Michael.

Mathew's brother was standing right in front of me, with a toothy smile. He had his hands in his pockets and he seemed nervous.

"Thank you for coming." He said and stepped to me.

"Yeah, um... I thought you, you...were..." I rambled, not knowing what to say. This was my mates's brother we were talking about. "What am I doing here?" I asked.

He smiled and then frowned, "I just wanted to apologize, you know... for the hit."

"Yeah... don't worry." I said and we stood in an awkward silence.

What was I supposed to do?

I found it weird Michael wanted to see me. I'd never spoken more than a few words to him. I wonder if he knew his brother was my mate.

"You are very pretty, you knew that?" He said shy, stepping forward at the same time I took a step back.

"Thanks."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you one of my brother's conquests?" He asked and I'm pretty sure my eyes widen in surprise.

Conquests? Mathew's conquests? What the hell was he talking about and why didn't I know he had conquests?

"What do you mean?" I asked curious, it never crossed my mind Mathew had other girls before me. But, giving it a thought... How couldn't he? He was handsome, an Alpha, he was just perfect.

"Yeah, you know... girls that are just around for a little while. Girls that... fool around." he said a bit embarrassed.

I blushed and thought about asking Mathew about this. I was starting to get jealous. I had never, not even once been with a man. Mathew had been my first kiss and all I could think about was, I hadn't been his. He had probably hundreds of female werewolves at his feet.

Maybe even prettier than me.

"No." I frowned. "I don't fool around."

"Thought so. You seem nice, different from the others." He grabbed my hand, startling me. He was very close to me now. "He has too many to count, after all. He is the Alpha."

"Mi-ichael, er... I should probably go." I mumbled, feeling my mood wrecking.

The thought of Mathew and other girls, angering me.

"No, please. Is just that, I really like you."

Oh sh... How did I answer that?

"I.." he trailed off and his hands cupped my cheeks. Damn, he was going to kiss me.

"Michael, wait!" I pushed him and backed away. "You can't do that."

He looked puzzled and tried to hold my hand. "You can't kiss me."

"Why..?" I was about to interrupt him, when a husky voice coming from the trees, stopped him.

"Step away from her."

Mathew came out from nowhere. He had this angry look that actually made me a bit scared. He didn't have his signature panty-dropping smile instead he looked as if he wanted to murder someone, his brother.

Mathew circled my waist with his arm and growled to Michael. I shivered, when his hot skin pressed against mine and I would've kissed him if it wasn't for the situation.

"Mine." He said firmly, followed by another empowering growl that made Michael backed away and bowed.

"Leave." He ordered, and I knew Mathew wasn't talking him in the brother-to-brother way. He was showing his Alpha, his wolf.

Michael turned around and disappear into the woods.

"Oh Mathew that was..." I hadn't even finish, when Mathew had me already on my back against a tree with his hands on my hair and his lips capturing mine.

I moaned at the sudden intimate contact and answered right away his kiss.

My hands rested on his hot chest, only to circled his neck with my arms, pulling him closer. I knew there was no space between our bodies, as I felt his muscles against my body. He tasted tentatively with his tongue, giving me the chance to let him go further or not. But I did, wanting more of him.

I gasped and took a deep breath when I felt the tip of his fingers caressing the skin below my breast while his other hand went underneath my shirt, tracing the skin on my back. His mouth traveled down my neck and I bit my lip, moaning in satisfaction to the soft yet rough kisses he left.

"Mathew." I whispered his name, when his hands pulled me up. My legs circled his waist, and wasting no time, our mouths collided once more.

Without any thought or worries, I gave everything into the kiss. I didn't care we were in the middle of the woods, with the moonlight being our only reminder of the night.

I didn't realize how much time we spent lip locked, but when I felt the heat rising up my body we separated. It was like fire, running through my veins. And I was pretty sure, he had felt it too. Our eyes never leaving each others, as he pressed his hand on my chest right above my beating heart.

"What was that?" I asked, not having a clue of the emotions flooding my body.

Mathew smiled. "It was your wolf, she is ready."

"Ready?"I asked with innocence.

He kiss the corner of my mouth and circled my waist with his arms, pulling me closer with care. The heated passion was long gone and had been replaced by sweetness. "For the mating process." He replied with a grin and a pair of eyes filled with lust. I took a deep breath and bit my lip, not being able to hide my excitement. But still, feeling a part of me scared. Not of him, not of the mating, but of what would come next.

Tranquility. That's how it felt being in Mathews arms. We were sitting against the tree, where our heated kiss had taken place. We were in silence enjoying each others company.

