Chapter 1 - Lilah

I smiled lightly to myself as I slowly wiped the make-up from my face, the gentle covering of concealer covering my soft skin easily coming off onto the wipe in my hand, as I think of Logan, and what tomorrow may hold…………

Tomorrow he would turn seventeen, in a matter of hours he would be out in the moonlight with his family shifting for the first time, those first few minutes into the hour of his seventeenth birthday and they would want to be out into the moonlight in the hopes to encourage the shift, a massive step in the life of a young werewolf, especially one as special as him, he would get to meet his wolf, the Alpha wolf that would one day take over from his Father in running our pack.

See, we were werewolves and that meant a few things for us, turning seventeen as Logan would tomorrow, meant the first shift for him, where we were finally able to change from our human form into our wolf form, the painful alteration of the bones changing shape was nothing compared to the exhilaration of being in wolf form out in the wild or so I had been told, and he would finally meet his inner wolf, which I knew he was so desperate to do, being a young Alpha too, I knew that his wolf would be a powerful and strong wolf, one capable of leading and protecting our pack when his father decided to hand it over to him, probably a different character to the kind, loving and caring character I had come to know in Logan, but then our relationship was different and those were sides of him that not everyone got to see…..

…….hmmm yeah, that first shift could be bad, as it meant your body wasn’t used to going from human form to its wolf form so easily, from what I’d heard from other wolves it felt unnatural at first and hella painful too as your bones dislocate, shifting shape, altering and cracking into the right places as your form changes, I gotta say I definitely am not looking forward to that part of it but then I can’t wait to meet my wolf either!

Once you get past the first shift it isn’t as bad, and the shifting between human and wolf form and back becomes easier and more natural to you; though obviously being werewolves we do have to watch where we shift as we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, as that could be dangerous.

What I mean is that out in the human world I guess we are more a questioned myth, and we would rather it be kept that way so we avoid shifting around humans as much as we can, and tend to shift within our own pack territory or in other packs territory but that’s usually avoided for other reasons which are more territorial.

Each pack is like our group of wolves if you like, they vary in size and are run by one main Wolf, an Alpha, our current Alpha is Alpha Grayson, and is Logan’s Dad but he is also like a second Dad to me being my Dad’s best friend.

In a few years Alpha Grayson will step down for Logan to take over and become the Alpha once he completes his Alpha training, another reason I know when he meets his wolf he will be a powerful and intimidating wolf ready to take on this role. I couldn’t wait to meet his wolf either, and for my wolf to meet his when she comes along in a few months’ time when I turn seventeen…….

………You see having a wolf in your head is like having another personality in your head I guess, it’s another voice inside your head powering you to do the right thing, encouraging you, keeping you going……

I only had a few more months to go until I finally met my wolf and I couldn’t wait to meet her! I imagine she will be amazing, hopefully strong and powerful too…..she’d need to be if what everyone was saying was true…….. well it had to be true…… even the elders thought it……. It seemed like it was fated…… you see when a werewolf turns seventeen not only do you have the ability to shift and finally meet your wolf but this is the incredibly special part that I love about being a werewolf, you are able to find your mate………

…….I say find you mate, they may have been there all along right next to you and you just didn’t know it, but when you turn seventeen and your wolf is there you have the ability to sense your mate.

Finding you own mate is truly one of the parts I love about being a werewolf, we have our moon goddess, Selene, she carefully fates us all a mate, and that mate has a sacred bond with us and our wolf, that brings an undeniable and amazing connection, or so I’m told.

While this probably sounds crazy, it works, and is so special! Each wolf has their own scent, it helps a pack know who is who, especially when we are in wolf form, and that scent to a mate of their own is the most addictive scent imaginable, it is stronger to them than anyone else, more enticing to the point it could drive you insane!

Or again, so I’ve been told, I’m clueless really, as I’ve yet to find all this out, but it is all things that I’ve learnt as time has gone on, from friends gossiping and giggling, from what Mum has told me.

I guess I’ll find out for sure in a few months…… but anyway, this scent and draw to your mate pulls you to your mate like nothing else, and when you touch your mate the touch is like a static shock, a tingling, attracting you, pulling you to your mate.

There is an undeniable connection and attraction to a mate that no other wolf can have with you, they are there to protect and support you like no other, making the bond so strong which makes these fated mates an incredibly special blessing from our moon goddess.

