Arsen

The professor's voice droned on as I snuck another glance at my phone. It had been nearly two hours since I'd texted Jax when he told me abruptly that he was heading home. He still hadn't answered and I had a feeling deep in my gut that something wasn't right. It wasn't like him to ditch school.

Even for impromptu hookups with girls, he'd just find some empty janitors closet somewhere or something before letting girls affect his attendance. People saw how Jax was and expected him to be some slacker, just floating through life while his dad paid for his schooling. But he was anything but that.

Besides entertaining a constant flow of horny girls, Jax was extremely focused on graduating, and following in his fathers footsteps to become a successful alpha. I was his chosen beta, and I'd be there with him through it all.

I sighed when I saw that there were no new texts, and shoved my phone back into my pocket.

As much as I respected him as my alpha and best friend, I didn't agree with his seemingly insatiable debauchery. And though he'd never admit it, we both knew it was just an act.

I'd been watching him suppress his fear for years, jumping into bed with any woman that fell for his charm. He pretended he loved the constant, meaningless hook ups. He pretended that he didn't dread the day he would meet his perfect mate and reject her.

But when he let his guard down, I could see his loneliness and desolation. We'd been best friends since we could walk, and I probably knew the guy better than he knew himself. I knew every hook up felt hollow and empty to him, never giving him the satisfaction both he and his wolf desired.

He'd never admit that he was scared. The Oracle had come to his father when we were fifteen, promising an imminent death for his future mate. Both Jax and his father had taken her warning to heart. But I was more skeptical.

I still remembered the night the batshit old lady had appeared at our pack house, a mess of crazy gray hair, wrapped in a moth eaten black shaw. She had demanded that she speak to the alpha and rising alpha at nearly one in the morning. Her long bony fingers were wringing each other as she spoke in tongues, rocking back and forth and babbling to herself like an insane person. I could still hear her hoarse voice repeating the same rhyme over and over.

"A girl so pure, heart for three. Veins full of magic, Luna to be. A painful death, three hearts shatter. Love and protection, none will matter. She must die, cast into hell, those left earth side, an empty shell. Accept the bond, it's already too late, an ancient curse has sealed her fate."

Over and over again she had repeated it, burning the rhyme into my brain. She would switch from English to Gaelic, to Latin, and back to English again. All the while obsessively wringing her hands together and rocking. She had only answered our questions in short, unhelpful replies. Leaving us with more questions than answers.

Over the last six years I'd gone over the prediction every way I could, trying to figure out exactly what it meant. I'd even tried to find the Oracle to talk to her, to get a straight answer out of her. But, I learned that she had died not long after she came to see us that night.

Hell, I'd even gone to the local witches coven to see if they knew anything about it, seeing that oracles were just witches with an affinity for foresight. But of course, they wouldn't help me, being the stuck up bitches that they were.

Jax had given up trying to decipher the old woman's rantings. Instead he had convinced himself that rejecting his mate would save her from whatever painful death the Oracle had seen. His dad didn't know what to do, but agreed with his son that rejection would be the best choice. I still wasn't sure it was even real.

"Mr. Riley?" The professor, Mrs. Rout asked, making me jump as she pulled me from my thoughts.

"Uhh..."

Tyler leaned forward in his seat behind me, hiding his mouth with his hand.

"Nuclear fission." He muttered into my ear.

"Nuclear fission." I told the professor. She smiled at me and turned back to her white board, scribbling down more writing.

"Thanks dude." I said quietly to Tyler, turning halfway in my seat to look at him now that Mrs. Rout's attention was back on her lesson.

"No problem." He said, bumping my out held fist. "You good?"

I nodded halfheartedly, rubbing my neck as I glanced back up towards the front of the class.

"Yea, just... something's up with Jax. He ditched school and hasn't answered my texts."

He hummed in thought before shrugging. "Well I don't have an answer for you. But... I heard he shook up my new friend this morning." He grinned. I raised my eyebrows.

"Does this new friend happen to be a female?" I asked. He laughed quietly, nodding his head while I rolled my eyes. "That'll do it."

"She's cool man, just transferred here from Philly. Really pretty. Like, really pretty." He raised an eyebrow at me. I scoffed and turned back toward the front. He was always trying to set me up with girls, just like Jax, no matter how many times I told them I wasn't interested. They both knew why, I wasn't into wasting my time with random pointless hook ups. As corny as it sounded, I was waiting to find my mate.

Tyler was one of the only human friends we had that knew we were werewolves. Only because he'd been there the first time I'd shifted at sixteen.

The first shift is unpredictable, and painful. Tyler and I had been practicing our slap shots in my backyard after school when mine happened. It had nearly scared him to death when I collapsed to the ground, writhing and shaking as my bones cracked and fur sprouted from my skin. I still teased him from time to time about passing out.

"Whatever man," he shrugged, "Don't cry to me when you see her, I tried." I chuckled quietly, shaking my head. "Are you still coming to the party at my house after the game on Friday?"

I nodded wordlessly, knowing he wasn't going to take one of my lame excuses. I didn't really want to go, college parties weren't really my thing, even if they were Jax's.

The constant stream of half-drunk, slutty girls, practically throwing themselves at any guy with little to no self-respect. Awkwardly trying to make conversation with people you barely knew from school. Sticky surfaces and watching your every step to avoid puke. Yea, it just wasn't my idea of a fun time.

