Mate? Him??

Cain's POV

I am Cain. And no, not the one who killed Abel. I am the soon-to-be Alpha of our pack, Blue Moon. With my words, one might think that it means I'm still young; but no, I am in fact already of age to become the successor and yet here we are. All because of my respectable father, the Alpha; and his council of advisers of Blue Moon. Stupid... simply stupid. They said I cannot become the Alpha until I find my mate! A pack needs a Luna yadda yadda, and all that. I mean, it is true that a Luna would help me and the pack greatly, just like how my loving mother is. If I were to find my mate, I would wish for her to be just like my mother. Unfortunately though, I had given up a long time ago already.

I never cared about it, although I can't deny how I used to anticipate it too, like every other werewolf teen. I would merely congratulate my friends when they found their destined partner. They were always so excited to finally find theirs. And one after the other, they get married, bonded, mated? Sigh.. They settled down as I waited for mine, slowly losing hope, slowly starting to hate her whom I don't even know. It affected my demeanour as well. Even though I'm genuinely happy for them, I didn't fail to notice how they pitied me for not finding mine yet. I hate being pitied, and yet I can't blame them. After all, what else is there to blame but fate itself?

Of course I didn't stand by idly either. I'm ar only offspring, becoming the Alpha is my birthright. For fear of becoming a laughing stock, I had ventured on to numerous adventures of my own. I travelled to different packs hoping I could maybe find her there. But it was to no avail. A few years passed by so easily since I started searching, and I shifted my attention.

Where is she? Fate can't possibly make me have a mate too far away that there would be so little chance of meeting, if there's even any. My mother would tell me when I was young, that it's the moon goddess or something who would choose for us. She can't be that cruel right? And is she even there? There's a possibility that she is still young and all, but it's a few years already. Do I even have one? Maybe she died. But my mother told me that when such unfortunate circumstances happen, a new mate would be assigned to us. And if the pairs have already marked each other when one of them dies, the moon goddess might be kind and give them another chance, another mate. Same would go for rejected mates. Ah.. enough of that.

Like I said, the circumstances I've been made to struggle with has changed my perspective and demeanour by a great deal.

I took out my frustration by going on wars with other packs, all of which I've won triumphantly. I had to prove how strong and capable I am, showing them all that I don't need a mate to soften me or become my weakness. Yes, a weakness... that's how I see a mate to be like now.

We all had gifts assigned to us at birth. Just some small benefits, that make us unique; and not anything ever deadly enough. This ain't a world of fairytales where you go all overpowered and squash all your foes. It's like a superpower, without the super. Although mine has helped me a lot during fights. And there are werewolves with very unique ones.

I need to go out today to help the workers with new tasks. They are one of the sub divisions of classes here in Blue Moon so that everyone can contribute to the pack. It was a suggestion made and implement by the Luna, my mother. The workers are helpful for maintaining the well-being of the pack, but they don't go to wars or hunt, thus don't join training sessions. Assigning every pack member to a class is important, for there are often newcomers we'd accept into our pack. We are one of the biggest packs, if not the biggest. Most of them would become workers immediately. And for what I have to do today, I'm not the slightest bit excited, not at all.

As I treaded along the grass towards the workers, I became lost in thoughts. I wondered about how to fight better, my next target for annihilating a pack, yes I'm cruel, and how to persuade my father and the council. I don't want to become a laughing stock to the other alphas from well-known packs.

I just needed to prove myself. It can't be too long from now, for the pack would eventually need to hold a ceremony for me to become the Alpha. My father is growing old after all. I might even be remembered as the lone wolf Alpha! Hahaha, that's rather exciting.

Just then I got pulled out of my train of thought, for I smelt a whiff of chocolate and cherries. I didn't think I was even hungry, but I immediately became attracted to the scent. I felt the need to find out its source. If it's food, it's gonna be mine soon. I smiled at my own selfishness, my mouth already watering, when I finally tracked it out.

I stopped dead on my tracks. It wasn't food. The smell came from... a guy? Werewolves have good sense of smell, so I couldn't possibly be making a mistake. Whatever might be the reason, this white haired male must be putting on a lot of chocolate+cherry scented perfume. He must be one of the workers, I thought, as I tried to grab his shoulder since he wasn't facing me.

Big Mistake.

He turned around suddenly and our eyes met. My wolf suddenly yelled out "MATE!" to me, but I guess he's as shocked as I was, thinking about how he repeated quizzically, "Mate?"

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe this.

The white haired guy just stared at me with a look that almost seemed like it's filled with hatred. I groaned at my new discovery, and something must be wrong.. absolutely wrong. What's going on? I took a deep breath, and then said, "But you're a male?"

He replied, "So what?" so bitterly that it slightly hurt me. Oh no. Oh no no no. I was not gonna let this affect me already.

"This is wrong! It can't be right," I growled out, and immediately turned around and left the place. I became so confused. What should I do? Do I talk to my mother about this? She's the one who always told me how I'd eventually find my beautiful princess who'd stay by my side. I was embarrassed, to say the least.

I reached my room quickly and locked the door. I had to rest. Maybe I was dreaming. Then I could just wake up and everything will be alright. I without a second thought, punched my face hard. Ouch. Oh wait, was I supposed to pinch instead? Well it still worked, so it need not matter. But it hurt aaaaah. Was I supposed to take pride at my own strength? I really needed some self reaffirmation.

What went wrong? I looked down at my pants and pulled the elastic waistband to my front.

Hmm..

Yep okay I'm certainly male. Wait, why do I even have to examine myself? Sigh.. I'm getting crazy, and lightheaded. How do I even explain this to my mother?

"Mum, I finally found my mate today! You won't believe it! My mate turns out to be a charming white haired male! He's got beautiful green eyes and a slim figure! You'll like him!"

???

Huh??

Wait what??? Did I just define him as good looking??

Well he surely didn't look bad. No. This....

Did my brain get fried so hard that I considered him as.. Aaaah! Wow, I certainly screamed a lot today. Ha ha.. Ha ha.. I warna laugh, and cry.. I want to forget all this. It's just too much.

I fainted.

As I slipped into unconsciousness, I thought, "And I was supposed to be a strong guy, here I am..."

I definitely needed to talk to my wolf about this too. For a werewolf it's like a soul, your inner thought, that's self conscious, separate yet connected. It's going to be a very big deal for him after all, maybe even more than it all is for me.

Hopefully when I wake up it'll turn out to be a dream, yeah I'm still hoping because this is too complicated. It just somehow pained me to see how much my unlikely-mate seemed to hate me with that short interaction. That bitterness and stern voice as he replied. The cold, sharp gaze from his eyes. This must be a confirmation that he's indeed my mate, hence I'm feeling these negative emotions from just a few actions of someone I know nothing about..

Even if it's a 'he' or a 'she', I guess no one wants to be hated by their mate.