Chapter 8

MONDAY

When the clock struck 12 in the morning, I knew it was time. I took a step back, letting the lunar rays strike me as my body began to transform.

I could myself grow taller. My muscles bulked. My teeth hardened and grew stronger. All of a sudden, I was hypersensitive to all the stimuli around me. I could hear the cricket tapping from the tree on the other side of the lake. I could see more stars than ever before. I could smell the racoon from hundreds of metres away.

All that sensitivity, yet I still couldn't feel the one thing I so desperately wanted.

Where are the warm, floaty feelings? I asked myself as I looked at Liam.

He looked equally confused as I was. All our lives, we had heard stories of people meeting their mates and reporting feelings of euphoria - addictive scents, feelings of love and happiness, the insatiable desire to be in contact.

Yet when I looked at him, I experienced none of them.

A horrible thought came across me, and for once in my life, I pondered the idea of the Moon Goddess toying with me for fun.

She wouldn't do that, would she?

She could've.

At the same time, though, there was a fleeting feeling inside of me. It was small, and simple, but it was still there and refused to be ignored.

Mate, a miniscule part of me felt compelled to say. At this point, I couldn't tell if it was my own delusion, or the truth. After all, there was nothing overly glamorous about this revelation, and I didn't feel any different with him than from before. This wasn't at all what it was supposed to feel like!

I took a step forward and closed the space between us, holding him tightly, as if I were scared he wasn't mine and he'd run off.

"Mate," I whispered. The words felt right to my ears.

"Mate," Liam responded back. That felt right, too.

We pressed up closer to each other, eyes locked. Even though we weren't speaking out loud, we could almost interpret each other's body language. As I moved closer to him, I kept a careful eye on him, but he made no indication of wanting to move away.

I gently placed a kiss on his lips. It was a soft and shy kiss, with no fervour or intensity behind it, but it was enough to let me know.

When we came together a second time, that was when we poured in all of our hidden emotions and desires. I tried my best to do what came instinctively to me. It was quite interesting, as neither of us had ever really kissed before, so I was sure our techniques were pretty sloppy and impractical. But I didn't care.

It felt right, and that was all that mattered.

-

When we came back home, my family awaited the two of us in the living room. We quickly hurried upstairs, getting changed into our clean and dry clothing, before heading downstairs.

"Dylan, welcome home!" My dad came up to me and hugged me. "It's official now, son. You're an Alpha wolf. Soon, you'll be taking over my position."

"Congrats, Dyl," my younger brother Simon told me.

Aunt Rita and Uncle Steve also came forth to wish me a happy birthday, embracing me tightly and congratulating me on this milestone.

"Honey, I'm so proud of you," my mom said, nearly squishing me to death. Much to my surprise, however, she was keeping it together pretty well. I had been expecting Niagara Falls from her, being the sentimental wolf she was, but she hadn't even shed a single tear.

"So, what were you two doing out this late?" Dad asked me, glancing between the two of us. "Wanted to spend your birthday with your best friend, eh? I'm not surprised one bit, you've been attached at the hip ever since Liam popped out of the womb."

"About that, actually, I have news," I said, my voice stronger than before. Everyone immediately quieted down and turned to me.

"As you know, Liam and I have spent nearly our entire lives together," I began. "I was there when Liam was born. I was there when Liam gained his senses for the first time. We started school together, and did everything together from that point onward. It just felt right for the two of us to be together, we couldn't explain it."

Liam and I exchanged a glance with each other, and he nodded encouragingly. I took a deep breath and continued.

"As we got older, things started changing, and we felt different. The feelings we had been experiencing were only getting even stronger. We were beginning to feel a pull towards each other, and we just instinctively knew what it was supposed to mean. Even though I'm not supposed to find out my mate until I'm 18, I always had a strong feeling that Liam was my mate. I truly believed he would be my mate."

My family listened intently, their eyes widened. Aunt Rita had her hands covering her mouth in shock, and dad's eyebrows were raised. The only person who didn't seem fazed by it was my mom. She quietly stood at the door, smiling at the two of us. She knew. She definitely knew.