I'd avoided the last two that Tyler had thrown and I knew he wasn't going to let up if I didn't go to at least one. I sighed, at least I'd get some beer out of it, and I'd be able to say I came to one, hopefully that would get him off my back.

The bell rang and I threw my book bag over my shoulder, standing up from my desk. I waited for Tyler to collect his things and we walked out into the hall, merging with the body of students traveling to their next classes. We reached the stairwell and I pulled out my phone again.

"Still nothing from Jax?" He asked as we ascended the stairs. He was on his way to meet Maci and Brandon, they had lunch this period and always walked there together.

"No." I muttered, my eyes still on my phone. I started typing out a new message, my gut feeling still told me something was wrong. If he didn't answer this text, I'd call him after my art class.

As we rounded the next flight of stairs, I was so focused on the message I was typing out to Jax, that I ran into someone at full speed, and their smaller frame bounced off of me easily.

I heard someone gasp as my head snapped up, realizing that the girl I had just run into had tripped in the process and was now falling, the concrete stairs in the direct path of her head.

"Shit." I breathed, shooting forward to grab her before her head bounced off the step. Her eyes were squeezed shut, braced for the fall.

I took a step back, my arm still wrapped around her waist as I made sure she was steady on her feet. My heart stuttered as sparks erupted across my forearm where our skin touched. She opened her eyes and everything around me disappeared.

My wolf released a deep heartfelt howl as I gazed at the beautiful girl I was holding onto. My hand subconsciously tightened around her hip a bit and she gasped lightly.

Elation filled my chest as I stared at her in silent astonishment. I could look at a million sunsets, and a billion works of art and they'd be nothing compared to this girl.

My mate.

Her honey brown eyes darted back and forth as they searched mine, her enticing pink lips forming a small surprised "o".

Beautiful blonde curls hung artfully around her face, slightly disheveled from her near fall. I wanted so badly to run my hands through them, to feel her softness against my skin. Her warm body felt so perfect in my arms, it was taking everything in me not to pull her closer.

The sweet and spicy smell of cinnamon, mingled with cherries enveloped my senses, making my brain go haywire. I'd never think the two would go together, but I wanted to bury my face in her neck, and breath her in for the rest of my life.

After a brief moment that felt like it lasted forever; a moment I didn't want to end, she cleared her throat and took a step back. I let my arm fall away from her, nearly whining at the loss of contact.

I tilted my head curiously as I too took a step back, letting my eyes wander up and down her for a moment.

I sent a silent thank you to the moon goddess, watching a beautiful rose colored blush creep up her cheeks.

"Ahem..." Tyler cleared his throat, stepping up the last step so he was level with us on the landing. "Arsen, this is Ava Faulkner." He slung his arm over her shoulder. "My new friend I was telling you about earlier." He said pointedly, widening his eyes as he looked at me, as if silently trying to tell me "I told you so.". I glared at his arm around her, holding back the growl growing in my chest, before realizing what he was saying. This was the friend he had been talking about earlier, the girl that had just transferred from Philly.

"Ava." I smiled, enjoying the way her name felt in my mouth. "It's nice to meet you." I held out my hand to her, chewing my lip anxiously as she glanced down at it. Her hesitation made me almost sure that she felt our connection, but I had to feel it again, and I needed to see that she felt it too.

She took a deep breath and placed her small warm hand into mine. I bit back a laugh as she tried not to jump, and my smile grew wider as it felt like electricity ran up my arm, making all of my hairs stand up on end. I'd been told my whole life how right it would feel, but I could have never imagined it.

She shivered as she pulled her hand away and I wanted to pull her back into my arms.

"She felt it too." My wolf sang, I tried to ignore him so I didn't make an idiot out of myself.

"It's nice to meet you, too." She said, biting her lip nervously as she looked up at me through her eyelashes shyly. With just that look, I could feel myself melting into a puddle at her feet. If we weren't surrounded by people I would have purred.

"I-"

My phone started ringing and I growled, pulling it out of my pocket to silence it. But the name on the screen made me freeze.

Alpha Hadley was calling me.

Fuck! No! Not right now!

I glanced back at Ava's perfect face and sighed. I couldn't ignore a call from my alpha. And suddenly, I had a feeling that this was about Jax. I glanced between the phone and Ava a few more time before begrudgingly deciding on what I knew was best.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this. I'll see you guys later." I said glumly, my gaze lingering on Ava for one more moment before I turned to head up the stairs. Hopefully, I had a class or two with her later today. I'd ask her for her number then. If not, I'd ask Tyler where I could find her.

"Oh, we are definitely going to talk about that." I heard Maci mutter to Ava as I walked away. Groaning to myself, I answered the phone.

"This has better be fucking good." I said to Mr. Hadley, knowing he wasn't the type to take offense. "I just-"

"Jax found his mate. You need to come to the pack house immediately." He interrupted, a trace of an alpha order in his voice.

I paused mid-step, ignoring the curse thrown at me by whoever had been walking behind me.

"Oh no." I breathed.

No, not today. Why of all days did he have to find her today?

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Hey readers!

Hope you liked Arsen's POV. I love writing him, and Adonis too but you guys will get to see that later. I love all of them.

Who's your favorite so far?

And what do you think of the prediction?

Please don't forget to comment and vote! I love you guys!

Xx mandabrandie