Cody's POV

I pretend that I'm not brimming with excitement as I trek through the forrest on two feet, relishing in the early spring sun that chases away the frost in the mornings. When I had left to go to school this morning, I found a folded note taped to my door, left so recently it had still carried James' scent which I definitely didn't stand there sniffing for five minutes before opening the note.

'Hi, Cody

  I'm sorry I missed out on our date yesterday. Meet me in the clearing for some training and after school lunch.'

(P.s brings a blanket.)

The soft feel of the crocheted blanket my mom made for my family and I feels so familiar and yet alien after all this time. I remember the way I smiled stupidly at the note, grateful that he remembered our training and that he cared about missing yesterday's.

I sigh to myself as I walk further into the forrest, chewing on my lip absentmindedly as I contemplate the slowly growing feelings that have started to take root inside me.

A part of me can't help but admit that there is something that's been pulling me towards James ever since we met face to face. I find myself thinking about my Alpha constantly, even when I don't want to. His easy going smile, that familiar look of pain in his eyes, his gentleness, his charm, his strength. All of it calls to me and tells me a small part of who my Alpha is. And maybe even my Mate. And while I find myself slowly falling in love with the idea of James being my Mate, I also find myself increasingly terrified that it's true and that it'll mean the burden of being Luna will be on my shoulders.

The half human hybrid-omega that couldn't save one member of his family.

Yeah sounds like an awesome campaign ad to support the new Luna.

Even thinking about it makes me want to turn tail and run back towards the pack house to hide under my bed.

Instead, I still my nerves and walk through the last thicket of trees to come into the bast clearing, the lake shining brilliantly in the late afternoon sun.

I find James leaning against a rock with a basket sitting atop the stone behind him. From my nose I can smell some sandwiches, fruit and what smells like chips. My ears burn as I remember the word 'date' on the note, my heart fluttering with nerves and anticipation. I walk towards my Alpha, eyes slightly lowered out of habit, my breath hitching as he turns and his beautiful bronze skin catches the golden light, his impossibly long lashes collecting the sun and depositing it into his sweet chocolate eyes, so deep and warm.

My heart squeezes at the sight, his brown locks tangled in the wind. His lips lift into a smile that steals my breath away and almost brings me to my knees.

And for a moment I forget that he's the Alpha of the Autumn Falls Pack. With the divine light to his back as he turns to me and the look he gives me, I almost mistake him for an angel.

Pure, lethal, beautiful.

Unattainable.

Absolutely and unavoidably unreachable.

And yet he approaches me, with that same easy smile and troubled eyes, his four inches on me almost seeming like a mountain, that's how big this man seemed to me.

How can a being so perfect and godly as this even look at me, much less want me as his Soulmate for the rest of his life? The one to help lead his people.

It should be impossible.

And yet.

When he approaches me, he has a sunflower in hand, my favorite though only noticeable by the sunflower keychains I have on my bookbag and keys. The detail is almost enough to make my cry in this golden hour. Someone so perfect shouldn't be real and they certainly shouldn't be trying to swoon me and convince me to Fall into an entirely impossible bond.

The Fall.

Something else I've forgotten about with everything else going on.

Not wanting to think about it now either, I push thoughts of the Fall aside and focus on James who's smiling down at me and the blanket in my hands, as if he didn't expect me to listen.

I clear my throat awkwardly, unable to hold his intense gaze, as if he's trying to learn everything about me just by studying me. "I brought a blanket. It's a family heirloom." I say unimpressively, nevermind the heirloom is a stretch since I'm the first generation but James seems to take me seriously, smiling softly down at the blanket, studying it too as if he can glean some knowledge from it.

"It's beautiful. Thank you for bringing it. I'll set it up." He offers, reaching out a hand. I place the blanket on his arm softly and he handles it with care and it gets unfolded and laid on the soft plush grass, dry from the slightly baking sun. "Do you want to start with a snack, or get some training done first?" He asks as he lays the picnic basket on the blanket, looking up at me patiently but expectedly.

