The Mating Revolution

Chapter Five

The day was hard to get through. Mom and I tensed at every wolf that came our way. None of them pointed to us. That was how it worked. There were mated male wolves in human form all around us. The unmated wolves would point to their mate with their paw. The werewolves had to be in wolf form to find their mates. They can find them in human form if they make eye contact with their mate, but that’s hard to do with so many humans and so many wolves to get through. If they are in wolf form though their wolf can smell out their mate and pinpoint them. The guards then take the human to another room where the werewolf comes in back in human form to look into the eyes of their mate. If the bond is truly there you are whisked off to their pack. If it is not, you are returned to your seat. There were several empty seats by the end of the day. Mom and I were never pointed at. We found dad in the crowd and saw he hadn’t been pointed at either. I found Gary as well, oddly thankful he was still there. I did see a few missing men, but not as many as the females. The center emptied of wolves and the voice came back over the loudspeaker. “It is 5pm. The first day of The Mating is complete.” Mom and I relaxed as we headed to the shuttle. We didn’t see dad or Gary until we made it back to the hotel. Mom grabbed dad into a hug when he came into the hotel room. Dad wrapped his arms around her. I joined their hug. Dad smiled at us. “Thank God.” I couldn’t help but smile back at him, wishing I could push back the negative thoughts. “I’m going to go for a swim. I’m hoping to find Gary.” Mom and dad nodded at me as they started kisses. I faked a gag and left the room so they could do whatever. I found Gary hanging in the hot tub with some other people. I slid in beside him. “Hey Gar.” He threw an arm around me. “Hey Kat.” I smiled and enjoyed the heat the tub was bringing off. I listened to the conversation of the people around me. I learned that two of the girls were hoping to get chosen by werewolves. It was their first year. The other girl that was there, Cameron I think she said her name was, scoffed at the girls. She didn’t say anything, but I could feel her disagreement. I looked at Gary and darted my eyes to Cameron. He nodded and looked at her. “Hey Cameron, do you want to hang out with me and Katie tonight?” She looked at us with narrow eyes. I gave her a smile. “Sure. What room?” “433” Gary said. We spent another hour in the hot tub before Gary stood up and motioned to me and Cameron. “I’m heading up. Come up whenever.” “Ok.” We said in unison. I laughed. “You owe me a coke.” She cracked a smile and just shook her head. I took some time to jump into the swimming pool and get some actual swimming in before following Gary to his room. Cameron had already beat me there.

They were on the one bed that was in his room. Since he was a single border, he didn’t get a room with two beds like I did. Gary had Cameron laughing as he answered the door. I stepped in and collapsed on the bed next to Cameron. Gary and I looked at each other. “What?” Cameron said as we tried to figure out how to start the conversation. I swallowed. “We noticed how you looked at those girls in the hot tub. You seem like you don’t want a werewolf mate.” Cameron bit the inside of her cheek with wide eyes. “Of course, I do.” She said unconvincingly. Gary put his hand on her knee. “We aren’t gonna say anything. We don’t want that either.” She looked at us with narrowed eyes. “Why should I believe you won’t toss me to the authorities?” I tried to think of how we could convince her, but Gary got up and opened a drawer that was revealed to have a false bottom. In it were the flyers we had made. He gave her one. “We want to start a revolution.” She read the flyer. It was simple to not attract attention. It just said simply, ‘We don’t agree. Do you?’ We made it that way so there was a doubt on what it was.  At the bottom was a symbol of a peace sign. We decided that would be the symbol we used so our followers knew it was our flyer and not something else. Cameron looked between us, studying us for any proof that we were lying. After what seemed like forever, she relaxed. “I think its bullshit.” I grinned and hugged her. “We are slowly getting this off the ground. We are trying to be careful. Do you know of anyone who is of like mind?” She frowned and shook her head. “We don’t talk like that in my city. I was afraid of ever bringing it up. My dad warned me that if I did, they would hurt mom. She was chosen when I was 11.” Gary brought her into a hug, and I joined. That fear was shared with many of us, especially with the new law. Humans had to start having babies at 16 now, making it even more possible that moms or dads will be leaving babies behind. I shook my head and drew myself back. “This needs to stop. This new law is going to cause so many motherless and fatherless homes. They can’t do this. We are more than just breeding stock.” I couldn’t help but raise my voice. Gary shushed me. He was right. I couldn’t make a big deal of this right now. We had so much more to do. Gary, Cameron, and I talked most of the evening. We gave Cameron our phone numbers and she gave us hers so we could keep in contact after The Mating. She was going to start recruiting in her city, as discreetly as possible.

The rest of the event went by pretty much the same as the first day. We spent all day in our seats only being allowed up for bathroom breaks. We even had to eat in our seats. I spent the evenings either with my parents, with Gary and Cameron, or we spent them all together watching movies in my hotel room. Finally, it was the last day of the event. After the event was over, we would go back to the hotel to change out of our jumpsuits then checkout and head home. I was starting to relax a little. There is still an entire day left that I could be claimed but my uneasy feeling that plagued me all week was starting to go away. Before we left the hotel that morning, I found Cameron to give her a quick hug. I wouldn’t see her again until The Mating next year unless the revolution happened before then. I was hoping there wasn’t going to be another year of this. I was already tired of. On the shuttle I rested my head on my mom’s shoulder. “How do you deal with this year in and year out? I’m so tired of being treated like livestock.” She patted my hand gently and kissed my head. “You just get used to it. Eventually you’ll realize that you can’t let this one event dictate your life. That is why your dad and I decided to get married. We were tired of the ache of loneliness and decided that our love was worth losing.” I could feel her smile. She made the right choice for her, but I knew I could never do that. Getting rid of The Mating and the stupid rules of werewolves was my only chance for happiness.  I shifted positions and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m glad you did mom. I hope you and dad can stay together to take care of each other forever.” I felt my mom lean into my embrace. “I hope the same for you honey. I know you don’t see Gary as anything but maybe you two can learn to love each other.” I snorted then thought about it. Gary was one of the only people I could stand in large quantities, but I couldn’t allow myself to feel anything but brotherly love for him. I looked at my mom. “Gary will never be more than a best friend to me.” Mom smile sadly. “And anyway, mom things are changing.” Her eyes went wide, and she gave me a look. I laughed. “What? Maybe I meant that I am turning into a lesbian.” Mom chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you Katie.” I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. “Just gonna have to love me I suppose.” She kissed my cheek. “That is easy.” Dad, who was sitting next to mom, just chucked with her. “You’re going to be the death of us one day Kat.” I looked at him and shrugged again. “I know.” The shuttle pulled up to the center and we got off. Mom and I gave dad long hugs and we headed to our seats. Unlike the other days, this last day was only one pack. It was the biggest pack in North America. Its also been said they are the most ruthless. I had to be on my best behavior today or there is no telling what they would do. Werewolves don’t usually spark fear in me, but this pack always has. Dad always told me that if their Goddess didn’t require humans to be mates then we would have died out a long time ago. When the wolves took over the world, they started it. They make my blood boil, but they frighten me. Mom felt my fear and squeezed my hand. I know she feels the fear too. The voice over the loudspeaker announced the beginning of the event. The wolves of the Silver Moon Pack started to pour in.