The story of mates is a tale as old as time. Handed down from generation to generation, from father to son, from alpha to beta. Every pup listened to this certain story picturing themselves in the arms of their fated ones. Evan wasn't different.
Evan's biggest dream since he was a little child was to meet his mate. He always imagined her to be blond, with long curls and bright blue eyes. The true definition of a princess. Maybe it was his mum's fault because she used to read him all these fairy tales about princesses who needed to be saved each night before bedtime. Of course, little Evan imagined himself as the hero.
He was eleven when he realized no hero thing was going to happen. It was also the time of his first shifting. He remembered it to be quite painful with all the bones changing their position, his fur growing practically from nowhere, and of course the first time using four legs instead of two. Indeed, painful but not as painful as the first look through his mate's eyes. He saw a soccer ball and lots of mud. However, most importantly he saw a field filled with boys and only boys. Which in his young mind meant that his mate was also a boy. Poor Evan cried himself to sleep that night.
"Honestly, it's no big deal," his best friend at the time, Angie, used to repeat to him. Nevertheless, for Evan, it was a whole disaster. He couldn't imagine kissing a boy. Well, at his age he couldn't really imagine kissing a girl either, but at least it was something he was used to hearing about or seeing on the street. There wasn't any homosexual couple in their community, at least that's what Evan thought at the time.
"My mate can't be some stupid boy!" he argued every time she said that to him. He was a stubborn pup, always trying to prove he was right.
"If he's a stupid boy, at least you two will get along pretty well." Angie never took him seriously, and that made him even more furious about the whole mate thing. Angie, even though just eleven at the time too, couldn't simply comprehend why was her friend making such a big deal about having a male mate. If it was up to her, she would pick a girl for her mate. She liked girls more than boys. They were smarter and more mature, and they weren't picking stupid fights or daring each other to eat their boogers like boys in her class often did.
"Mate or not, I will never let some filthy boy mark me! You hear me? Never!" Evan shrieked. He was always a tad bit loud, but since the two of them were currently outside, no one cared. The girl with pigtails just rolled her eyes thinking again about how stupid boys were.
The funniest thing about all of it? Evan couldn't be more wrong. Fate never cared about gender, and it was just a matter of time before Evan would learn to not do it, too.