Apprentice to the Alpha 

Six: Marie's Wolf

---Evelyn---

They finally rang the all clear at 11:30. As soon as we told our parents where we were off to, we dashed to the forest for Marie's first shift. I felt guilty for leaving everyone behind to clean up the mess the rogues left without us, but I guess my mom knew I was planning to try to help and texted "Your best friend only turns 18 once. Besides, we can definitely handle things without the help of a couple of numbskull teenagers." That woman really had a way with words.

We left the bunker behind, racing to our favorite spot. There was a cliff hidden in the forest that overlooked a picturesque view of the human city, Avalon, below. As beautiful as the view was, it was even more gorgeous at night. The flickering lights illuminated the Appalachian valley in a way that made the scene almost look alive.

I was born and raised in the Lunar Eclipse pack so it's entirely likely I'm biased, but I swear I live in the most beautiful place this country has to offer. The mountains climb so slowly in parts that you don't even notice you're going up until you see the jaw dropping valley below. The trees and plants cover every inch in greenery that extends as far as the eye can see, except for the cliffs that feature multiple types of stone put there from millions of years of geological creation and erosion. I was excited for the day I could meet my wolf and we could spend hours exploring the forests together, maybe even finding a more beautiful spot than the one Marie and I currently favored.

As I was imagining some secret cove of trees just waiting to be discovered, we arrived. As usual, I was left speechless at the sight below me. I walked right up to the cliff at the overlook and dangled my feet over the edge, holding the railing to steady myself. Dangling like this made the view even more surreal. I felt like I was on top of the world.

"Evie, can I ask you something?" I tore my eyes away from the valley and mumbled an affirmative noise. "So, I'd like to understand your feelings about that guy Kai. I was teasing you about him before but I don't want to make you uncomfortable if you don't want to talk about it anymore."

Oh. That. "Well, I was talking to him when the sirens went off, but it got pretty chaotic and I lost him in the crowd. He wasn't in the bunker with us so I guess he either ran off or went to help fight. I never did get his number, but honestly, I'm kinda glad. I said I wanted to be his friend, and I did! But... he's cute. And when I was with him, I forgot all about Josh. I feel like such a bad girlfriend. Josh was stuck at campus and I was eye-fuckinging some stranger. What kind of a girlfriend even am I? I don't deserve him." Tears of frustration threatened to overflow as I start to feel all the guilt I had been avoiding. "Is this going to be how it always is? Josh is patiently waiting on me and I'm off flirting with random dudes? I feel despicable."

Marie puts her arm around my shoulder. "I don't think you're despicable. I think the situation is complicated because he can feel the pull but you can't. But I do know that before you experience the mate bond yourself, it's completely normal to have small crushes. What matters is that you really did keep it friendly with that guy because despite your hormones running off without you, your heart didn't. And I don't think Josh expects you to pluck out your eyes every time an attractive guy walks by." I laughed as I wiped away the tears that were betraying me by spilling everywhere.

"Thanks, Anna, that was a super sweet thing to say. I guess you're right, I wasn't doing anything wrong by just having a feeling."

Marie stares blankly at me. "Way to ruin a moment, b***h. Anna? I don't even have siblings, let alone one that does ice magic."

I laugh. "Speaking of mates, are you excited!? You get to meet yours soon! It’s a shame your party ended before 12 and you were able to see if she was there."

"Yeah I'm super excited, but I'm also scared. My cousin took 15 years to find theirs... I know you think my theory that it's going to turn out to be a family curse is silly, but I'm actually super nervous. I have s**t luck. Also, I'm..." Marie chewed on her tongue and I could tell there was something else she wanted to say.

"What is it sweetheart? You know you can tell me anything, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, I do." She sighs. "This might sound weird, but I'm scared that my mate will be a man. "So you know I had a falling out with my ex best friend, right? That's basically why I moved here freshman year."

I nod. I knew the basic story, but she'd never told me details before.

"I've always known I felt differently about girls than about boys. When I was around 12 I started realizing that I seemed to notice some girls more. At first, I thought that it was that I was trying to emulate them because I thought they were so cool. But then in 8th grade, I had a dream that I kissed my best friend, Chloe. I didn't know what it meant, but I figured that if I had had a dream like that, so had other people, right? So to help sort out my confusing feelings, I told her. Not that the dream was about her, and I made it seem like it was just a peck, but. Well, it turns out she had not had a dream like that. She lost her s**t and accused me of everything under the sun and made me feel totally crazy. She said she needed space, so I left her alone.”

"Then, I got sick and couldn't come back to school for a week. Unbeknownst to me, she spent that time telling everyone she knew about what happened and painting me as some kind of f*****g degenerate. By the time I got back, the whole school knew. Nobody wanted to be my friend anymore because they didn't want to get hit in the crossfire of the rumor, or they were scared I was gonna pull a move on them. I still had no idea what was going on with my sexuality, so dealing with all that and having no friends to help me through it was brutal.”

"I hadn't told my parents what was happening beyond that Chloe and I weren't friends anymore, but they knew there was more to it. They had never seen me so miserable; that was the lowest I've ever been. If I'd known that telling her about that dream could have ruined my life that way, I never would have. Finally, when the school year ended, my parents announced that my dad had found a job here as the head pack doctor. My dad loved his old job, so even though my parents said we were moving for a better job, I wasn't so sure. I think they decided to move for me. I'll never be able to thank them enough.”

"Then I moved here, and we found each other. Having both just been stabbed in the back by b***h best friends, I'm not surprised we got close so quickly. You never once made me feel weird, and I realized I felt more at home with you than I ever did with Chloe. With the unconditional love and acceptance you gave me, I had the emotional space to figure out my feelings. And I realized my feelings weren't just wanting to emulate girls, I wanted to date them. Honestly I had always known, but wasn't in a place to be able to admit it to myself. When I finally told you, you didn't accuse me of being a degenerate, and you still haven't told a soul that I'm gay because you know I’m not ready to come out. I learned to not just accept that I'm gay, but to love that part of me.”

“Anyway, after those couple years of hell, having a dude as a mate would make me feel like I'd gone through all that for nothing. Does that make sense?"

This was heavy. She had came out to me last year, but I didn't know the depth of what she was going through. I give her a hug and say, "It does make sense. And I don't think the Moon Goddess would do that to you. After going through so much trauma in order to learn to love yourself, I see how having a male mate would feel like a slap in the face. I mean, a mate is supposed to be the one person in the world especially picked to fit each of us perfectly. I've heard of Bi people getting one gender or the other, I've even heard stories of people who didn't realize they weren't straight finding out when they meet their mate. But to give you a guy? I feel like it would ruin the magic of what the mate bond represents. I'm not the Moon Goddess, so I can't tell you for sure that it won't happen, but I really don't think that's what’s in store for you."

Marie starts crying at these words, and soon after, my eyes betray me too. "s**t, look what you did to me! Now I'm a blubbering mess, and I worked hard on my makeup!"

She laughs at me, then suddenly her face changes.

"Wait? What happened? Are you okay?" I try to say without panic in my voice.

She smiles from ear to ear. "Yeah I'm great. I hate to say it, but it turns out you were right about the whole J name thing. My wolf is called Jaime and I can tell that she's amazing."