Chapter 3

Stella POV

I knew that if my sister did not get home soon, my Father would quickly notice. I had turned back into my human form and was getting ready to sneak into my bedroom window, hopefully unnoticed. Which would be hard to do if somebody did see me, seeing as I was butt ass naked trying to climb in through a window. Plus it was after 9am. 

I hadnt planned on shifting this morning. I was just out to find my sister and bring her home from the party before anybody had noticed. Of course, a few pack guard members would have noticed me leaving the territory. But they wouldnt say anything. They were all afraid of the rath that would come down on them if my Father found out they allowed me to cross territory lines without permission from the other pack. Let alone the Blood sun pack. If there were ever any rivals in our city, the South pack and Blood Sun packs were it. The previous Alpha of the Bloodsun pack was Alpha Titan. He was a hard ruler and did not see eye to eye on anything with my Father. It ran deep and my Father was not letting any grudges go even though they now had a new packmaster. My mate. The thought made my body shiver.

If I told my Father that my mate was the Alpha of the Bloodsun pack, he would banish me for sure. He may even try and kill me to be honest. I was in line to take over as Alpha as soon as I found my mate. My Father wanted me to be as strong as I could be before I took over.

I could feel my strength had grown since this morning. The second our eyes met, I knew he was my mate, and i could feel that in my body. When I was in my wolf form, I was larger, faster. My senses were insanely intense. Not that they werent before, because in our wolf form, we were kind of a beast. But this was different. It was like I could feel the earth growing beneath my paws. Every step I took, the ground shuddred underneath me. I could feel each stone, every leaf, every rain drop that coated my long white fur. I did not know how much bigger I was, but I could feel the change in my form. I wanted to see reflection to truly see the difference. But if I did that at home, my Father or Mother would see it, too. And they would know right away that I had found my Mate.

If it had been any of our pack members, I could shout it from the rooftops! My Father would be so happy and proud that my mate had come forward and I would be able to take my rightful place as Alpha. But with my mate being of a rival pack, the excitement would not be there.

I lifted my window up enough that I could wiggle through it and slide down the wall and onto the floor of my bedroom. As I was leaning face forward towards the floor, a hand grabbed my right ankle and tugged a little. Startled, I kicked hard to free myself and flipped my body over and slammed hard onto my bedroom floor with my back. I lifted myself up quickly to see my sister June staring at me from outside. She was soaked, her hair matted to her face, mascara dripping down her face like she was a rabid racoon.

"Where the fuck have you been!" I hissed at her through closed teeth, reaching my arm out to assist her in getting in the window. "I came upstairs and you were gone!" She rolled her eyes and drug one leg over the window sill, letting me pull her full body weight up into the window and inside. She patted down her butt and legs, then ripped off her jacket and tossed it onto my freshly made bed.

“Your mate, Stella. Your mate." She repeated herself over and over, pacing back and forth. Her hands were wild, flailing up in the air like a balloon animal. Her eyes were wild with fear and frustration. She gritted her teeth in annoyance then stopped dead in her tracks to stare directly at me, hands on hips.

"STELLA!" She yelled. I hushed her, putting a finger up to my mouth.

"Are you crazy!? Dad is going to hear you and then we are both dead!" i whispered, pointing towards the wall.

Our parents bedroom was just on the other side of that wall, so it was a surprise they hadnt woken up yet and stormed in, demanding answers as to why we werent in our beds when he looked this morning, why we were wet, and why June was in clubbing clothes. She shook me off, and came towards me, hands out, grabbing both of my shoulders violently.

"Stella." She said calmly, lowering her hands down to my hands and gripping them tightly. She raised them to her chest and laid her chin on our hands entertwined together. She closed her eyes and sighed. June was a good sister. She was calm normally. She was level headed. She loved to sing and dance and be goofy. She was freshly 21 years old and was enjoying being 21 years old. Her eyes fluttered open and she gazed at me with pure devotion and concern.

"I know, June." I relaxed my arms and pushed my forehead against hers. We stood in the middle of my bedroom, both dripping wet, hand in hand, breathing slowly together. I let my fingers drop from hers and I backed away a few inches, grabbing a towel that hung on my bathroom door know. "I have to see him again" I finally said aloud, wiping down my face and wrapping the towel around my long curly hair. Her eyes got big, but I could see that deep down she understood what i was saying. I stood in my room wrapped in a towel, cold from the wet rain still dripping off of me. I slipped on a clean pair of black leggings and a white tank top. My wardrobe was simple. I didnt like a lot of bright colors and crazy patterns. Black leggings and a solid top were my go-to on the daily.

"I cant explain it. The second I saw him, my entire body went crazy. I was so hot! Like, hot flashes or something! I ran. I didnt know what else to do! And then his pack members found me in the woods and when I was downstairs.. ugh, that kiss.. I didnt mean to leave you upstairs alone. My whole reason for coming there was to find you and get you home before Dad found out!" June was nodding. She understood. She wasnt mad at me. What a relief that was.

"I had to fight the urge to shift. And I couldnt even do that. I shifted the second I saw the territory line. And the shift was so.. "

"Different?" June asked. I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. Why was I crying? My hormones were taking over it felt like.

