- Everest -

"I have a rather important topic to discuss with you." My father had announced over dinner.

"Who?" I asked out of line.

My father was always one to follow a very tight chain of command when it came to our pack, even more so when it came to my siblings and I.

And being one of the youngest means, you don't get to speak unless spoken to.

"All of you." He responded flatly.

My older brothers where here for dinner with their mates, my sister and her newly married husband were also home for dinner.

"What of Briar father?" Rich asked.

Briar was my second sister, together there were six of us. Three boys and three girls.

The oldest of us is Richard Junior, or as we call him, Rich. Second is my brother Ash, he's sort of my favorite of my siblings. Brooke and Briar are twins, Brooke being the older of the two, then there is myself and the baby of the bunch is my brother Vale.

"Your sister is doing exactly as she is expected to do, remain by her husband's side." My father answered Rich's question.

Briar had been married to her husband for just over a month now, he was the son of an Alpha, Brooke and I had felt bad for her, being married off to someone who isn't her mate.

But that was until it Brooke was selected as a bride, her fiancé used to be some luna-less Alpha, but then our pack went to war with his and needless to say, father had to find her a new husband, Brooke is now married the second son of a Beta.

So not only does she not have the luxury of being with her mate (whoever he may be) but she had to marry a man who has no power whatsoever...and with Brooke, it was always about power.

Now don't get me wrong, my father isn't entirely cruel. We do have the chance to find our mates, it's only...the window to find them is rather small.

You see, just like other Weres, we all had our first shift at 17.

But the rule is, either we find our mates before our 22 birthday (5 years after our first shift) OR we would have to have a partner selected for us by our father. The last alternative, if we do not follow the rules...we're out of the pack for disrespect toward the alpha.

Now I know what you're thinking, 'what about their mom, surely she has a say.'

Thing is....we all have different mothers, and none of them are around.

Our rules for partners have been handed down from generations before; arranged marriages are far from new. My father, just like Brooke and Briar, was assigned a wife...only since he is a man he has a little more say in the matter.

Sure he got married to the woman, had Rich and solidified the marriage long enough until her father died, after that he divorced her and became the 'bachelor alpha' where he went on to create his dynasty.

Kid after kid came, but to him he didn't see it that way, with every new child of his, he saw us as another opportunity piece...we'd all be married off to different packs, and for him that meant that so long as he was alive, he'd have a small bit of control in other lands all thanks to us, his children.

Rich was the luckiest, being the oldest he automatically would inherit our fathers pack and therefore didn't require a mate, BUT the lucky bastard found his mate in a girl he had known his whole life. Ash lucked out one evening when a visiting pack was on our land to draw up negotiations, his mate turned out to be the only child for that Alpha and therefore he will become his mates new pack alpha (due to Were law that states a female can not be alpha) when her father either steps down or dies. And, sweet Briar had been married off to an equally sweet son of an Alpha.

We all sat silently awaiting our fathers next words. He had built them up so much that I was beginning to feel anxious, perhaps our pack would do to war again?

But what fell from his mouth next was something I never thought I'd hear in my entire time on this earth.

"I have found my mate, and after much thought, she will be moving in with us."

I didn't exactly know how to feel, in a sense I felt happy for him, he's still my dad and plus, everyone deserves happiness right?

But of course, I also felt jealous?

I knew why too, it's because I still hadn't found my mate and to make matters worse, my 22 birthday is quickly coming up.

We continued dinner in a more jubilant fashion where we all asked questions about our fathers new mate.

Soon dinner was over and as my father bid us a good evening he saved me for last. With his eyes on me I knew he wished to speak privately.

"Yes father?" I asked.

"My Everest." He said softly, a small smile on his face..."you remind me so much of your mother, you know for a while I thought I loved her, thought she was the one that got away, I liked her so much I actually saw her more than once."

I held my face still as the urge to show my disgust crept forward.

"But of course she wasn't my mate." He sighed, "which brings me to my genuine purpose for holding you back this evening...have you found a mate?"

Now I looked down sadly and shook my head, "I'm beginning to think there is something wrong with me."

He chuckled heartily, "he's out there, unfortunately your time to find him is winding down fast, your birthday is in two weeks."

I nodded, but remained silent.

"You are a beautiful and charming girl Everest, so much so that I've even secured a most advantageous coupling for you."

"Excuse me?" I asked slightly bewildered.

"You've caught the eye of a very prestigious old Were."

"I-I'm suppose to marry some...pervy old man."

My father placed his hands on my shoulders and it caused me to shrink into myself out of fear.

"The marriage is for his son, his son's mate tragically died, every since then his father has been looking for a well groomed girl to become his sons Luna when the time comes."

I was speechless.

"Two weeks Everest, and then I WILL expect you to have either a mate OR be married off to my selected suitor."

This time I didn't say anything even if I had anything to say as my father left me standing there all alone.