And another reason I can’t wait for tomorrow is that Logan will be able to sense his mate, and for so long everyone in the pack has predicted we would be mates. Our families are so close, my Dad is Alpha Grayson’s Beta – which is like his second in command I guess you could say, (like a right hand man my Dad likes to say, or his skivvy if he is in a bad mood with Uncle Grayson ha-ha).

My Mum is best friends with Luna Talia, Logan’s Mum – a Luna is the mate of the Alpha and is a big part of a pack and is there to support the Alpha in so many ways.

So many packs, especially the elders in those packs believe that a pack does not run effectively without a Luna by the Alpha’s side. It is crazy to think that one day I am expected to step into Auntie Talia’s shoes as Luna with me being expected to be Logan’s mate; she is an amazing woman, so strong and an amazing mother to Logan and his two sisters, and like a second mother to most of the other young wolves in our pack.

Her and my mum were so close as friends, they were almost like sisters, but with my Dad being Alpha Grayson’s best friend as well as Beta so always being together it was inevitable really that they would end up close.

Our families were forever together, that is why Logan and I ended up being so close, only a few months apart in age we spent most of our time together as youngsters as our Mums were together all the time.

We were like siblings for so long, because I didn’t have any other siblings and Logan’s sisters weren’t born until we were in high school, so me and him had a really close connection, could read each other’s minds and Logan knew instinctively how to cheer me up and how to make me smile.

We must have been about six years old when I remember people joking about us being mates when we got older, and I still smile at our reaction even now. We both freaked out, big style! Haha, we were both like “eww that’s my friend!! Not my mate!!” we avoided each other for about a day, my logic behind that was if we weren’t together people wouldn’t think that we could be mates, as silly as that sounds when I look back.

Even sillier, is that by the next day I missed him and asked my Mum if I could go over to play video games with him, and weirdly he had asked his mum the same thing! We gave up trying to avoid each other, both agreeing that the old fogeys were being stupid.

But we did grow closer as we grew older, Logan would hang out with a group of us in school, both girls and boys but he was almost like a bodyguard, almost watching out for me, like he felt the need to protect me.

We ended up dating when we were about 14 I think it was, after Logan completely freaked out when Deyton another boy from our pack and one of our friends asked me out on a date. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, I had thought Deyton was cute, but Logan was funny with me, saying that Deyton wasn’t good enough for me, and was so pissed off that I would, in his words “lower myself to go on a date with a guy like that”.

I couldn’t believe he’d been that nasty, Deyton was meant to be one of his friends, and we had a massive argument that night as I told Logan he had no right to dictate to me who I could and couldn’t see. He’d shouted some more about Deyton not being able to treat me right and not being able to ever be good enough for me.

I remember then screaming “ why is it your business Logan?! And who would be good enough?!” before running away from him crying, I had little intention of accepting Deyton’s offer of a date and was more flattered at the attention I think; but Logan had hurt me with his possessiveness, and the fact he’d shout at me that way as he knew I didn’t like people shouting at me.

He’d ran straight after me, grabbing my hand, pulling me close to him in an embrace and simply said “me, only me” before kissing me…………………

………… awwwww my heart that day, and every day since and even now when I remember it felt like it was exploding with happiness and fireworks, the guy I’d known forever, my best friend and my predicted mate according to most of the pack wanted me!!! I was in total heaven!! And the following three years our bond and connection had only got stronger, waiting for the day that we were finally so close to! Literally a matter of hours away until Logan would be able to know……..

The day we had the perfect confirmation that our moon goddess had blessed us as mates, destined us to be together. We already had the perfect basis for a strong relationship in the bond and friendship that was already there from our childhood, the mate bond and connection would only enforce that bond and make us stronger as a couple…………”We’ll be indestructible boo” Logan had told me, and I knew he would be right………………..

I could not wait to see Logan tomorrow, to see his shift, to see him shift into the perfect Alpha wolf I knew he would be, but more importantly to hear him call me mate when he could finally sense his mate – I just had to get to bed so morning would be here sooner!! Oh my goddess!! I seriously could not wait, tomorrow my future would begin!! I thought to myself as I snuggled into my bed for sleep……letting my mind wander to what Logan’s wolf may look like… what it would feel like to know he would be marking me…