Becoming a Luna

*Jo's POV*"Please stop, Aaron," I said as he came up behind me while I was finishing my makeup in the bathroom. He started pulling me towards him."Oh, come on Jo, don't be a prude," he replied, reaching unsuccessfully to grab me again.I looked into the smiling face that I had once found so attractive and couldn't help but turn away. When Aaron, the most attractive boy at our high school, had asked me out on a date after graduation, I didn't hesitate to say yes. He had been my crush all through high school and I thought dating him would be magical, but really, I was just happy that the summer was coming to an end, and I would have an excuse to leave and never talk to him.At first, the relationship had been pleasant, and I loved going on dates with him. He had kissed me after our second date at the movies and I was elated. The kissing was great…at least at first. However, over the last month, I had started to feel different. Not just about Aaron, but about everything else as well

*Jo's POV*I looked down at my still blank cell phone screen for what felt like the hundredth time already. Sighing, I looked back up at myself in the mirror and continued to apply my makeup. Most of the time, I didn't wear this much, but today was my 18th birthday, so I figured I should go big. There would be a lot of people at my house. I had finished my makeup and moved onto curling my hair when my phone vibrated loudly on the bathroom counter.Suddenly, a hot searing pain erupted on my finger. Cr*p! A welt from the burn instantly appeared as I grabbed the phone. I instantly felt deflated as soon as I saw it was just another text from Aaron. I opened up the message anyway.'I forgive you for the other day, we can make up tonight.' There was a winky face at the end of it and I could only roll my eyes. The girls and I had gone to the mall and then went and had a nice dinner before they dropped me back off at home the other day. When I got there, I saw that Aaron was already

*Jo's POV*One second I was staring at Nikko, and the next, he was gone. But then the girls walked up to tell me happy birthday, and I realized this was a party and I had to socialize with everyone, not just the one I burned to see. So I plastered on a smile and let them guide me into the huge group of our graduating class, plus a few stragglers from the surrounding classes."Happy Birthday, Jo!" Emily exclaimed as she gave me a hug. "I can't believe you went back and got that dress without even telling us!"She was indeed wearing that red shirt I had fallen in love with, and an extremely short jean skirt, but I just rolled my eyes inwardly and moved on. How had I never noticed, until the last month or so, that my so-called friends were so awful to me. Talk about passive aggressive. After this party, I would have no reason to see them again. Thank goodness."Actually, the guy we met at the mall brought it for me," I smiled as I looked down at myself. "As a birthday gift."Emily di

*Nikko's POV*I woke up early, anxious to start the day. I was restless, and didn't get much sleep, thinking about my dinner plans with Jo tonight. I was excited. No matter how much I worried over taking her as a mate, I couldn't ignore the fact that I simply could not stay away from her. I had heard of mate bonds my whole life, but this was much stronger than I ever expected.The only thing that helped was shifting into Ash. So, the first thing I did when I woke up was go outside and quickly transform before running a quick perimeter search of the territory. Byron had mind-linked me at the party last night to let me know that there was a rogue sighting not far from us, so I had reluctantly left my mate and rushed back.Our pack had been experiencing a lot of rogue attacks lately, so I took the threat of a nearby sighting extremely seriously. Especially since one of the last recent attacks resulted in the Alpha's, my father's, death. It had been hard to deal with, but I had been the

*Nikko's POV*It had been only a little over a day since I had seen Jo, and I was already going crazy. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see her standing there in that towel smiling at me…it was almost enough to make me drive all the way to her house and drag her back with me. I stared at the computer screen on my desk and tried to get myself to focus on anything besides my thoughts of her.A knock came on the door and, grateful for the distraction, I instantly said, "Come in."Byron walked in and shut the door behind himself."Hello, Alpha," he said. "How are you feeling today?""What do you think?" I asked."Ah, just as irritable as yesterday I see," he said, trying and failing to hide a smile.Ash growled from inside of me. Neither of us were very patient. Byron came closer and sat down across from me."So, what did you call me for?" he asked."I want you to get the cabin stocked and prepared for when Jo arrives," I told him. "That means food, necessities, clean bedding, l