Claiming Kate

Episode 2

You already know that I grew up with Kain, Gavin, and Damian. We did everything together when we were little. The four of us were best friends. Kain and Gavin were always like my brothers, but things were different with Damian. I'm not sure why.

I've had a crush on him for as long as I can remember. He's a couple years older than me, and I remember the day that I realized he had a crush on me too. I was 14 and he was 16. We were training and the four of us would take turns fighting each other. There is something different about the way me and Damian fight each other. We're so in sync with each other that it's almost a dance instead of a fight.

He can predict every move that I make and I can predict his. That particular day, Kain and Gavin had finished their fight before Damian or I had even knocked each other down. They were standing around us, cheering us on. Gavin, being the smartass he is, yelled, "Just kiss her if your just gonna dance."

My heart started racing and I could feel my cheeks getting red. I lost all my concentration and Damian swiped my legs out from under me. I fell backwards and landed on my bottom. He thought he had won and turned to smile at Gavin. I regained my focus and when he looked up, I swiped my leg behind his knees and swiftly knocked him down.

As I started to get up, he pounced on top of me and pinned me under his body. There was something different about the look in his eyes. The way he stared at me was like he admired me. I thought he really was going to kiss me. I was so nervous. I had never been kissed before, and I didn't want my first kiss to happen in front of Kain and Gavin.

My whole body froze under him, and I couldn't even breathe. I think he noticed how nervous I was, and he got off of me and stood up. Luckily, he didn't kiss me, but I knew he wanted to. He grabbed my hand and helped me up. I should have known then that he was bad for me. It was so hard to concentrate around him.

That's how it was between us for a couple more years. I was young and he respected me. We would flirt with each other, but he never made a move. Every time we trained, things got more intense. He made it a mission to get me in his arms.

At some point in every fight, he would find a way to wrap his arms around me. He would hold me close to his body for as long as he could before he let go. I enjoyed the closeness and never let on that I knew his intentions.

In the hallways at school, he would glare at me every time I walked by. His eyes were so intense, I could feel my whole body warm. Almost like he was pushing his desires into me. Making sure I knew how much he liked me. He always made me feel like I was the only girl in the world that mattered to him.

I couldn't wait to turn sixteen and get my wolf. I prayed to the moon goddess over and over again for him to be my mate. He already had his wolf, and I thought that maybe his infatuation with me was because he knew we were mates.

One day, about a week before I turned sixteen, the four of us were leaving school. As usual, the end of the school day was chaotic. Everyone was hurrying to leave for the day. I had my arms overloaded with books and needed to go back to my locker to leave the books that I didn't need there.

Kain and Gavin went ahead of us, and some guy came running down the hall, hurrying to catch his ride. He ran straight into my back, knocking me down. My books went flying all over the floor. Damian grabbed the poor guy by his shirt, but before he could hit him, I stopped him. It was an accident.

Damian listened to me and let him go with a warning to watch where he was going. I just wanted to get my stuff and get out of school for the day. I was looking forward to training. It had become my favorite part of every day.

I started gathering my books and Damian bent down to help me. Complaining the whole time about how that guy is a clumsy i***t.

As he was handing me the last book that was on the floor, he got closer to me. His face was almost touching mine and he stared into my eyes. I heard a soft growl and Damian let out the breath he was holding. He closed his eyes, and whispered, "Soon beautiful," Before he stood up.

I just smiled. I could tell he was struggling not to kiss me. I knew then that he was waiting for me to turn sixteen to see if we were mates. I was so excited about my birthday, that the next week dragged on painfully slow. I wanted him to be my mate more than anything.

Turning sixteen is a huge deal for wolves. So much of our lives change. You get your wolf and you can shift for the first time. Most importantly, with your wolf, you can recognize your mate.

It doesn't always happen right away. It can take years for some souls to find each other. Some wolves never meet their mates, and claim a chosen mate instead.

In our pack, mates are cherished. They're the other half of your soul, and nothing is more important. We're lucky though, not all packs are like that. The Green's are natural leaders. They care about and love every member of their pack. It doesn't matter who you were or what you did before joining. They will stand by you and fight for you. No one is ever judged by their past or mistakes.

What matters to the Green's is honesty and loyalty. If your intentions are good and you pledge your loyalty to our pack, they will accept you.

