His Mate or His Girlfriend

Book 2 Episode 6

It was rainy afternoon as Tony met with Thomas, the previous pack beta and his late father’s best friend. Thomas was Luna Rose’s father and had been mated to Rose’s mother who was a human. She died giving birth to Rose. Now Thomas was mated to Maria who was Rose’s maternal aunt. It had been a natural evolution of feelings for the two considering they’d cared for Rose together.

“There really isn’t that much of a difference.” Thomas spoke almost reverently as he looked down at his wedding band Maria had placed on him. “It might be a little different for me because I was also the one that turned Maria into a werewolf, so my wolf naturally feels protective of her. But the main thing is knowing the minute you smell her, see her. You form an instant connection with your True Mate. And it only gets stronger as time progresses. Your wolf is constantly humming in contentment being near your true mate. With a chosen mate, your wolf might or might not be happy. He won’t be as active when you’re around a chosen mate. I believe it’s also easier to break the bond between chosen mates. Rejection is enough whereas for True Mates you must reject as well as mark another to completely sever the bond.“ Thomas paused, watching Tony go over all this information. “Are you considering taking a chosen mate?”

“I don’t know,” Tony confessed.

Because really he didn’t. They sat and talked awhile longer before Tony was satisfied that he’d gleaned enough information to form an appropriate conclusion. Tony thought back to what he’d experienced with Lana in the future. They’d definitely been True Mates. But how? Wildly, he couldn’t help but think that maybe all of that had been an alternate reality. Goddess he hoped not.

Still confused, he dejectedly made his way to the training grounds. He’d missed the last four days in a bid to figure out exactly what was going on. With an odd surge of emotion, Tony also realized this would be the first time he’d be seeing Lana since the whole kiss fiasco. He’d ended up taking the week off from patrols and training to sort through the mess of emotions clouding his brain and to do his research. Part of him wanted to throttle his future self for doing something so stupid and pissing Lana off.

What now?

* * *

Flashback

“Hey!” Tony caught up with Lana as she made her way towards the cafeteria for lunch. It had been Tony that had called out to her.

“What’s up?” Lana acknowledged with a tilt of her head, adjusting her book bag shoulder strap.

Liam and Caleb soon spotted them and headed over.

“Pizza and video games at my place tonight.” Liam said brightly as Tony playfully rested his elbow over an Lana’s shoulder, trying to highlight their differences in height.

Lana smacked his arm away and Tony laughed.

“Tony’s coming too. Xavier–“ Liam made a face. “-he’s got something going on with Alyssa tonight.”

Lana smiled. “Cut him some slack. He’s so busy with his new alpha duties , he probably barely gets anytime for her. Not to mention he has college.”

“Hey I’m the beta now but I’m still going to take our time to hang out,” Tony protested.

“We can’t all be slackers like you,” Lana said condescendingly.

Liam and Caleb laughed.

“Come on sweetheart, you know the only reason I’m coming over is because you’re going to be there.” Tony teased.

Lana averted her gaze, ignoring the quickening of her heartbeat as Tony called her ‘sweetheart’. He was just playing around. But truth be told, she’d been crushing on him for awhile now . However, she wasn’t ever going to admit it. Ever since his first shift at 16, he’d shot up in height and developed a physique any girl would drool over. He’d become ripped in such a short span of time that he was able to pass the selection process for beta while still a senior in high school. But there was no way Lana could ever entertain the idea of something more.

For one, she was determined to wait for her mate. Secondly, he was and always had been her friend, so he was off limits. Third, she just wasn’t Tony’s type. He made it no secret he liked curvy girly girls. Lana was the farthest thing from girly and curvy. Ever since she’s decided to become a warrior, she’d been working towards preparing for the pack warrior recruitment test. Caleb and Liam were also working towards the same goal. They all had the same interests, they’d all grown up playing together and that’s probably why they were able to maintain their friendship. Tony’s younger brother, Dylan, sometimes hung out with them too but he was three years younger than the rest of them so they definitely didn’t see him as often during school.

“There’s Rose!” Lana spoke up as they entered the cafeteria. She fist bumped the guys. “ See you tonight.”

And with that she hurried off, making a beeline for the only female friend she had.

