HE IS NEAR

I knew my dad was going to be furious as I rushed towards the meeting room.

He had sent someone to fetch me as soon as the guests arrived, but I was still fighting with my wolf Ares if I should wear the uniform.

In the end I chose to wear it. Not wearing the uniform would have much worse consequences for the pack.

The thought of the alpha not having a chosen heir when both his children were both old enough to be trained for the role would be taken as a weakness. It would show the other packs that we were vulnerable, and that was the last thing we wanted.

As I neared the meeting room, Ares began to pace in my head and it was driving me nuts.

I had to stop and lean against the hallway wall as I tried to calm her down.

She kept speaking in my head, but I didn't understand a thing.

'Ares, calm down.' I scolded her as she continued to mumble and pace in my head.

Our wolves lived in our heads and kept the same form as when we shifted.

Ares was black wolf, she was the darkest shade of black any of the elders had ever seen, they often called us as a blessed wolf, and yet there were others that would refer to us as cursed.

Either way, we didn't care.

Both Ares and I believed that we could carve our own destiny and that the Moon Goddess would never curse any of her children.

'Ares, why are you acting up?' I asked my wolf as I held on to my head. She was starting to give me a headache.

'Amaya, don't you smell him? Don't you feel him?' Ares asked as her speech slowed down and I was finally able to understand her.

'Smell who? Feel who?' I asked Ares as I slowly stood upright on my own without the aid of the wall.

'Mate.' Ares said.

The one word that suddenly turned me pale.

For some reason it crushed my heart and tore it to a thousand pieces.

My mate. I repeated the words in my head as I tried to understand what it meant.

'I can't enter in this uniform, Ares.' I told her with a frown as I turned to march back to my room to change.

'What if he isn't an alpha?' Ares asked in my head as I felt her trying to pull me back towards the meeting room. 'What makes you think he is an alpha, Amaya?'

I could feel that Ares desperately wanted to go to our mate, but we couldn't show up in front of him this way. If he was an alpha, he would most likely be offended by his mate trying to claim to be an alpha as well.

'Ares, no ordinary wolf can tame us.' I reminded her.

'If he is our mate, he will accept us for the person and wolf that we are.' Ares insisted.

As much as I wanted to disagree with her, she was right. The Moon Goddess always paired wolves with their best match. She rarely made a mistake.

'If he is offended by us, let's reject him.' Ares said in a stern tone. 'Our pack will alway come first.'

I wordlessly nodded at her as I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I've never felt this nervous, not on my first shift, not when I first joined training, not when I had to take any exam.

This was the first time that I felt this scared and excited at the same time.

I knew that the moment I pushed the door open my life would change, I just couldn't help but wonder if it would be for the best or for worse.

Would I have to reject him? Would he reject us? What if he didn't like such a headstrong female? What if he wanted those prim and proper she wolves that were brought up to

'We will never be alone Amaya.' Ares reminded me. 'Even if we reject him or he rejects us we will always have each other. And even then we will still have our pack.'

Ares' words put me a little at ease, I was still anxious, but she was right. We would always have each other and we would always have the Shadows Pack.

I would die for my pack, I would give my dreams up for the benefit of my pack. I guess that's why dad always said I was alpha material, I always made sure to put the pack ahead of my own interests.

'I hope he loves us.' Ares sighed in my head as the door drew closer. 'I hope he accepts us no matter what.'

'I hope so too Ares. The Moon Goddess would never pair us with someone we didn't deserve.' I told her.

'Our future is on the other side of those doors, are you ready?' I asked as I tentatively hovered my hand over the knob.

'Will we ever be ready?' Ares asked in my head with a chuckle.