Blood Moon Howlers

Part 1| Mating Issues!!

Jaxon sped through the forest on all fours, moving like a bullet through the trees. The rest of the pack, Moon Howlers, were close behind, but he still moved the quickest.

"Slow down, your highness. Us simpletons need to catch up."

He snarled at Aiden's sarcasm, thunder started crackling above us and lightning splitting the sky, while he put more power into his leaps.

Moon Howlers was also known as the 'royal pack' among the wolves around the world but more prominently in the district of the White Claw.

Districts were sectioned off, secluded areas where were-creatures could reside comfortably while still being in the vicinity of humans. Werewolves were the only supernatural creature who chose to live so close to humans while others lived in areas that were deserted.

When were-creatures shift back to human form they keep a distinct feature of the animal even after they shift. That was the main reason that most were-creatures would stay away from humans, their features were too obvious to hide.

Some keep their tails.

Some keep their whiskers.

Some keep their ears.

Werewolves keep our eyes, but after centuries of living among humans, werewolves have adapted so we're able to adjust our eye color to change between our wolf and human color.

However in the presence of raw emotion, no matter how hard we tried, our wolf color will flash brightly. Our eyes were like a more powerful mood ring.

Jaxon weaved through the trees and head straight for the cabin which stood exactly on the borderline between White Claw and the city.

The prince was at it again.

Ever since the dawn of were-creatures, there was always one individual who shone brighter than the rest.

The royal one.

This was a creature with supernatural powers, whose ability were far superior and far stronger than the average beast. They look normal, but when it came down to combat, no pack wanted to fight a pack that held royal blood.

It would be a death wish.

The Douglas's bloodline, held the blood, making Jaxon the werewolf prince of the new era.

When Jaxon saw the cabin appear he leaped up and landed gracefully on the porch, waiting for the rest of the pack to catch up.

The sky continued to thunder angrily, but no raindrops fell even as the night overhead slowly painted into a dark gray.

"Oh, you can't be that mad, Jaxon. This isn't the first time that the elders pestered you about finding your mate."

Chase linked in his mind as the brown and white wolf trotted to the house. He huffed in reply, his purple eyes flashing brightly as another loud clap of thunder shattered the sky.

"You guys KNOW how I feel about that and now they're giving me a deadline too!"

"They just want to make sure the bloodline is secured for another heir." The alpha, Xander, linked wisely as he calmly shifted back into his human form.

Soon all 7 of us followed suit and stood up, dressed only in sweatpants and dangling collars.

"f**k the bloodline. Have you seen the way these wolves act around their mates? Absolutely pathetic. It's not like the elder can take away my title. I'll still have royal blood and the powers so the deadline means nothing." Jaxon sneered when the clouds above them darkened irritably to match the look on his face.

"Which reminds me, can you stop with the thunder already? You're scaring Mason." Chase said as he put his arm around the younger boy.

Jaxon rolled his eyes and took a deep breath to concentrate. The clouds slowly started to part revealing the dark sky. The thunder quieted down and the moon shone softly emitting a soft glow.

That was his ability, weather.

Jaxon was able to control any and all types of weather on a whim. He could make it snow in July or make flowers bloom in December. He could whip up a tornado in the palm of his hand or create a small raincloud to literally follow someone around for the rest of their life.

Safe to say Caleb was not happy with that prank.

He controlled it all, but his powers were also connected to his emotions so if he didn't focus, the weather would reflect the emotions he felt.

When the sky was calm, Jaxon opened his eyes and looked at his pack, "Some of the most terrifying wolves I know act like fools around their girls." Jaxon entered the house lazily, in search of a t-shirt.

"Well yeah, it's cause they're in love. Love changes people." Ethan said softly with a smile.

He stared at Ethan with an unimpressed look before snorting, "I'd rather get caught by a hunter than turn puppy whipped for a 'mate'."

"Don't joke about that." Aiden's face turned serious as he tossed Jaxon a shirt. Everyone gathered in the living room.

"You're going to mate eventually, Jaxon. If you don't find her, she'll just find you. It's destiny, nothing can stop it," Chase said.

Caleb fell back on the couch and kicked his feet up on the table, "Don't worry, once you meet your mate, just give her to me, I'll take real good care of her."

Mason pointed at Caleb "When you find your mate, I'm going to tell her that you wanted to mate with Jaxon's mate."

Caleb frowned and threw a pillow at the younger guy.

"What are you going to do? Ignore your mate when you meet her? No matter what your beliefs about mates are, you'll still feel the effects of the pull, man." Aiden said as he clapped his hand on Jaxon's shoulder.

"Yeah, right. I'll probably resent her when the pull starts taking effect. In fact, I'd want to be nowhere near her. I feel sorry for whatever creature falls in love with me."