I consider the options and decide to make use of the still high sun, opting to train for a bit, a little curious about how we're going to go about getting prepared for the upcoming race.

"I'd rather train." I answer and he nods before getting up.

"Okay, works for me. Okay, so the race is on Track two this year which means it'll be a marathon, swim across Lake Canine, and an eight legged race back towards the pack house. All together a forty mile race." He tells me and I nod my head, remembering the race from six months ago on track six. "First we'll have a few races to measure speed and stamina. Three on two legs and three on four to get a better scale. That okay with you?" He asks me, switched efficiently into leader mode, even his stance more confident as he takes charge.

The shift in behavior has my cheeks heating and my mind scrabbling as I nod, trying not to let my infatuation be too obvious, slightly ashamed in myself for entertaining the impossible.

James leads me to a starting point that takes us almost five minutes to reach before stopping with a self assured grin.

"Okay. This will be the first race on foot out of three. We'll go from here to the pack house and back. Whoever gets back here first wins the first round." He explains and I nod along as I stretch slightly, my muscles not quite as flexible as the raw powered muscles a pure blooded wolf is. Once I feel loose enough I line up next to James and get myself ready. On his mark, we're off, giving each other a wide space to move it.

I'm dashing through the thicket of trees at top speed, the trunks of massive trees hang in the way and approach almost in slow motion and it's nothing for me to duck or flip out of the wag even at my speed. Almost so subtly I miss it, my enhanced senses are able to pick up something, almost like the... life force.. or aura of James as he races through the trees almost three meters to my right. Rather than gracefully avoid the degree and trees he crashes through most of it, going for brute speed.

As I turn, I almost see this faint far away bluish glow that comes from the same direction I seem to sense James from, the glow almost seeming to pulse with energy. With living mana as James runs, though the trace is faint.

Realizing that the powers my mom told me about mana have finally awakened, I tuck away the experience and information to study later, too focused on the race at hand. I find myself enjoying the run, smiling and laughing quietly to myself as I launch myself through the trees, the scent of wolves, markings and wood catch in the wind and I know I'm close. Not wanting to slow down to look for James, I burst through the trees and race towards the pack house, making a beeline for the wood lined walls to press my fingers against before pushing off and turning back towards the line of trees. Out of the corner of my eye I see James break through the trees, his face the picture of comical surprise as he realizes I'm ahead of him.  I see him desperately pick up speed as he goes to touch the house just as I fly through the tree line once again, my glee multiplied by my head lead.

Behind me I can hear the frantic crashing through the woods as James struggles to catch up and I laugh to myself, enjoying the sensation of pure freedom and joy as I race to beat James to the finish line. Typically the Alphas and Betas are the strongest wolves in the pack, but Omegas have evolved to be the ultimate support group in battle. Our bodies are built for speed and agility rather than strength. And some of us are lucky enough to have some divine abilities. One of them being aura and mana reading.

Which in this world with this mana is like a cheat sheet on every person you meet. It's incredibly rare in Omegas, in fact it's actually more likely to happen if a wolf has an Angel mate.

Even still, my mom was convinced I would end up with those same divine abilities and would be able to be proud of my Omega heritage and abilities. I always thought she was being nice like any mom would.

But as I sore through the air after jumping off a half buried rock, and feel the blue mana more precisely, three meters to the left and four behind me, not nearly close enough to catch me.

This is what it feels like to not be weighed down by expectations and other peoples views.

This is what it's like to have power.

I'm drunk on it as I land on the ground not hesitating for a second before I start running again, a gleeful smile on my face as the terrain wizzes by. I can feel Jessie inside enjoying the moments too and for once I don't shy away from him, the freedom of this overshadowing any memories that might rise.

Pretty soon the picnic blanket is in view and I zigzag through the last of the trees before making the clearing, jogging back to the starting point. I realize with surprise that I'm not even out of breath.

Maybe I'm more cut out for this stuff than I thought.

