My name is Sadie O'Connell and I am 17 years old, turning 18 in just a few weeks. When a wolf turns 18, they find their mates. From what my parents, John and Laura, tell me, a mate is the best gift you could ever receive from the moon goddess. My father was the former beta of our pack, but as my brother, Sam and I got older, he decided to step down and spend more time with my mother and passed the title on to Sam. My brother is a great beta and also happens to be our alpha, Alex Cross', best friend.

"Sadie, come on, you'll be late for class!" My mother called to me. I groaned and slowly crawled out of bed walking to my closet to get ready for the day. I decided to go with my skinny jeans with boots and a thin black sweater seeing it was fall and beginning to get a little chilly.

When I walked down stairs I saw that Sam had beat me to the kitchen and was already stuffing his face with bacon. "Good lord, bro. How have you not had a heart attack from all the grease you've eaten?" I asked him. "Don't you hate on my bacon woman." He replied.

My brother and I have always been close. The two of us used to do everything together before he became beta of our pack. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of Sam and how well he does but I miss our time together. He's my best friend.

There was a knock on the door soon after I had finished cleaning the dishes I had used. When I opened it, Alpha Alex was on the other side. I smiled politely at him. "Hello, Alpha." I said and stepped aside to let him in. I've always respected Alex, simply because he was generous but stern at the same time, as an alpha should be.

Alex smiled back in return. "Hi Sadie." He replied and walked in, waving at my brother. My mom and dad had always treated Alex as their own. After his parents died, all he had was Sam, so he came over quite often.

"Alex!" My mother called in excitement has she hugged him. He smiled brightly at the woman he looked to as a mother. "Hello Laura." He said. "What's up man?" Sam asked. Alex then looked at Sam and his smile fell. "Rogues were spotted on the perimeter of the pack. There is a meeting in about an hour to discuss what to do." He replied. Sam only nodded. "I'll be there." He replied.

Hearing about rogues always made me nervous. They had raped and killed our former Luna, Dana, who is Alex's mother. His father, Dean, committed suicide soon after due to going insane over losing his mate.

After talking with Sam, Alex turned to me and smiled. "Sam tells me you will be 18 in a couple of weeks. Are you excited to find your mate?" He asked making me smile brightly at him. "Very. I've been waiting for so long to find him. Seeing how happy mom and dad are, I just can't wait to have that." I told him. His smiled dropped slightly and I knew exactly why. "Alex, I know that it hurt.. What happened to your parents, and I can't pretend understand, but I get it. But that doesn't mean that will happen with you and your mate." I told him softly.

Alex only smiled sadly at me. "Thanks Sadie, but..." He sighed before continuing. "Being mated to an alpha can bring a lot of danger to his mate. I can't do that to her." He replied. "What would you do if you ever found her?" I asked him. "I think you know the answer to that." He replied. I frowned, realizing what he meant. "You'd reject her?" I asked. He only looked at his hands that were on the kitchen table and nodded.

Suddenly his eyes clouded over and I knew one of the pack warriors was linking him. Then he suddenly jumped up, startling my slightly. "Sam we have to go, now!" He yelled frantically up the stairs.

When Sam bolted down stairs, he skidded to a hault in front of Alex. "What happened?" He asked. "A rogue got onto the territory. We have to go." He said as they rushed out the door.