HER Young Mate (Completed)

Part One: Free Like Wind Like Fire.

"And by then we'll all be so strong and fast you won't be able to keep up." Owen teased, getting Frea to chase him, and having to run into the bus to avoid her.

"I bet you anything by tomorrow he'll be chasing her." Alice giggled.

"For sure!" Durst laughed as we watched them fighting in the bus; all of my friends laughed with him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. They looked at me as though I had just asked where the sun went at night. Like I had missed out on something completely obvious; common knowledge.

"We all know Owen is going to choose her for his mate." Sam laughed. "He denies the shit out of it, but it's only obvious."

"Is it...?" I said as I stepped onto the bus. I hadn't thought about the idea of mates, ever, I hated the idea. Owen wasn't as reluctant, but was a young man, who in his own words: "wanted to test the waters before diving in".

Now I realised, as I stepped onto the bus, that we were vulnerable to mating beginning tomorrow. I despise the idea. I don't want a mate, and I never had, I had seen too well, first hand, what having a mate can do to you. I watched my father suffer silently my whole life, because of it, I would not risk that.

I sat on the bench beside Frea. "Your brother gets on my last nerve." She said. I laughed, and felt relieved, she would never mate with my brother. My other friends were wrong. Me and my brother didn't need mates, we were stronger than that, better.

"Yeah, he can be a shi*t head." I laughed, feeling better again.

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I danced as the bonfires light cast warm swaying shadows against the forest. I swirled and played in circles as everyone who wasn't joining in sat and cheered. It was a pack ritual to have a bonfire every night for three nights before a members changing. Not that it wasn't a norm at our home anyway. Tonight was for me and Owen, though. Tonight was the eve before our changing and all eyes were on me and Owen as we danced strong and proud across the woodland floor. The last two nights there had been a smaller amount of our pack here, but tonight everyone showed up to the circular clearing in the woods three miles from our home. The same place everyone here had been the night before their changing, same as our ancestors, same as my mother.

I felt her in every tree, every star, every crisp breeze against my warm flesh. I no longer felt the eyes of hundreds staring at me. I felt love, warmth, strength, togetherness. I danced around my friends, their happy faces beaming in celebration as one twirled past me, or another soared, and I felt more connected to them than I ever had. Owen grabbed me up, began to twirl me about, and I felt as proud of him as he seemed to be of me. My father yipped and howled as we danced together, and his loud howl began a wave of them. Me and Owen laughed and danced faster as the drums grew louder, and we never stopped; as the embers of the fires blazed against the vacuous darkness of the night sky we kept dancing, and dancing... Until we felt so sore we could collapse.

As I laid down in my bed for the last time before changing I still felt the rush of the party, my belly full of as much food as I could eat, my skin smelling of soot and ash, and my cheeks in pain from smiling and laughing so much. My stomach hurt and felt tense from all the laughing, my legs quivered from dancing so much, but my heart soared. I tried to sleep, but knew I couldn't, I was much too excited. Excited, because tomorrow I will officially be part of the pack, I can start doing runs, I can run just like them, soaring over streams and through the forest. I looked to my door as it opened.

"Coralie, what are you doing awake?" My father asked as he peered in, his russet skin glowing from the hall light, his pale grey eyes, the same as mine, staring at me with a smile.

"I can't sleep, I'm too excited." I said as I sat up. He let out a laugh.

"Of course you are, but you have to sleep for the change to happen." He chuckled.

"I know, I just feel... So alive!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms back as if it would cause me to soar as high as my heart seemed to be. He laughed again and shook his head.

"Just like your mother." He chuckled. "How about I take you on one more run with dad, you'll never want to again after you can do it on your own." He said. I beamed.

"Yes! Please!" I said quickly. I followed him out of the house, he ran into the woods, and in a minute he was back. His wolf form walked up to me, I pet the black fur around his collar, and when he was relaxed I climbed on. My fingers sank into the silky black fur as it glimmered in the night. My father was alpha, he seemed nearly the size of an elephant in this form, and had shoulders so strong he could carry at least five men if he needed to. "Okay dad, let's go." I said as I pat his coat beside me. Without hesitating his wolf form took off into the forest. I buried my face in the warm fur, and despite me wanting to enjoy every minute, I fell asleep to the thudding sound of his heart, and his paws across the forest floor.