Midnight Moon

*Beep Beep Beep*

Ugh I hate that sound! It's the worst thing in the world! Like who would invent something to purposely wake you from sleep?

Let me introduce myself. My name is Arya Storm, I'm sixteen years old, blonde hair, violet eyes, nerd, my father is Alpha Austin Storm of the Midnight Moon Pack, I have one brother Justin, and the local pack freak of nature. I am one of the only four hybrids in existence. My best friends are the other three hybrids. No one knows why we were all born with the abilities of both our parents genes but we like to think we were born for a reason and we were meant to be together. I am a wolf-panther hybrid, my wolf's name is Olivia and my panther's name is Isa (Eye-sa). Which reminds me, " Good morning girls," I say. "Good morning Arya!" Oliva says excitedly. "Happy birthday guys!" Isa replies. "Are you guys ready to find our mate?" she asks excitedly. "Yes" "No" me and Olivia respond at the same time. "No?" They both ask me. "I'm not ready, I'm still so young, there's so much I still want to do. Once I find my mate, that's all over. Especially if he's an Alpha, which we all know is a very real possibility." I tell them as I get out of bed to get ready for school.

After my shower and regular morning routine, I head downstairs for breakfast. As I walk into the kitchen I see my mother and father arguing with each other because my father won't let my mother do something on her own. "I'm a strong, independent woman. I don't need a man to do everything for me. There was a time when I didn't have anyone to do anything for me and I was doing everything for everyone else." my mother said while putting her hands on her hips. Typical mom stance when she's determined to get her way or when me and Justin are in MAJOR trouble. "All I was trying to do is help put the food on the table, Love. I wasn't trying to steal your womanhood." my father said with a laugh as he shook his head and turned to walk to the table. "Oh, good morning Princess! Happy birthday!" my father said as he pulled me into a hug and kissed me on the head. My father is the best man I know and he's shown me how a girl should be treated. He's taught me everything I know about life, outside of house work that's mom's specialty. "Morning baby! I made your favorite breakfast! Happy birthday!"

As we ate breakfast we laughed and joked it was the perfect start to my birthday that is until I saw the look mom gave dad. "So darling me and your father were thinking..." she started as she placed her hand on dad's arm "that you and the girls could skip school and go to the mall to shop, call it a birthday present. We've already cleared it with the girls' parents." "What did you do?" I already knew exactly what they did. "What? What do you mean? We didn't do anything" mom said not so convincingly, she's never been good at lying. "We just thought you'd like to go shopping with the girls instead of spending your guys' birthday at school." dad said, trying to swoop in with the save. "No. I don't believe you guys, mom can't lie.'' I said, crossing my arms and raising my eyebrow, "So? What did you do?" I asked again. "They planned a mating ball," my brother said, making a grand entrance. "You. Did. Not!" I yelled "Why would you do that! You promised me mom! I'm not going!" I yelled standing up about to storm out when I heard my fathers growl. "DO NOT SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER THAT WAY YOUNG LADY!" my father yelled and for the first time I wasn't scared I was radiating with anger and that's when my beasts came forward and let out a loud growl. "Do not speak to us that way! We are not one of your pack members, we are your daughters! We will not stand for such disrespect!" they spoke as one. It was eerie, they've never acted like this before, I felt so much power running through me it was amazing and terrifying all at once. I snapped out of my head when I heard my mom gasp and grab my fathers arm. "Look at her eyes!" my mother whispered to him.

