The Mate That is Just Out of Reach

My name is Alison Winslow. The second born child to Alexander Winslow, my older brother Alec being the first. My father is the powerful and ruthless Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack. Ever since I was old enough to fight, my father has been training me to be a strong warrior. Tomorrow is going to be my first time going on a real mission and I'm nervous. I don't have a good feeling about this mission, Ali, my wolf says to me in my head. We're going to be fine, Juniper, I responded, trying to hide the nervousness in my voice. I hope you're right about this, she says as she recedes to the back of my mind. I get out of bed and walk to my bathroom to get ready for the day. I turn on the shower as I start to undress. I put my hand under the water to feel the temperature and step in. I start rinsing my long dark hair, feeling the warm water run down my body. I continue on to wash my hair. I turn the water off and open the shower door to reach for the towel that is hanging on the towel rack. As I'm drying off, I hear my phone ping from my bedroom. I finish drying and walk back into my room to my phone that is on the bedside table. I smile as I read the message from my best friend, Lexi, telling me to hurry and get dressed so we could go on our morning run. The same run we've been going on every morning since we met on our first day of training. I set my phone back down and go to my walk-in closet. I pick out a loose, gray tank-top and some black spandex leggings. I put a black sports bra and black bikini underwear on and then the tank-top and leggings. I grab some socks out of my dresser and my tennis shoes off the shoe rack and go back to sit on the chest at the end of my bed to put them on. I quickly brush my hair and throw it up into a messy bun. Grabbing my phone, I leave my room and head downstairs to the kitchen, running into my dad. "Good morning, dad," I say with a smile. "Good morning sweetie. Heading on your run with Lexi?” "Yep. I'll be back in a bit." I kissed him on the cheek and left out the back door. I start jogging to our usual meeting spot right by the pack training building. As I approach, I can already see Lexi standing there waiting. As I get closer, she starts talking to me, "Well look who finally decided to show up" I laugh at her remark, " I got here at the same time I do every day." "I know, I just like teasing." We both laugh and start jogging down the path towards the woods."So, you ready for your first mission tomorrow?" She asks."I guess so" I respond "A bit nervous, but I'm ready. It's what I've been training for." "You got that right little miss badass". We laugh again and continue jogging. As we get to the edge of the woods, we stop and split off to hide behind different trees to shift. I strip my clothes off and hang them on the tree and shift into my wolf. My wolf, Juniper, is a large dark gray color with ginger highlights. She has two different colored eyes. One is an icy blue and the other is a dark hazel with light green dots near the pupil. Juniper walks back over to Lexi's wolf, Emerald. She was given the name Emerald because her eyes are beautiful green like the gem. Emerald is a few inches shorter than Juniper. Her fur is red with light brown highlights. Our wolves bow their heads at each other in a greeting and then start their run into the woods. Both of our wolves are graceful as they run, barely making a sound as their large paws touch the ground. After about 30 minutes of running, they stop at a creek to get a drink of water. Lapping up the cool water, quenching their thirst. As they are drinking, Lexi mind-links me, I hope nothing goes wrong on your mission tomorrow, worry evident in her voice. Everything will be fine. And just as I finish my sentence, a twig snaps in the distance. Both of our wolves' ears perk as they look around to find the source of the sound.