My Mate
Ethan’s POV
Miranda and I have been best friends for years. Our friends are always telling us we should date, but I don’t want to date anyone, except for my mate. I’m the son of the strongest pack, but I know little about wolves. All I know is that strong communication between your wolf is important, as well as controlling your temper. Also, that mating is a two-part process, marking, then “mating” each other. My dad and mom say that I already am mature enough to have a mate, even though that rarely happens until age 15. When you mate, your wolf tells you, and you feel suddenly drawn to the person. You can’t help but want to touch them or comfort them when they’re sad or angry. It’s like a bond between you that strengthens you and makes you happier.
The doorbell rings and Miranda show looks up at me and smiles. We’re planning to watch a movie. She wanted to watch a romance, but I wanted to watch an action movie, so we settled for a comedy. Halfway through the movie, she fell asleep, and her head ended up on my lap. I felt weird at first, but then I was kind of comfortable. She kept stirring around and just before she fell asleep again, my inner wolf, Tanner, said,
“Mate.”
Miranda
“Miranda! Come on! The faster you get out of the house, the faster I can walk back and spend a few hours without you annoying the hell out of me!” My sister says.
“Coming, Jessica!” I say in my sweetest little girl voice. My other sister, Priscilla and her husband, Umar, are at a conference in Los Vegas. Last week I got my third mark of maturity on my wolf’s forehead, even though the common age of maturity is 16, for females, males are 15. My wolf, Jade, and I bonded when I was only 6 years old. One day, when I was 7, my wolf’s temper got the best of me and I ended up shredding a girl’s clothes and scratching her face. My mom told me never to reveal myself, for the sake of me and my family.
My mother died when I was 9, from a heart attack. The doctors said that she already had an extrasystole heartbeat, and it wasn’t common for people to have severe heart attacks after that. Out of the 3 of us, I’m the only one who has a wolf, but my sisters are all in their twenties. My mother didn’t tell me much, and my sisters only knew the basics (like mating, control over your wolf, shifting, bringing extra clothes when you shift, so you don’t walk around naked, the maturity marks, etc), but I’m content with what I know. I feel that the less I know, the easier it is for me to hide that part of me.
I run downstairs, grab my house keys and head out the door. Ethan’s house is just a 5-minute walk from here, but my sister is coming because she’s going to the store, which is a 10-minute walk from his house. She just walks past his house, leaving me to ring the doorbell alone and waves goodbye. Ethan opens the door, and we decide to watch a comedy. I think I fall asleep because I feel my head land on something. I open my eyes and see Ethan looking at the TV screen... I didn’t finish the movie. I look in his eyes and Jade says,
“Mate”
Then everything goes dark.
