Alpha Liam (Book Two of the Alpha Trilogy)

Careful, mate.

One month later~

Today I was graduating. If I had been nervous about this day in the last month, I hadn't let anybody see my nervousness. But today, I couldn't hide it. HE would be here, and tomorrow morning I would be leaving my pack to go live with his. Ours? I knew that I was the Luna to his pack, but it would take time for me to settle in and be comfortable around everyone.

"Arden," the principal called up my name, and I walked up on stage, accompanied by the applause of everybody else in the audience. I shook the principal's hand and looked out to see my mom and dad standing in the crowd. My mom had tears in her eyes, and my dad looked as proud as I had ever seen him.

I scanned the crowd with my eyes on the lookout for the one person I had been thinking about almost non-stop for the last month. Finally, my eyes locked with his pale ones, and he smiled at me. I didn't return the gesture.

Looking back at my parents, I headed back to sit next to Bea and Noah. They smiled, and we congratulated each other. Soon everybody had been called up, and we were released.

As soon as I saw my parents, my mom engulfed me in a giant, bone-crushing hug. "Mom, I can't breathe." She let go of me and wiped the remaining tears off of her face. My mom had hardly cried in her life, and seeing her do it now, made me feel weird. My dad came and spun me around in a circle.

"My baby is finally all grown-up." I blushed at his words. "I am so proud of you, honey." He wanted to say something else when he was shoved out of the way by Bea and Noah, who stormed over and tackled me, making us land on the floor in a heap. I was laughing, and they kept apologizing in case I had broken something. My bones still hadn't strengthened, and I hadn't gained any weight either, but I didn't care at the moment.

A throat cleared above us, and the three of us looked up. Alpha Liam was standing over us and had a weird expression on his face when he saw us tangled on the ground. I quickly stood and brushed my graduation gown off. He must think I was a complete whack job. First, I ran away from him the day we met, and now, the second time that we came face to face, I was laying on the ground.

"I wanted to congratulate you, Arden." He seemed to feel weird around my family, but I chose to ignore his discomfort, nodding in reply and accepting the bouquet he handed me. People around us started whispering and shooting looks in our direction, making me blush. A growl from him, and everybody was minding their own business again.

"Are we still going to the club to celebrate?" Bea asked, and I wanted to slap a hand over her mouth. I looked at Alpha Liam, but he didn't indicate that he had heard our conversation. He was speaking with my parents.

I nodded in confirmation, and Bea and Noah cheered. "Maybe I'll find my mate there." Noah seemed almost more excited about the idea than Bea, and that freaked me out. Out of the three of us, Noah was the one with the most common sense and responsibility. He would make a fabulous Alpha one day.

Since I couldn't rule over a pack by myself for a while before finding my mate and making him the Alpha to my Luna, and the fact that I was a female and the elders wanted a male leader, Noah would take over the pack once he had earned the title of Alpha. I knew he would soon, and I was happy for him.

We all headed off to attend our party in the packhouse. I knew Alpha Liam was going to join in on the festivities, seeing as he was staying overnight. I sighed at the thought. I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about the situation but decided that I would not think about it and let it ruin my evening.

We arrived at the packhouse fifteen minutes later and the party began. We celebrated the graduation of Noah, Bea, and me. The others that graduated celebrated with their own families, and I didn't mind one bit. The fewer people, the better.