Living happily in our pack of misfits, we sometimes forget how cruel the world can be. Some packs are evil, they live to use and abuse their mates. Greed and power mean so much to some people that they don't care who they hurt. I've heard stories about a couple of packs that will not even allow their women to speak unless spoken to.

The women do all the labor in the pack and are hit and beat for the smallest things. The counsel can only do so much. They try to stop all forms of abuse from happening, but sometimes even convicting the criminals and changing Alpha's dosent help. They just get better at hiding the abuse.

Luckily, finding our mate doesn't mean that we have to accept them. The moon goddess gives us a choice. If our mate turns out to be evil, we can reject them and claim a chosen mate. I don't believe the moon goddess would ever punish us or think bad of us for choosing to live safe and free.

She chooses our mates before we are even born. She cant predict what the world will do to her children, and I believe she wants us all to be happy. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to reject our mate, we would be forced into a life of abuse if our mate was evil.

When it comes to love you never know what is going to happen, but I couldn't wait to find out. The day was finally here. My sixteenth birthday. I woke up so excited. All I wanted to do was find Damian. I was so sure he was my mate.

My mother wouldn't let me leave the house. She was planning a huge party for me that night. I remember begging her to let me go see the guys, but she wouldn't budge. I think she was secretly hoping one of them was my mate.

No one except for Kain and Gavin had caught on to the lust between Damian and I. Either way, she still wouldn't let me leave the house until my party. She was afraid that if I met my mate before the party, I wouldn't show up. She worked so hard to make it perfect for me.

I sat in my room all day, doing my make-up over and over, and changing my hairstyle. I didn't stop until I was satisfied that I looked my best. I spent hours rehearsing what I would say to Damian, and what I would do. I imagined what the sparks were going to feel like between us, and him kissing me.

I also spent some time getting familiar with my wolf. She didn't say a lot to me yet, but I could sense that she was as excited as I was. It was almost time, and I don't think anything could remove the smile from my face.

I was more of a tom boy, who preferred jeans and a tee shirt. Getting so dressed up wasn't really my style. I was definitely nervous looking at my dress. Thinking about what Damian's reaction would be is what encouraged me.

I slipped into the dress my mom bought me. It was beautiful. It was a baby blue dress that matched my eyes. It was tight fitting and ended half way between my hips and my knees. I decided to leave my hair down, but I curled it. The golden curls flowed across my back. I felt beautiful and it made me even more excited.

I completed my look with light pink lipstick, silver hoop earrings, and a pair of silver heels. This was it, I'm ready, I thought to myself as I took one last look in the mirror.

I went downstairs to meet my parents. They wanted to walk me over to the party. My mom was so excited to see me dressed up that I thought she was going to cry, but she held herself together. My dad always had a tough guy look on his face. After all, he is the Beta of this pack. He still made sure to tell me Happy Birthday and that I looked beautiful.

As we walked outside, I could hear music blaring from behind the Alpha house. That's where we hosted all the parties. It was wide open and there was enough room for our whole pack to attend.

I was so nervous I could feel my whole body getting tense. I remained confident though. After all, I was wearing heels and the last thing that I wanted to do was fall. I started to shake as we made our way around the house. Then it happened.

Damian, Kain, and Gavin were all standing by the food table. Waiting for me. Damian looked just as nervous as I was. He was gorgeous. He had on jeans and a white button-up shirt. He left a couple of buttons undone at the top of his shirt, and he had the sleeves rolled up. Showing off the new tattoos on his lower arms.

The white shirt was the perfect contrast to his dark hair and dark complexion. I waited for it. The sparks, the strong amazing smell that I heard about, the desire to claim my mate. Nothing, nothing at all happened.

Damian and I stared at each other, both of us praying for something to happen, but it never did. I could feel the smile fall from my face. He was still just as handsome as ever, and the lust between us was still there, but nothing changed.

The color must have drained from my face and I felt weak. I felt like all my dreams or more like fantasies were gone. Just like that. I dint get my prince.

No matter what, I couldn't let it ruin my night. My family and friends worked hard to put this party together for me, and I appreciated it. After all, the three of them were still my best friends. It was still my birthday and we were going to have a good time no matter what happened.