Excitement was all I felt when waking up. Today marked the day when I’d leave my precious pack, the people whom I’ve known and loved all my life, to go into the wide world searching for my fated mate.

To ensure I was well-prepared, I did my research among couples in my pack. In particular, we discussed how to find and recognize your mate as well as the special signs. I had heard many stories about a breathtaking and unique scent that only mates could detect from each other. Mated females were very open in describing the feeling of sparks and electricity coursing through their bodies leading up to the steamy, wet intercourse that's part of the bond. Weird thing.

I wondered how much truth these tales held. But if it was true, I wanted to experience every aspect. Yeah, all of it, from the touching to the intimacy. Ezra, my bestie, who was mated to the hot six-pack body and newly-appointed Beta Richel, lectured me that high-ranked wolves, once they found their destined mate, proceeded to mate and mark.

“Make sure to be marked at your peak when he mates you," Ezra would remind me repeatedly. “Girl, that feeling!! You won’t know what will come over you,” she told me, excited.

As I listened to Ezra spill details about her mating, a rare occurrence for my shy girlfriend, I couldn't help but question what caused this sudden openness. Although being mated to Richel for over three years, Ezra still retained an innocent air. On second thought, there had always been something unusual about her scent. At least, most of the time. So this couple must have gone to it a lot.

I was on a mission that day, equipped with the whole arsenal of theoretical information about mating. My "mission bag" contained a map of the eight packs that I intended to visit. However, werewolves were notoriously private regarding their territories, so relying solely on online maps might not have been the way to go.

Mind that, I did not want to risk accidentally passing by my mate’s pack or even not being able to recognize him or even mistreat him. That would have been a disaster. Here was where my uncertainties crept in. ‘What if he had already given up on finding me and accepted a chosen mate?’

"I am already twenty-four," I murmured. He was likely one or two years older than me, considering werewolves discovered their mates at the age of eighteen. Waiting for seven-plus years may have been too much for him to bear.

‘Get yourself together, Erica,’ I instantly heard my wolf Era reprimanding, ‘Those who don't dare to risk, won't win.’

Era was the best part of me and had always been a great help. We never disagreed, so she was all up with this mission. ‘It is a risk you have to take to move on in life,’ she urged me.

So, that was the day. My life motto was to always stick with Plan A, as I didn't believe in second-guessing and having a backup plan. Plan B seemed like an excuse for failure rather than a viable option. If need be, I'd revise Plan A until it worked instead of giving up on it entirely.

Sprinting out of bed, I rushed to the bathroom to freshen up. Packing had been completed since I started it a week ago with the help of my wonderful friend, Ezra.

“Whoooooottttt,” I let out, thinking about the nagging of that girl. Last night was a tearful scene since she struggled to handle my departure. Afraid of never seeing me again, she clung to my shirt, holding tight. If only she weren’t already mated, surely it would have been both of us on the road that day.

“Why do you have to pack all of your stuff?” Ezra complained too many times as I folded one of my sweaters and tried to fit it into the overflowing bag. "You're definitely coming back, you have to. And make sure to tell Mr. Right that I demand he ensure your return!" she stressed.

I let out a sigh. This was not going to be easy for either of us. We had known each other our whole lives; we practically came into this world at the same time. Our mothers were side by side in the delivery room, pushing us out. Pack doctor Janet even told us once that between contractions, our mothers had enough energy to agree on matching us up if one was male and the other female. The Moon Goddess saved us in this. Two flowers were born that day, after all. Lucky for us, no arranged marriage here.

I took my time to finish my business in the bathroom. No, I really had to go, I promised. But still, it was not an easy task to leave behind the life that I had lived for so long. In spite of this internal struggle, I took the clothes I selected for my departure from the walk-in closet and put them on. I’d selected an outfit suitable for the journey ahead, a white tank top paired with olive green leggings and a black sweater draped over my waist.

‘You go girl,’ I mustered up my courage, looking in the mirror for the last time.

Back in the bedroom, I crashed on the couch and took out my phone. Ezra was the first I had to inform that I was ready. My parents, the Alpha and Luna of the Moonlight pack, were probably already waiting for me in their office.

“Best friend, I am ready to roll,” I told her as soon as she picked up her phone. “Make sure to be at the entrance of the packhouse in fifteen. No way am I leaving without bidding you farewell properly.”

“I’ll be dead if I’m not there,” Ezra replied. I could perceive her efforts in trying to hold back her emotions. This would be hard on her, I knew. Nonetheless, I had faith in the fact that she was rooting for me, wanted me to find my mate, and also experience the strong bond she shared with Richel...

　　I heaved the backpack onto my side and rolled both bags to the elevator of the packhouse. On the first floor, an Omega ran over to me and took my bags.

“Is my car ready?” I asked him.

“Yes, Erica, shining like a diamond, fully loaded with snacks and blankets,” he grinned. “Liza made sure you won’t starve on your way.”

“The Beta organized a full tank and a maintenance checkup for the entire car. All good,” he assured me.