Just then the girls came barging in like usual but paused when they saw how we were all standing. As I turned to look at them they all gasped. "What's the matter with my eyes?" I asked after taking back control. That's when my brother started hysterically laughing. "What's the matter with him?" I asked looking around the room, "Hello? What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked my brother when no one else would respond. Everyone was just staring at me like I grew another head. "Yes, everything's fine, the ball is happening, you will attend even if I have to drag you there by your ear. Do you understand me?" my mother said and it was then that I knew there was no point in arguing she had made up her mind. "Yes ma'am" I said as I walked up and hugged her. "I'm sorry mama I shouldn't have yelled at you." "It's okay baby, please go shopping and buy a nice dress," she asked even though I knew it wasn't a question, so I just nodded. I turned and looked at my father and my eyes immediately started watering. We never fight. I'm a daddy's girl all the way. All he did was open his arms and I stepped forward as he surrounded me with his arms. "I'm sorry dad, I don't know what happened, they just took over, they've never done that before. Not forcefully." I said muffled because he was squeezing the life out of me. "It's okay it happens Princess. You better get going, the girls look like they're about to burst." He said laughing as he let me go. I turned my head to see Lisa and Kimberly literally bouncing with joy. I laughed as I waved goodbye to my family and walked out the door. I was about to close my door when I saw my brother frantically running towards the car with four little boxes in his hands. "Wait!" I heard him yell. We all started laughing when he tripped over his own feet but popped back up like nothing happened. "I got these for you guys, Happy birthday girls." he said as he hugged me and shut the door.

Each box had a letter on it so we knew which one was for each of us, when we opened the box none of us made a noise. In the box was a necklace of the moon with our birthstone in it. I turned mine over and on the back of the moon was an inscription that said "No matter what life sends you will never face it alone. Forever and Always, your big bro" AWE! He's so sweet. "Do your guys have inscriptions?" I ask and they all nod holding theirs out with tears in their eyes. All of ours had the same inscription. "I've always known he thought of us as his little sisters but...." Kimberly said. "He's never came out and actually said it." Lisa says. He will never know how much this actually means to us all.

The car ride to the mall was filled with a dance party which ended when Kimberly almost crashed. We all were laughing when we got out of the car and we accidentally ran into a group of guys. "Hey watch where you're going or you might fall for us." One said as he winked at us. "Uh yuck" "Never gonna happen" "Not in your wildest dreams" "Did you really think you had a chance?" Then we walked away. "Whores!" Another one of those little boys yelled at us. And at that moment he knew he fucked up. Lilith spun and punched him straight in the nose as Kimmy got up in his face, "Listen here you little bitch! Nobody uses the word whore anymore and obviously we aren't 'whores' because we turned you down without a second look MAYBE we just aren't interested in your ugly ass. MAYBE we're waiting for our mates. Did you ever think of that? Or is that too much for your non-existent brain to process?" "Oh and next time you insult someone make sure their father isn't the Alpha" I added with a smirk as their faces paled.

As we walked in Lisa started going on and on about this new store she's been dying to go to. I couldn't help but block her out as my mind wandered to the ball tonight. I wasn't ready to find my mate. I wasn't ready for my life to be over or at least the vision I had for my life. I also couldn't help but wonder what he's like, is he sweet, caring, kind? "You mean you can't help but wonder how hot he is?" Isa commented and I could hear the smile in her voice. "What? No I haven't thought about his looks at all.'' I say as my cheeks start to heat. "And what has you blushing?" Kimmy says as she hooks her arm through mine. "Yea Rya you're as red as a fire truck." Lilith says coming up on my other side. I look ahead and stare at the back of Lisa's head, "Nothing, I was just thinking about what I think my mate will be like." I said as casually as possible. "What he'll be like or what he'll look like?" Lilith said with a wink and if it was even possible my face heated even more.

I was by no means exceptionally beautiful but I wasn't ugly. I had above average boobs and a nice ass, at least in my opinion. I was a nerd though which most of the time made me invisible except when I was with my friends. They were all super model hot, for a long while when we were younger Justin had a huge crush on Kimberly, he told me when I was 10 that he hoped Kimberly was his mate and I don't think that ever changed. I feel bad for him, I know he was crushed this morning when she came in and they weren't mates.

