Chapter 1: Another Banquet
I stared at the back entrance to our packhouse as I sat behind a chair, hiding from my commitments. More accurately a commitment pushed onto me. I didn’t plan to stake out here for long but it was nice to have a little time alone with my thoughts away from guests.
When I closed my eyes and began to hum I heard a familiar voice, “What’s the beautiful guest of honor doing in here?”
I opened my eyes to catch sight of one of the most beautiful women I knew. Her big brown eyes peered over me. She was tall, black silky long hair, and was heavy chested. She was Brayla, the alpha of the River Blood Pack, our greatest allies so I’ve known her for years.
“Four,” I announced with my knees to my chest making no eye contact.
“Huh?”
“This is the fourth banquet they’ve hosted for me to find a mate,” I clarified as I brushed my hands against my dress to straighten it. I was already on the floor so I didn’t want to be wrinkly in her presence. I wanted her to perceive me as an adult but I might have already messed that up.
They hosted one for me every birthday since I was eighteen plus one between my eighteenth and nineteenth birthday. Me finding a mate was important to them. They found each other early and wanted the same thing for me. The pack encouraged their behavior by also introducing me to any werewolf they could find, even some other kinds of shifters.
“Excuse me,” Morgan announced as they walked into the packhouse through the back door and pulled me up by my hands. “Sorry to steal her away from you Alpha Brayla. I'm not getting enough attention.” They faked a pout.
Morgan was my best friend ever since they declared it when we were only six or seven. I had no choice but their company become exactly what I wanted despite how overwhelming they could be sometimes.
“Excuse us, it was nice to see you again Alpha Brayla,” I said and walked away beside Morgan. “What does it look like in there?”
The banquet was held out back since we had a lovely set up and it was a beautiful day. “I think they only invited alphas this time,” they said.
“How have I not met every alpha in the last two years?” I held back a groan.
My parents were not only determined to find my mate but they were specifically wanting my mate to be an alpha.
‘All the guests have arrived, come greet them so we can find your mate and start eating. I’m so excited for you honey,’ My Father said to me over mind link.
“Okay, time for me to not find my mate like always,” I said, a forced smile plastered on my face.
“It’s not like you actually care about finding your mate right?” Morgan asked.
“Um… you’re right, I don’t care, my parents do.” My tone was unsure. I pushed any thought I had about my statement being a lie away.
I pushed the back doors open as slowly as I could and looked around at all the guests spread out around the tables, some sitting down. My parents had invited alphas from smaller packs. They were all werewolves and only a few were hybrids. Since I’m a dragon shifter and not a werewolf it made sense for me to try to also meet other dragon shifters but dragons didn’t have packs. Therefore there weren’t many dragon shifter alpha’s.
They were all beautiful, powerful women and non-binary woman aligned people but each one my parents introduced me to was no different from the last. I didn’t feel anything. No intense feelings or smells. I felt an uncomfortable sensation of failure and only the taste of our pack's chef's food could remedy it.
“It’s okay sweetie, we’ll find your mate,” My mom said as she kissed my forehead.
“We need to start opening up our search more,” Father said. “There are more female alpha’s in the human realm.”
Mother groaned before saying, “I’d hate for her mate to be an alpha from the human realm but that is better than nothing.”
“I’m open to anything,” I said what they wanted to hear. They looked satisfied and we sat down to eat.
They didn’t even consider that my mate might not be an alpha. Most alpha-born werewolves were mated to each other. Both my parents were alpha born but I wasn’t biologically theirs.
That night I opened my room door when I heard heavy knocks. “Come on,” Morgan said. They were in very revealing gender-neutral clothes. It was a good look on them but it made it obvious to me that they wanted me to go to the bonfire. Every year on my birthday for the last two years a few of the surrounding packs met up for a bonfire just outside of our territory. Our friends put it together because of all the stress these banquets caused me.
“I’m not supposed to go out tonight,” I replied, trying to not show my suppressed disappointment.
“So?”
“My Mom said tonight just isn’t a good night for it,” I recalled. She talked to me about it right after the banquet.
“Why? It’s not like you can’t protect yourself. You’re a goddamn dragon Lake.”
It was hard to forget in a pack filled with wolves.
“I’ll make it up to you. Maybe I already have. Remember that book you said you really wanted that was hard to get? I might have got it for you,” I said rocking back and forth.
“Ugh, you’re literally the best but this isn’t about me. I want you to go because you were really excited about it.”
“I’ll make it up to myself,” I said then sighed. "My mom’s wolf is usually right.”
“You know what my wolf is saying?”
“What?” I leaned against my doorframe.
“This night is going to change things for you, as in you’ll get some p***y,” Morgan answered.
“He didn’t say that." I rolled my eyes.
“Fine, she didn’t say that but what he did say was that you might be missing out on something big.”
“Big?” I frowned.
“Big for both of us. If Luna Nichole has a bad feeling it’s probably only bad by her standards. If you don't go then I’ll stay with you." they said with a shrug. "We can have a sleepover as we used to when we were little.”
“We were little last week?” I laughed then looked behind me into my boring room. The truth was I wanted Morgan to talk me into going. I was feeling a pull, as if my soul was being called to the bonfire. I turned back to “I might regret this but okay, let’s go.”
Any other night I would have said no and at the time I didn't think that night would really change my life but it did.
