Fated or Mated

Friends

We can smell and hear all five frat boys. It sounded like most of them shed their clothes. The fact that we are going to kick their asses while they're naked is an added bonus. It doesn’t get more emasculating than that.

Bianca and I make sure to keep our breathing slow and deep, our muscles totally relaxed. We don't need the element of surprise to take these jerks. It’s just that catching them off guard; seeing their faces when realization hits makes it all so much more fun.

[WARNING] [---The following may be disturbing to some readers. Scroll till you see (***SAFE***)---]

"I got first with my sweet little girl." Johnny's voice sounds disgustingly husky.

Another guy claims dibs on Bianca, I think it’s Gus. While still lying limp on the bed, Bianca and I continue to communicate and coordinate through our link.

‘Chris, confirm, there are five’, Bianca’s voice is all business now.

‘Affirmative, two at our three, two at our twelve and one at our eight. You have our three, I got our twelve. Eight is Johnny and he's all mine’, my voice deep with anger through the link. I am repositioned on the bed and feel Bianca’s weight shift at the same time.

“Bonks, I was moved to the edge of the bed.”

“Me too Chris. I am on my back and my legs are dangling over the edge.”

“Me too”, my tone dripping with hatred.

'What weird ass position is this? It feels clinical.', my wolf Kira says through our link.

Bianca’s wolf Heidi says, 'Are we getting pap smears?'

Bianca sighs, 'For Goddess sake focus you two'.

'You girls go on and focus. Us wolves were built for this shit.' Kira’s so cocky. I mean she’s an abnormally large and strong Alpha wolf so her attitude is not without merit. Still, it gets annoying. Suddenly I feel hands on my hips tugging at my panties. I yell ‘NOW’, through the link.

Bianca and I throw our legs over our heads in a reverse somersault getting to a crouch position on the bed. I can now see that we were positioned on opposite sides as I’d thought. In nanoseconds we are lunging at our primary targets. Using our wolf speed and strength without shifting. Everyone but Johnny, are in a pile on the bed, naked, concussed and unconscious.

Johnny is slack jawed momentarily before narrowing his eyes at me with evil determination. How is this guy turned up instead of terrified? Is he feigning courage? Why? For who? Then I remember there's a camera.

"What's this s**t? All night you're batting your eyes and swinging your hips. You've done nothing but tempt, tease and torment me you little b***h. Hell, you even called me Daddy several times, making my d**k twitch." Johnny spits out the word 'twitch' with disdain. He grabs me by my shoulders roughly and I can now smell fear through his foul stench.

Kira could hardly contain herself, 'Quite the actor isn’t he?'

I shove Johnny's hands off of me roughly. "No matter what you think you're entitled to...no means no." I say through gritted teeth. "How did any of my actions imply consent to being gang banged on video while unconscious?" I yelled. Johnny reaches for my shoulders again but in one smooth move I twisted his right arm forcing him to shift his weight and flip over onto his back on the floor. Goddess I love Aikido. Keeping the pressure on his wrist with one hand, I apply pressure to his throat with the thumb of my other hand. He’s gasping for air and choking on his own spit.

‘Ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun’, Kira taunts like he can hear her. I mentally roll my eyes at her..

"Thing is, Johnny, most women aren't soft targets. You just never know which b***h is the wrong one." I say while my canines elongate. Kira was pushing forward to gain control. She wanted to shred this creep. Johnny struggled against my hold trying to catch his breath only managing to spit out, "f**k You!".

‘Yeah, you wish pencil d**k’, Kira snapped back.

Again, it’s a shame only Bianca, Heidi and I can hear her, which she knows.

Through the reflection of Johnny’s eyes I could see the molten gold flicker in my own. ‘s**t’, I inwardly swear at myself for not controlling my wolf better. We can't afford to reveal ourselves to humans so I push Kira back a bit. Much to my satisfaction, liquid filled the front of Johnny’s pants and pooled on the floor beneath him, followed by the stench of urine. I released my hold and knocked him out cold, breaking his nose and potentially an eye socket.

(***SAFE***) "Well, I don't know about you but I've had better.", Bianca jokes.

‘For the love of a wolf can we please get out of here. Just when I thought the stench in here couldn’t get any worse’, Kira complains.

"I’m with Kira, let's get out of here before he shits himself”, Bianca adds.

"Hysterical. Well our two hours turned into six. Tomorrow's going to suck! Oh.... um... actually tomorrow's today." Groaning, I led my friend out of there by the arm and drove us home.

Just as I pulled her Jeep into a parking space Bianca turned to me with a sigh.

