The Warrior's Second Chance Mate

Cassian The loud music was blasting in my ears as I took another sip of my beer, looking over the backyard that was full of people. The party was a huge success as always when one of my best friends and future, Alpha Trey, was celebrating his birthday. Everybody wanted to attend as it was the most awaited event of the year, maybe apart from the annual pack ball in summer. I just got back from the two-week trip to the nearby town where I was taking care of our pack business. I was overlooking a new project for our advertising company and managing the team, but I was thankful to be back inside the pack and breathing the fresh air of the forest instead of the horrendous mixed smells of a crowded town. The night was clear with the sky full of stars showing different constellations. I was always fascinated with the stars and astronomy. Watching stars through my telescope, reading about the newly-found objects and sucking out the information with vigour, but I knew it would always be just what it was. A hobby. The light wind was blowing, bringing the scents of various pack members to my sensitive nose. The mix of natural scents together with the smell of food and drinks was making me feel sick, reminding me of the town where I spent the last two weeks. I finished my beer wanting another one. The spring was slowly progressing, bringing in the scents of flowers blooming and the trees and plants awakening as the temperature rose slightly. But we were werewolves. We didn’t care about the temperature. We were a hot-blooded species. We could literally walk naked during the winter without even a frozen finger. I loved it. I loved being a werewolf. Running around in the forest, feeling the wind blowing my fur and nature disappearing and changing around me as I ran faster and faster. I loved the advantages that it brought, such as incredible strength, enhanced sight, hearing, smelling, the fast speed of running in your wolf form and the most important mates. I was still waiting to meet my mate, even though I crossed the eligible age one year ago when I turned twenty-one. The werewolves were able to shift once they reached the age of eighteen, when they would meet their wolf for the first time and the process of getting in sync would begin. The three-year process is a transition period, in which the wolves are trained and taught how to get in harmony with their inner beast and eventually become one with your wolf. After reaching the age of twenty-one, werewolves are considered mature and are finally suitable for mating. Most werewolves will find their mates within the pack or neighbouring packs. If not, the Moon Goddess will always create a plan for their fates to fulfil and their lives cross. I watched the many she-wolves that came here today in the hope that they would be Trey´s mate as he just turned twenty-one. I could feel the hunger for power and desperation emitting from a few of them followed by disappointment as they realised he wasn’t their mate, but their interest didn’t flatter even after the discovery. Some people were just disgusting. Hungry for power and money, willing to sacrifice a true love over something so meaningless and fleeting. I had hoped my mate would not be like this. I hoped she would be kind and funny, gentle and caring, teasing and playful, easy-going and clever. I just wanted someone ordinary who would love me for who I am. Was it too much to ask for? I watched Trey, who was totally blind towards the she-wolves ogling him like their next prey as he was enjoying his party, drinking, laughing, playing games, dancing. I went to join him and the other high-ranked wolves that were part of our small group. My best friends, future Alpha Trey, future Beta Ryker, future Gamma Daniel and me, future Head Warrior Cassian. Soon I, together with the rest, would take over from our fathers, now that Trey had finally reached the age for mating. As the future Head Warrior, my duty would be to oversee the Sentinels, which were the wolves patrolling the territory and watching the movements of the surroundings and the Warrior wolves, who were the protectors of the pack. They made sure the pack was safe from intruders such as rogues, witches, vampires, humans and any other unwelcomed species. My father trained me from a very early age, so I knew all about my responsibilities and obligations towards my Alpha and the pack. We all grew up together, our families were close-knitted as our fathers were currently running the pack. The Crimson Shadow Pack. We have been all mateless so far, but hopefully not for long. I really wanted to meet my mate, the one and only for me. I was ready and I longed to have what my parents had. Loving and respectful relationship, full of unconditional love, affection, tenderness, kind words, understanding and gentle caresses. “Hey man,” I said to Trey, who´s eyes were a little bit unfocused, “enjoying your big day?” I smirked seeing him smile with his famous lop-sided grin that would make the girls´ knees wobble. “Yeah, already got the attention of all the unmated she-wolves.” He told me, snickering as he glanced around him, seeing all the females looking in his direction. Or maybe ours, as I saw a few of them eyeing the rest of us too. “And a few males too,” Dan chuckled, raising his eyebrows. Tall, dark and handsome were three words any girl would describe him. He was also well-built like the rest of us, with a strong jawline, high cheek bones, black jaw-length hair, olive skin and dark brown eyes. His biceps were bulging out from the shirt he wore. A strong warrior and also the most responsible of our group. He was a mathematical genius who enjoyed playing with new digital technologies and setting up all the digital equipment within