Chapter two

My eyes widened as my phone beeped on my bedside table. I tossed and turned throughout the night. My mind kept replaying my father's words of last night.

We were leaving Howldrige Pack.

The only home I knew in the entire eighteen years of my life. It was 4:30 am when I grabbed my phone from the table. A text came in from James.

"Hey little pup, let's go for a run."

I groaned. This dude with his early morning workout routine. Plus today was the most inconvenient for this. Gosh, I haven't even packed my suitcase! Clio whined in sorrow as realization dawned on me. This was my last chance to see him, to say goodbye. I quickly jumped out of bed and ran to take a bath. I put on my workout clothes and tied my hair in a low messy bun. I immediately texted him back.

"Be right there."

I jogged my way into the woods, where all the wolves of the pack were all prepped up and training. I shook my head at myself, knowing I could never be a morning person. His blue eyes and platinum blonde hair immediately came into view.

"Hey Sophi." His perfect grin widened at seeing me.

James was one of the perfect bachelor's in the Pack. Being the Alpha's son was the definitely the cherry on top of the cake. All the she-wolves were vying for his attention. That was why I didn't have any female friends. Worst of all, there were many pranks and hatred directed towards me. It was James who put an end to it by publicly admonishing all the she-wolves. I was left alone but with the occasional death glares. James was my study- buddy, my sleepover pal and he had an avid interest in novels just like me. He was my everything.

My heart literally broke into two at the sight of him.

"Hey James." I smiled back at him, running into him for a hug.

"Whoa!" He chuckled, grabbing me. "It was only the weekend Sophi, did you miss me that much?" He said, holding me to himself.

"Yeah." I breathed against his chest.

"Careful," He breathed against my hair as we slowly pulled away from each other. " Don't end up falling in love with me."

I punched at his arm. "Like hell that's gonna happen." I paused to take in his full appearance. He was bare chested like most of wolves around, with only a baggy sweatpants. His lean chiseled figure glistened with perspiration, his tanned skin glowing in the early morning sunrise. His platinum blonde hair was in a tousled, carefree manner, letting his ocean blue eyes pop.

" Well don't just stare at me, let's shift." He said, running to the back of a nearby oak tree to undress. I groaned. This was the part I hated the most. The part of undressing in public. It was very natural for wolves as some of them even walked around naked as our ancestors did but I couldn't. Civilization came around for a reason!! Plus, there was this day after our run, that I couldn't find my clothes. Could have sworn that one of James mean fan girls stole my clothes cause there were a lot of glares that morning. The only reason I didn't have to walk back home in my wolf form was that James got me some of his clothes.

I came out from the back of the tree in my pure white wolf form, my hazel eyes glowing. Apart from being a lycan, my pure white wolf form always stood out in the entire pack and as a lycan, I was bigger than many wolves and even was on par with James's wolf form which one of the biggest in the pack. It was quite odd, I had brown hair and my wolf was white. Plus my Dad said there was no one in our entire family who was a white wolf.

I loved it though. It made me feel special.

Garnering attention from the wolves as usual, James and I began to run deep into the woods. Despite my lethargic nature, Clio loved every moment of this. Being in the woods, her more natural habitat made her feel free and wild plus she was more in tune with nature. She was more in control and she loved it. We sprinted over boulders, creeks and through the bush paths. James stopped by the spring making Clio to halt behind him. His bold intimidating blonde wolf figure howled.

Using our telepathy, I asked him a question. "You weirdo. Why are you howling?" Clio crouched on the ground next to him, purring happily as she pushed playfully at him.

'Sophi, let's shift back. I need to tell you something.' He communicated via telepathy with urgency.

'Uhmm, I don't have any clothing on me?!' I stated the obvious.

'Quit being a baby. You ought to be used to being nude around your Pack members.' James scolded as he began to shift.

'I don't like it, it's weird!!' I whined.

" Sophi!" He said aloud.

Remembering my earlier promise to myself to keep him happy in this meeting of ours, I sighed. ' Fine. But you have to promise. No funny business.' I warned, looking squarely at him.

" Definitely love."

My heart did a backflip at his words. He barely called me 'love' and had had actually started it two years earlier, since my sixteenth birthday when I first shifted. It always left me in the same dazed state where I went all red, with butterflies dancing in my tummy. Clio purred happily.

I closed my eyes, shifting right in front of him with my gaze down. He crouched next to me, his hands tilted my chin up so I could look him square in the eyes.

The vehemence rose in the air, thick and undeniable. I swallowed thickly, wondering what he was going to do next.

" Sophi, I'm in love with you."

My heart flipped as I bit my lips. I definitely had feelings for him but was it love? I wasn't quite sure yet. But I definitely wanted this. The feeling of his bare skin next to mine was euphoric. I quickly lost my bashful demeanour, leaning closer into him. His lips found mine and we kissed. It was a gentle, sweet kiss until the passion of our wolves took over. I straddled him and his hands pulled my waist closer to him, our cores grazing against each other.

'Sophia, where are you?!' My Dad's voice responded in my head via telepathy. I immediately stilled with James noticing.

"Sophi, what's wrong?" James asked, concerned.

" It's my Dad," I said, unstraddling him. Clio whimpered, her tail falling behind her. " We have to tell him!" she cried out.

I couldn't, I just couldn't. I wanted our last encounter to be happy, the last time I would see him to be with his perfect smile. It was so selfish I know, but I couldn't bear it if I broke James right in front of me. Besides, he didn't need me distracting him, he needed to be with his true mate as an Alpha. Everything, literally all of me screamed at me to stay in James's arms and never let him go. But I couldn't.

' I went jogging in the woods. I'll be back soon.' I responded to Dad.

James cuddled me closer to his chest, his hands running through my wavy brown hair. He turned to look at me with those intense blue eyes.

"I really meant everything I said. I have loved you Sophi since we were eight, and I want you to be my Luna."

My eyes widened at his words, my heart literally stopped. "Your Luna?? James, I'm not fit for that, I'm not even your true mate. That place is not meant for me." Tears ran down my eyes seeing how true James's love for me was.

"Only I get to decide and Sophi, I want you to be my Luna. For now, leave to your Father so I'll talk to you tomorrow." He pecked my forehead and I shivered.

"There's no tomorrow, James." Clio whimpered.

I burrowed deeper into his arms. "I love you James, I love you so much."

I felt his face spread into a smile. "I love you too darling."

******************

We shifted back to our wolves and I changed back at the tree, sprinting back home. Dad was at the living room with my suitcase and his suitcase neatly packed.

"I kicked Blondie out.... " He drawled, smirking at me.

"Thank Goodness." I tried sounding enthusiastic but ended up failing terribly. A tear escaped my eyelids.

"I assume you ran off to say goodbye to your friends," Dad asked, getting off the coach and coming closer to hug me.

"Yeah." I croaked out.

He kissed my

messy hair. " Get ready kiddo, our Uber to the airport will be here in less than 10 minutes."