"Thanks Chris, truly. I needed that."

"I know Bonks."

‘You needed to torture your wolf with the stench of cowardly scum?’ Bianca’s wolf Heidi chimed in. After rolling her eyes with a snort, Bianca gets a far off look in her eyes. I wait for her to share what she’s thinking.

"Those creeps got off easy." she finally says..

"Not really", I say, pulling a memory card out of my bra. "Bet this has some footage law enforcement may find helpful. After we wipe clean any trace of our little stunt of course."

'Yeah, snitching on them... so cruel... have you no mercy?' Kira snickers sarcastically. My mind link with Bianca is no longer open but she can tell Kira is whining when she sees me dramatically roll my eyes.

"We are not murderers, monsters or vigilantes pup." I reprimand her out loud.

‘Stop it! WE ARE A WOLF!!!!’ Kira shouts, giving me a headache. She's not wrong. We are a wolf and reigning in the need to rip someone apart is getting more and more difficult. Knowing I was arguing with my wolf Bianca sat quietly until I turned my attention back to her.

"Hey, Bianca?", I ask.

"Kira needs to blow off some steam, and so do I. Are you down for a hunt the moment we hit our territory?"

"Girl I feel you, Heidi and I are itching to sink our teeth into warm flesh too", Bianca starts.

Kira lets out a huff and says, ‘Here comes the but'.

"Buuuuut...", Bianca continues.

'Told you', Kira says annoyed

"Chris, your parents are already stressed that we are not getting home for your party sooner."

"Bianca, my parents will not mind." I say with absolute conviction.

Bianca lifts her wrist to my forehead as if to check my temperature and says, "Okay, let's get you to bed. Kira’s delirium is spreading."

"Just for that, I am parking your Jeep way over here in West Bubba F#ck", I retort.

We both get out of the Jeep and take the long walk towards our dorm entrance giggling. I see Sean and Matt are hanging out by some nearby benches. I had a feeling they would wait up for us after seeing the state Becky and Kelly were in. Lifting up Bianca's key fob I locked her Jeep. The horn honk confirming the alarm is armed almost conceals it, but I am pretty sure I heard a couple of familiar growls. 'Crap', I thought. Tonight’s female avenging antics was not a good idea. Not only are we going to be exhausted, but we will have to face the disappointment of our two best friends who could have read the situation all wrong.

Three hours later my alarm clock goes off. In a sleepy daze I hit the snooze button a little too hard, smashing my third clock this year. Kira lets out a satisfied growl that escapes my lips. Good grief, this wolf is so ready to kill something that smashing an alarm clock riles her. Actually, I can relate because right now I could kill someone; anyone, absolutely anyone would do. Three measly hours ... that's it.... just three hours of sleep! Ugh, I have no one to blame but myself. Well, I could blame Bianca. Yeah, I think I'll blame her too.

"GODDESS my head hurts. What the hey dude! I'm a werewolf, we don't get headaches." I hiss out loud to no one in particular. Reaching up to hold my head I felt a bump and winced.

Naturally, Bianca popped up fresh as a daisy this morning. Seriously! This girl has been dragging ass for months. Now she’s suddenly a morning person? Bianca is either oblivious or indifferent to my annoyance.

"Since when are you THIS chipper? Miss chronic lag!" I snarled through gritted teeth.

"Hey, did you notice Sean and Matt by the benches when we came home?" Bianca asks, ignoring my complaint. Could she be any more irritating? My eyes are wide staring at her in utter disbelief before an image of the guys last night comes to mind.

"Yeah, looks like we aren't the only sleep deprived wolves this morning", I say triumphantly remembering how they were hanging out late. "Crap, they definitely got a whiff of those guys on us. I heard a couple growls." I said softly. "Ouch!" I reached for my head to stop the room from spinning and grazed that tender spot again. "Dag-nab-it!" I cursed.

"Yeah." Bianca's mind wandered off.

"Dude, seriously? Injured bestie here!" I snapped.

"Oh!", she whips back to reality. "Sorry Chris, I heard a loud bang a few minutes ago. You must have cracked your head on that shelf again."

"s**t Bonks!"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" She rolls her eyes.

"I'll hurt you." I say glaring at her still holding my head. "So, you heard a bang, figured I cracked my head again, and what? Rolled right the hell back over you witch?"

"No, I was in the middle of doing my makeup. Then I got distracted and then I heard you groaning and then I came in."

