Ali and i were now stood at the clearing waiting to start, i could see six others that were to join us. None of us were wearing clothes and i was glad the night wasn't cold. "Hey Justin" We turned to see Duncan walking towards us. "Het Duncan how'd it go" He had been sent to the war school after we had spoken to dad. "Yeah thanks it seems if i can do as if i can do as i'm told i'll do alright" "They let you in?" Duncan nodded "Apparently as stupid as it was surviving a fight with a shifter was impressive" "Damn right" I agreed "But i'm glad i don't have to knock some sense into them"
Ali decided now would be a good idea to interupt "What the hell are you two on about?" She demanded. Between us we explained what happened. "So you went and did something stupid" She pointed at Duncan "Your skinny ass saved him. Meaning now he gets to go to war school and we find out that the worlds gone crazy" Me and Duncan just looked at each other before looking back at her. Before we could say anything dad called us over.
"By the way can i stick with you tonight?, i know it sounds weird but i got a feeling about tonight and it isn't good" Duncan asked "Same here" Ali spoke, i too had a weird feeling about tonight. I looked at both of them then nodded "Sure" Ali and i knew we were going to be standing alone anyway, the other kids were nice enough to admit at school that they wouldn't want to embarrase themselves with a pathetic thing like me when they first meet their mates.
Everone stood around alone except for us three, "When the moon is at it's highest your wolf will take over" My dad spoke from the middle of the clearing, i could feel the nerves and excitement rolling of the wolves, except fot Ali and i. We knew our mates wern't coming, we were only here because we were to cowardly to tell our parents the truth. "If your mates are close they will come to you, your wolves will howl until you find them. Do not worry about anytthing for they will know what to do" I looked at Duncan and Ali with a smile, but the look on their faces made me frown. "She's ecxited, she wants to do this. But we know he's not coming i don't know whats wrong with her" Ali admitted. My wolf was doing the same. "He's going nuts" Duncan said "He knows something big is going to happen" I nodded "Mines the same but i don't understand"
Suddenly we felt it, our bodies began to burn and tingle and we all gave ourselves to our wolves. The howls started one or two at first until all eight of us were howling into the night. I had heard it before when others had gone through this and to me the calling was one of the most beautiful sounds i had ever heard. The wolves that had come with us who wasn't howling stood in the middle some in human form some in wolf form. I always believed it to be a magnificant sight.
We heard one wolf howl louder and with out stopping we turned to see who it was. I recognised her as a girl called Lisa. She had a light grey fur, but her human had dark brown hair and blue eyes, we watched as another wolf howled back and we saw him come from the woods. His coat was a dark colour as he slowly made his way to her, she stopped howling and slowly walked towards him. Once they were infront of each other they stood there, he slightly towered over her. Then Lisa lay on the ground in submission and the male wolf began to rub over her, lick at her fur as to put his scent on her. They had gladly accepted each other. I heard Duncan next and turned to look at him, he had turned to face the woods behind us so i did the same. Nothing could prepare me for what happened, slowly we watched as a shifter appeared at the edge of the woods cautiously, it's eyes on Duncan. I wondered for a second if this was the attack that we were expecting, but as i watched i realised it seemed confussed. I could see it comeing towards us, but it looked like it was afraid of something. Growling behind me pulled me out of my thoughts. "Dad stop" Ithought to him "It's not here to hurt us" I could feel the questions my dad had. "Trust me please" I begged, he must have agreed because the growling stopped. All this time i was still howling, Alis had got louder, then i felt it, my own wolf joined in, all three of us howled as hard and loud as we could to the moon. Our wolves now had complete control, yet i could see and hear everything. And how i wished i couldn't.
