The Princess's Destiny

Ana's Perspective Six a.m. My alarm clock starts blaring to let me know that another sleepless night is over. I turn eighteen in three days and the closer the day gets the less sleep I get. Exhausted I walk to the bathroom and crank up the hot water in the shower in an effort to wash away the bags under my eyes. I let my waist length brown hair out of the bun that I keep it in most of the time and give it a good scrub. Graduation was a few days ago and I start warrior training next week, most shewolf omegas head to the pack house after graduation to cook, clean, work in the pack hospital, or run the nursery for the pups. I on the other hand have always been physically gifted so Alpha Jacob asked if I would like to train with the pack warriors instead. I took that as a high honor and accepted. Pulling on a peach colored romper and pulling my hair into a high pony tail I head downstairs to grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast. My mom greets me with a smile and fixes me a cup of coffee just the way I like it, "Here you go sweetheart. I can tell you didn't sleep again but it will be better in a few days. It happens to all of us leading up to our eighteenth birthdays. The Elders say it's our wolf preparing to awaken." I smile back at her, mom has been my best friend since they found me in the mountains wandering around with a backpack and a note with my first name and birthday. I am so grateful that such a wonderful woman found me and brought me into her life. Her mate had rejected her because she wasn't a ranked member and she was up in the mountains hoping for hunters to take care of her pain when she found me, hungry, tired, and cold. She tells me I gave her a reason to live again.  We decide that biscuits and gravy sound divine this morning and start whipping together the biscuit dough so I can make my famous gravy. There are only two of us in the house but it never fails that people drop in when we make biscuits and gravy so we made three dozen biscuits. "Hey mom, who do you think is going to show up today?" I joke as I knead the dough. Mom chuckles, "I think we will be seeing Sarah, Ben, and Cooper," she matter of factly names my three best friends. "Today is Cooper's birthday right? We should make him a cake, maybe he will be your mate. You are best friends that would be amazing." "No mom. Oh Goddess no. Coop is like a brother to me. Anyone else in the world could be my mate but it just can't be him or Ben," I say exaggerating a gag. She just laughs and moves on to cutting the biscuits while I start browning sausage for the gravy.  I strain the sausage out and set aside some of the grease while mom pops her biscuits in the oven and as if on cue I hear Sarah booming outside, "Ana let me in I smell biscuits and gravy!"  "The door is open!" Sarah and Ben pour in the door together as usual. They're twins and pretty much inseparable. Neither of them has found their mate quite yet but that's not too surprising since they have only been eighteen for a few months. Some wolves find their mates pretty much instantly and others go years without finding them. "Good morning guys! Mom called it that you would be over. Now to wait for Cooper and then I'll be taking my mom to play the lottery because she's obviously a psychic," I say with a grin. "Psychic? I wouldn't think that just because all three of us can smell your biscuits from three miles away," Ben tells us as if we didn't already know that, "I'm just surprised Coop didn't beat us there but maybe he's getting pretty for his birthday." We all laugh at his joke while we wait for the biscuits to finish and fix another pot of coffee. The door bell rings and we all know it's Cooper. "Come in birthday boy!" "Biscuits and gravy and cinnamon rolls?" Coop smiles as he walks through the door but when he looks at Sarah his eyes narrow in. I look at Sarah and she has that look too. "Mate."