Once again, I felt the love for my pack. I was so proud of our legacy. All wolves here were treated with respect, regardless of their rank.

Omegas were supposed to be the weakest of a werewolf pack.

In most packs, they were treated badly, being abused and enslaved. But my strong Alpha-dad ensured the safety of everyone here. No one was discriminated against or abused in this pack because we functioned as a big family where each member held value. We were a chain that kept this pack running and guaranteed our safety.

Discrimination was punished severely; my Alpha made sure of that by law. Also, all kinds of sexual orientations were welcome at the Moonlight pack. Not that you’d find a lot of gays or transgender people here, but it was widely known within the werewolf community that they were accepted with open arms at Moonlight Pack.

All well, so now I stood there in the hallway, knocking on the office door of Alpha Florian.

“Enter!!” the impressive voice of my Alpha sounded.

He already knew that it was me knocking. Of course, he’d sensed my presence. Werewolves had an advanced sense of smell, and each one of us had a distinct scent.

“Alpha, the time has come for me to leave,” I voiced out, excited.

A low growl could be heard from the desk in front of me. No, the Alpha was also supportive but yet not very happy with me traveling on my own. We had discussed this several times. I was a highly experienced and well-trained warrior.

After the Alpha and Luna adopted me at the age of ten, they immediately began training me. Surprisingly, I appeared to be very talented, and now I was a pro in martial arts. Even the Beta had a hard time getting me down. Only the Alpha himself was a match for me.

Alpha still struggled with the idea of me traveling alone without guards.

But given how protective he was of me, I was pretty sure he’d send some warriors to secretly keep an eye on me. After lengthy deliberations earlier, we were able to come to an agreement whereby Alpha would consistently track my location and whereabouts.

‘Guess I’ll never grow up,’ I mentally noted.

“Erica, don’t forget the conditions we agreed upon for your leaving,” Alpha started his lecture.

I bowed my head and rolled my eyes. Here he went again. I was twenty-four, for God’s sake.

“Contact me or your mother every five hours, no stopping for whatever or whoever along the way, don't converse with strangers, keep your car locked at all times, and have GPS on," he summarized while peering above his reading glasses. Impatiently, I fiddled with my fingers. We’d been over this several times before.

My Luna-mom, Adel, sensed my mood and tried to soften the tone of her mate.

“Sweetie, we deeply care about you. We want to make sure not a single hair on your beautiful head is harmed,” she soothed.

“Please, take our feelings into consideration. What will we explain to the pack if they ask us about your doings and we can’t update them? I may lose my position at once,” the Alpha asserted.

That did it!!

I jumped out of my seat and ran to my Alpha. Luna stood up and joined us in a loving family hug. Tears kept running from my eyes as I wrapped my arms around the two most wonderful people on earth, who saved me when I needed them the most.

No tricky stepmom here. The Luna loved me like her own pup, she had always been there for me.

The Alpha filled the fatherly role in my life perfectly. He led by example, both as an Alpha and mate to the Luna. Never one word of disappointment or judgment, always there with good advice. Two strong personalities that contributed to who I was today, the woman that I became.

I was so blessed.

“Thank you both for what you’ve done for me,” I acknowledged them through tears. "I am forever indebted to you, and I will never forget you. When I find my mate, I promise that we will come back to visit.”

"No, my child. No," Alpha hurried to assure me. "We did what everyone would have done. You're so easy to love and never give us a moment of regret. There are no debts here." Luna aggressively nodded, emphasizing her mate's words.

“You’re always welcome here, whether you find him or not. We want you to keep that in mind,” Luna urged. “Your room will always be tidy, waiting for you, whenever you want to use it or not.”

Thank you, Moon Goddess, for placing me in the arms of these two wonderful people. They embody the true meaning of love.

Still with our arms wrapped around each other’s waists, with me in the middle, we started walking toward the entrance of the packhouse.

My eyes snapped wide open when we arrived at the porch. There was a small crowd standing there; many pack members had walked out to send me off. I was a crying mess right now. What had I done to deserve so much love!

This pack was beyond awesome.

They were waving to me, throwing kisses my way, and sending good wishes. The Alpha and Luna escorted me to the car where Ezra and Richel were waiting. The redness of my friend's eyes suggested that she had cried her heart out but tried to manage a smile despite my tears.

"Erica, will I ever see you again?" she stammered. "Will you forget about me and our friendship?"

Richel held his mate in his arms, trying to console her.

“Babe, don’t stress yourself. The friendship between you and Erica is sealed in heaven. If she doesn’t come, we’ll go meet her,” he promised her. I cast him a grateful nod. Then I took out the necklace my parents gifted me on my first birthday. I knew Ezra had one too.

"Ezra, this necklace will be the symbol of our bond of friendship," I pleaded with her. "We were born on the same day, at the exact same time, in the very same delivery room. We are inseparable." As soon as she heard these words and saw my sincerity reflected in my eyes, a big smile lit up her face.

“ERICA,” she yelled and yanked me into a bear hug. “Here is mine. I wanted to do the same thing. Goddess! What a coincidence!” She placed her necklace on me as I put mine on her. We fell onto our knees, hugging each other.