"Its like Im being pulled to him already. I want to find him again. I want to inhale his scent. I want to.."

"Climb him like a jungle gym?" June laughed. I laughed with her. She was right.

The pull to make love to a man I didnt even know or had spoken to before was so strong that there was no way I would ever be able to fight it off the next time I saw him. Just thinking about our kiss had me shivering in anticipation of seeing him again. His eyes were almost yellow, and I could envision them. It was a trait that his family line had. His skin was golden olive toned, and he had tattoos covering his right arm from his wrist to behind his shoulder blade. His hands were large, yet soft to the touch. I shuttered at the thought of his hand touching my waist again, excitement streaming through my insides. I could feel a tingle sensation bleed through me as I thought of him touching me.

June approached me and leaned into me again.

“He wants to see you. He needs to see you" I nodded.

"Then Ill go and see.."

The bedroom door to my parents room creaked open. Junes eyes grew big and she instatly flew to my walk-in closet. I pounced towards my bed, pretending to make it and fluffed a pillow when my bedroom door slowly opened and my Alpha Father poked his head in to see if I was awake.

"Good morning. You weren't here earlier." He smiled, pointing towards the already made queen size bed. I nodded and smiled in return. Excuse. Find an excuse why June is in your closet.

"I just thought I would get in a little extra training with June this morning while it was raining. Different weather, you know?" I watched his reaction to gage if he believed me. Did he notice my wet hair yet? I could say I was in the shower, I thought to myself. He rubbed his chin with his large hand, then placed it against the trim of the doorway.

"Thats my girl. Great idea. Where is June? You should get in some extra hours this morning if  youre going to beat the humidity." He suggested as I pointed towards my walkin closet.

"Just taking some of my clothes to train in. Per usual" I rolled my eyes and joked, waiting for a response from him.

A nod. Phew, crisis averted.

He shut the door softly and I waited until I couldnt hear his footsteps down the hallway anymore. All the air in my body rushed out in a sense of relief. June giggled from the closet, dressed in leggings and a crop top tank top and sports bra that didnt fit her size DD breasts. She won in that department between the two of us, thats for sure.

"I got Kyles phone number. We need a burner phone. We need to go into town and get one, so I can call him. Then we need to find a place to meet. And then we need a plan to tell Father and the rest of our pack..." She was in planning mode and she was rattling off all the things she thought needed to be done now that we knew who my mate was. Everything was moving at warped speed! This morning I was a normal 26 year old woman, training to become Alpha of her pack, looking for her hungover younger sister at a party.

I twisted my neck to crack it and looked at her curiously. I wasn't sure I knew who Kyle was to be honest. I had met so many of Trevors pack members this morning that the names and faces weren't exactly matching.

"The guy that answered the door this morning? Found you in the woods it sounds like? He said to call when you were ready to see your Alpha again. Hes waiting to hear from me" My Alpha. The term did not sit well with me. While I was excited and nervous that I had found my mate and he was also an Alpha, the thought of leaving my pack made me sick to my stomach. Who would be the Alpha if I was a luna to a rival Alpha? Did I keep my pack and he kept his and we just worked it out? Did he come to my pack? Did I go to his? Would my pack just toss me out like trash and pretend I no longer existed? Would I still be able to see my sister and Mother? What about my brother, Sean?

Sean! Crap!

Sean was my twin brother. We were 6 minutes apart. My parents had no idea they were having twins, so when my Mother was still in labor and started giving birth to him, everybody was in shock, even the pack doctor. The first born in a family of an Alpha is always the one that takes over the pack. When there are twins or even triplets, the Sun Goddess bestows which pup will be the Alpha. And for some reason, it was me and not Sean. It took Sean a lot of years to not be angry with me or feel betrayed that he wasnt going to be the Alpha of our pack. Secretly I think my Father wanted him to be, as well. He was a male, after all. And female Alphas were almost non-existent. In our packs history, there was only one female Alpha and she eventually went crazy with power. So when the pack learned that I was in line to take over and be their Alpha, feelings were mixed among them. Understandbly so.

Sean had moved out when he was a few weeks shy of turning 25. He had found his mate one day at the supermarket, of all places. Her name was Lilly and she was quiet, and meek. Her small frame looked even smaller next to Seans 6'2", 225lbs figure. They had bumped into eachother looking at pizza rolls in the frozen food isle. Did you know sometimes mates even like the same kind of food without even knowing it? They had married a couple weeks after meeting and moved into a small house on the outskirts of our pack land, near the borders. Lilly was quiet but assertive. She kept to herself mostly, but when things felt out of place or she was being attacked, she puffed up and became vicous. She came from a single father and no siblings. So my sister and I were a lot for her to handle at first, but she came around. Her Mother had died giving birth to her, so she was actually pretty excited to have a Mother in Law around. They were expecting their first pup in a few weeks.

June must have seen the worry written all over my face and rested her chin on my shoulder from behind. "Its going to be okay" she reassured me. I nodded softly. She picked up her head and headed towards the door, ready to leave. "Now what?" June asked, concerned. And at that moment, I didn't have an answer she was going to like. 

"I go to my Alpha"