We shopped for hours until we had all found dresses and decided we needed to put some food in our stomachs. "I want pizza!" Lisa said. "No way I want burgers!" Me and Kimberly said at the same time. "I'm with Lis, why don't you and Kimy go get burgers, we'll get our pizza and we'll meet at the table." Lilith said, laughing slightly. We all nodded and went our separate ways. "So, do you think we'll find our mates tonight?" I asked Kimberly. "I don't know dude honestly I hope not. I'm not ready to be tied down. I wanna go to college as far away from home as possible, you know? I wanna live!" She replied with so much emotion in her voice. I knew that wasn't the reason, "Okay, now what's the real reason?" I asked as I grabbed her arm to stop her. "I'm scared, what if he doesn't want me? What if I'm not good enough?" she said with tears forming in her eyes. "Kimmy, a guy would have to be blind deaf and headless to not want you. You're the real deal, the whole package." I hugged her and with a final squeeze I let her go. "Let's go get McDonalds, come on," I said.

After we got our food we found an empty table and waited for the girls. "Are you ready to find your mate?" Kimberly finally said and I looked down to think for a moment. "I've been thinking about it all day and honestly I'm not sure. I'm excited because I'm so ready to have my mate, but I'm so scared because what if I'm not what he wants and he rejects me?" I say while looking at my hands. "Rya any guy would be lucky to have you as a mate. You're kind, funny, caring and sweet, not to mention hot as fuck. You're the perfect Luna and I know your mate will love you and be ecstatic to have you." Kimberly says with pride and confidence coating her words. Just then the other girls got to the table and we spent the next thirty minutes laughing and joking without a care in the world.

When we got back home we all went our separate ways to shower and agreed to meet back at my room. It was the biggest. I got to my room, grabbed my speaker and headed to the bathroom. I put on my playlist, turned the volume up and got in the shower. Thirty minutes later I was completely clean and having my own personal concert. I had just finished putting my robe on when the girls busted through my door as our favorite song came on. We started singing along with the music while dancing around my room. The song was coming to an end and we all had stopped to catch our breath and we heard our brothers laughing. I turned around and threw the closest thing to me, which happened to be a lamp. "Stop laughing! You're not even supposed to be here!" I yelled as the lamp hit Kageen in the face. "Owwww! No fair I wasn't ready!" He yelled holding his nose. "Hey Kageen how do you think mom would feel about you sneaking out at night to meet with the school thot?" Kimberly asked, smiling sweetly as Kageens eyes got wide. "How do you even know that?!" He asked. "What do you want, Kimberly?" Derek asked. "Nobodys talking to you brother." Lilith said with an evil smile.

"I can't believe you're doing that to him!" Lisa says laughing. "I can't believe he agreed to it." I said as I put the finishing touches on my hair. "He only agreed to it because he knows that if I tell mom what she'll do to him is a thousand times worse than what I have in store for him." Kimberly said with a smile as she finished her makeup. "Picture time!" Our moms yelled walking in the room with the rest of our families trailing in behind them. "You guys look amazing!" Our brothers pushed past everyone to give us hugs. "Your brother's are right, you girls look beautiful." My dad said while giving us all a hug. "Okay okay come on let's take pictures, we don't have a lot of time." Aunt Aurorah said while basically pushing us out of the room. We were walking towards the stares when Aunt Savanna scared the life out of an Omega when she yelled at him. "Hey! You! What's your name?" "Keith ma'am" he said while showing his neck. It's a sign of respect, kind of like bowing to royalty. "Keith, that's a lovely name. Would you mind taking some pictures of us?" Aunt Lisa asked him with a smile. "Of course Beta." he said, taking the camera from her.

