My Foreign Mate

CHAPTER 1 Sad thoughts

She tossed and turned, breathing heavily and fast. Selena groaned in agony and finally woke up screaming. Tears were rolling down her cheeks when she opened her eyes wide. It was again, another night of tormented sleep. Sometimes she thought this would stick with her for the rest of her life. She wiped away the tears with her hands and fell back into her small bed. Staring at the ceiling, which felt like ages, thinking of the day ahead. This day would finally mean the start of her new life and she had to get used to it. Living in are rural area somewhere in the very south of South-West USA. This meant lots of space and even more of nothingness, it was dry and hot, nothing what Selena was used to. But this also meant hardly any wolves, most of the wolf population preferred living close to forests and mountains. Exactly the way she used to live. Selena reminded herself, comparing her old and new life neither helped her situation nor made her feel better. She decided to get up and get on with this day. The first day at her new school and she didn’t even know what to wear. Moon goddess, I don’t even know what American kids wear at school, she thought, and settled for a simple green dress, white sneakers and pulled her long golden blond hair up to a ponytail. That will have to do, she tried to encourage herself looking in the mirror while applying her lip gloss. As she walked into the kitchen, she saw Elara, her sister, pouring coffee into two mugs and noticed the dark shadows under her eyes.

“Rough night again, huh.” Selena received her coffee gratefully and took a little sip.

“Had better. And you? Nightmares again?” She glanced at her and Selena saw the sorrows in her eyes.

“They will go away eventually. Because I’m going to an American high school now and will live the teenage drama.” She smiled and they both had to giggle.

“In fact, you really are able to live like a normal teenage girl now that our scent is hidden. I’m glad it worked. American werewolves aren’t tolerant towards rouges at all. Always remember that!” Elara pulled her apron tighter at the back, she was about to start her shift at the local diner. Since it was only the two of them she became even more protective of Selena and invested in her big sister role. They grabbed their bags left the old little house they were living in now and walked to their older rusty orange Ford pick-up. I never thought I would have this kind of car, Selena shaked her head. Because they were sharing the rusty polluter Elara drove her to school and later, Selena would walk home. She didn’t mind it, she always like to be outside and this way she would get to know the area better. Besides, it always cleared her head. Elara gave her a last pep talk during the ride.

“Now remember stay low and please stay away from any wolves. We don’t need any more trouble. Ok Seli?” she gave Selena a big hug “Listen to your teachers and play with the kids.” She winked and smiled.

“And you don’t break any dishes!” They laughed strenuously, something they developed only lately.

She got out of the car took a few steps and looked at the school building and all the humans and wolves going in. “we can do this.”

Everything was a high school movie cliché, the lockers, the nerds, the cheerleaders, the outsiders, the water dispenser, the football players, except people weren’t as hostile as she expected. On the contrary most of them were quite polite. Selena felt a sigh of relief coming out of her lungs as she set up her locker. Suddenly she remembered, around this time a year ago, her cousin met her mate and she became so excited she ran towards Selena’s room expecting her door to be open but banged into it so hard she had a laceration on her forehead. Selena had to smile and at the same time the memory pained her. Among other things when finding a mate, to think rationally, disappears. She looked around her. And saw a human couple making out. Personally, Selena had always been convinced humans were the lucky ones. They were always allowed to choose who they wanted to spend their lives with. There wasn’t a thing like a mating bond, fate, destiny, hormonal compatibility or however one wanted to call it. But humans always envied the wolves. They say Wolves didn’t need to look for someone or be afraid to lose this person to someone else, fate would bring two people together, no doubts whether the other person had the same feelings or not, ultimately they would be together till the end. What they didn’t know was that your mate, male or female, could also be abusive or vile and there was hardly a way out. Mates usually were of packs close by or sometimes within the same pack. Selena had no pack, and she lived half way across the planet away from her origins. Not that all of this really mattered anymore. The odds of finding someone decent in this sierra were as low as a wolf not howling at full moon. What discouraged her more was Elara. She just lost her mate a short while ago and the pain she felt, and still must have been dealing with, was unbearable to watch. At the beginning she screamed, she could feel the pain her mate went through, later she screamed even more, because she could feel the loss physically. Then she went numb, Elara refused to eat, she couldn’t sleep and just cried. Now she only cried when alone, but sleep was still nowhere in sight. Still she-wolves were better in dealing with losing a mate, than males, especially Alphas could lose their mind and would give up so their wolves would take over. At that point the wolf was lost, and the pack usually had to kill him. Sad thoughts, Selena! She shook her head slightly and tried to change her attitude. Maybe she could find a cute human boy to have fun with. She raised a little smile, closed her locker and was eager to try her best to stay positive on her way to her next class. Usually she enjoyed school, she found interest in most subjects, she even liked maths and history. But she found it difficult to focus on the topics, maybe it was the new surrounding or the language she had to get used to. Selena suddenly heard a rumble, it was her stomach, right as the bell rang. Selena made her way to the canteen and hoped they would have decent food. As she stood in queue, she noticed a girl next her waiting. This girl had dark brown hair with beautiful thick curls, her eyes shined golden and she had a bronze kissed skin tone. Selena saw her talking with someone, and she had the feeling this girl was shining inside out. She was a wolf. Not good, she had to discreetly get away from her. Selena just managed to put a few things on her plate, not paying attention to what she grabbed and tried to vanish into the masses.

“Wait.” She heard a sweet voice sing and froze. Selena slowly turned around. “You forgot your phone.” The girl gave Selena a sunshine smile and handed over her phone. So much to being discreet.

“Thank you.” Selena tried to turn around.

“You must be new, right?” The girl kept on smiling.

“Uh, yes. First day.” Selena started sweating.

“I knew it. I usually know all the faces. I’m Olivia. What’s your name?”

“Selena. Must be a lot of faces you know.”

She laughed. “You should sit with us and tell us everything about you Selena.”

Well, that didn’t go as planned, Selena cried internally. She couldn’t even last one day not getting in touch with other wolves. What if they found out? What if they smelled something off her? What if she forgot herself and said something she shouldn’t? But this girl looked like a really nice person and Selena truthfully didn’t want to eat alone.

“Alright, thank you.” Selena heard herself say and even smiled.