At first it was the flapping of wings, then the cries that reminded me of the noise pterodactyls made. Then i saw them two shifter lords landed next to the other shifter. Their wings slowly folding behind them. All three edged closer until they were a few yards infront of us. The smaller shifter i could tell was female yet she wasn't thin so obviously a fighter, the one lord was buff his muscles rippled under the night. But the other one, the one in the middle was huge, he towered over the other two easily. My wolf howled at the sight, this was our mate. I felt confussed, i thought D was my mate? he howled louder not sure why our mate wouldn't come to us. None of the shifters moved, they stood there looking at us as if to work something out all three looked cofussed. I could hear the pain in our howls that our mates wouldn't come to us. Suddenly the larger shifter lifted his head and opened his mouth and the most wonderful noise began, the other two followed but compared to him it sounded like someone strangling a cat. I would have covered my ears if it hadn't been for the song he was singing. Without warning i felt myself moving towards him, i tried to stop, to make my wolf question this. Surely my mate can't be a shifter it goes against our very nature. But i could also see why, the song was alluring, his body was perfection. The muscles rippling his body showed how strong he would be, his long black hair, although straggled looked soft, i could already see him holding me, feeling safe in his arms. I could see him leading our pack, the fact that he was a shifter not destroying us but making us stronger. The song stopped and i realised that Ali me and Duncan were now stood right infront of the three shifters. Without thinking Ali and i lay in submission, i looked up at my mate and saw the confussion on his face. I heard Duncan whine and turned to see what was wrong, his own shifter mate stood there also confussed. I stood up and let out a yip causing her to look at me, i walked over and gently took her hand and pulled her down, she tried to resist so i let go and bumped her leg with my nose before pointing at Ali. She seemed to understand and sank to her knees before lowering her body infront of her. I went back and lowered myself infront of my mate. At first none of them knew what to do, out of the corner of my eye i saw Duncan rub over his mate licking at her skin. The other two saw this and started to do their own version of it. My body hummred and tingled as i felt his hands rubbing my fur, his body touching mine. I felt his tongue flick out behind my ear causing me to rumble in delight. They took their lead from Duncan and once he had stopped so did they. We stood up and stared at each other.
Slowly all three of us shifted until we were stood infront of our mates in human form.
"Well,well,well, this is a surprise" A familiar voice spoke up" Everyones heads turned towards it. Stood by the trees was Carmel and Carol. "See little Alpha" Carmel said "I told you he would make a good warrior" I spun round to face the other three. and took a step back. First Duncans mate began to change. The long black straggly hair softened and became light brown her figure less muscular her eyes became light grey instead of black and stood infront of us was Claire. Alis mate changed next, his was quicker he had red hair but his eyes remained black. "Mark?" Ali chocked, i turned to the last one. "No" I whispered. His face fell "Why?" He let the change take over him until stood infront of me was D. I shook my head remembering the kisses, the way he hurt me by refusing me. "Wait" He spoke out in his husky voice, his hand up as if he wasn't sure to touch me or not.
Growls erupted behind us and without thought Ali, Duncan and i spun round and shifted, growling back at our pack members. "Enough" Ds voice called out, stopping all of us. All five shifters walked past us, we whined at them but they just looked at us with a smile before walking away, we followed slightly behind worried for our mates.
D looked around the wolves and for the first time i noticed everyone had shifted into their own wolf. "Who is the Alpha here?" Ds voice rang out. My dad stepped out towards them and let out a low growl. "Please this would be easier if we could talk" D spoke calmly. My dad shifted but i could feel the concern in him. "What is going on?" He demanded "Why are you here?" I let out a low growl, he was disrespecting my mate. "You are the Alpha? His father?" D pointed at me. Dad crossed his arms "Yes" D sunk to his knees and the others followed, they placed their hands on the ground and revealed their necks. I heard the strangled gasps from everyone. "Three of us have found our Amares" D spoke with confidence. "We pledge our bodies and lives to you. Our hearts and souls to them" Nothing was said, nobody moved. This was the second time i had seen this, but never by a lord. "Stand up" My dad ordered and they did as they were told. Duncan. Ali and i shifted and went to stand by our mates. Dad stood there quietly as if contemplating something. Then he turned around "Go all of you, council i want you to stay" Everybody left you can't argue an Alpha order. Soon it was just us and the eight council members. "Follow me and please don't do anything rash" My dad told them. They just nodded. "Ali, Duncan, Justin you will go on and get dressed. Meet me in my office" All three of us started to protest. "ENOUGH" My dad yelled stopping us. Dad turned to me "Meet us in my office i promise we will not start without you" I gave D one last look, he smiled at me and nodded. With that we shifted and ran to the house.
Once inside we quikly found some clothes and all three of us ran to the office. "Come in" Dad shouted when we knocked on the door. We went inside and up to our mates.
