Another day.

Another day of missing my parents and sister that are dead.

Another day of watching over my pack and trying to help.

Another day without my mate.

I've been waiting for 2 years. 2 fucking years. Almost all mates find their mates a month within their 16 birthday.

But not me. I didn't find my mate. I lost my whole family a year later from an attack and still, no mate. I have to watch all my friends with theirs and it's really painful.

I rolled out of bed and got ready for school. When I finished my hair was ruffled and I was in jeans and a black tshirt.

"Yo! Alpha you coming?" My beta Damien yelled from down the stairs.

"Yah!" I called back. I jumped from the top to the bottom of the staircase in one leap. Landing swiftly. I looked up to see all 6 of my friends standing their.

My beta, gamma, and top Warrior all with their mates. Both couples held hands but Damien had his arm around Bryli's waist.

We all walked out the door and headed to school. As soon as we got there, my wolf, Luca, perked up.

He hadn't done that in a long time. Luca became depressed after the 2nd year came and our mate didn't.

The last time he got interested in something was when the pack had their full blue moon gathering. Still he wasn't fully happy.

"What's happening Luca?" I asked him in my mind.

My wolf didn't answer. But just smiled.

HE FUCKING SMILED!

I walked through the doors and headed to first class. I slumped into my chair. The rest of my pack in this class gathered around me.

Then the fucking mutts came in. The Red Moon Pack.

There pack lands started on the western side of town. They only had 1 highschool over there. There were 4 on my pack lands.

There school flooded completely and everything was wrecked. It was a disaster from what I saw from the pictures.

I agreed to let the teenagers come onto my land to come to school because they were stuck until the new school was built.

The Alpha of that pack was an only child. His dad died from a vampire and his mother killed herself, not able to deal with the lose of her mate.

We were both only 18 and Alphas but had the top 2 packs in the world. Mine was first, and theirs were close second.

That stupid pack definitely tested my limits but I knew a war would only upset our parents.

Me and Tyson's parents were amazing friends and allies. But when the vampire clan attacked my pack the vampires also went over to the Blood Moon territory.

The vampires killed his father and forced his mom to die. He believes it is my fault they died. He forgets my parents and little sister died that night too.

I knew if we went to war my pack would win, but my parents would be disappointed. So I don't.

We all glared at each other. Then the oddball humans walked in. All of the teachers were werewolf and a majority students too.

Class started but I just ignored the droning on teacher.

I breathed through my nose and caught ahold of an unimaginably good smell. I almost drooled at the perfect balance of it.

Lemons and sugar.

Just then a soft knock sounded on the door. My wolf was prancing and jumping around in my head.

Mr. Tellings opened the door, complaining about them being late. I heard it. The one word I had been waiting for forever.

"MATE!"

Luca screamed at me. I had found her.

I knew my pack felt the connection because all the people around me freezed and snapped their heads in the direction of the girl.

Mr. Tellings was still out of it so the girl slipped around him. She was gorgeous.

Her tan skin shone in the light. The tumbles of curls fell from her head all the way down her back.

Her body was covered by a large hoodie and she was about 5'0. God she was tiny!

It was adorable.

I growled out "Mine".

The golden-hazel eyes of hers snapped to mine and I saw her gasp. I smirked as her eyes trailed up and down my body.

My wolf was urging me to go to her but I couldn't. She was human. I couldn't scare her off. I needed her.

The teacher said something about her sitting with someone else and I growled warningly.

"Rody that's my mate. You better sit her with me"

I spat at him over mind-link.

"Yes Alpha"

Next thing I new the small girl was walking over to me. I stared at her, hoping she would look at me.

Luca was sending me images of me and my mate cuddling. Me marking her, and mating together.

I needed to hear her voice.

"Hi I'm Ryder" I told her sticking out my hand. She looked at me and grinned. The small gesture turned my senses to overdrive.

"Mariah" She replied in a soft, silky voice.

Her hand touched mine and immediately the bond traveled through our bodies. I shivered in pleasure, beaming so much I'm suprised my lips didn't crack.

She gasped and quickly retracted her hand. My wolf whined and I felt my face fall. She looked away, hesitantly.

I watched her all through class. Memorizing everything about her perfect body. I caught her looked over to me and each time I connected with her eyes she would quickly look away.

Me and Luca swelled with pride seeing that our mate was paying attention to us. As if snapped out of my trance the bell rang.

Mariah got her stuff and went to head out of the classroom. Hell I was letting her away that quickly.

"Hey Mar!" I yelled at her. She turned around and patiently waited for me.

"Yes?" Her sweet voice asked.

"You should sit with me and my friends at lunch!" I told her.

She gave me a sad smile and said "That's very kind Ryder but maybe another day."

"Why not?" I spit out without thinking. "I just mean I would love it if you would sit with us at lunch."

She looked like she was having an internal battle with herself. Finally she sighed and nodded.

Then she turned around.....

Only to be engulfed by Bryli, Rylin, and Selena's arms. I was happy that my mate had finally come.

My pack obviously did too. They all have special bonds with the Alpha and Luna. When one is missing it can cause them pain.

All the sudden my mate yelped out in pain. In an instant I had her in my arms protectively.

She pushed off me and looked around the crowd. Her head whipped back and forth.

"Mariah?" I asked her, slowly walking towards my alarmed mate. Luca was going haywire at his mate's current state.

All the sudden Damien, Nate and Ethan came running down the hall searching for something.

As soon as they saw Mariah their faces lit up. When they saw her state they looked around trying to find a threat.

I saw Mariah freeze and take a deep breathe.

"Thank you Ryder for the invite for lunch I'll see you later." Then she scurried down the hall.

I went to chase after her on instinct but all 6 of my friends stood in the way.

"Ryder you can't. She'll just get more scared." Rylin told me.

"Is that her!" Ethan was bouncing on his toes. I hadn't noticed it until now but almost all of the kids from my pack were standing around. Looking for their Luna.

"Yah! I felt the bond during class. I tried to mind-link you but you blocked us" Bryli told me.

"Yes that's her. She's perfect." I sighed. Unbelievably happy but still worried.

"Now move I need to go find Mariah" I tried to move past them.

"No" Were all of their responses.

"Let me go!" I growled at them. Begging like a kid at the candy store.

"It's fine Ryder, it's just the overprotectiveness the mate bond gives. We all had it" Damien told me.

"And your's is probably 5x worse because your an Alpha. I feel bad for Luna." Selena admitted.

I growled at her because she was challenging my mate and Ethan stepped in front of her protectively.

"Oh you doofus! I just meant in a couple days your gonna be a leech. This mutt did the same thing." Selena told me, ruffling her mate's hair.

Ethan fake gasped. "You loved it!" He told her. I rolled my eyes.

I'm gonna get you little mate.