A Fated Pair

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 Unedited

I Didn't Want You, Either

       Riley awoke to the noisy sound of her pack in her mind. The early risers never could quite remember to shut off their minds to everyone else. A groan escaped her as she glared at the clock that loved to tease her with its fluorescent numbers. As lethargy wore off, Riley realized that the date she had been dreading had finally arrived. It was mating day.

         A mating day usually happened once every four years, as a gathering of the available packs from around the globe in an attempt to match mates together. It was often quite successful for many couples whom without this would have never met. Every wolf was offered an invitation, including rogues. Riley used to shiver at the thought of all the possible conflict that could arrive out of such a simple event, but many times had been reminded that any wolf who was stupid enough to start conflict around that many Alphas was definitely asking for death.

        This year, Riley would finally be able to attend this massive event. She and her father would be travelling together into the Southern America, as minors were forbidden to travel alone, and their pack was not chosen to be Guardians.

        Guardian packs were not sent an invitation, but instead were entrusted to look after the other, absent packs lands while they were gone. This in turn created unity among many packs, and allowed the event to be held without causing an overflow.

       "Riley, are you packed and ready to go? We have to leave now if we want to catch our flight," her father, Thomas, called from outside of her room.

She glanced down at her packed suitcase, which had a neatly folded summer dress laid on top of it. Easy to slip on, and great for airplanes, she thought to herself. The cotton fabric slid easily over her buzzed down hair and fluttered softly below her knees. She was no stranger to her beauty, although many times she did question it.

"Yes father, I will be down in two seconds," she called politely, having caught on to the formal tone in her fathers voice. The majority of the pack was bustling about downstairs, and although they acted as family, it never hurt to show respect for others who also needed to go. 

Taking one last final glance at her room, she grabbed her small backpack and suitcase, sighed and shut the door. Walking down the stairs always sent a feeling of nostalgia throughout her body, seeing the hallways lined with photographs from different families, seeing small children that were now happy adults with families of their own. It was something specific, she felt, to her own pack, that made them unique and loving. 

The daunting thought that this would never be seen again was enough to snap her back into reality.

A mate would easily rip away the only life she had ever known, forcing her into a kind of relationship that she would never want. An Alpha would force her into giving him heirs, while many other wolves seemed to accept that as the norm. There were no asexuals, the Moon Goddess didn't create gays, it was all unheard of.

It was all actually unheard of, Riley thought ruefully. There had yet to be anything other than perfect straight couples. Even age hadn't been a concern, seeing as most mates were within five years of the other. 

It was not as if the packs were homophobic, no, it was just that the Moon Goddess had yet to pair anyone together. Maybe it was the timing, seeing as the world was just coming to accept homosexuality. A similar event had occured in earlier dates when interracial dating was a taboo. The Goddess had created pairs, and they always had the same skin tone. Nowadays, it wasn't uncommon to see all kinds of ethnicities together. 

That thought had always warmed Rileys mind.

She was definitely quite an activist of rights, whether it be for humans or animals and any variations thereupon. It was her generation that she felt would be the one to finally change the world, hopefully for the better.

"Do you feel like this is the year?" Thomas asked, looking down at his daughter in adoration.

Riley smiled and nodded, though her gut said quite the opposite. Sure, she was excited to meet new packs and becomes friends with others, but a romantic relationship had never appealed to her.

That thought had once been expressed to Thomas, when she was a younger girl and found that all the other girls couldn't wait for their mates to come sweep them off their feet. All Riley had wanted was really just a mate that would give her half of their chocolate bar.

"Do not fret, my baby girl, once you meet him those feelings will clear right up. You'll wonder why you ever had such silly thoughts," Thomas had said. That would be expected for an eight year old, sure. But ten years had not once made a dent in any of those thoughts, and while now all the girls were pining after mates and boyfriends and sex and all of that, all Riley really wanted was someone who would give her half of their chocolate bar.

A sinking feeling formed in her stomach, as she saw the airport draw near. Intuition was something wolves believed in almost as much as the Fates, but that would do nothing for Riley's as she simply sighed and plugged in her music to drown out the world and hopefully drown out negative thoughts.

Riley hoped, prayed, that this year would be the one that changed everything. That she would change her life, though she still wasn't too sure if that would be for the better or not. But it still allowed her to believe that this Mating Day would be one for the history books. Or, at least her history book. This generation felt like it would be one to shock the nations.