Dealing With Him

I

It wasn't like they were bad. They weren't good either, however. Everywhere I looked when I went outside, I'd see some fighting, some kissing like their own souls were trapped inside the other's body, some would pretend they don't even exist.

Mates.

They make absolutely no sense.

There were many reasons for why I hated mates: the fact that my parents promised me when I was little that they would be there for me when I was old enough to find my mate -- which I am old enough -- before my mother dragged my father and herself out of my life six months later. Or maybe it was the fact that the Moon Goddess decided to pair random people up with each other like she was Cupid.

Mates were too complicated and a waste of my time.

Who would want a mate?

Well, beside Brianna, my best friend since I was two years old. Her mate turned out to be Owen Priestley, the Beta of the Lunar Shadow pack. He was an asshole, I'll admit. He still is at times. However, Owen eventually turned out to be a great guy for Brianna. Although I didn't want a mate of my own, it was nice to know that Brianna was happy with hers. Not the type of happy where you would look happy when you were with a guest, but when they looked away you were miserable -- she was genuinely happy.

A bright light shone through my eyelids and I groaned, squinting up to see my best friend smiling down at me, her dirty blonde hair in a high ponytail as she watched me with her grey eyes.

"Wake up, stupid ass," Brianna's voice whispered before splashing water on my face.

I screamed and jumped up, my entire body becoming drenched as she threw a bucket of freezing cold water onto my small body. I could feel myself immediately begin to shiver and Brianna laughed at me as I ran out of my bedroom and through the pack house, looking for the nearest washroom. Finding one, I locked the door and had a shower with the water on lukewarm to hot.

It was a yearly routine Brianna and I had; every birthday, we would say something into each other's ears as they just started waking up, and dump freezing cold water on them by how old they were turning -- it was eighteen pounds of water this year for me.

Brianna was one year older than me; nineteen years old. She would give me heads up on various things to look out for for the future while I was struggling with school, her ass enjoying life while she graduated. Of course, she helped me with my speech for Valedictorian and told me that she would help with my resume for a job in a nearby town in the territory.

Brianna was the older sister my parents didn't give birth to.

"Are you okay?" Someone's deep voice asked.

I smiled.

My other best friend; Trey Forbes.

We met during high school when he was new in eleventh grade. People wouldn't speak to him because apparently he was gay but that only made me want to be his friend even more. It was always nice for someone to be by your side and support you no matter your sexuality and that's just what I did for Trey -- I gave him support and stood by your side until he graduated a year ago with Brianna. That left me alone in high school until I graduated a two months ago, meaning it was currently August.

Trey still hasn't found his mate and even though I know he's in pain, I know they'll meet eventually.

"Never been better," I muttered and turned the shower off, wrapping a towel around my body. I walked to the door and opened it, letting him inside. Trey was holding an outfit in his hands and he handed them to me before walking back to the door.

"Bri planned this day for you," he explained. "Just do this for her."

Oh no, I thought to myself and nodded my head slower than ever, closing the door at the same pace. I knew that whatever Brianna was planning wasn't something I particularly did for a living.

I am so not ready for today.

-----

"I know you usually start your day off with training," Brianna explained to me and looked at me with a smile, "so I figured you and I could do a bit of training before we did the fun stuff. What do you say?"

A large smile appeared on my face and I nodded my head.

I knew we were going to do something training-related because the outfit Trey handed me was a pair of stormy grey yoga pants and a matching sports bra.

"Sounds fantastic," I answered.

Brianna escorted me through the training grounds; there were an inside and outside of the ground. The inside was a giant warehouse for wrestling, boxing, lifting weights, using machines, and much more. The outside was an open field used for things like archery, fighting with silver (one of a werewolf's weakness), practicing your shifting while fighting, and more advanced things.

Brianna and I preferred the outside part of the grounds.

We both grabbed something silver after putting some gloves on; Brianna chose a long pole and I chose a chain. The chain caught onto anything it touched. We carried them to an open area of the field and got ready, bending our legs ever so slightly as we circled each other.

Brianna struck first. She tried jabbing my bare stomach with the pole and I barely missed it, the silver skimming across my flesh and causing it to burn. I hissed in pain and grabbed my chain with a firm grip, launching it at Brianna's pole. It grabbed it and I pulled the pole back with ease, catching it in one hand while the other held the chain.

"That's not fair!" She exclaimed and pouted. "You always choose the chain!"

I shrugged, a smug look on my face.

"It's my specialty, Bri. You should have realized this three years ago when I first started using them."

She huffed and we continued fighting. After an hour or so, Brianna and I left the training grounds, our muscles tensed and arms and legs sore. We walked down the road to town and Brianna rushed me into a spa.

"Reserved for Stuarts," Brianna said and the receptionist nodded her head, allowing us the pass. The smell of flowers and oils filled my nose as we pushed the doors open.

"What are we doing here?" I asked and looked around.

"We're going to have a girl's day," Brianna answered with a grin.

We walked to one table that was left alone in a room and Brianna began walking to a door, smiling behind her shoulder as she leaned against the wall and waited.

"Apparently," Brianna mumbled as we waited, "there are two people coming in. Special people. I could hear the girls in the other room squealing and squawking about it not too long ago. They'll only be coming in for something urgent so they'll only be here for a few moments, but they must be, like, hella hot."

I chuckled.

"Hopefully, it's Zac Efron," I mumbled back and sighed.

Brianna chuckled this time.

"I would rather much prefer--"

"Your mate, yeah, yeah."

She scoffed, "No. I would rather much prefer Liam Hemsworth."

I hummed, "I prefer Chris but whatever."

The doors squeaked open and a burnt wood aroma filled my nose. It seemed to be mixed with a spice of some sort with the smell of the forest after it's rained. It was truly a glorious scent. I let out a low sniff and could hear a low growl as I laid on the bed, my back exposed.

"Hi, babe," I heard Owen's deep voice greet Brianna and gave her a kiss.

Brianna replied with a girlish, "Hi," and giggled. "What are you doing here?"

"You honestly think I'm letting anyone else touch you?"

I let out a relaxed sigh and shifted as I tried to get comfortable.

"You two ready?" Owen asked.

I heard Brianna say 'ready' and the two of them went into their room. My nose scrunched up as I thought of what Owen would try pulling while they were in there -- alone.

The nasty souls, they are...

Immediately, I felt a cold substance on my back. A few seconds later, two hands made their way to my back and pressed the balls of their hands on my knotted muscles, making me let out a groan. The feeling of the two hands sent a burning feeling through my body and I couldn't help but shudder. I had no idea what it was because I wasn't allowed to look back up until my session was over.

The stranger's hands continued to massage down my back, receiving hums and groans of relaxation from me. The burning sensation that went through my entire body with each other the stranger's touch made me feel an immediate arousal that I had never felt before. I don't know what had gotten into me. It seemed as if it were something that I did willingly, whether I knew I was doing it or not. I don't know what it was but it felt nice with the soft hands on my back, massaging the oil on my skin while I laid on the table.

It suddenly stopped.

I could feel the hands slip to my hips and even though I wanted to push them away, I bit my lower lip as I felt all of the heat from earlier travel to my core. Another low growl, like from earlier, erupted and soon enough, I could feel someone's breath on my neck, their lips barely touching my skin.

"Mine," he growled out before going back to what he was doing earlier.

My blood felt like it went cold and I froze.

I knew that voice. That powerful, confident, low -- sexy? -- voice. It was none other than Alpha Dylan's voice. But it wasn't his presence that had me frozen to my table, it was the fact that I knew why I felt the way I did a minute ago.

He was my mate.