the pack. He was finishing his bachelor’s degree in computer science. “What to say? I am a catch!” said Trey, gesturing to his body. He was tall, standing around 6"5, the same height as me, muscular and powerful with a straight nose, a strong jaw and dimples in his cheeks with deep blue-green eyes and shaggy blond hair. He looked like a typical surfer boy from the films, very carefree and laid-back, not the responsible leader that he should have been as he had a future planned for him. Like the rest of us, he was studying business together with Ryker at the University nearby. It was their last couple of months and after they would graduate, the official Alpha and high-ranked ceremony would be held. “For sure, just be careful. We don’t want you to catch something,” Ryker said, making us all laugh as Trey huffed but smirked too. Ryker was the eldest of our little group, just a few months older than me. He was very level-headed, fair and reasonable when it was needed, but otherwise, jokes, sarcasm and pranks filled his mind and mouth. An inch or two shorter than I, muscular with broad shoulders and a panty-dropping smile, together with his short reddish-blond hair and light green eyes made him the target of every she-wolf. As a future Beta, he would be the second most powerful and important wolf in the pack behind Trey, so he would also be the next prey for power-hungry she-wolves. We were all different in looks, where I had hazel eyes with gold and green flecks around the irises with dark brown hair that was cut on the sides and left longer on the top. I was well-built from all the training since I was a pup with broad shoulders and strong muscular legs, a straight nose and high cheekbones. I had already finished university last year, graduating with a degree in management, and now I was helping my father to train the warrior and slowly overtaking him. “Yeah, you don’t want the leeches to suck you dry,” I laughed as I glanced at the women surrounding us with lust-clouded eyes releasing the hormones. “Well, thank the Goddess, they are all wolves then.” Trey said, smirking as he looked over the women, probably picking up the flavour of the night. He wasn’t waiting for a mate type like I was, but that was his problem, not mine. I could only advise him not to do something stupid or reckless, but I wasn’t his caretaker. He was an adult, able to make the decisions on his own, even though sometimes they were pretty stupid ones. “Enjoy all you want, just make sure your mate is not here before you hook up with someone,” I told him as he rolled his eyes at me, but nodded, nevertheless. “Yes, mum,” he told me with shining eyes, making me roll mine as I sent him a finger, making him laugh. “You wouldn’t want her to catch you with your junk stuck in some other she-wolf p*ssy, right?” Dan smirked at Trey and I snickered. Ryker was drinking his beer listening to our conversation and looking highly amused. I would never sleep with a she-wolf inside my own pack. There is a high chance that my mate was here and would find out. Then the sh*t would hit a fan. I had also never been with anyone waiting for her to be my first and only. I had hoped she would wait for me as well, even though it wasn’t a custom nowadays, but I wanted my first time to be special with someone I cared for. “I heard you the first time! I am not that stupid!” Trey huffed as he continued to look over the crowd of people dancing, laughing and drinking. “Sure, sure…” I said to him, patting his shoulder in a mocking gesture. “I am having another beer,” he exclaimed as he started to walk towards the table with the alcohol. I smirked, seeing the females surrounding him instantly forming a solid circle around him, and I glanced at my friends, who were watching the situation with amusement. “I will bet my left testicle that he will end up in the bed with one of them in the next,” Dan started to say before glancing at his wristwatch, “ten minutes.” “Ten minutes? I will give him five!” Ryker chuckled. “Two beers and twenty minutes,” I told them as we made a bet. I excused myself and went inside the house to use the loo. After doing my business, I walked down the stairs right to the bar intending to take another bottle of beer, but something stopped me mid-step. The most delicious and entrancing scent of apples and cinnamon filled my nostrils as I took a deep breath of that mouth-watering essence. I needed to follow the trance, my wolf Cade growling loudly now inside my head, pushing me to walk faster towards the source of the scent. I took long and sturdy steps as I was trying to get through the crowd and not lose the trance of the deliciousness. I knew what was happening, my wolf was howling loudly inside me to follow the scent of my mate. She was somewhere here. I saw a group of she-wolves standing near the edge of the forest giggling and drinking a glass of wine as they watched the wolves around them scanning the field. They were talking to each other and I realised I recognised a few of them. They were from my pack all, but one. Her head was tilted to the side as if she was thinking and I saw her talking a deep breath of air before she started to look around frantically. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her. She was the most beautiful creature I have met so far, with long wavy black hair, wheatish skin tone that was shining under the moonlight and a killer body clothed in a short tight red skirt and a black blouse with high-heeled boots. Cade was now growling inside me, scratching the surface, wanting to get out and play with our mate. She sniffed again as I came closer, almost at the group, as her head turned to my direction and our eyes connected. The one simple word left my lips and changed my life forever. “Mate!”