My mind hadn't stopped thinking about what Mathew had said about the mating process, making me wonder if I would be willing to take that step. The thing was, maybe I would, but I didn't know where Mathew and I were. We hadn't defined any relationship, we only knew we were mates. And the fact that I had two werewolves fighting to be my mate and Mathew not knowing that, didn't help much.

"What happened with Michael?" Mathew asked breaking our silence.

I turned my head to him a bit. "I don't know. I found some notes and thought they were from you." I replied and caressed the skin of his arms that circled my waist. "But, when I got here I saw him instead."

His nosed grazed my forehead. "I think he has a crush on you." Mathew said and I chuckled.

"What?" I smiled.

"I mean it, just look at you. You are beautiful. Believe me," I turned to him completely and he continued. "I'm so lucky I had found you, my mate. My Luna. So incredibly beautiful, every time I see you, you take my breath away. I'm so fortunate for having you." He said with so much... so much care and, love?

I felt my eyes filling with tears and all I could do was cup his cheeks in my hands and pressed my lips against his, this being the first time I took initiative. And it felt nice, I felt powerful and confident and I wanted nothing more than to never let him go. Never let go of this, of this little thing we had between us that grew day by day and that was becoming something more. Something I was not afraid of anymore. My feelings for him.

⌘ ⌘ ⌘

"But you wanted to kiss him, Serena. You have no excuse. This is as much as your fault as it is his." I whispered to myself. I was panicking, how was I going to explain my father the reddish mark I had on my neck? All I could think of, it was that the mark was consequence of the make-out session I'd had with Mathew this morning. But still, I didn't know what to do. I looked in the mirror one more time and tried to cover any redness, but it was useless. Great!

All I could think of was in wearing a scarf. At least I could say I was cold, the frisky weather of September helped as an excuse.

"Serena!" My bedroom door bursted open and Leila appeared looking pale."Come quickly, they are killing each other, you had to stop them!"

What?

She ran out of the room and I followed her. She led me to my backyard and that's when I saw it. Two wolves in full fighting mode. One of the wolves had a sandy fur and the other a dark brown.

"Are they who I think they are?" I asked to Lei.

She nodded and I cautiously stepped to them. "Stop!" I shouted but they seemed so focus on fighting each other, I was completely ignored. "Hey!" I tried again.

I turned to look at Leila and she shrugged. What were we supposed to do? Neither of could shift yet. We couldn't stop them, even if we wanted to.

If my father or any of the guards saw them, Liam and Ben, would be in serious trouble.

"I am going to chose my mate!" I shouted, trying one last time and surprisingly both of them stilled.

They turned to me and not even once moved their gazes from me. They were huge compare to my human form and both made me slightly nervous.

The sandy wolf shifted back to his human form, and a very naked Liam stood in front of me.

I blushed so furiously that when I saw the other wolf shifting back I quickly turned around.

"Serena, is it true?" Liam asked. "Are you finally choosing?"

I heard them walking to me and I stopped them. "Stop right there, just.." I looked at Leila for help, but she was pretty focus on the naked men behind me.

Crap, I needed to think, fast. "Why were you fighting?" I asked winning time to come up with something reasonable.

"We can't wait any longer." Ben said. "You have four months left. Serena you have to chose already. All of us know you have to complete the mating process before the Luna ceremony."

Damn! I had totally forgot about that. But at the mention of mating, the only thing on my mind was Mathew and I.

How his hands had caressed my body, the night before. How our lips had lip locked, how the heat had fired up my body.

Oh, yes.. my wolf thought.

"Serena, are you okay?" Leila asked walking to me. "You look quite flustered."

"I.. it's nothing."

"Serena?" Liam pressured me, I knew I hadn't answered.

I turn to them, not moving my eyes from the upper part of their bodies and spoke, "I will chose my mate whenever I'm ready, whenever I believe it's the right moment. When I know who I want to spend my life with. So for now, don't fight, don't do any of this ever again. It will not help you at all. If you want to know the answer, you'll wait for me. I'll let you know the moment I make the decision."

I said firmly, trying not to lose any courage.

They were both speechless, looking at me with wide eyes. I had never spoken like that, I had always been the Alpha's daughter and nothing more. No authority at all.

"Serena, but..."

"No, this is my decision and you will respect it."

I saw the two of them, look behind me and bowed immediately.

"I am going to make the decision Serena, not you." The deep, bossy voice of my father established and I felt my whole confidence tumbled down.

I turned to him, his Alpha aura, making me follow his orders. Respecting him.

"Are you ready for the final decision?" He said with a smug grin, knowing I had no other option but to accept it.

⌘ ⌘ ⌘