Roses with Thorns

Chapter 1

Running through the meadow, she felt the wind on her face, whipping her long hair and sending the earthy scent into her nostrils, she smiled to herself, enjoying the sheer beauty of nature.

Licia had always felt more at ease with nature, she loved the smells of the wild flowers, the feeling of the wind on her skin, the beautiful colours interwoven by nature to make breathtaking sceneries, everything about nature intrigued her that was why she spent most of her spare time in the wild.

Her parents didn't mind as far as she made it back home by five and her friends knew that in as much as she loved them, she loved nature best, and never begrudged her spending time alone in the fields.

She slowed her steps as she approached the forest path leading back to her home. At 17, She 5'9 with beautiful hazel brown eyes and burgundy hair that went all the way down to her lower back with natural ringlets, she was slender with a few curves here and there, a flawless sun kissed skin, an oval shaped face and plumb lips. she was deemed to be the prettiest girl among her peers, but she never agreed with such observations after all she had friends who were drop dead gorgeous, with hair colour and shapes to die for.

She had never been a fan of her peculiar hair colour, though everyone around her seemed to like it, to her it made her look odd.

As she made her way slowly back home, enjoying the quiet forest, the snapping of a twig got her on high alert.

Inasmuch as they had not had rogue attacks in a long while and she could confidently defend herself against a wild animal or even rogues, her father had taught her during training to always be at high alert so as not to give the opponent and advantage over her and being the best female warrior amongst her peers, she took her training seriously.

She knew it could be one of her friends trying to pull a prank on her as they usually did but she was not leaving anything to chance.

Crouching low she scanned the area with her eyes, determined to see who was there, She couldn't make out anything as her eyes kept scanning the area. A soft wind blew a familiar scent in her direction making her smirk.

As quiet as possible she crawled through the bushes covering the forest grounds, making as little noise as possible so as not to attract attention to herself, from the wind direction, she knew where the person was hiding so she crawled towards that direction. She stopped directly behind a 6'2 figure trying to hide from her and at the same time craning his neck, trying to figure out where she was.

"Boo" Licia screamed, and the handsome specimen of manhood turned to look at her with a scowl on his face, trying hard not to show the she had scared him, coming on to him like that, but Licia saw through his facade and was laughing at him.

"how do you always get behind me so fast?" he said, unable to hold the smile that was creeping up his face, shaking his head at her.

"I'm the best, just admit it" she smirked up at him.

He wrapped his hands round her shoulder and smirked right back.

"you know, if you weren't so pretty, I would never admit it."

" Cheesy much." she smirked at him making him laugh.

"Whatever Pete" she giggled at him totally lost in his baby blue eyes.

You see, Peter Winston was every girl's dream guy, with his golden blonde hair, full pouty pink lips, a square jaw and dimpled cheeks and fair skin, not to talk of his perfect set of teeth with a gap. He had a fair share of the pack girls swooning at his feet, but he always had a thing for Licia and after he turned 18 two years ago and didn't find his mate, he had high hopes that Alicia was his mate, he just couldn't wait for her to turn 18 in two weeks so he could really be sure and claim her for himself. He didn't know how he would deal with a broken heart if she was mated to someone else but he would cross that bridge when he got there.

"How are you preparing for the ceremony tomorrow?" Licia said, breaking the contact and bringing him out of his reverie as they began walking side by side along the forest path.

"Nothing much to prepare for." he shrugged, "I just need to mentally prepare my mind to take on more responsibilities, as long as I have you by my side, I think I'll do just fine." He added, giving her a lop sided grin, she smacked him on the hand, rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Ouch, that hurts" he joked.

Pete had never lost any opportunity to tease Licia to see if she had feelings for him in anyway, but she had always brushed him off, and tended to friend zone him, but that didn't stop him from hoping that the moon goddess would bless him with this special girl beside him especially as his best friend Jayden Jackson (Jay Jay) had asked him to become his beta as he was preparing to take over from his dad Alpha Harris Jackson of the Mountain ridge pack.

Licia on her own part never minded being teased by Pete as she saw him as her big brother and friend.

Being an only child had it's own downside and she usually looked for opportunities to spend time with friends so she wouldn't feel too lonely, but she also loved her quiet times in the meadow also, sometimes she wondered how some of her friends coped with constantly nagging siblings.

"How about you? how are are you holding up?" Pete asked.

"fine", She answered gritting her teeth. She didn't really want to talk about it so as not to sound jealous or spiteful.

As the present Gama's only child, she had expected to be next in line for the title, she had started her training as early as 12 years, and had been dedicated to learning the duties of a Gama, she also started training at that age to become the best warrior who could protect the Luna which was part of a Gama's duty. Her father obliged her as he couldn't really refuse her anything. But to her disappointment, Jayden chose Mich as his Gama instead of her. She was angry and heartbroken because she could beat any of the guys in combat and because of her sleek nature, she could slip in and out of anywhere undetected but that didn't seem to impress the future Alpha enough to give her the position.

Nonetheless, she couldn't hold it against Mich 'cos it wasn't his fault and besides he was mated to one of her best friends Carla, but she didn't want to talk about it either, she just wanted to deal with it on her own.

As they approached the pack house, they parted ways promising to meet up at dinner, Pete sauntered off to the game rooms to meet up with the guys while Licia went to her room to shower, change and rest a little before dinner.

She opened her room door and her eyes immediately fell on the figure lying on her bed waiting for her, she groaned dramatically, rolling her eyes, sagging her shoulders and hanging her head to the side, she walked into her room. . . .