"Oh, my hero," I say, rolling my eyes. "Girl dies in dorm bedroom after a fatal head injury while best friend and roommate is primping in the next room. News at eleven." I used my best news anchor impression while glaring at my soon to be injured bestie. Sometimes Bonks sucks, seriously.

‘Serves you right’, Kira chimes in.

"Did you do this to me Kira?" I ask the wolf I wish I could strangle. Bianca’s jaw drops in disbelief to my question. Outside a mindlink we can not hear each other's wolves. Hearing me ask that question out loud must of had her wondering what my wolf said to me.

‘Technically, I did this to us. I was pissed off after all your restraint crap and needed an outlet.’ She replies as if this is not a totally mental decision on her part.

Not wanting to share anymore of my conversation I keep my responses internal. ‘This wasn't a 'lost my temper' so I reacted, situation.’ I'm now seriously concerned about my wolf's mental health and my safety. 'You waited... like a hunter in a blind... till just before the alarm to smash my head into a shelf...knowing when I woke up you would feel significantly less pain. You like... smashed your own head just in time to pass the pain to me!'

'Um yeah, isn't it obvious. What's up with the recap?'

"Kira! You see nothing wrong with your logic here you psychopath." Now I’m so mad it doesn’t register that I’m talking out loud in a whisper yell. Putting the pieces together, Bianca gives me a knowing nod and excuses herself from my room. Meanwhile, Kira shrugs her shoulders at me and retreats to the back of my mind. What am I supposed to do? I am not crazy enough to hurt myself in wolf form for revenge. Why did I get a psycho wolf?

I go to get ice from our kitchen and when I get back Bianca is sitting at the edge of my bed staring blankly at my wall. She was obviously thinking of Matt. Smelling another male on her last night probably broke his heart. He had no way of knowing that our encounter was anything but romantic. The exact opposite actually.

When that realization hit me I felt a pang of guilt.

"Hey! C'mon Bonks! Alpha can't be late. She can be grumpy, tired, concussed, pissed at her girl and violent...but not tardy tar tar."

"Corny corn corn", Bianca mocks me through a buck tooth snarl. My headache has already started to disappear. My wolf Kira healed my aching head as I washed up and got dressed. It's the least my wolf could do. I can't get over the image of her taking over while I was sleeping and full on smashing my head into the shelf next to my bed. Wait, that's happened more than once. Was she always responsible or did my mishaps inspire the treacherous mutt? Kira remains silent at the back of my mind.

Bianca and I combed our hair up into high pony tails, smoothed our tanks and running shorts with our palms, gave each other approving winks and ran out the door.

It was my responsibility to train the wolves attending college here from our pack. Dad designed our training routine weekly and would video call me to review the program.

Away from the seclusion of our pack lands we couldn't train in our wolf forms or practice hand to hand combat. So Dad had to get creative to keep us at our best.

To our human classmates we were just a group of fitness freaks working out together around campus. You know, Tai-Chi, yoga, cross fit junkies...lol

I am beyond exhausted and every new routine is always far more challenging than the last. After coping with the stress of finals, worrying about my besties, three hours of sleep and a concussion; I am physically, mentally and emotionally drained.

There's twenty of us attending college here including myself and my three best friends. Our pack is a close knit family and our college crew is just a micro version of that.

We win together and we lose together. When one of us is struggling with a subject, we all rally to help get that pack member squared away. No matter the issue we rally together to relieve any hardship. No judgment, just love, support and encouragement.

I know it sounds impossibly ideal. We do make mistakes, we fight, we talk it out, try to learn from it and move on.

Once everyone arrived for training I gave a nod signaling it was time to fall into formation. Watching them line up instantly raises my spirits. My pack has a way of energizing me. We all had a tough week yet here they are, eager to learn the new training routine and excited to have everyone together. Filled with pride, admiration and love I stood before them, cleared my throat, and began with pack announcements.

"Our Alpha and Luna send their congratulations. Every one of us has maintained an 'A' average this year and passed our pack physical fitness tests with flying colors this Spring."

All of their eyes shine with pride, every face wearing a huge smile.

I continue, "It was decided that my birthday party should double as a celebration of all your hard work and accomplishments."

Some continued to smile gratefully and some began whispering concerns. Alexander, a junior, spoke up. "Generous as always, Anna Christina, but some of us aren't comfortable with that plan."

"I see, why is that?" I ask.

"Well, you celebrate our hard work and accomplishments constantly; daily in fact. This is a milestone birthday and we were looking forward to celebrating you for once; just you. It would be our chance to express our respect, gratitude and love." Another pack student explained. It was Charlie, she graduates along with six others on Wednesday.

