Amaris Rejected!

Chapter 8 - Meet & Greet - Devon

Devon's POV

Day of Meet & Greet

"All right guys," Alpha Wright began, "we need to get everyone sorted for the meet & greet this weekend." He holds up a stack of papers. "We have fifteen attending this year from our pack. Luna and I will be going as chaperones and we have a contingent of six warriors going as well."

"Our neighboring sister pack, the Moonbeam Pack, who are present here, will be carpooling with us.  There will be seven attendees, four warriors and Alpha and Luna Quinn."

"If nobody has any questions," he continued, "please come forward and get your information packets.  It has everything you will need and tells who you will be riding with."

We all collect our packets and make our way to the SUVs. I am driving one with Jeni riding shotgun. We have three other attendees from my pack and a warrior. Everyone else is distributed among the other SUVs. Jeni has been my best friend since childhood. She is the Alpha's daughter of a neighboring pack. Her father and mine have been trying to manipulate us into a mating, but I don't feel for her in that way. Things have been getting progressively more tense between us.

When we are about half way through the trip, I notice in my rear view mirror that everyone but Jeni and I are asleep. Jeni starts giving me the side eye. "You know, Devon," she hesitates, clearing her throat. "I know we are going to this meet & greet," she air quotes, "to find our mates. But, our parents are planning for us to mate. Dad says, our moms are pushing for us to have our options open. Thus, the meet & greet."

I look over at her. I am well aware of what our dads are pushing, and Jeni has been pushing herself on me as well. She's a beautiful girl and I truly love her as a best friend. We even experimented with a friends with benefits relationship one time a few weeks ago, but it was messy and awkward, and I am not even sure the condom survived.  I was plagued with guilt afterward. I wanted to try for dad because he says I have a responsibility to the pack.  It was hard enough the first time, I definitely didn't want a repeat.

"Yeah, I know..." I begin as she interrupts me.

"So, I think we just need to avoid potential mates at all costs. Hopefully, we will come through this experience unscathed." She rushes on. "If we meet our mate, we just reject them immediately. Okay?

"Jeni, I don't know. I think we should give this an honest chance. You remember a few weeks ago when we tried to...you know.  It was a disaster."

She looks at me hurt. "Devon, it was wonderful. I was never so happy as when we...we made love."

I blush furiously, "Jeni. I am sorry. We are not well suited. If you find your mate, you need to claim him. I will be doing so."

She drops her head. I can tell she is hurt, but I have been trying to let her down gently ever since our experiment. She isn't taking the hints. So, blunt it is.

"Jeni, I still care about you." I smile at her. "You are my best friend , nd I will always treasure you." She nods, but grows silent.

We arrived on site at about 9:00 am. There are hundreds of wolves here. All excitedly talking and laughing. Event organizers in matching yellow t-shirts are directing us to a table where we could get information about the activities, our room cards and meal tickets. We also get one of those stick on name tags. All throughout the day, we repeatedly heard people shouting "mate".

Our group from the two packs stayed together, eating meals and doing various activities. Jeni stayed annoyingly close to my side. Finally, the girls all grouped up and headed to the bathrooms. Me and a few of the guys approached one of the many bonfires. There sitting staring into the fire was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her beautiful, straight black hair hung all the way down her back. She was curvy and full figured. She looked up at me, and I was mesmerized by her moss green eyes.