The Haughty Mate

"Hurry up or you will be late!" My father yelled from downstairs.

"Who would I be late for?" I said with a quizzical expression on my face. I was currently sitting on the floor infront of a full length mirror curling my long chestnut hair into ringlets. I could not decide if my makeup was too much for what I was wearing. I had on a light gray floor length gown that had a princess cut neckline and glittering diamond rhinestones in star patterns all over the dress. My smokey gray eyeshadow seemed a bit heavy for such a light color dress but it brought out my dark blue eyes so I decided to keep it.

"I don't know, Annalise, it could be your special night!" My father yelled back.

"I doubt I will find my Fated Mate tonight, being that I don't turn seventeen for two more weeks. It really doesn't work that way, ya know? I can't just walk up to every guy there and see if he might be the one. People already think I am weird without coming across as a creep too!" I said with a little too much sarcasm in my voice.

I could hear my father's long stride walking up the steps to my room. He opens the door and looks at me with initially a sturn face but it quickly turns to a smile.

"Wow, you look just like your mother. Absolutely stunning. Also, I know how it works, incase you forgot, I found my Fated Mate at the Midnight Run myself. I was just meaning you could meet someone from the other pack's school and make friends. Who knows, in a few weeks, one of them could turn out to be your mate."

"More like crashed into your mate but sure we can say found if it suits you. It's possible I could make a new friend, but I won't hold my breath for it to be my mate" I said back to him with a bit of a wiley smile on my face.

"Okay, yes, I did technically crash into your mother but either way I would have found her regardless. The Goddess made sure I was able to point her out after our collision, and you never know what the Goddess has in store for you."

My father, Marcus, was fated to my mother, Iris, on her seventeenth birthday. At the time, my father was in his last year of school. The night happened to be the yearly Midnight Run Dance held between three ally packs in the region. The Midnight Run is similar to the human version of a prom with multiple schools in attendance except that the dance lasts until midnight on a full moon. After the dance, everyone shifts into their wolf form for a fifteen mile run together around the lake that divides the three packs.

Most of the time it's a crazy party because a lot of the teenagers bring alcohol to the dance and go for the run a bit buzzed. I had a feeling this was how my father ran into my mother. He had collided with her only a few minutes after midnight and his wolf, Horizon, instantly declared her his mate.

My father and mother were inseparable after that moment. My father was training to be a warrior for the Crescent Moon Pack when the Goddess blessed him with his mate. He chose to give up that dream to move to the Blood Moon Pack to be with my mother.

When you transfer packs, you start at the bottom of the pack. You have to earn your new Alpha's trust and start the training process all over again. You have to learn to fight the way your new Alpha wanted you to. My father started the process about a year after transferring. About that time, my mother found out she was pregnant with me. I was born almost two full years after the night my parents met, and six months after that, my mother would be killed in a random rogue attack.

My father went into a kind of depression many didn't think he would survive. I think if it wasn't for me, he and his wolf would have died from a broken heart. It took a few years for my father to come out of his depression, but by then, his dreams of becoming a warrior was gone. He knew he needed to be able to protect me whenever possible, and being a warrior meant he would have to travel between packs to keep the borders safe.

Instead, he used what little money we had at the time to buy a rundown convenient store close to the border of our pack. Most people never needed to come to the store, unless traveling outside of our pack, so we did good to break even every month.

I usually worked after school and weekends at the store to try to give my father a little break as often as possible. It was usually so slow that I could do my homework every night and still have time to read a book before shutting down the store.

That was what I was known at school for, being the loser who worked in the rundown store who apparently couldn't keep my nose out of a book to understand what was going on in the real world. If it wasn't for my best friend Claire, I honestly would be invisible to the whole school.

My father sits on my bed and watches me finish pulling my hair back. "When is Claire going to be here to pick you up?" He asks.

"Seven thirty" I respond while checking my watch. I have about five minutes before she gets here. Claire may be a bit spastic but she's very punctual.

I stand up and look for my heels, spotting them on the other side of my bed. I round the bed to grab my shoes when I hear the door bell ring.

"That's probably her now" I say.

"Yeah I think you're right" My father says.

I walk slowly down the stairs, making sure I don't fall and break an ankle. I haven't received my wolf yet, so I would have to heal slowly like a human. The idea of that is a bit nerve-wracking.

I open the door to Claire standing in a short red dress that goes to her mid thigh, and heels that lace up her calves. Claire has always been braver than I am, and always more confident. She could pull this look off better than anyone. With high cheek bones, bright blonde hair and long tan legs, she was every guys dream. I on the other hand, barely reach five foot. Claire was easily a head taller than me. Her sky high heels did not help my case tonight.

"Well, the dress is beautiful, but it covers so much of you." She says.

"Great! You are showing enough skin for the both of us!" I said back. We both smile and a little giggle escapes Claire.

"Are you ready to go?" She says.

"Yes, let me grab my purse." I quickly go to the table and grab the little black clutch Claire bought me for my birthday last year. I tell my father bye, and head out the door for my first Midnight Run party.