“You sure you’ll be alright on your own?” Derek Roland, my friend and sparring partner, asked as he tipped back his last glass of bourbon and got off the bar stool.
“Sure.” I answered him half-heartedly, taking a gulp of my drink. I hoped it would help me get intoxicated, but it was hard for a wolf to get high in a human club.
My wolf was already impatient, but I had to stay sane.
As the future Beta of the Ocean Runners pack, I was tasked with secondary defence.And since the Alpha was away now, I couldn’t risk going too far out of town in case there was an emergency.
“You remember what happened the last time you said that?” Derek raised his eyebrows at me.
I knew what he was talking about, but I just shrugged before tipping back my own drink.
“You know, I don't want to come back in the middle of the night again to drag your raging ass back to the packhouse.” Derek stressed.
Hearing his words, my wolf bared its teeth with a smirk. I frowned and locked it back in my mind ignoring its protest.
“Another,” I told the bartender, who gave me a concerned look. “I’m not nearly drunk yet, man. Get me the strongest you got.”
“Fine, call me if he gets in trouble.” Derek handed a card to the bartender before looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t cause any trouble, mate.” He waved back at me before making his way back out of the club, sliding right through the mass of swaying bodies.
Angry and irritated at the word ‘mate’, my wolf growled louder inside my head. I controlled myself not to crumb the glass, and another drink helped nothing to fade my irritable feelings.
Age twenty four, I was the only one in my group who hadn't found his mate yet.
Even Derek had found his mate three years ago, while attending Uni. It was a guy named Sawyer Hudson, two years older than him and from a relatively small wolf pack in Somerset County.
I was happy for my friends, all of them, but my wolf wasn’t.
It felt left out and hopeless. With each passing day, that hope kept dwindling little by little.
My wolf was getting angry, agitated for no apparent reason. Last time I lost control of it, causing five big guys to the ER.
My packmates were worried about me, I could feel it.
Cameron, our future alpha and my best friend, had even been crazy enough to suggest that I take a year off and go travelling, especially to the Blood Moon Festival that was held for a course of fifteen days in a remote part of North Carolina.
However, as ridiculous as the idea had sounded at first…I was now tempted to take him up on that offer.
My wolf was already unstable, growling and snapping at every person possible, I couldn’t risk waiting too long.
There are rumors that wolves over thirty with no mates often turn rogues, a wolf who has completely given in to their animal instincts. These rogues can no longer differentiate between friends and foes and everyone around them becomes endangered.
“Hey handsome…” a woman came to sit on the stool that Derek had occupied not too long ago. She looked up at me from behind thick lashes, her hazel eyes mischievous and the curve of her lips seductive. “Wanna dance with me?”
I looked at the woman up and down. Her little black dress was just the perfect size, not too long as to seem ‘safe’ and not too short as to leave nothing to the imagination.
I gave her a lopsided smile. “Why the hell not?”
Drowning the entire glass of whiskey in one go, I laid out a hefty tip for the bartender and got off the stool, holding my hand out for the woman, who looked to be about the same age as me, if not older.
Her smile was wide as she placed her hand in mine…and yet, I felt nothing.
No spark, no anticipation, no connection.
My wolf grumbled in frustration, 'she is NOT our mate.'
'I knew,' I replied to my wolf while holding the woman's hand. Yes, she was just another faceless body.