Second chance love

T w o

'It was never supposed to happen like this!' Holly thought to herself as she ran up the stairs to her bedroom, slammed the door and shoved across the deadbolt just for good measure. Her shoes were forcibly thrown across her room in frustration and she flopped face first onto her bed and screamed loudly into her pillow. She was angry because she felt stupid, embarrassed, and just downright cheated. She pulled her pillow over her head and tried to drown out the noise of the still raging party that she could hear from her open window. 

'It's not fair!' She thought to herself, allowing a childish tantrum to erupt that she had been forcing down since the appearance of the moon that evening. 

Though it's not like it had started well. 

***

Finn couldn't believe that in just a few short hours he would be completing his first shift! He could feel the excitement buzzing through every nerve in his body, his bones felt like they were vibrating and he couldn't sit still for more than two seconds.

"Will you calm down?!" His father laughed. "You'll burn yourself out before you even have chance to shift at this rate!"

The man was right, and Finn knew it. He took a few purposeful breaths in a vain attempt to calm himself. At that point his mother walked in and smiled, first at his father as he stood by the door of Finn's bedroom dressed in a simple white shirt and tan coloured chinos with black leather flip flops, and then at Finn who was wearing a dark blue cotton shirt and a pair of black and grey board shorts. His feet were bare but he never did like wearing shoes, and as it was his party Finn decided he could get away with going barefoot. 

"Hey mum, you look beautiful!" Finn said to the woman in front of him. She blushed and moved his long fringe to one side and stared into his eyes as she said "Nice try, you're still not having alcohol tonight."

Finn groaned as she walked out of his bedroom. "We're leaving in 10 minutes." His mother shouted back as she waltzed down the stairs. His father chuckled as he followed after her, and after one quick look in the mirror and a fluff of his hair, Finn bounded out of his room and followed his parents to the kitchen. 

As he arrived he realised that Darren was sat with a beer in his hand at the breakfast bar. 

"Hey dude, no fair!" Finn whined as he took a seat next to him and tried to grab the beer out of his best friends' hand.

"Yes fair," replied Darren, holding the beer bottle high above his head and out of Finn's reach, "I'm 19, you're still underage." He smirked before taking a long swig from the bottle, before getting up to put the now empty bottle in the bin. 

"Thanks Bill," he nodded to Finn's father, "Cathy you look absolutely radiant tonight, nobody would ever believe you have a 17 year old son!"

Finn made a loud gagging sound as he noticed his mother blush. 

"That's just the beer talking," Finn laughed, "I think you should cut him off from the alcohol now, don't you?!"

Darren just smiled and walked out of the patio doors into the garden. All of the houses belonging to the White Tide pack had gardens that sloped down towards the beach. There was a connection between the sea and the pack and had been for generations, nobody could ever stay away from the sea for too long. That was why they always had their celebrations on the beach. As Finn followed Darren with his parents trailing behind him, he noticed that the pack had made nearly as much effort for this as they did for Darren's 17th. He felt a warm bubble of gratitude fill his chest as he looked at the set up before him.

There were four different fire pits with seating areas around them, all with plump cushions that were just begging to be sat on. The path was lit with lanterns dug into the sand, and the small hut that was a permanent fixture on the beach had fairy lights strewn across its roof, with a cocktail menu propped up against the front hatch. Finn glanced at the menu before realising that none of them had any real alcohol in them, his mother wasn't joking when she said no booze. Finn had barely a second to sulk about this before a blast of music came from the speakers. For a second it was so loud Finn could feel the base in his chest, but the DJ quickly turned it down to a more respectable volume and mumbled an apology over the tannoy system. Finn looked up at the stage and realised with a cold shiver that it would only be a couple of hours before he was up on that stage preparing for his first shift. 

"You shouldn't frown like that," came a voice from beside him, "it'll give you premature wrinkles."

Finn turned to see his second best friend wearing a yellow dress and squinting up at him with a huge grin on her face. 