I try to see where James is, wanting to see and use that weird lens again, but it's gone, my focusing only giving me a headache. Suddenly I feel a rush of fatigue and I realize that whatever it is that I did was due to some link with mana one that shouldn't be possible as a human-hybrid wolf. I tuck the information away to look at later as my ears tune into James frantic running and loud cursing through the forrest.

"Fucking Omega speed. I'll whoop his ass next time.". he swears just as he comes flying into the clearing towards the starting line, growling in frustration when he sees me standing there waiting, trying not to laugh. I don't think the Aloha would take very kindly for being teased over losing. Even if he thinks we're Mates. He skids to a stop a few feet away and places his hands on his hips, gasping for breath. He gestured wildly towards the forrest and then towards me before he's finally able to get his breath and thoughts together. "Fucking Hell, Cody. You could have reminded me about your Omega genes." He tells me and I try to school my face into a pleasant smile, holding onto my laugher for dear life.

"I'm sorry, Alpha James, I assumed as the Alpha you were aware of these things. I'll be sure to tell you next time." I tell me and he groans, plopping on the ground for a moment.

"Cody, I've told you, you can call me James. We're Mates, it doesn't feel right for you to call me Alpha." And as loathe as I am to admit it, it feels wrong to me as well, even if I refuse to admit or accept that we're destined Soulmates. "I can't believe you pulled the whole, take care of my responsibilities card, but fine. I guess you win the first round." He concedes and this time I can help but chuckle quietly which earns lit up eyes and a dazzling smile that makes me advert my eyes.

Stupid Alpha wolf.

"Okay, you ready for the next two? Best two out of three. This will be the last race you win today, Cody." James tells me and I roll my eyes before getting ready to run again.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, number two." I tell him, my cheeks burning at my poor attempt to maybe just feel out James. Who he is. Who I could be with him. Maybe.

"Okay. Ready. Set. Go."

✨✨✨✨✨

We both flop down, the small flash of mana brighter and more vibrant, clearer than before as we changed back from our wolf form to human. I heave a sigh of relief, always feeling awkward and out of place in my wolf body without my connection with Jessie.

"I'm glad I had the foresight to pick you as my partner. I would hate to race against you ever again." James says in defeat. He had managed to beat me by a few meters in the second round of the foot races and once again on the first wolf race, but the rest were mine. A flawless victory, one that I'm slowly come to enjoy and start to tease James about, my worries of him taking himself too seriously like most Divine Children do immediately gone.

"You sure you weren't just trying to get me alone?" I challenge raising my eyebrows and I hide my inward smile at the feet in headlights 'caught' look that crosses his face before he shares a sheepish grin.

"What can I say, my other tactics were falling short. It was worth it though. I've never really seen you smile before today." He tells me as the sun starts to disappear, the warm wind that seemed to carry me through the air earlier now getting chilly and commanding.

We sit and eat some of the snacks that James brought, watching the sunset over the Lake, the distant sounds of music and laughing wolves wrapping around us like a blanket. As we talk about school, the pack and random things, I find myself studying James, taking in his o'clock shadow and his golden skin, glowing in the setting sun. The way his lashes kiss his cheeks when he blinks. How his eyes watch my lips when I talk.

And once, I noticed when he was telling me a story and I felt something in my chest pulling me towards him that his mana was back around his body, but this time, I had one as well, not blue like his, but a soft warm purple. And I watched as the two auras reach for each other and mix in the air, the rest of the mana almost seeming to call out to the other.

And then I blinked and it was gone.

Now, as we sit here staring at the sun as the sky falls to her lovers embrace on the ground, I find myself silently praying to the moon goddess that James is right. That I won't spend years waiting for someone to find me. That I found a beautiful, kind, attentive wolf to love me until the end of our days. And in this moment, with his almost taunting scent so close, the shadow of the position and shoes I would have to fill may as well not even exist in that moment.

After we clean up and we're on our way back to the packhouse for the night, I find that even my wolf Jessie is caught under his spell. And I'm not sure I have any fight left in me to resist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay I finished this chapter fairly quickly. Took me like two hours maybe. So, what do you think of Cody's abilities? What do you think will happen next?

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: Favorite anime?