Feeling like I had just been backed into a wall I did the first thing that came to mind...I ran.

I ran in my human form all the way to the next town over.

I recognized the name of the town and knew it sat on my father's land, but I was also aware that this was a human town, the very one where he had met Blair and Brooke's mother.

The little town was very quaint with its plantation style homes, its biggest attraction was a large university just on the edge of town, this came in handy when Weres shifted, if they didn't find anyone as their mate within the pack then they tried to find one in the townies or the students of the university. There were more than a few successes in finding human mates at the university.

Of course I had tried when I first shifted, I went straight to the university for a week straight, but no such luck. I wondered about the town as well every night that week, but still came up empty.

I had gotten my hopes up once while strolling about the grocery store, but when I followed the very faint scent it only lead me to an older woman.

I went back to the town every new semester, and every time j came back with nothing.

As I slowed I noticed Mrs Hill's bar, Hilltop's.

She was one of the lucky Weres that found her mate in a townie and they were married for well over fifty years, he passed away and she kept the bar open in memory of him.

I ducked in, I'm sure when my siblings found out what happened tonight someone would come for me, and as this is the only Were establishment in this town they would come here first.

The aroma of yeast, citrus, and wood was thick. I ignored making eye contact and searched for a discreet place to sit, unfortunately this wasn't exactly a discreet type of place as all of the tables were right in the middle of the bar, I finally found one open spot at the bar.

I begrudgingly took the seat knowing fully well Janet Hill would see me, all I wanted was a stiff drink but my father had prohibited us to partake in substance abuse like a common human.

Funny as he is hardly one to judge anyone.

Now seated at the end of the bar closest to the door I messed with my hands and worried what my consequence for running away tonight would be.

Suddenly I sensed someone approaching,

"Hi"

I sighed before my head snapped up and I locked eyes with a man I had never seen around town before.

The exhale of my sigh must've caused his scent to reverberate back to me and it had my wolf stirring awake.

I looked right into his eyes, even here in this dimly lit place I could see they were the most beautiful baby blue color.

"Hey, what'll it be?"

I knew he had just said something because I had both seen his magnificent mouth moving and I heard the low rumble of his voice, each causing my wolf to whimper to be let out.

'Is this my mate?'

but my wolf didn't respond.

Surely it has to be, why else would she be so excited right now?

Suddenly his brows pulled together in a frustrated fashion over his saddened eyes.

"Hello?!" He asked a little louder than one would have expected.

I knew I had been staring as I was contemplating whether this was my mate or not and had to shake myself to erase the thoughts from my head.

"Sorry." I replied more than embarrassed.

He shook his head, he even seemed a little humored as the ghost of a smile teased from his lips. "what'll it be?"

"Oh, just a water please."

This caused him to look at me, I didn't meet his eyes this time, but I felt as his eyes roamed my face.

'Was he checking me out?'

'Does he like what he sees?'

'He probably thinks I'm weird for ordering water...I should've gotten wine or something.'

'Do they even sell wine here?'

Finally his eyes left me as he turned to get me my requested order.

I watched him intently as he prepared my glass of water.

The way his large hands carefully held the glass, how he observantly watched the water fill the glass with a scrunched determined sort of look, "Lemon?" He suddenly asked me.

I tried my hardest to see if he really was my mate, again, my wolf seemed more antsy, and she wanted to come forward...but try as I might I couldn't find that mates pull...you know that thing that sort of instinctually pulled me to him.

"Y-yes please." I knew he had caught me staring at him, or rather at his toned physique.

He just had to be my mate...I've honestly never had my wolf so happy for any guy before.

I took a small sip as my mouth was actually quite parched from running in my human form.

I heard the door open behind me and tensed up, but when I didn't feel my siblings wolves I allowed myself to ease up a bit. Of course I had to continuously check that no one had come for me so I continued to look back at the door every so often. In doing so I found I would also check where the guy was as well.

Unfortunately he never looked back at me as he had to tend to the opposite end of the bar. In his place Janet approached me.

"Well I'll say...its been some time since I've seen you last." Janet smiled gently.

"I shouldn't be here...but you know my father."

She sighed, "only too well sugar."

I went on to tell her about my night.

"But I'm sure you'll find your mate sugar, just don't give up hope." She said sweetly.

I looked up at the male bartender as her words hit my ears. "Yeah."

"Have you met Caleb?"

At this I shook my head. I could tell she was going to tell me more about this guy, Caleb...my mate. But she righted herself and that's when the familiar scent reached my nose.

I jumped up from my seat only too glad to see it was Ash who would be retrieving me tonight.

"Evie...why did you run?"

I hugged my brother before I let him lead me out of the bar, but not before stealing one final glance of him.

'Look up...please look for me."

And just like that his gorgeous blue eyes met mine and I knew I would be okay.