"Hey Hols." Finn said, turning back to look at the stage.

Holly tried not to let her disappointment show on her face. He hadn't even spared her a second look, and she could feel the threat of tears burning behind her eyes as she looked at the floor. She took a deep breath to steady herself before looking back at Finn. She could see he was frowning again.

"Finn, what's up?" She asked him, swallowing down the unshed tears and mentally shaking herself. This was a big night for Finn, he was allowed to be distracted. Just as she expected, he replied, "Just reality kicking me in the face, that's all."

She sighed, and followed his eyes. As she stared at the empty stage, she was reminded of Darren's first shift almost two years ago. He had walked up on to the stage and waited for the clouds to reveal the moon, and though he looked brave and fearless, she knew underneath it all he was nervous. 

I'm the next Alpha Hol, I need to pretend that I'm not scared out of mind and just hope it's over and done with quickly.

Holly remembered her brother's words to her just before he made his way onto the stage that was set in all its glory for the first shift of the next Alpha. And while Finn didn't have as much pressure on him, he was still the next Beta so there was still a certain amount of expectation there. 

"It's okay man," a familiar voice rumbled behind them, "I know it feels like a lot, but once it's done this first time the pain fades the more you shift. So we'll just go to the woods tomorrow and shift a bunch of times until it's not so bad."

Holly turned to look at her brother. She remembered her dad saying the same to him at the dinner table the night before. Although there was more Alpha advice in there like 'don't show nerves' and 'be brave for your people', the message was the same - it is going to hurt like hell. 

Just then, the rest of the pack began to slowly arrive in small groups. The White Tide pack consisted of around 170 different families, and they were expanding all the time. They took in rogues who had been rejected from other packs and worked with them to give them a home, accepting them as pack members once they had proven themselves. Plus any time a mate was found from another pack the choice was more often than not to become a part of White Tide. They were known as a big family, though that didn't make them weak in any sense. In fact, that was probably what made them the strongest pack in England. 

Holly soon lost the boys to the formalities, and made her way to her few female friends. Gina and Claire were sat around a fire pit with drinks in their hands and were laughing a little too loudly. 

"So ladies, can I assume that you made your non-alcoholic drinks into alcoholic drinks?" Holly raised an eyebrow at the girls in front of her. At least they had the decency to look a little ashamed. Holly was still feeling a little hurt by the fact that Finn hadn't commented on how she looked, so she just grabbed a drink from the nearest tray, held it out to the girls and grinned mischeviously. "Share." 

*** 

Looking back, the alcohol probably wasn't the best idea, as it caused the three girls to go wondering off away from the party to dip their feet in the water, and to completely lose track of time. Holly couldn't believe she wasn't there to wish Finn good luck as he made his way onto the stage. She wondered if he had looked around for her, she wondered if he had even noticed she was gone. 

Of course he didn't you i***t, he had probably already found Lisa by then.

Even in her head Holly spat the name Lisa. She kicked her legs on to the bed like an angry toddler would, as she remembered the howl of Finn's wolf and the panic she felt as she turned and ran back to the party. She arrived just as Finn was walking out from behind a screen wearing a loose fitting white t-shirt and a pair of grey jogging bottoms. She gasped at how composed he looked, and the power that now seemed to radiate from the future Beta. She remembered Darren's shift and how he looked the same, though much more so. Except she hadn't been drooling over her brother, and she was now stood with her mouth slightly open when she saw a green flash in Finn's eyes as he looked her way. 

"MINE!" came two voices in sync, and a blur of brunette shoved so hard into Holly that she was knocked to the ground. She managed to get herself stood back up again just in time to see the two mates make their first contact, and before she could blink they had locked eyes and locked lips. Holly felt sicker than she had ever felt in her life, and tears flowed freely from her eyes as she turned and ran towards her home. 

As she sobbed once more into her pillow she thought to herself, 'It was supposed to be me.'