Chapter 2

Venus's POV

Alonso had been acting really strange these days. Sometimes he stares at me and zones out as if I am hypnotizing him. And if someone saw us together where he zones out, they might actually think that I hypnotized him even.

"Venus! Catch!!" I heard Dorian's voice before turning around and by the time I acted on my reflex, the fur ball slapped my face making me groan.

"Dorian! What the fuck!!!" I groan again, touching my nose ever so carefully in hopes that it is still intact. And thankfully, it is!

"You are okay, drama queen! Jeez," he says again and grabs the giant ball of yarn. It didn't do any damage to my nose but like Dorian just said, I love being dramatic. Why would anyone want to be boring when they can be dramatic?

"What is that for?" I ask him, pointing at the yarn in his hands.

"The ladies asked me to get this. A decoration for lamps or something like that they said," he says and adds,"I guess"

His brown hair is dancing along with the wind. He really needs a haircut soon. Very soon as a matter of fact.

Dorian Farber is the capital pack's Gamma. He is twenty one and it has been three years since he took the title and responsibilities from his father. And he is also an idiot who sometimes forgets that I hadn't shifted yet so my reflexes are not like the wolves who shifted. I am not that fast yet. But I will be. From tomorrow. And no one can stop me then.

"Go ahead. I have business with Alonso anyway," I say and smack his face just when he was about to smirk.

Dorian says that Alonso is absolutely smitten by me. But maybe it's just that he is comfortable around me. We don't have to talk for hours when we are in the same room and that's what I love about him sometimes.

But these days, something is not right with him. He is growing anxious for no reason. Just when I was about to head towards the pack house, Dorian got the mindlink saying there's a Rogue corpse that needs to be shifted to the lab. And that the killing was done by Alonso himself during his run earlier.

Not all Rogues are shifted to the labs for testing, but these days with the Rogues acting weird, we just have to be up on our guards. And usually my father dealt with all of these, but since I'll be a Beta in less than a day.. I guess it's practically my job now. Because I also want to learn how things work.

"I heard there is a mystery guest list for the Full Moon Festival day after tomorrow," Dorian says, as we walk towards the mentioned place where there is a dead Rogue.

"I have heard about it too. I don't think it's Alonso. I asked him this morning and he had no clue about the surprise his father is planning," I tell Dorian and he nods, getting lost in his own thoughts.

"What if I find my mate in that guest list?" Dorian asks me and I just smile. But quickly went into the teasing mode.

"What if I find my mate in the list and you stay single forever?" I ask him, making him pull me in a headlock.

I laugh once and bite his hand, making him release me. We just laugh it off but put on a serious face once we reached the place. There are already three guards present and they are just scouting the land to see if they can find anything.

The Rogue's eyes are vacant as he looks at the sky. I crouched down to see something that resembles a tattoo on his neck. Closer to the place where Alonso bit him to death.

And just then, out of blue another Rogue pounced. Straight at me. But Dorian blocked me in a second and by another second, Dorian's huge brown wolf is already fighting with the Rogue. The three guards are on their guard again when two more Rogues arrived. How are they even getting inside the borders?

Argh.! I hate that I don't have my wolf yet!! Just when I am about to throw the dead wolf's body over my shoulder, a Rogue reaches me. I pull out the dagger that's always plastered to my thigh and sliced it's paw. But a second too late because it already scratched my arm. Dorian took care of the last Rogue, the one I sliced the arm off. Paw I mean.

"Venus! Are you okay?" Dorian asks me and I do my best not to look anywhere but his face. Because he just shifted back and he is naked. It is common in werewolf world and people are supposed to be used to it, but I don't know when I will be used to it.

"I guess," I say ignoring the sweat all over my body.

"No. No you are not," he says in a panic and looks around, to find a knee length denim shorts. He quickly put that on, thankfully and places his palm on my forehead.

"Fuck, I knew it!!" He mutters before throwing me over his shoulder.

Ouch. Okay. But why can't I push him away? Or wiggle my legs? And why do I feel hot? My vision is starting to get blurry. I blink a few times, but even that did not change.

"She is shifting, Conrad! Inform the Alpha King" I hear Dorian say.

God! Shifting? An early shift? Because I am turning eighteen tomorrow. Technically in less than five hours, since it's already evening. But why am I shifting now?