After a million pictures, our families left to greet everyone as we waited for our cue. They went all out and wanted us to feel like princesses, so we are supposed to wait fifteen minutes and come in. The 'Grand Entrance' kind of effect. "You guys ready?" "Ready as I'll ever be." I said as I walked through the door with the girls right beside me. As soon as we walked in everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at us. "Our brothers walked to the bottom of the stairs and held their arms out. We made our way down the stairs, grabbed their arms and they led us to the middle of the room. "We'd like to say something before the party continues." My brother said, projecting his voice the way our father taught us. "Girls today in the eyes of our world you are officially of age to mate and have babies." A slight growl could be heard after that. "But in our eyes you will always be those cute little girls with pigtails and bright smiles." Kageen continued. "We will always be your big brothers, your protectors, and as much as we would love to keep you with us and never let the world ruin your beautiful hearts, we can't do that." Derek said with a sad smile. "What we can do though is promise that no matter how far, how dangerous, or how stupid. We will always be here to protect, to make you laugh, and always let you know you're not alone and you are loved." Jakob said. We all hugged and the music started. "That was so cheesy." Kimberly cooed at the boys. They rolled their eyes and walked away leaving us to dance for a while.

As the night was picking up more people dancing my family announced it was time for food and we made our way outside to eat under the moon. Just as I was about to sit, the most amazing smell hit me. It was like the smell of rain and pine. "Mate! Find him Arya!" Olivia yelled at me. I walked through the crowd trying to find where the smell was coming from when it suddenly became overwhelmingly close and I felt heat on my back. "Hello little mate." I heard a deep voice say but I was too scared to turn around. "Aren't you going to look at me?" he said, sounding a little mad and hurt. I turned around slowly and came face to face with a very muscular chest. "Woah!" I say and look up. That's when I see it, a crown, he's royalty! I turn around and run. "Arya! What are you doing?! Our mate is in the other direction!" Isa was yelling at me, I shut off our link and kept running until I came to my favorite spot. I heard footsteps behind me and when they came to a stop I spoke. "I found this place when I was little. I remember the only thing I could think was how could one place be so beautiful and full of life when the world around it was so cruel and lifeless. I remember promising myself that I would only bring one person to my spot. My mate. I never would have imagined that I'd be mated to a Prince." I turned around to face him. His crown was gone and I frowned at that. "Where'd your crown go?" I asked. "I took it off to chase you." He said with a frown. "I need a strong Queen and you are not it. I was so excited to finally find you and you're weak. I bet you can't even fight. I Hunter Dark reject you Arya Storm as my mate and future Queen." He said emotionlessly. "Don't accept it. Just go, just leave but do not accept his rejection. I nodded my head and started walking away. "Accept the rejection." He said with so much anger in his voice. "No." With that I shifted and ran. As I got further away from him the harder it was, the pain was becoming too much. My mate didn't want me, he thought I was weak. It felt like my heart was being ripped through my chest and crushed. I never knew pain like this existed, I'd choose a slow and painful death before I'd want to feel pain like this. As I got close to the pack house I started to get dizzy. The last thing I heard was my brother yelling my name.

