There are nightwalkers of all shapes and sizes that roam the earth when the moon is full. Bats and jackals, bears and cats. Vampires, so unnatural in their beauty and strength. But none are more powerful than the wolf shifters. With both instinct and human intelligence, so intertwined with nature and humankind itself, we are more of this earth than you are.
I don’t remember much of my mother or pack, but I remember her stories of our kinds’ abilities and the enemies that plague us. Not wholly evil, and not entirely good, those tales haunted my nightmares and dreams alike for years after I was too old for bedtime stories and forgot my mother’s face entirely.
-Dorothy-
I awoke that morning with a twisting knot of anxiety in my stomach. I rolled onto my side under the covers and clung to my pillow tightly before heaving in a deep breath and getting up. Today was my eighteenth birthday. Today, I would find my mate.
Standing up I examined myself in the mirror, frowning at the spindly pale girl gazing back at me. I wondered if a mate would reject their match based on looks alone. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail before exhaling through my nose and letting it fall loose around my shoulders again.
The bright red locks only made me look paler. I could sense my mate, it seemed they were nearby.
If they didn’t come looking for me there was a good chance I would find them first their scent almost palatable on my tongu Already my inner-wolf seemed to crave. them, rearing to seek them out. Whoever it was.
I could sense something odd about my new mate. While all the desire and enthrallment were present on my side, something about their energy felt off. Things were off to a great start, I thought, tensely pulling at a strand of hair.
Despite my nervousness, I couldn’t help the excitement bubbling up inside. my chest. I had waited for this day since I had been old enough to understand the mating call. I had wanted this day since I was old enough to want for anything. To be wanted…
I was snapped out of my pondering by a quiet knock on my bedroom door. Anita, my current caretaker
poked her head in and gave me a small smile.
“Today’s the day,” Anita didn’t step into the room – the relationship too short and unfamiliar for affections of any kind, “Are you excited?”
I turned back to the mirror and glowered at my reflection.
“More like sick to my stomach. What if they don’t like me?”
“Nonsense,” Anita tutted, brushing the air, “Whoever it is, they’re your mate. And besides, you’re a beautiful girl on top of all that spu nk of yours.”
I couldn’t help but smile a little. Passed around from foster home to foster home, I had only known Anita for a little over a month at that point, but her kind words eased my quivering nerves slightly.
Anita promised to whip up an extra special breakfast – “waffles and hashbrowns!” – before leaving me to get ready for college.