Xander scoffed and shook his head, "Falls in love with you? Mating is a two-way street, you're going to feel something for her too."

"I don't think so. Nowhere in the prophecy does it say that wolves have to fall in love with their mates. It only says that we are bound to another being."

"So you think all the past millenniums of werewolves falling in love with their mates were just coincidences?" Caleb asked sarcastically.

"Well, yeah. When you're bound to someone for eternity, it's easier to just fall in love with the person but nowhere does it say I have to. When you're forced by destiny to spend the rest of your life with someone, you start having feelings for them, but they aren't genuine. It's not natural. It's all biological, there's no real love there."

Ethan's eyes widened at his cold words, "No love? These wolves would die for their mates. How is that not love?"

Jaxon shrugged and moved to the kitchen to grab an apple, "Our mates dying is the equivalent to us dying. No one wants to die, so of course, they'd protect their mates. It's just us being selfish. We protect our mates to protect ourselves, we don't do it out of love. No matter what they say, if wolves got to choose their mates, they probably wouldn't choose the ones they have now."

"That's not true!" Ethan snapped before storming up the stairs.

Aiden raised his eyebrows and glanced at the alpha who gave Jaxon a disappointed look. Ethan was the youngest in their pack, but he was often the quietest and the most mature. He treated his elders with respect, took orders well and never snapped, but everyone knew that he held soft spots that turned him back into an innocent little pup.

That's what happens when you lived your whole life as an abandoned stray.

Jaxon knit his brows in guilt when Xander jogged up the stairs to talk to their youngest.

"You should know better than to rile him up about mates. Mating is all that kid believes in after his parents left him," Chase said softly. The rest of our parents were in a pack of their own, which resided in another district.

Jaxon looked away, "I know, but it's just that I don't get why everyone makes such a big deal out of mating. I've kept my beliefs quiet around Ethan but with the elders on my ass, it's getting really annoying."

"So are you just going to reject your mate? That's never happened before." Mason asked as he pulled himself up to sit on the counter.

"I don't think you really can. You're the prince, isn't it like your duty or something to mate and create an heir?" Caleb asked confusedly.

"My mate is only going to be relevant so that I can unlock more of my supernatural power. That's the only reason that I'll feel the pull because she's the key and my body needs to become stronger. This doesn't mean love will appear, it's going to be the same as an arranged marriage, but the only difference is that our bodies will react differently than our minds. The rest is just a load of crap. I just hope that I don't have to deal with some clingy mate that declares her love to me," Jaxon said pointedly.

No one argued with him, they knew no matter what they said, he'd never be swayed. Everyone in White Claw knew that he hated mating and dismissed the idea. Ever since they reached maturity, he rejected the concept of mates.

When the elder explained to them the bond between mates, the rest of the pack was eager to find their mates, but 13-year-old Jaxon's first reaction was to say, "That sounds stupid."

At the time, the elder's had laughed it off, thinking he'd grow into the idea, but as years passed, his acceptance of finding mates just lessened.

This worried the council of elders since he was the future of werewolves. They had such high hopes for him, who showed great skill and technique in combat. He had all the makings of a prince, but his disinterest in mating was concerning them.

"Why can't you find your mates already? Maybe then the elder's will lay off of me if someone else in the royal pack gets mated," Jaxon whined.

It was moments like this when he acted like a child, which was a side of him that only his pack ever got to see.

Caleb snorted and folded his arms behind his head, "Are you kidding? I'd give anything to find my mate already. Full moons are getting more painful each month."

Mason nodded in agreement

Chase gasped and pulled Mason into his arms, "My baby is all grown up, thinking with his d**k already."

Aiden rolled his eyes and faced Jaxon, "Speaking of which, how are you planning on surviving full moons?"

"Are you kidding? Full moons are great! I have so much extra energy to burn for practices. I'm not very concerned."

Aiden hid his smirk and looked away but not before he caught the look on his face which said 'Just wait until you meet your mate, full moons aren't going to be so easy'.

Their attention moved to Xander who came down the stairs and told them that Ethan was fine and just needed some space. Everyone nodded and went to their rooms.

This was how mating conversations always ended. No one could break through to Jaxon and they'd just leave him alone, hopeless that he'd ever change his mind.

Jaxon looked out the window and stared at the dark sky trying to think of a way to convince the elders that he didn't need a mate right now. As his eyes stayed on the moon, he didn't notice that his emotions were making stars rapidly appear in the sky.

Normally he had to be careful of how he controlled the weather or the sky, Jaxon had to make sure he gradually change it so that humans wouldn't suspect anything weird, but he figured that they weren't smart enough to notice something so small.

However, somewhere deep in the forests, a girl was staring up at the same sky from the comfort of her home, wondering how the stars appeared so quickly.