As I came to, I realized I was in a meadow surrounded by beautiful glowing flowers. You heard me right glowing. "So you're finally awake. How are you feeling dear?" I heard a sweet voice ask. I spun around and came face to face with the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. "Who are you? Where am I? Am I dead? Are you the Goddess?" I shot off question after question. "Slow down dear, I will explain everything. I am Selene You're not dead, well not quite. You're in the in between which is why I was able to pull you here. There is some very important business we must discuss but we should wait for your friends." She said as she turned and started walking away. "Come now we must find your friends."What do you mean 'find my friends' they're dying to?!" I ask as I run to catch up to her. "Yes you were all rejected and I'm sorry but it had to be done in order for you to reach your full potential. You will be with your mate eventually I promise." She says as she looks away with guilt all over her face. At least she had the decency to feel guilty about causing us pain. As we came through some trees into an open field I saw Lisa. "Lisa! Are you okay?" I ask as I crush her in a hug. She started crying "He rejected me." She said crying into my shoulder. "It's okay dear you'll have your mate, let's find your other friends and I'll explain." she said as she put her hand on Lisa's shoulder. "Arya! Lisa! Where are you guys!?" we heard Kimberly yelling. Me and Lisa started running in the direction of her voice. "Guys we're right here!" we yelled as Kimberly and Lilith came into view. "Oh thank goddess where are we? What's going on?"Lilith asked, hugging us. "And who is she?" Kimberly added. "I am Selene, please come with me." She said walking away again. "Selene as in Moon Goddess Selene?" Kimberly whispered, yelled. "Yes, I am that Selene." the Moon Goddess said with a laugh as she stopped in front of a little cabin. "Okay what is going on? We need answers." Lilith said with a slight growl. "I brought you here so I can bless you with your gifts. You had to be rejected in order for you to get them and I'm so very sorry for that. As you know you are all white wolves which come with their own special powers but what you don't know is the extent of it. You have heightened abilities even more so than regular wolves. You will also get three special powers. You will get them one at a time, after an important event. Such as being rejected, it was only the first step in the right direction." she was saying all this like it was no big deal. "Hold up, so what you're saying is we're pawns in your game?" Kimberly said, sounding very pissed off. "Not pawns, you are my daughters. You are in danger and in order for your mates to realize the true meaning of a mate. They will all be there when you need them but for now you need to train and prepare for a fight. Kimberly you need to put a spell on you four so that your mates can not find you until it's absolutely necessary. Girls you are stronger than you know and you must embrace what you are. Now I must send you back to your families." She said and all I saw was black then there was a bright light. "Ugh can you shut that damn light off." I said with a scratchy voice. "Arya! You're awake!" my brother yelled while running to shut the lights off. "It's time to use our inside voice now." I said mockling while patting his hand.

After the many tests the doctor wanted I was cleared to go home. Turns out we'd been in a coma for a week but the pain from the rejection was just as bad. My beasts haven't spoken a word since I woke up. We walk in and I see the girls and their families sitting in our living room. "What's going on?" I ask as I look at my parents. "We were hoping you could tell us. You leave your party and then the boys find you guys passed out in the woods. What happened?" Uncle Owen asked, looking at all of us. I looked at the girls and they nodded their heads with tears in their eyes. I looked at my family around me, my blood and chosen family. I knew they would always be there for me. This was gonna be the hardest thing we would ever have to do. "We were rejected by our mates that night, you found us passed out because the pain was too much for our bodies to handle because of who they are and who we are. The pain was worse than normal and we spoke with the Goddess while we were in a coma. It felt like an hour to us but she gave us very important information." When I was finished speaking the whole house filled with vicious growling. "You. Were. What?!" "I'm gonna kill those no good spoiled little bitches!" "Wait! Stop, we didn't accept it! We'll still feel their pain!" Lisa yells trying to get everyone to realize the severity of the situation. "Why? Why didn't you accept it?" my mom asked. She was looking at us girls with pain in her eyes. She knows how bad the pain can be, her sister was rejected by her mate and didn't accept it. She felt it everytime he had sex with another girl and she killed herself soon after. "Mama we'll be okay we're not alone and Selene said we would get them. It's just important right now for us to keep this connection alive as much as possible. There's more though and this you guys really aren't going to like, we have to leave." I was cut off by more growling and then Uncle Mateo said "You girls are not going anywhere! This is your home! This is where you belong and I will not let some little boys run my girls off!" "Daddy we have to go we aren't running let Arya finish okay?" Lisa said, putting a hand on his arm trying to pull him down to sit between her and her mom. "We need to leave to go train we have... Abilities now and we need to train ourselves for war. We aren't safe here. We need to put a concealment spell on us so no one can find us. Especially our mates, we need to prepare to be in a war. We don't know with whom, we just know it's coming and we need to be ready. We all need to train to be the best, which means we need to be trained by the best.

