James' POV

   "As all of you know, this is your last semester before you all graduate and are able to fully step into your leadership roles. That means for the next few months, we will be making sure you're all able to make capable, well educated decisions for the well-being of not just a select few, but your whole community." Mr. Hanson explains, and I feel the anxiety crawl up my throat, my stomachs churning at the thought.

'You're always worrying.' Sloan grumbles but I ignore him, instead looking towards my friend Alex who looks just as over this conversation as I am.

  At the end of this school year I will finally become Alpha of the Autumn Falls pack, taking over for my father, the Alpha mantle being in my family for over six generations. And Alex is to be my Beta, though he won't have his old man there to help me step into this new part of our lives. I don't know whether to pity him or be jealous. I look around at the rest of the room, filled with people who will also be taking on mantles.

   Most dances are unfamiliar to me, though two I've known since Alex and I started school. Princess Artemis and her brother Prince Jasper are the heirs to the Faerie throne. And while Jasper is the oldest, apparently he chose to pass on the crown to Artemis who seems to have resented the present he forced on to her. I watch as the two of them bicker quietly, Jasper always finding some way to get under an otherwise chill Artemis' skin.

   I sigh to myself as I realize that horrible fate all of us share: Alex, Artemis, Jasper and I alike have never met our Soulmates. We're all nineteen, just months away from becoming twenty and becoming leaders to entire city populations that lectured and classes can only do so much to prepare you for. They say that having a Soulmate makes things easier. Not the tasks or the responsibilities or the weight of thousands of people depending on you, but the strain that it can cause on the soul. They say your Soulmate helps you become a better person, they help you grow and reach your full potential. They're meant to be the spark that sets you aflame.

   And without them by my side even after almost two years of waiting, all I can think is that I'm entirely unprepared to take on this responsibility.

   Not if I'm not even worthy of a Soulmate.

  I cast the thoughts aside, shaking my head at myself for getting so down, and zone by into the world just in time for the bell to go off. My chest caves with relief as everyone starts to gather their things and stand, me going to follow suit after taking a calming breath.

   "Hey, man, you good. You don't look so good." I hear and I turn my head to see Alex standing beside my desk studying my face but I laugh it off and wave him away.

   "Nah, I'm fine, stop staring it's creepy." I tell him, but Sloan snorts in disagreement.

   'It's just his face, trust me, I've tried to tell him about it, too.' He mumbles in agreement with Alex and I scoff.

   'You have a big mouth for someone who can't eat chocolate.' I mock him, always loving that whenever he's in control, Sloan break out in hives when having his favorite snack. I would like to think it's karma for all the drama he ensues.

   'You're a cruel man.' He chastises me and I chuckle as Artemis and Jasper make their way toward the front of the room where Alex and I wait.

   "Ready for lunch?" Art asks, and Alex nods.

   "Hell yeah, I'm starving." He agrees as they head towards the door, but I don't match pace, going to lag behind, but Jasper notices, turning back with a raised brow.

  "Not coming?" He asks but I wave him off as Alex and Artemis pause in the doorway.

   "Ah, Jessica should be here soon, I'm walking with her to lunch." I admit and while Alex rolls his eyes and Art's brows furrow, they don't say anything, but nod and call back that they'll meet me there. Jasper follows suit, and once they're gone I enter the hallway, leaning against the wall beside the door to wait.

   Jessica is a werewolf from my pack. Her dad is one of the Elders on the Head Council, the group of older wolves that help guide the Alpha in decisions for the pack. She's a year younger than me so her classes are different than mine, though soon she'll be training to one day become an elder herself. At the beginning of the school year we started dating platonically as some Supers do before they find their Soulmate, not wanting to put their life on hold or be lonely before they met the love of their life. I like spending time with Jessica. She's sweet and funny and has a lot of love for our pack and school. Sometimes I wish that she were my Mate just because it would make things so much easier, but I know that Soulmates and the topic of love isn't meant to be easy. If it were, anybody could do it.

   'I personally hate the idea of having to be with a woman. Maybe we can be besties. Go get our nails done or something.' Sloan muses, as I chuckle. As if the Moon Goddess wouldn't have Sloan in mind. He has too much of a personality to be overlooked when choosing my mate.

   Which is why I guess I should be lucky that I was born a wolf and not some Child of the Night since they're not promised a Soulmate. Only the Divine are. And if the Divine so happen to be Bound to a Nightly then they are lucky.

   Less than 20% of Nightlies have Soulmates. And even fewer find them and live a happy life together. That's why most are Nomads, save for the Witches and Warlocks, though almost all of them are polyamorous. I've even heard that sometimes people are shunned for having a Soulmate and can be exiled or excommunicated from the community, which I find both ignorant and stupid though not at all surprising.

   I can only hope that my Soulmate isn't going through something so dehumanizing and heartbreaking.

   The sweet smell of sage & lilies fills my nose, and I turn to find Jessica walking towards me, her curly afro full and bouncy as she approaches me, she smile contagious as it reaches my lips. She leans in for a kiss as she wraps her arms around me and so return the gesture, the hole in my chest not feeling so vast and heavy with her in my arms.

   "Hey, handsome." She greets as she starts tugging me along towards the direction of the cafeteria, and I let her, admiring the way her gold make up makes the little gold flecks in her eyes sparkle.

   'Someone needs to tell this girl to get her eyes fixed.' Sloan scoffs, always the eternal hater.