"Would someone like to tell me what in the godesses name is going on?" My dad asked fustrated. No one wanted to answer so i stepped foward. "I can tell you" Everyone looked at me. I then went on to tell them everything, about the day they came to the school how Ali and i had discovered that Mard and D were our mates. How i we were only out there tonight because we had no idea how to tell them that Alis mate was human and that mine was a human male. When i was done dad spoke again "I understand that we can have same sex mates, but i have never heard of a gay Alpha before" "That's the point dad" I tried "You sawe me tonight, my wolf submitted to him. How was i supposed to tell you that the pack would be led by a human male?" "But he's not human" David one of dads councilers said. I looked over at him. He had short brown hair and turquoise eyes "Take a good sniff Dave tell me what you smell" They all did this. "Ok so they smell human" Dad concceded "But there is something else there" I nodded "Don't you remember dad?" I asked "Ali had a call from Bea telling her that John could tell there was something else. I said i would check them out" Dad nodded "So how did you miss this?" He asked. I shook my head. "Dad one of them was my mate it confussed the hell out of me, on top of that was the drama we were going through, yes i could smell it but my wolf was forcing my mind elsewhere" D decided to speak up "What is a mate?" he asked genuinly confussed.
We all looked at him, dad decided to answer him. "Tell me when you touched Justin did it feel like sparks flowing through you?" D nodded "You wanted him, needed him. Couldn't think of anything else but him when you were away, but when you saw him you felt whole, like everything was ok?" D nodded again. Dad sighed. "These are the signs of mates, soulmate to be exact. He is yours as you are his to love, protect and cherish for the rest of your lives" "Amare" Claire spoke softly looking up at Duncan in amazement. "What?" Dad asked. D sighed.
"Amare is like your mate, in latin it means love. But i don't understand none of us are twenty one seasons yet" He said shaking his head. I thought about this. "Wait what do you mean?" I asked. D looked at me with a small smile. "We like you have our Amare or mate, but we cannot find them until our twentyfirst season or year if you like" He then chuckled "Imagine the fear Mark and i had when these things began happening to us. It terrified us. You see shifters have no interest in anyone. The only" He struggled for a word "Romantic? feelings we ever get are for our Amare. It terrified us beyond belief. We had thought about leaving, but neither of us could that thought alone hurt our hearts. We couldn't understand it" "That's why" I whispered "That's why you ran from me, why one of them" I pointed to the girls "Said you'll know soon" D nodded "Soon i will be twenty one"
"Yeah then we can be certain if it's right" Carol spoke up. Duncan and Ali growled. I just looked at her. "Duncan" I called him making him look up. Pointing to the girl who he had wrapped his arms around. "Her names Claire by the way" A goofy grin spread across his face as he look down at her in wonder. "Claire" He breathed softly, i turned to Carol. "The spirits do not lie Carol, you maybe to young to find us but we are never to young to find ours"
"It still doesn't help that we have to explain this to the pack" My dad spoke up. We turned to face him, again i started thinking. Then i got an idea. "Wait, who did i meet with Duncan?" i asked Carmel raised her hand "Guilty" I looked at the five shifters then at the wolves. "I think the spirits have made a new plan" I spoke carefully. Everyones eyes were on me. I turned to D "How many groups of shifters are there out there protecting weres?" I asked. D looked at me "I only know of six others" He told me. IO had to be on the right path, i had to. "Can you get in touch with them?" I asked. D nodded "I bet you anything some of them have were mates" I looked between the shifters and the wolves. "What makes you say that?" Dad asked. "D why did you come here? did you go anywhere else first?" Excitment bubbled within me. D shook his head. "It had to be here. Our shifters led us here" I turned to face dad. "I told you what was said to me about the rebelion groups. Think about it dad, if they came here then maybe the other groups had the same thing. Maybe the spirits have had enough of our ways they are joining us together in the only way they know how" My voice had risen by this point.
Dad shook his head. "you know some of us won't like this, hell i don't like this. But even if that's true how does weres finding their mates amongst shifters help us?" He asked. D cleared his throat. "I think it's time i told you all something" He said nervously. "And i don't think you're going to like it one bit"