Eli:

First day of summer and I'm stuck in the house tending to my Princely 'duties'. Usually I wouldn't mind it much, but I'm stuck having to keep all my werewolf abilities in check. We have a human guest arriving today.

I sigh, I hate having humans around. I pick up the next file on top of the giant stack in front of me and open it up.

'Petition for new gardening materials...'

"Do we even have a garden Ember?"

"Yes Eli, we run through it all the time. We smash Mrs. Walter's flowers. remember?" Ember, my wolf, replies.

"Oh yeah! that was fun!"

I chuckle remembering how fun it was to race Ryan and Sean, jumping over the flower beds. Then Mrs. Walter came running out throwing sticks and stones at us." (She's one of the pack elders and one of the few who won't let us get away with anything. Ever.)

"YES! let's go do it again!" Ember growls in my mind. "Wait, not now..."

My father opens the door to my office without knocking, his usual. "Hello father..." I stare at him confused for a moment.

He continues to march forward, swinging the door open in a dramatic fashion.

I frown as I stare it him.

"What is my dad up to, Em?"

"Titan has news!" Ember flutters around in my brain.

"Yes father?" I ask again as my mother joins him. She's got a giant smile on her face as well.

"Hurry Eli!..." My mother's smile lighting up the entire room as she walks in. She's obviously excited, "...There's someone you must meet." She's messing with my hair and frowning. I shoo her hands away. 

I try to collect myself but my father caught my confused look.

"Shush Maddy..." My mother's name is Madeline, but my father is the only person I know who calls her Maddy.

I know, it's cute.

"...You don't need to confuse him."

He turns back to me with his business face on. "Eli, as future heir to this werewolf kingdom, you know you must have a mate to lead..." I nod my head yes, shyly.

All my other friends found their mates as soon as they turned 18, except for me. I've been 18 for 2 months now and not one female has stood out to me. Even with all my travels, Ember never found our special girl.

Ember purrs in my mind...

"What it is Ember?"

He whimpers.

He tends to do that a lot what 'mate talk' comes up.

My father takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly, "So, there's another female, one that is technically a part of our pack, but, due to some bad decisions on your grandfather's part, she's never lived with us." I look at him confused.

"Mate?! Who was there to protect her?" Ember begins to roar inside me. 

He's getting stronger the closer I get to the Alpha position.

"Who is she?!" I say starting to get angry. "Why would you allow one of our own to be unprotected, especially a female!" Everyone knows Female's who carry the were-gene are slim.

It's a rarity and only comes, sometimes, when both parents carry the gene. Were-females are easy targets for Rogue Wolves who want to use them as breeders.

My father glared at me for a moment. Since I'm now of age, my wolf has stayed closer to the surface. If my emotions get too high, Ember can be difficult to control.

"Son, it was out of my hands ok, but not anymore. Beta Warren's Brother is now here. His name is Micheal, and he's with his wife Linda. She is the daughter of the Luna Crest pack's former Alpha. They brought along their daughter as well. Her name is Jessica."

My eyebrows shot up. Daughter of two powerful werewolf families.

I smirk to myself. Too easy.

"She's ours Ember, I know it."

"Mate will love us. We're a good looking human." He growls in my head.

I was about to march straight for the door and claim her as mine, when my mother stood in front of me.

"Tell him the rest sweetheart..." She glares at me, why was she glaring.

My father takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly before speaking,"Eli, listen, she doesn't know anything about werewolves."

I scoff and chuckle. Yeah right. The daughter of some of the most powerful werewolf families in the world, doesn't know about werewolves?

"Mate don't know about me?" Ember was suddenly sad.

"Come on dad, stop messing around..." I realize after a few moments that my parents are looking straight at me, completely serious. My mom still has a hopeful smile on her face. My dad, however, looks a little sad.

"It wasn't how this was supposed to be hun." My mother begin rubbing my back. An action that usually soothes me, but all of a sudden my whole body felt tense.

"Ember? What's wrong?" I try to link with my wolf as I can feel him trying to push to the surface.

"Mate is here!!" He roars inside me.

My mom and dad look to one another before looking back at me, "Hun, is everything ok?" my mother's voice rings in my head but I can't stop myself.

"Mate!" Ember yells inside my brain as I throw open the door.

"She's here." I grit out as I quickly head down the hallway and down the stairs. 

I hear her voice as she giggles about something.

"So pretty." Ember purrs in my head.

I reach the bottom of the stairs just as she walks in. Her wide eyes and dazed look make me want to scoop her up in my arms and snuggle her until she won't let me anymore. I bite my lip as I watch her look around. She's got this beautiful sparkle in her eyes, and her hair looks so soft. Her cute little body is so perfect.

"Hugs!" Ember yips in my brain.

"No Ember, we can't scare her..." He grunts as he retreats to the back of my mind.

I take a deep breath as I feel my dad and mom walk around me to greet the guests.

Ok Eli, just play it cool.

I walk down the last step, or what I thought was the last step but it wasn't there was one more left, I barely catch myself before I actually landed on my face. Using my were reflexes, cursing in my head as I tried to right myself.

Smooth Eli.

"Eli can't walk now? Is Eli ok?" Ember yips in my head.

I clear my throat, straightening my t-shirt, shit. What am I even wearing?