After a very long argument our families finally agreed as long as we stuck together and only traveled to ally territory. We all went our separate ways to pack. We figured we should leave as soon as possible so that our mates don't come try and find us. There was a knock on the door and I yelled for them to come in. "Hey Derek, what's up?" I ask, it's really weird to be in my room alone with him. I was honestly secretly hoping he was my mate. I was extremely disappointed when I saw him on my birthday and felt nothing different. "Well.." he started as he rubbed the back of his neck like he always does when he's nervous, "I didn't get a chance to give your birthday present and I also have something I want to tell you." He says, looking away from me. "Okay, what's up?" I said, as I dropped what I was doing to pay attention to him, by the way he was acting I could tell it wasn't easy and that this was hard for him. "Well first this is your birthday present," he says as he hands me a camera. "And I just need to say this before you leave. I have been in love with you since you still wore pigtails, I wanted you to be my mate, and if you'll have me I'd like to give us a shot at some point. Obviously not now you're leaving but consider it while you're gone? You deserve so much better than that." he said as he kissed me. I didn't know what to say until that night I felt the same, but now his lips felt wrong against mine, his hands didn't feel right on my body, I didn't want this anymore and neither did my beasts. They were furious that he'd do this so soon after we were rejected. I slightly pushed him away. I felt so bad but I needed to explain. "Come sit, we need to talk." he nodded his head and followed me to the window seat in my room. "I felt the same and I wish I could reciprocate your feelings now but I met my mate, I didn't accept his rejection. The bond is still there and as much as I don't want it to, what just happened it felt... Wrong and I know you don't understand now but you will when you find your mate. I'm sorry but I think it's best if we just keep things how they are." I say looking at him only to find him looking down at his feet. "Keep things how they are? How am I supposed to go back to pretending like I don't have feelings for you?" he said, sounding completely lost. "I'm in love with you Rya and I can't pretend that I don't not anymore." With that last sentence he got up and left and I was left alone to cry.

"Justin, can you come to my room please?" I mind linked him, I needed my brother. "Yea be right there." He linked me back. Not even two minutes later he was walking into my room. As soon as he saw my tears he was pulling me into a hug and I told him what happened between me and Derek. "I told that idiot to keep it to himself," he said, shaking his head. I pulled away to look at him, "You knew? You knew this whole time?" I was a little hurt. He was the only one I told about my crush and he knew? "Yes..." he said, not looking at me. "You knew how I felt and you said nothing?" I felt so betrayed. "Arya please, I was just trying to protect you! Please understand, I just didn't want either of you to get hurt." he says as tears fill his eyes. "It's a little too late for that." I say,"Please leave." He gets up and leaves. I sat there for a minute and cried then it was time to leave. I met the girls downstairs and we walked out the door. The whole family was waiting to say goodbye then my eyes narrowed in on the bags sitting by our brothers feet. "Why do they have bags?" Lilith asked while looking at her parents. "We've decided that your brothers could tag along and train while they look for their mates." My dad says looking satisfied with himself. "No, what you really mean is you're sending us with baby-sitters.'' I say while crossing my arms. "No, of course not, it's just that your brothers need to find their mates before they can take over the pack and it wouldn't hurt for them to get some more training." My mom said looking at me, "please don't fight this girls." "Fine, let's just get going, we have a plane to catch." Lisa said while giving her parents a hug. We all hugged our families goodbye and we left for the airport. The car ride to the airport was silent and as we sat down to wait for boarding to start Kageen finally spoke up, " So why is everyone being so awkward?" "How stupid are you? We just left our families for who knows how long, don't you think it's okay to be sad for a little while?" Lisa snapped. "Jeez, sorry I was just trying to lighten the mood." He said as he got up and walked away. "Damn it! I didn't mean to be such a bitch I'm going to go try and find him." Lisa said. Twenty minutes later Lisa and Kageen came walking up just as our flight was called to board. Me and Lilith spent the whole flight binge watching scary movies and as the plane landed The Nun had just ended and we were ready to get off. As we all get off the plane we're met by four massive men holding a sign with our names on it.