Dorian placed me somewhere. And my back is met with the prickly grass. Was the grass always this prickly? Or is the heat from my body making everything unbearable?

I close my eyes and when I open them, I see Alonso before me. My best friend. We grew up together but we grew distant in the last couple of years. I don't know why he pushed me away and I didn't ask him either. We only started talking again when I took down the duties from my father, to learn what a Beta does.

"How?" I hear Alonso ask and at this point, everything is blur. I can only make out who is who by their voices.

"A rogue scratch. It triggered her shift," Dorian explains. Okay. That makes sense why I am shifting a few hours earlier.

I close my eyes when I feel my organs shift inside my body. Almost as if my heart is up my throat. I want to vomit but somehow can't.

Was everyone's first shift this painful or is it only me?

I shut my eyes so tight and lay there, praying to Moon Goddess. That this all should end soon. As much as I am excited to meet my own wolf, I didn't know the first shift was supposed to be this painful.

I feel my entire body shifting. I can hear my bones cracking. I open just one eye and even though it's still blurry, somehow I can see my leg turn into a paw. And back into leg. And back into paw again. I close my eyes, wondering if it effects my shift if I open my eyes.

I scream out loud when my whole body feels such excruciating pain like I have never felt before. Even through my screams I heard a low sob, and I know that is from my mother. Oh she is here. Good thing that she is here.

The pain reaches the top level where I felt like dying, and then it slowly surrendered. Like calm waves. It is still painful but not like earlier, the peak stage.

So I open my eyes and everything looks different. My eyes are not blurry anymore. In fact, everything is much clearer. I can even see the bead of sweat rolling down my father's forehead clearly. I look my mother who is smiling at me through her tears.

I look down and see four red paws replacing my two legs. My wolf.

And then, an intoxicating scent fills my nostrils. It smells a lot like musk and citrus. But somehow so heavenly and almost like a drug.

"Mate," I hear a voice in my head and for a moment I am startled. But then realised it is my wolf. Dad told me about this.

"Mate!!" My wolf says again and I look at the crowd. I looked at the direction of the scent.

And my knees instantly gave out.

Alonso.

Alonso is my mate.

"Go take your first run for a while. But stay clear from the North borders," Dorian says with the biggest smile on his face.

Even though my wolf refused to do so, I push her to take a run towards the woods rather than running towards Alonso.

"That's our mate," My wolf says.

"And you are my wolf," I snap back. Good thing dad taught me how to communicate with my wolf once I got through my first shift. But it's the shift part, he didn't tell me about.

"What do you mean by that?" She asks me this time.

"He knew I was his mate for the last five years. And never once told me about it. So I guess it's only fair to let him die for a few minutes," I say making her laugh in the back of my head. Or maybe I am in the back of her head, since we are in wolf form now.

"Ooooh yes!" She says, agreeing with me as she takes a run. Everything around me is a blur. That's how fast she is running.

"What's your name?" I ask my wolf and a grunt was her response.

"You name it. Humans name wolves usually," she tells me and I nod. I need time for that. I need a perfect name.

By the time I am done running and went back to the clearing, my mom waited for me with clothes in her hand. And told me how to shift back. Shifting back is equally painful and I am glad I did not die.

My mom hugged me and kissed my forehead before walking away leaving Alonso and I. But before leaving she said Dorian and my father were dealing with the Rogue problem and they'd talk to me when I get home.

It's just Alonso and I at this point. I slowly walk towards him, and I can smell his anxiety from a few feet away. His blue eyes filled with concern and his black hair messed a little. It's clear that he was constantly running his hands through his hair.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask him and he finally looks at me. And his eyes softened a little and then brightened, probably because he smelt that I was at ease too.

"Because there is a term called pedophile and I didn't want to be that," he says and I chuckle walking to him and throwing my arms around him.

Sparks ignite all over my body and I close my eyes, leaning closer but he pulls away without kissing me.

"What?" I ask him.

"You are still technically not eighteen," he says and looks at his watch. And we just stared at his watch for eight minutes.

Alonso's left hand is at the back of my neck, as he pulls my face to him and places his lips on mine. I didn't even know what to do so I just followed his lead. Doing everything just like he does.

"Happy Birthday," he whispers against my lips, and then places a tender kiss on my forehead.

Damn! Alpha King Alonso Naylor is my mate.?

Can life get any better?