I steal a glance at myself in the mirror at the end of the hallway and remember I'm still in my joggers and a ripped Avengers t-shirt. Internally I roll my eyes as everyone looks at me.

My mother has her encouraging smile on. My father is frowning in disappointment. Micheal looks like he's sizing me up and Linda looks a little concerned. 

Just then, my eyes finally landed on the pair that I would gladly spend the rest of my life getting lost in. Beautiful gray eyes that sparkled as she smiled.

I could sense she was nervous. I begin to frown, am I making her nervous. Crap, I suck at this.

I didn't realize how long I was staring until she chuckled and cleared her throat, she gave me a small wave. "Hi! I'm Jessica."

"So pretty..." Ember purred in my mind, "Hugs!"

"No ember..." I growl in my mind as he huffs.

"Hi!" I wave as I realize my voice was probably louder than it needed to be. I could tell because everyone seemed a little shocked by the noise.

What the hell is wrong with me?

"Eli scare mate?!" Ember growled in my head.

"Shush Ember..."

She laughed as she stared right into my eyes. Did she feel this? Is it possible she felt what I was feeling?

"...and you are?" She looked at me again. Her mouth moved, but I was so entranced listening to the pretty melody her words made, that I missed what she asked.

My mother chimed in, "This is Eli, our son." Oh is that what she asked?

"You can't even tell mate your name?" Ember asked in my mind.

"Shut it Ember. I'm trying to focus."

I could feel all the eyes on Jessica and I.

Even Ember picked up on the awkward silence as he began to whisper suggestions in the back of my mind. 

"Give mate a hug..."

"Touch her hair, it looks so soft..."

"Tell mate she's pretty.."

I rubbed the back of my neck and smiled saying the first thing I could think of, "You're pretty..." I mumbled under my breath.

Shit, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud.

"Thanks Ember..." I growl.

"But mate is so pretty..." Ember purrs again.

I watch her blush as she pulled her notebook closer to her chest. Did she hear me?

Micheal clears his throat, stifling a growl, as he glares at me. My father rolls his eyes. My mother and Linda both wear small smiles of encouragement.

Sighing in defeat. Man I really suck at this, "Um, I can show you around later. If you want. The castle is easy to get lost in if you're not familiar with it."

"YAY! Hug time with mate!" Ember chimed in.

I was about to smile in accomplishment when I noticed Jessica begin to bite her lip nervously, "Yeah, maybe. I'm kind of tired after our trip. I might need to rest..." She was playing with the bottom of her dress, nervous about looking me in the eye? Did I scare her? Probably, I look kind of crazy right now. Did I even run a comb through my hair this morning?

"Mate tired?! Hold her, then she will sleep." Ember restlessly rumbled inside my head.

"Sure..." I plaster on a small smile. "...You need your rest. Maybe some other time then." I need to get out of here before I say or do something else stupid to embarrass myself. Especially since Ember can't keep anything to himself.

"I gotta go train, ok dad?" He narrowed his eyes on me as Jessica looked at me confused.

Oh yeah, she has no idea what that means.

"Eli messing up a lot right now. You need Mate hugs!" Ember yipped.

"Stop distracting me Ember!"

"Bye Jessica..." I wave at her again, walking backwards towards the front door. Ember didn't want to keep his eyes off of her. Neither did I if I'm being honest. Just as I'm about to hit the door I turn and the door flies open smacking me in the face.

"SHIT!" I yell out loud as I feel my nose break.

"Why are you so dumb around mate?" Ember asked me, honestly curious.

"Why aren't you more helpful!?" I yell back at him. 

He whimpers in confusion. I know he's trying to be helpful in his own way.

"Sorry Em..." 

I didn't mean to be rude to him. He really doesn't know any better. He's only trying to act on his natural urges.

I groan as Marcus begins apologizing over and over. My vision is blurry for a moment as I feel a spark run up my arm. I look over and Jessica is standing there with a small pouch of tissues.

She's holding my arm, trying to turn me to look at her. She's so cute. She's actually concerned about a simple broken nose. I heal so quickly it won't hurt for long.

A smile spreads across my face as I feel the tingle run up my arm, I almost can't contain Ember's growl.

"Mate wants to help us..." Ember is going crazy now.

It was my turn to be in a daze. I watched her dark brown hair glimmer in the sunlight as she moved her head around trying to hold up tissues to my nose. The way she furrowed her brow while she was concentrating was so cute. She was a tiny little thing, I bet it wouldn't be hard to lift her...

I'm cut off by my dad's voice in my head. Mind-Link.

Earth to Eli, pay attention!

"Hey Jessica, thanks, but really I'm fine." Ember had my hand up and running down her arm before I could stop it.

She tensed under my touch, a small gasp escaping her lips.

"Mate feels bound ELI!" Ember yelled out in my head.

"Oh sorry, it's just..." She quickly picks up her notebook and bag off the floor, "...I swore I heard bones breaking..." She mumbled that last part. 

Unknown to her, My father, her father and I all heard it.

"Mate can hear like a wolf?" Ember questioned in my head as I walked out the front door, smirking at Jess one more time.

"I don't know Ember, but first, we're going to find the boys. We gotta tell them we found our mate as well as a missing pack member."

"Why would Eli's dad not tell you about Mate?"

"I don't know Ember, but we're going to find out."