wound me, Quinn!”
“I’m sure you will be fine in five minutes time,” I muse,”Isn’t that how it is when any female wounds
you?”
I take the seat in front of his desk while he walks back to his own behind the desk, “You aren’t just any
woman, Quinn.”
Something flutters deep down, but I brush it aside, “Yeah, I’m like an annoying kid sister that you have
to put up with.” Iugh, but his next words surprise me.
“I’ve never seen you as my kid sister, Quinn.” He doesn’t borate, so I just change the subject to
something else.
“I ran into L downstairs, like literally.” I snicker.
I see his body tense for the briefest second, “Oh yeah? What was she doing here?”
I shrug, “I don’t know. It was weird actually: I came flying through the door and she was just standing
there with a hand full of condoms. She said that you ran out, so she was bringing some more over.” I
watch his expression and can tell that L told me a lie, but I don’t say anything more about it. That isn’t
my circus, and she isn’t my monkey, “So, what time is dinner, and when are people showing up for my
surprise party?”
Den whips his head towards me, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, a party? I know nothing of
a party.” He can’t keep a straight face if his life depended on it, “Alright! If you tell my mother that you
know about it, though, I’ll give you double the ***!”
I slide my fingers across my lips, “My lips are sealed.”
He smiles, “We leave for dinner at five. I’ve had a dressid out for you on your bed; mom picked it
out.”
I love Amelia, Den’s mom, and former Luna of Storm River pack. She’s been like a mother to me
ever since I arrived and I owe her so much, I owe both so much. I stand up and walk around the desk.
Wrapping my arms around Dén’s neck from behind, I give him peck on
the cheek.
“Thank you for everything that you and your mom have done for me. You didn’t have to take me in, but
you did. You didn’t have to rebuild the Dark Moon pack’s town, but you did. I don’t know how I will ever
repay you.” i hug him from behind.
“Just be happy Quinn. That’s all I want, is for you to live a happy life.”