To Kiss A 𝙹𝙴𝚁𝙺𝚆𝙰𝙳

30. THE MATE

[ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER]

[TRISTAN]
†

I STARE AT the carrots and peas on my plate.

"Tristan, honey eat your vegetables."

"No."

Mommy comes to look down at me and I hang my head. I don't like when she's upset.

"If you don't eat your vegetables you won't grow up to be a big strong wolf like Alpha Jackson."

I want to be a big wolf like Alpha,but I still don't eat my vegetables, only stare at them.

"Okay," She sighs, "Go play with your brother- and stay out of the woods."

I run out of the kitchen before she can change her mind and look for my big brother Drake, but I can't find him.

I even look in his special hiding spot.

Then I smell him near the woods.

Mommy told us not to go in the woods unless one of the big wolfs is with us cause bad stuffs happen there but Drake is bad too so he never listens.

On the way to Drake I find a twig. It's shaped like a fork and I use it to pick up a fat spider near the trunk of an oak tree.

Deeper into the woods the smell is different. It makes my skin crawl. I still follow until it becomes unbearable.

When I'm close to the edge of a ravine I stop.

That's where I find Drake talking to someone.

"Drake you're not s'pose to talk to strangers," I say quietly. The man looks at me.

It was him, the source of the smell. It wasn't like anyone from our pack.

His scent made my nose crinkle.

Not good.

"Shut up," Drake tells me and the man touches his head.

"I'll be back when you're older, and then you'll be with me, and this pack will belong to us."

Drake nods yes at what he says and then we hear some of the big wolfs coming so the man shifts and runs away.

I can't wait till I can shift too.

"Who was that man?" I ask Drake when he starts to walk away.

"My mate."

"What's mates?" I ask and he shrugs.

"Then how do you know?"

"Cause he said so, idiot."

I still don't get it.

"He smells funny," I rub my nose.

"He smells pretty good to me. Like candy floss."

I don't think so.