Slow Burn

The party - Gaia

"Come on dear! You should go! I mean, not like you have a choice. All unmarked females have to go this year. Besides, you're getting ready to prep for college, right? You're a beta female in your last year of high school and have been 18 for a week and still haven't found..."

I growled at my mother to get her to stop talking.

"I have chosen Luke, and he chose me. Why change that now? We were talking about maybe getting married right after graduation."

My mother scoffed at this, "Chosen mates are for those who can't find their goddess given after years of searching, my love. Besides, Luke is going to the Cross-Pack Chrismas Ball, too. Sweety, my beautiful pup, you may find yourself upset if you don't go."

I blinked as my world came swirling back to reality. Little did my mother know that I would have been upset either way. I felt sick to my stomach, having dropped the fine class of water I had been holding on to due to the horrible sight before me. Luke was all over some other woman, and I was about to walk over and splash water all over them when I heard the one word from him and her that I couldn't do anything about.

"Mate!"

Just like the glass that I dropped, my world shattered. We had promised each other to be together, that Mate's were overrated. The laughter and joy that filled the air around me felt so suffocating as my wolf, Aria, howled in my head, my grief hers. We hadn't even been here for thirty minutes, and he was already kissing along the neck of some woman he just met.

Tears threatened to fall as a few of the she-wolves from my pack came up to me to make sure I was okay. How was I to respond to that? Run... I need to run! Get out of here and go to the woods. I don't care about this stupid party, I never did, and now it threatened my sanity.

I pulled from the grips of the worried ladies around me and started to walk out, pushing through the crowd while keeping my head down. I just had to get out of there. I ignored the calls for me from the girls. Ignored the smokey yet sweet smell that suddenly invaded my nose even though Aria tried to get me to stop and look around.

Suddenly, I felt Aria lurch forward. This caused me to stumble right into someone's arms. I had almost made it out but for some reason Aria was going crazy in my mind, giving me the most ridiculous headache. I tried to push her back, only to be met with resistance.

I took a deep breath so as to calm myself down and I froze. I was smelling such tantalizing scents. Scents? How did I know it was not just one. After a moment, I realized that though I had run into only one man, I was surrounded by three irresistible smelling men. My heart pounded and I panicked. This couldn't be happening!

I kept my head down and stepped back, growing afraid. Three mates?! For goddess sakes! The smells of Oak, and grapes hit me the strongest. It must have been the one that I ran into. The the smell of Hickory and apples from my right as well as Cedar and blueberries. It was like I was surrounded by a wild orchard or something. Aria was still bounding up and down.

I felt a hand slip under my chin and I flinched away from the tingling sensation. There was no way this was happening. I backed away as tears welled up in my eyes. I didn't want to just forget the heartbreak and pain that I just went through. It couldn't be fully confirmed until after they looking into each other's eyes. It's why he tried to grab my chin.

"I'm.. sorry.. I...."

I tried to push past the man in front of me, and to my surprise, he let me pass, but the three of them followed me. Damn the stupid goddess and her stupid bond.