had been apparent to me and everything has been going well enough. Until Danielle had recently began cooking and asking me to reconsider fessing up. I had and would always remain steadfast in my choice. However, it felt like I was being unfair to her, so I'd come up with a brilliant compromise.

I had it all figured out, I was going to come clean about her not being my actual mate. When I'd told her the brilliant plan, she'd been relieved, but only for a few short seconds. Before she realized that was the only lie I was willing to come clean about. That proved to her how much I was committed to my denial of Brady.

That discussion had been a few days ago.

So, Thursday after school sports I sat atop a thick branch in the Forrest. Scrolling through my tablet for revision notes in the tree not farthest from where Malia and her friends were crowded at. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on. As usual, girls were daydreaming about the day they would be mated-spiritually and physically. They were coming up with elaborately painted and whimsical dreams of how their mates, the sex, romance and union ceremonies would all be like.

"I swear when he looked at me my heart skipped a beat." Malia's bottle blonde frenemy swore in a bubblegum sing-a-song voice. I resisted rolling my eyes choosing to focus on my homework. Twenty minutes later and the girls were now taking turns braiding each other's hair speculating on the qualities our future Alpha's wife mate was expected to possess.

"And here I came thinking I'd leave with a date for tonight but I guess that's all but a dream now. Seeing as you all want me off the market already." Brady jested emerging from the trees. His looming and intimidating posse in tow behind him, with boastful strides and stupid grins. It's safe to say a mini commotion ensued as the girls got up brushing dirt off their jeans, shorts and dresses. Each subtly trying to out flirt the other for our future Alpha's attention and his were-council material friends.

I felt my pupils dilate, the same way they did each time I was getting ready to shift or each time I saw him. The burn in my eyes was fierce with need and want for him. A petty feeling of possessiveness to shield him from the girls' advances and show him off as mine and mine alone consumed my spirit. My mouth became dry and the beat in my heart came with a solid and strong thrum. I wanted to but I couldn't look away, how could anybody and especially me. Even though I wanted to cry my heart out, I didn't, I couldn't. My focus remained fixated on Brady who laughed with the girls; amusement, interest and confidence swirling in his eyes.

For girls.

"So what do you suppose your mate will be like?" the bottle blonde playfully nudged her finger at Brady's chest, a glossy red smile on her heart-shaped pouty lips.

Brady's posse of fuckboys paused the gross flirting they were indulging in with the willing girls. "Yea, you never talk about that man?" Tyler said as everyone else including me focused on him in anticipation.

I felt my heartbeat drop just as Brady dropped a foot on the fallen branch the girls were sitting in earlier. He pinched the top of his nose as he looked up at the colored clouds as if his answer was embedded there and confessed. "Funny that topic comes up. I've been feeling made lately."

Malia jumped down from the tree she'd climbed the top of, a half ripe mango in hand and asked "What do you mean?"

Brady looked to her and sniffed the air in this and that direction around him then explained "I don't know how to put it exactly but...Sir Isaac says it's because I've been revealed to my mate and it's only a matter of the gods' time before they make it to me. In the meantime, I will be tortured with...."

My heart pounded so hard in my ears that I couldn't hear the rest of his sentence. I rested quietly but hard on the branch hoping and praying I would find shape shifting abilities and blend with the tree like a chameleon. So no one would even look my way and see I was eavesdropping or worse, figure me out.

With the trio here it wouldn't end well for me if I were made.

"That's great are you excited?" I heard Malia's voice.

My gaze remained curiously on my mate. He rubbed his perfectly trimmed stubble narrowing his eyes at my perfect sister "I don't know if I'm ready for a mate yet."

Brutal.

With that, he might as well have staked me with silver right in my heart. My heart skipped a beat, a soundless gasp was all I could release and I felt a cold chill.

"That's right! Because a player is never ready" Greg high fived Tyler.

Tyler howled, "Yea man!"

"Actually don't listen to them." Brady laughed playfully throwing a dry twig to his friends "It's just because I already like someone else you know."

The girls cooed and whatever.

His friends rolled their eyes and went back to flirting.

I shouldn't have cared really. The guy was despicable and I didn't want him but the bond felt too heavy and it sent my heart sinking in my chest. What he said felt like rejection, it was enough to remind me of my place with guys like him. With that in mind, I gathered my books stealthily down the tree and then took off for the library.

"Hey!" Brady's voice called behind me. "Malik!"

I was not above being petty so I ignored him walking faster ahead and plugged in my AirPods amping the volume all the way up. He caught up just as I rounded the library corner. With his firm hand on my waist, he stopped me and tugged one of my AirPods off. "I've been calling you." He said.

I didn't reply.

"What's up?" he asked smiling.

I tugged my hand away from his grasp "What do you want now Brady?"

He furrowed his brows "Look you've been meaner to me lately." He looked in this and that direction then lowered his voice. "Is it about the text?"

I suppose I had been acting way out of character since the time I felt the pull to him but who wouldn't? Usually, I would just ignore and hide from his teasing but lately, I had been coming up with mean retorts. In fact last Friday at school, another time after he'd come up to try and talk to me. I had shoved him harder than I meant to and didn't even apologize or stop to check if he was ok when he balanced on his football coach's footwear.

Then it occurred to me Brady had been acting off with me too. Sending me flirty DM's and spamming my social media with attention, smiling at me from distances and now coming to me just to ask 'what's up?' As I thought of his odd behaviour, I put it all together and I had an aha! moment. Because as it turned out, I knew what this bastard was trying to do!

I scoffed "Listen I get it, you're graduating high school in a few days, you and the 'squad' or 'the gang gang' or 'the fam' or whatever else you call your friends. All of you want to go outta high school with a banging senior prank but please spare me. I'm not in the mood to be taunted."

He frowned "What?"

This bastard was feigning ignorance and it was convincing. I scoffed and harshly side stepped past him.

It was our school's tradition, that after finals seniors would throw pranks on everyone, including other students, other schools and each other. Just not the teaching faculty. So I figured it out then, him and his posse of moron fuckboys were planning on pranking me so all I had to do was skip school until they were out.