   "Hey, Jess, how's classes?" I ask her, allowing her hand to slide into my back pocket as she wraps her arms around my waist.

   "Good, but completely boring. I don't understand why I even need to take these classes. It's the same things I'm going to eventually learn anyway when I go to the pack library and have to read all the books, so I don't understand why I can't just start that now and forgo all of this shit." She rants, and I listen even though it's the same thing I've heard countless of times before since we started our second tier of learning.

    "Well I don't have that problem, but I do remember being bored during my first year of classes too. This year is cool though, I think you'll like it." I try to convince her as we turn the last corner towards the cafeteria.

   We continue talking as we weave through the traffic of students trying to get to their designated areas. We pass through the main doors and stand in line for food, Jessica chattering away about the basketball game from last night our school going up against the mostly human high school a few neighborhoods away. "I'm glad we managed to get that last basket, it was definitely a close game." Jessica recalls and I agree with her, glad once again that Jess hasn't retreated into the Species Elitist mindset, other have, every faction thinking themselves the best and everyone else underneath them,  humans, Daemons, Enchanted and sex Daemons more than others.

   We grab our food and make our way towards our table towards the middle of the room, greeting those are call out to us, wolves from my pack scattered all throughout the massive lunchroom.

   My stomachs growls and I am reminded once again to be grateful for having first lunch knowing so many other basically starve until their lunch time comes around. Jess and I find a table with everyone from class and a few other Supernaturals from class or sports from throughout the years.

    Jess sits next to me and talks to the Vampire Maxwell and his Bond, Grace, and Alex and Jasper laugh over some story Artemis to telling everyone about her latest mishap in court, but I zone it all out, the anxiety I tried to swallow down earlier coming to grip my throat tightly now.

   'James, it's okay. We will find our Mate.' Sloan tries to comfort me, but his words don't do much as I look around the cafeteria, doing my best to try to distract myself from the way my chest aches. I try to joke about it with Alex, saying how I might end up a fourth year old Mateless virgin that young wolves bully, but it is something that terrifies me. As strong as I was trained to be, as strong as I have to be in order to lead my pack and be the person that everyone around me needs to be, I need someone... something that I can lean on for support and comfort. As much as I enjoy Jess, she can't give me that and honestly it's not her burden to bare, her own responsibilities crushing enough as it is.

   As I continue looking around the room, my eyes land on a table halfway down the room, only two people sitting around it. One gives off a strong Faerie Aura and I recognize the guy to be Taylor from my first class, though I have no idea who he's sitting with or why they caught my attention.

   My eyes fall to the curly haired boy with glasses and I watch the way he laughs, head tilted back slightly, his glasses slightly slanted on his face. My heart pounds in my chest, no racing, but forcefully, like if it beat any harder, it would pound out of my ribs. I frown to myself and force myself to turn away, the boy looking somewhat familiar but not enough to put a name to face. The rest of the table carries on unaware, though Alex looks over at me and does a double take, his brows raising in concern but I stick up my middle finger, not needing my best friend to activate his secret mother hen skills that Sloan likes to pick on him about.

   'Not my fault. He's worse than a southern grandma.' He confirms and I snort to myself, always grateful that my wolf is always available for a laugh even if it usually is at someoene elses expense.

   Suddenly, Caleb, a third year Angel gasps, drawing the entire tables attention as he stared towards the same table that had my infatuation just moments before. Curiosity piqued, I tune into the obvious gossip he's going to spill just as his lover Joey joins the table, planting a kiss on his life long best friend's cheek, the two over the moon when they found Soulmates in one another two years prior. "Guys, did you know that Taylor finally found his Knot?!" He exclaims and everyone around the tables sighs out an aww or smiles at their Soulmate, reminiscing on their own encounters, all Supernatural's loving a good fairytale ending.

   "Isn't that the Earth Faerie in our Species Relations class?" Alex asks me and I nod, also recognizing the Faerie from our fourth class of the day as well.

   "That's so sweet! It must feel so good to find your Mate after all this time." Jessica muses softly and we all agree, the table turning silent as we all drift off into our own thoughts.

   The spell is broken by the bell ringing and as all start to clean up our messes as we get up, throwing out trash away at one of the many trash spots in between tables. Jessica plants a kiss on my cheek before bidding me goodbye, walking off towards the exit sign, always preferring to spend her free period in the quad rather than inside. Alex falls into step with me as we leave the cafeteria, the two of us walking side by side as we head upstairs towards the main level, the two of us having the branch of for separate classes for this period, the only class we don't have together. As we get to the top and go to head our separate ways, I stop him, gnawing on my lip feeling almost stupid for asking, but my gut pushing me on as if I need to know.

  "Hey, do you know who that kid was that was sitting with Taylor earlier?"

  Alex frowns and I try to keep my cheeks from burning under his curious gaze, but he just bursts out laughing. "Oh, man, I can see why you have a Beta. He's in our pack James, he's the half human Omega that stays in the pack house. His name is Cody. His parents were Garret and Janet." He reminds me and the pieces click together on why he looks so familiar.

   "Thanks." I tell him, turning away to break through the crowds and head towards class before he can ask me any questions in return.

   I don't know what it is, but something about Cody makes me want to get to know him better. Maybe it's time I get to know one of my pack mates a little better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guys can you freaking believe it's been a year and a half since I posted the original books on wattpad. It feels insane to me. So what do you guy think about the rewritten style so far?

Thoughts?

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