End of flashback

Lana was one of the guys, but not because she hated girls. No, she got along with girls just fine. In fact, Luna Rose was one of her closest friends. She had more guy friends by virtue of her career aspirations and interests. While the other girls began gravitating towards makeup and playing dress up, Lana remained firmly in the camp of playing ‘pack vrs rogues’. She loved playing outside with the boys and as she got older , she loved playing video games and training to be a pack warrior. Which is why today she was the only female who was a high ranking warrior, falling right underneath the rank of beta.

She was too good to be a gama but not yet strong enough to be a beta. It was why, when Luna Rose had been in danger a year ago , Lana had been part of her security detail. It’s also why most of her friends still remained guys. None of the other warrior females were high up in rank, nor did they have any desire to be. They were content to fill the ranks and fulfill mundane duties such as paperwork. Lana just didn’t have the same interests as them and thought of them as being overly dramatic as well as way too gossipy for her tastes. Lana did her best to ignore the mindless locker room gossip in the girls changing rooms.

But try as Lana might, the one thing she could never bring herself to turn a deaf ear too was the female locker room gossip regarding Tony Sinclair. It was no secret that he was an amazing screw. He was funny and easy going too , unlike brooding Alpha Xavier. Which was why it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to spot him sneaking into the groundskeeper sheds or the locker rooms with one of the girls for a quick f**k during training sessions. Lana couldn’t help but grit her teeth when the girls would sit around afterwards , trying to get Tony’s latest girl to spill the details. Lana had picked up a pattern through it all. It was always fast, rough and the most amazingly mind-blowing s*x ever. But Lana didn’t care.

No... what was it to her whatever Tony did with his bimbos? It didn’t matter. The only reason Lana would be a little irritated is because it was so irresponsible. They were being paid to train... not do that!

But today was different. Today every time any girl rubbed against him, Tony would merely brush it off, telling her to concentrate on her form. It was like he just wasn’t interested anymore. And maybe Lana was imagining it, but she could have sworn he looked her way more than necessary. Then, when they all shifted to train in their wolf forms, Tony didn’t disappear with a girl. No, he stayed firmly with the rest of them. Maybe it was because he’d missed too many days. Lana didn’t even want to think about why he’d requested time off. She really hoped it didn’t have anything to do with that weird kiss. Everyone knew Lana was waiting for her mate.

There had been a thing back around the end of high school with someone. He’d been her first, it had happened after prom, but Lana didn’t like thinking too much about it. It had been a mistake . And after that brief fling, she decided it was better to wait it out for her mate. So she’d made herself completely unavailable to any and all guys around her, further cementing her label as ‘one of the guys’. But Tony with his kiss had thrown her for a loop. She'd worked so hard to get over her silly crush over him and that kiss had just brought everything rushing back.

“You coming over for drinks?” Dylan asked as Lana emerged from the female locker room after her shower.

“Not tonight.”

Truth be told, Lana wanted to avoid Tony.

“Oh come on!” Liam appeared out of nowhere. “It’s the first time we’re all getting together after that entire Alistair mess. We all need to unwind.”

A few months ago, Alpha Xavier had been defeated in a challenge by his ex-girlfriend’s father, Alistair. It had been an attempt to take over his he Crimson Phoenix Pack lands as well as mate with Xavier’s Luna. Xavier had been severely injured and Luna Rose had forbidden the warriors from getting together for scheduled trainings or even congregating together. She hadn’t wanted Alistair to find out exactly how many warriors the pack had. Luckily, Xavier had healed and come back like avenging angel to defeat Alistair. But Rose had suffered a seizure in his absence and lost her memory. There had been a bleak cloud over the entire pack.

Luckily, everything was back to normal now with Rose’s memory recovered and a baby shower in the works for her. So it seemed like the right time for Dylan to invited everyone over to his place. He was now Alpha of Alistair’s old pack. He now by default also owned the Silver Creek Pack Alpha’s mansion. Dylan was still only 16 so his mother, Josie, wouldn’t let him move out. But Tony had convinced Dylan to use the mansion for guys nights and the occasional wild party.

“Yea Lana.” A new voice spoke up in challenge. Lana stiffened at Tony’s voice. “Are you too tired from all that training? Or maybe you’re just trying to avoid us?”

To an an onlooker, it seemed like Tony was teasing her.

Lana raised an eyebrow, understanding the challenge that had been thrown down. She wouldn’t let him see that he’d gotten to her with his stupid kiss.

“All right fine, let’s go.” Lana grit her teeth, ready to make sure Tony regretted ever thinking she was trying to avoid him.