Moon Goddess, I’ll never stop thanking you for all the blessings you showered upon me.

The Alpha and Luna helped us back on our feet again, leading me to the waiting car.

And when we neared the vehicle, my eyes widened like saucers...

My parents really made sure that I'd be arriving in style at the guest packs.

Before me stood a pitch-black, shiny Tahoe SUV with dark-tinted windows, the latest model, fully loaded. My bags were already in the back. On the passenger seat was a food bridge packed with snacks, as well as a cooler holding various brands of drinks.

The pack knew I loved our own brewed Parbo Radler or Parbo Chiller, they were better than all those international brands that humans made.

Mom opened the car door, and the Alpha just picked me up like I weighed nothing and dropped my giggling self in the driver’s seat. I loved VIP treatment and they knew it. Dad digitally started the car before handing me the key. I shifted to Drive, slowly exiting from the packhouse entrance with one hand dipping into a bag of rose petals.

As I left, I tossed the roses into the air as a token of my deep love for my pack family. As I looked in the mirror, I saw them all smiling and waving at me. I cherished them so much, this was not the last they’d see of me.

I was driving on the hard road now, still within pack territory.

My mood was lifting. I rummaged through the car's dashboard, looking for some CDs that matched my current state of mind. Ah, here we go! Michael Bolton would do perfectly. Yes! I inserted the CD and in no time, the love song began playing. I sang my lungs out along with it.

As this was an old song, I knew the lyrics by heart. I never imagined how these words would perfectly describe my life and emotions in the past.

<You are the candle, love’s the flame>

<A fire that burned through wind and rain>

<Shine your light on this heart of mine>

“You are the one, you are the oneeeeeeee,” I screamed at the top of my lungs with one hand lively stretched out of the car window. Michael Bolton, do you know where my mate is?

It would take me at least half an hour to get to the border of the pack land. No, I wouldn’t go rogue. The Alpha had demanded that I stay connected to the pack until I really found my mate. Only then could I join his pack. Therefore, after crossing the border, I would not sever ties with Moonlight.

I took in the woods on both sides of the road. Every tree and bush, no matter how small, was crucial to us werewolves as we needed them to let our wolves run free and reunite our beastly and human halves. Our wolf represented the other half of our being.

Moonlight was one of the most feared packs on this side of the world.

We consisted of more than two thousand members and were continuously expanding our numbers. Both men and women underwent training to ensure that we were capable of defending ourselves from frequent rogue attacks. Our steady growth could also be the result of our fierce intimacy. Yes, werewolves tended to be passionate creatures, possibly explaining why we produced a lot of pups. We were also known for our cases of multiple births.

Most interesting, though, was our love life in total. Once mated, we were monogamous.

We didn’t have multiple pups with different fathers; rather, we remained faithful to our destined partner until death. Males could only impregnate their mates, and if one died, the other could become insane or even suicidal and eventually be killed for their own good. Weird, but true. For that reason, every mate had the responsibility to keep their other half happy and healthy.

Therefore, to ensure that mates were compliant with this obligation, the Moon Goddess had created a mate bond. It was a strong emotional and physical connection. Mates would constantly crave their partner. We could do the deed for hours, nonstop. Our ‘instruments’ were custom-made. Unlike humans, after hours of use, the flower settled back to the same tightness that our mate enjoyed. We didn’t need steam or hot herbal baths as a fix to get ready for the next round.

It was no surprise that lots of packs had steady population growth. Yes, of course, there must have been a lot of mates finding each other. As for pack members like me who couldn’t find their fated, it was a no-go.

Getting close to the border at present, I sensed someone watching me.

I exhaled deeply. I wasn’t afraid of rogues; they were scared of me. Pretty sure it must have been a pack warrior on surveillance. I took some speed off, just to make sure I had a positive guess of my stalker.

Yeah, there he was.

Johnston was the most wanted hottie in the pack. Adonis by sight, strong as Delilah’s Samson, and an amazing romantic lover. But he was not my fated. Surely, we tried hard to force a mate bond to no avail. We were the proof that the Moon Goddess couldn’t be persuaded in this matter. The Almighty God gave her the ultimate permission to forge the mate bond for her own good purpose and match up whoever she wanted.

Johnston and I, how outstanding it would have been! The pack's sexiest with the unrivaled beautiful girl. Our potential mating had already prompted people to start guessing what our pups would look like.

Johnston had white blonde hair with forest green eyes and a fair coffee-colored skin tone as if he had just enjoyed the Caribbean sun. On the other hand, I had fair skin along with red hair and unique gray eyes. People were really busy mixing up our physics to portray the many pups that Johnston and I would produce. But on his eighteenth birthday, this dream was shattered. Well, all were disappointed. No mates, no pups. Sorry.

“Jooooohnston,” I stretched his name to Michael Bolton's rhythm. With a smirk on his face, he closed the gap to my car.

“What’s up, Johnston?" I inquired, tilting my eyebrows at his sheepish grin.