"How about a compromise? We have till Friday to work something out we can all live with." I say, finishing with a wink. "That's it for the announcements, let's warm up." I gracefully changed the subject, earning several smirks.

Pilates is my favorite warm up. Bet Dad snuck that in just for me. The man has some sort of exclusive access to my thoughts without using the pack link. He always seems to know just what I need. He calls it Dad-sense; like a sixth sense all fathers possess.

As per usual we all catch up with one another during the warm up. The prize for best recap this morning definitely goes to Kaitlin. She shared a funny story involving a wet girl's bathroom floor and a hand dryer. Don't even ask, it's one of those situation comedy things. By the end of warm ups we all had sore cheeks from laughing.

The agility course I threw together turns out to be a continuation of our comedic warm up. Steven made funny girly sound effects each time he ran the ladder. Jeff kept farting or burping during burpees, ironically, which was killing half the group with laughter and the other half with oxygen deprivation from the crop dusting. Just about everyone quoted their favorite action movie tough guy line during push-ups. The crab walk just added to our silly mood. We all struggled because we were laughing so hard. It was a miracle we made it through the agility portion.

This week's strength training is challenging but fun. My kick ass pack members cheered each other on. A few small bets were placed turning this into a very competitive morning. We were all winded by the end but pumped about getting through it.

"Okay losers, let's hit the trail!" I barked out.

Bianca took the lead as usual and I took the rear to help any stragglers finish the run. Sean stayed back to run with me.

"You look tired. Rough night?" He inquired.

"You could say that." I winked

"How bad did you hurt them?" Sean asks with a little side eye.

I whipped my head to him with a quizzical look and he laughed.

"I know you heard me growl. It was a reflex. I think I know you better than that. The only time a guy gets close enough to leave his scent on you is when you're kicking his ass."

We laughed together briefly, then I remembered Bianca's reaction this morning. As if reading my mind, Sean says, "Matt knows better too."

"Aside from the pain our best friends are in, I am terrified of losing friendships." I confessed.

"I know Chris, me too. That fear is what's restrained me all these years."

I let out a huff, "Restrained? In what way? That word is not on your descriptive list". I chuckle at the end of my sentence.

"Trust me I am restrained." Sean raises a brow. "It took a lot of will power to behave when you jumped on me in the elevator that one time."

We paused our conversation to tackle a brief incline before resuming.

"The day you find your mate is going to kill me Chris, but losing what we have would completely destroy me." Guess he felt it was his turn to confess. “Somewhere between the teasing, hanging out and regular shenanigans I fell in love with my best friend.” I cleared my throat to respond but he interrupted me. “Listen, I know there will never be an us. You’re an Alpha. A great and powerful Alpha who deserves more than the likes of me. Your mate is out there and together you will rock the werewolf world.”

There’s so much pain in his voice it overwhelms me. Sean must have taken my silence as a sign that I didn’t want to talk anymore because he quickened his pace to run ahead. That was the deepest conversation we have ever had and it seemed to be too much for him. It was too much for me. I really just thought he was a perv. I mean he acts that way with every girl...right? Sean has romantic feelings for me? My eyes go wide as I recall our interactions over the years. Now my teasing seems cruel. Wait, do I have romantic feelings for him, or do I just enjoy flirting with a hot guy and getting a reaction? Goddess, why is this so complicated? I always thought being able to scent our soul mate was a blessing. I mean, humans could only guess, but we knew for sure. Now I'm starting to think humans are the ones who are blessed. They fall in love, date, marry or move on to the next relationship. If we were human, would I have dated Sean at some point? Who knows?

I don't know why but I need to talk to him more. This conversation is not over. I picked up speed to catch up to him. It took a while since I let him get such a huge lead and I am still super exhausted.

"Hey", I say breathlessly. "We need to hash this out."

"Uh, no we don't", Sean replies staring straight ahead.

"Sean, listen..."

"No Chris! There's nothing to say. I feel the way I feel and you feel the way you feel. Pack guidelines uncomplicate it for us. End of story." Sean's tone is harsh. Maybe he's right, there's nothing either of us could say to make it better.

At the end of our run we all stretch our limbs on the grass. I catch Matt and Bianca stealing glances at each other. The love between them is evident in their eyes.

I excuse myself from the final stretches. It's time I got some guidance from my parents about Bianca and Matt. As their best friend and future Alpha this feeling of helplessness is unacceptable. As for Sean and I, there was nothing to report since I didn’t even understand what was going on there. When I reach my dorm bedroom I grab my cell off the charger and dial our private home line.