"When I officially turned 18, and I transformed, I was expecting to feel something amazing when I looked at Liam. But when I looked at him I didn't feel any different. There was no heavenly smell, no feelings of love. We just felt the same as before."

The family gasped.

"Is he...?"

"So are you..."

"You're not..."

"Today, we confirmed our relationship," I said seriously. "We are indeed mates, as we had always known. The news just came to us in a way we hadn't been expecting."

My family's reaction was both excited and confused.

"I'm glad you found your mate, but is that even possible?" Dad frowned. "To not experience anything, I mean."

Uncle Steve scratched his skin. "It might be possible, just very rare."

"What if it's just a mistake and you're not actually together?" Simon's eyes widened. "I don't want it to be a mistake! I want you and Liam to be together."

Aunt Rita seemed to be thinking it out. "Perhaps you guys didn't feel anything because you were so caught up in the moment? I don't know, usually, it's pretty obvious."

We listened to them discuss among themselves for the next few moments. I mean, there wasn't really anything we could contribute to the conversation. We were just as clueless as everyone else as to why we didn't discover each other the traditional way.

My mom was the one who finally spoke up. "You know, the exact same situation happened with my parents, Dylan. Your grandparents."

It was our turn to look shocked, and everyone turned to look at our Luna. "What? Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yes. Like you two, they had always known before they were of age, they were around 15 when they began suspecting. When they both turned 18, they were also surprised because there were no special feelings. But here was the thing, they never needed the magic of experiencing the mate bond for the first time, because they had already been experiencing it most of their lives. They always just knew."

-

Trying to sleep with your newly-discovered mate was like trying to ignore a hunk of beautiful, fresh bison meat sitting in front of you.

It was practically impossible.

Everything inside me itched to do more with him. I wanted to kiss him until he was gasping for air, I wanted to cuddle him until he was smothered in my love. I wanted to sink my teeth into the smooth skin on his shoulder, and mark him as my property so other wolves would know he was taken.

Nevertheless, I forced myself to leave Liam alone. I knew he was tired from our night out, and he needed the rest after running around the forest. Today was going to be a long, long day, as the barbecue was expected to last for several hours. We would also be doing the official announcement today, and I wanted him to be well-rested for all the attention he would be receiving.

Liam shifted slightly in my arms and let out a groan.

"Dylan?" he asked me sleepily.

"Hey, I'm right here, Liam," I said gently, pulling him closer to me so that our bodies were even more intertwined.

"What...what time is it?"

"3 in the morning. Don't worry, you can go back to sleep."

"Oh."

Liam pressed himself up against me and hummed. "Mm...you're like a big, fat teddy bear."

"You calling me fat?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes," he giggled.

"You know, Fluff, I work at least 4 hours a day to maintain this physique."

"Couldn't tell," he said tiredly, although I could hear him stifle a laugh.

"Wow. I am shocked that all my training has not paid off, and my mate is unimpressed."

"I'm just joking, Alpha Dylan."

Hearing those words from his lips sent tingles across my body. One day, I would be the pack Alpha. I would be Liam's Alpha, and he would be my Luna.

"Of course I know you're joking, Luna Liam."

"Luna...Luna...who is that?" He frowned, confused.

"I don't know," I teased. "Maybe the Luna is my beautiful, sexy mate?"

"I dunno who that could be."

"Yeah, me neither. I mean, he's definitely not cuddled up in my arms right now."

He made a small noise and closed his eyes. I watched him for a few more moments, enjoying how precious he looked.

"You know, Dylan, I was thinking..." he yawned.

"Yes?"

"Well, I'm going to be moving in soon and all, and I was hoping we could get a pet. Like maybe a cat or something."

My eyes snapped wide open at his remark.

"You want a cat."

"Uh huh."

I shook my head. "Oh, Liam, you're so tired, you're delusional and even asking for one of those felines."

"I'm serious," he whined, snuggling up next to me.

"No. No cats."

"Aw," he pouted. "But they're so cute and small, though. And furry."

"You're describing yourself, babe."

Liam mumbled something else incoherently, but I could tell he was already beginning to doze off.

"Good night, Liam," I said, kissing his forehead. "Get some sleep. I'll see you later this morning. We have a big day ahead of us."