I left my room to go to my mom's room. She was already up and making her bed. "Good morning Terra. Did you have fun yesterday?"

I did a recap of what happened in my head. "I did actually. It was really fun."

"I'm glad to hear it. Are you nervous about school starting tomorrow?"

"Oh that's right. I completely forgot that school starts tomorrow."

"It's okay, honey. It will be a new environment for you. You were home-schooled practically your whole life. And now, you're going to an actual high school. . . but you mustn't let it get to you, okay sweetie." She looked about ready to break down and cry. She sat on the bed. "I'll be right here if you need me. Just shout and I'm there." I could see the tears forming in her eyes, glazing them over.

"Mom-" I started walking towards her.

Tears started to stream down her face, her voice barely above a whisper. "I just want to be able to protect you and now..."

I sat on the bed next to her. "Mom, it's going to be okay. Sure, I'm terrified that you're not going to be there with me. But I have Maggie and her mate seems really nice." There's also Collin. Right, I should tell her about Collin.

She smiled. "Daphne told me that Maggie found her mate." Daphne is Maggie's mom. "And I could tell they're happy by the smile on Maggie's face. She's practically glowing. Now, I don't mean to compare, darling, but that can be you, you know." She gave me a little playful shove.

Now is the best time to tell her. "Yeah, well can I tell you something without telling me I told you so?" I looked up at her, and I could tell by the squint in her eyes, she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"Oh, Terra, honey, come here." She extended her arms out to me, and I gladly accepted. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm happy, too, Ma." I pulled away a bit to look at her. "I mean, we're just taking it slow at first. Being friends and then making it into something more."

"Is that even a thing?"

"I'm sure it can be. We're making it work." I responded.

"I mean, how long will that hold up? What, with all the raging werewolf hormones all running amok, how will you keep each others private parts off one anoth--"

"Maaa," I interrupted, hitting her with a pillow. God, I did not need to be hearing this from my mom. This is almost worse than the sex talk. Scratch that, nothing is worse than the sex talk with your parent.

She laughed and grabbed the pillow from me. "What! It's true. Only a matter of time, Terra. I'm telling you. Trust me, I know."

Her face grew from happy to unreadable, almost like she was in a daze. Probably thinking about... "Mom." I reached out to her, holding her hand in mine. "You all right? You went away for a minute there." I joked.

She looked at me, gave me a small smile, and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She gave my hand a pat. "But tell me more about your mate, sweetie. Who is he? Where did you meet him? And how good-looking is he?" She began to tickle me as she said the last part.

I smiled and pushed her away, softly. "Oh, mom, his name is Collin, I met him at the party yesterday. We talked for hours until I fell asleep and he is very, very good-looking. Too good-looking." I said, confidently, imagining what he'd look like under those clothes.

"Too good looking you won't be able to contain yourself and--"

"Mom!" I took the pillow again, and threw it at her.

"All right, all right. I'll stop. I'm just so glad you finally came to your senses and accepted him as a mate."

I smiled a smile to bug, it stretches from ear to ear. "Me too."

"Despite what you may think, mates are a beautiful thing to have, Terra and now that you found yours, you mustn't let him go."

I don't know what was so different about today than a week ago when she was trying to tell me the same thing, but her words finally registered in my mind. It clicked. It gave me the reassurance I needed. Accepting Collin wasn't a mistake. I felt relief again. I hugged her so tight I'm sure I cut off her air flow. "Thank you." I let her go. Tears started flowing from my eyes.

She wiped them away. "For what, sweetie?" She asked.

"For trying to knock some sense into me a week ago, for giving me reassurance about Collin, for having my back, for protecting me, just thank you for being my mom." I smiled at her and gave her another big bear hug.

"Anytime, mija. Anytime. You know I'm always here." She answered, rocking me back and forth in her arms.

* * *

Collin's POV

I was already up when Evan texted me saying that we were all going to meet up at the park, including my beautiful mate. How could I say no? I had to see her again. My wolf was begging for it.

I went downstairs. My mom was making breakfast and my dad was sitting at the dining table, drinking coffee and reading his morning paper.

"Good morning my beautiful parents." I grabbed an apple from a bowl on the dining table.

My dad nodded and bid me a good morning. My mom said, "Morning honey, breakfast is almost ready."

"Actually I'm going to skip breakfast today."

"What's wrong, son? This isn't about your mate is it? Are you ready to call on the search again? I was a little confused when you decided to call it off in the first place," My dad said.

I smiled. I've come along way since then. "Actually mom, dad, I have some good news to tell you," Here goes. "I finally found my mate."

"Oh honey, that's great! I am so happy for you!" My mom exclaimed, giving me a hug.

"Atta boy," My dad gave me a pat on the back.

"When can we meet her?" My mom asked.

"Soon," I assured her. "I don't want to overwhelm her. She wants to take it slow and I respect her wishes."

"Who is she?" My dad asked.

"Her name's Terra and she's absolutely beautiful," I was completely smitten.

"Oh, Terra? As in Terra Fern?" My dad asked.

I looked at my dad, intrigued. "Yes, how do you know her?"

"I know her mom, Marie Fern. She was pregnant with Terra when she came to me asking if Terra could be a part of the pack after she was born. Who would've suspected that her daughter would be your mate? You were just a baby when she visited me, you know. That was the day you nearly blew all of our eardrums out crying. Your mom and I couldn't get you to stop, but then Marie got close to you, and you rested in her arms calmly. I guess we know why now, huh Rena."

Wow, so even back then, I knew that we belonged together. Go baby Collin.

"Oh yes," my mom chimed in. "I remember Marie. She was just a teenager when she came here. She looked scared. I mean, being a new mom at that age with no mate, I would be, too. We should invite her over, now that we're practically family."

"Wait," I interrupted. "No mate? Did he reject her?" I asked. Well, I guess it explains why my Terra was so hesitant on facing me.

"She never really explained and we didn't really ask," My dad said. "It wasn't our place to. She did look terrified and all we could do at the time was offer her help, accepting her daughter into the pack. I offered her a spot too, even though she is a human but she refused."

"Yeah, Terra told me her mom and her side of the family were all human. I still can't believe cross-mating is a thing. It's the stuff I thought you only read about in textbooks." I said.

"Only the moon goddess knows why she paired two people to be with each other forever," My mom said. "And I could tell she paired Marie with a powerful wolf, too. Dare, I say, an alpha." She looked at my father when she said that.

He looked back, and he didn't look amused, giving her a look as if saying we'll talk about this later just not in front of me.

"Anyway," my father chirped. "I can't believe Terra was practically under our noses the whole time." My dad chuckled.

"I know," I decided to play along with the change of subject. "She was absolutely terrified when we first met but she's willing to give us a try. I'm actually going to meet up with her at the park right now. It was Evan's idea. It's a double date or something."

"Well then go, go, go, honey. You don't want to keep her waiting," My mom said.

"Yeah, son. Go have fun and make the most of having a mate. It's a beautiful thing." He looked at mom, lovingly now, all seriousness gone, as if it was never there.

"Yes it is," my mom said. My parents made their way to each other, almost in a slow, sensual prowl. Oh hell no.

Okay, this is awkward now. "Right, well, I'll see you guys later. Bye." I waved at them but they didn't notice, and practically ran to my car for two reasons: I didn't want to see my parents pounce each other on the dining room table. Gross. And the second most important reason, I couldn't wait to see her again.