Him

Prologue

Have you ever glanced at a magazine and envied the picture perfect house's and family's you saw within it's pages? Wishing that was your upbringing, longing to feel the happiness reflected on the faces that stared back at you... Well, that was exactly what I had, emphasis on the word had. 

My name is Arabella Wilson of the Midnight Moon pack. I'm a warewolf from a long line of warrior beta wolves. I grew up in the small town of Minnesota and trained my entire life under my father and older brother, who would be the next Beta of our pack. Our pack values kindness, compassion and loyalty. We are a small pack but we are fierce and known for our fearless warriors.

What do most Warewolf women look forward to? Their 21st birthday... A day where you could finally find your mate, the other part of your soul, it was what we have all been told is our purpose, so why should I feel any differently? Even though every time my mother would brag about finding a mate all I could picture was being the compliant little female, laying on my back with my legs spread waiting on my mate to come home each day.

****

He placed his index finger under my chin, tilting my head back and lifting my face towards his, the grey eyes I had known since childhood staring back at me before they closed lightly, fanning out his dark lashes across his face.

I inhaled the familiar scent of his minty breath as he lightly touched his lips to mine while snaking his arms around my waist closing the distance between us.

I grazed my fingertips up his masculine back, feeling all their thick muscle bands before reaching his lightly damp chocolate coloured hair, tugging on a fistful.

He smiled against my lips in response, gently licking at my lower lip teasingly. I parted my lips against his, inviting his tongue into my mouth, which he feverishly accepted. I felt his tongue caress mine in it's familiar way, anticipating it's actions and meeting every one of it's glides across my own.

He moved his hand from my chin to the nape of my neck pulling my face closer gently to deepen our kiss. I nipped at his tongue playfully, basking in the moment of privacy we had before we needed to leave the room.

"Careful now, if you carry on like that, I may never let you leave this room", he chuckled against my lips while he smacked my ass and gave it a squeeze.

I yelped and took a step backwards with a raised eyebrow and a cheesey grin tugging at my lips.

"Fine, you win" A fake pout taking shape on my face as I spun on my heel and headed towards the bathroom to get dressed for the day.

I stepped into the shower, eager to let the pressure from the warm water massage my aching muscles. My father had increased our training regime, saying that female shewolves were being targeted for some kind of trafficking ring. The thought alone caused bile to rise up my throat. I could not understand what kind of people would be so heartless and disgusting to be involved in this sort of thing. The mere fact that this kind of evil was prevalent in the world we lived in made my insides turn. I had plans to aid the fight against this kind of evil when I became Luna.

I say when, because I know that Bryce is my mate, there is just no way he couldn't be. Bryce is our future alpha and my long term boyfriend of 4 years. We grew up together and have always been drawn to each other since before we could even remember, and with my 21st birthday just around two weeks away, followed by his, I had already begun to envision the feeling of the mate bond snapping into place once the clock strikes 12am, igniting a new fire in our relationship.

Bryce and I knew each other inside and out, I guess that comes with the territory of growing up with someone you ultimately fell in love with. We never seemed to grow tired of each others company. We tried to have a conversation around what life would look like for us if we weren't infact mates, but neither one of us could take it seriously, it just seemed so unlikely. Ranked pack members normally end up mated to other ranked pack members, if it wasn't within our pack we would be mated to ranked pack members of another pack. Even the elders of our pack said Bryce is more than likely my mate.