Chapter 1：The Mating Game.

The wind blew through the golden curls that hung freely behind me, the air chilled by winter's breath. Leaves rustled on the ground beneath my feet, smoke clinging to the tree line as I strode forward, heading towards the blazing flames that rose high above the pines in the small clearing. Bodies swayed back and fourth, music pouring from the speakers hooked up in the bed of someone's truck. A few guys were showing off their keg stand moves, a few couples sneaking off into the cover of the trees for a little alone time. I shook my head as I noticed my best friend getting ready for his try at the keg. 

"India! Come watch!" Ty shouted through the crowd as I neared them, taking a plastic cup and filling it up from the keg next to theirs. It was to the brim, almost overflowing as he smiled my way, laughing at a joke someone else told him moments before. 

"Sure, let me watch you fall on your face and complain about it for the next week." I replied, rolling my eyes as he braced himself for it anyway, handing off his newly poured drink to a friend as he began to roll up the sleeves of his flannel in preparation for the big ordeal. 

He pulled himself up, his buddies holding his feet for good measure as he drank from the keg, the guys cheering him on. The muscles in his biceps were visible as the deep red flannel he wore tightened with the effort it took to hold himself up. Ty was a good looking man, and he knew it. His brown hair and matching chocolate eyes captivated half the ladies in town, and his smoldering body and sweet natured personality captured the other.

Ty and I were werewolves. We belonged to one of the largest packs in North America, second only to the pack that bordered us to the west. His father was alpha, my father was beta. After our little stunt in junior high, nothing else ever happened between us. I watched him date, gave him advice, and he did the same. We knew we'd find our mates one day. 

That thought should have me reeling in anticipation, wondering who he could be, what pack he could belong to, what his name was, what his voice sounded like, what would happen when we met. Those were things most she wolves day dreamed about. Not me though. I dreaded the day I would find my mate, because that would mean I would most likely leave, I was the daughter of a beta, I knew my fate was probably as the mate of an alpha, and that would mean I would no longer see Ty. The thought of it sent my stomach in a panic, my heart would race, my body would ache. I knew why, I was in love with him, and I had been from the moment he kissed me in junior high. 

"You alright kid?" Ty whispered towards me, throwing an arm casually over my shoulder, bringing me out of my thoughts and back to reality. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled, leaning into his embrace as the breeze blew stronger, chilling my skin. 

"Hot damn, look at Jessica." One of the male wolves howled, nudging Ty. 

I followed his line of sight and sighed, my confidence level shrinking down a few notches. Jessica Leger was the definition of perfection. She was tall and thin, with curves in all the right places. Her fiery red hair hung down straight across her back, her emerald eyes lighting up manically when she found something she wanted. Her teeth were porcelain white against her sun kissed skin when she smiled, and her sensual personality had every unmated male in the pack drooling after her. Jessica was known for getting what she wanted, and so far that had been most of the males in the pack. 

Sure, I knew I wasn't ugly, heck sometimes I looked pretty darn good. I was tall and thin, my hips flaring out slightly giving my body feminine properties. My hair was a shimmering golden blonde that hung in ringlets and curls on its own accord, my eyes a liquid pool of ocean blue. I was a plain kind of pretty, I didn't stand out, and that was okay with me most times, but right now, seeing the way Ty's inebriated eyes travelled Jessica's figure, I wished that I were more. 

I sighed and pulled away from him then, heading towards a few of my friends that had finally shown up. "I'll see you later Ty." I told him, hurrying away as Jessica sauntered up to the boys then. He didn't acknowledge my existence as I left. 

"Gross, who invited her?" I heard Skye whine as I reached them. 

"The whole pack's invited, you know that." I replied in a whisper. 

"I guess that means even the pack slut's got a right to be here." She huffed, turning towards her mate and smiling up at him. "I'm glad I don't have to worry about her getting to what's mine." She continued, her eyes practically glazed over then and it was just them in their own little world. 

She was right though, Jessica couldn't get to Zach as hard as she tried. Once you complete the mating bond with your mate, that's it. No one else holds a candle to your mate. It would make you physically sick to even think about another wolf. Wolves only get one mate, and they mate for life. Your mate is destined for you for a reason, they are the one who completes you perfectly. 

Mikayla ushered me over towards her then, and I took a seat on the tailgate beside her. My eyes automatically sought out Ty and I sighed smally as I realized Jessica had her sights set on him tonight. He was in line to be alpha, most of the she wolves threw themselves at him, and he had declined every time, wanting to save himself for his mate. Jessica had tried multiple times to bed him, and each time he denied her. It only added fuel to her fire. I noticed the way Ty was swaying on his feet, the alcohol rushing through his system leaving him inhibited. Jessica's hands were pressed firmly against his chest, and I could see the indecision in his stance. She was taking advantage of him. 

"Have you told him?" Mikayla breathed next to me and I sighed as I slipped off of the tailgate. 

"Of course not. What would it change? You know the likelihood of us being mates. I'm not making it hard on him. I will be his friend, the same person I have been to him all of his life. When my mate finds me, I'll leave. It'll be best for both of us." 

"But what if you are India, what if you're destined to be together." She daydreamed, the hopeless romantic in her surfacing. 

"I would know by now. You know that. I've gotta go." I replied, heading towards Ty and the other guys, growling under my breath as I saw Jessica trying to lead him away and into the cover of the woods.