001: The birthday party

My foot slipped from the side of the chair and I went tumbling to the ground with a loud thud as I landed on my buttocks. I thought I heard something snap in my wrist as I tried to hold myself up with it and it forced a groan out of me.

"Alma!"

I looked up and noticed Ralph rushing towards me. He crouched down beside me, his squinting blue eyes fixed on me with worry buzzing through them.

"I'm fine." I responded with a smile, trying to hide the graze on my wrist.

"I told you to be careful! I don't know what will happen to me if you get hurt like that." His honeyed voice sang with fear and worry.

I found myself smiling. Ralph was the son of our reigning alpha, alpha Edwin Bowman, and soon, he would take his father's place. He would turn nineteen today and tomorrow, he would be named alpha of the silver thistle pack.

Luckily for me, I got to grow up with him. After my parents passed away while protecting the Luna, they decided to take me in as a reward for their braveness and they saw to it that I was comfortable.

It happened when I was seven and that was when I met Ralph. Ever since then, we had been glued to the hips alongside Bella, our third friend who is our beta's daughter.

We shared the same birthdays, Ralph and I, and he had insisted on throwing a party to celebrate not just him this time but me as well.

It didn't matter though because I would forever be a shadow to everyone else. As long as he noticed me, I was fine.

"I'm not hurt, I'm fine, seriously." I responded with a warm smile.

His hand suddenly cupped my cheek and caressed it softly. "You know you are important to me right?"

I felt my heart skip a beat. Whenever he touched me, I usually lost grip on reality. I could feel Ida-- my wolf-- hopping about inside me and I was glad to know we shared the same excitement.

All we ever did on our free time was pray to the moon goddess that she let him be our mate. It was impossible to be this attracted to someone without a mate bond holding us together.

His slightly full red lips curved into a smile as if he purposely taunted me, knowing that I would freeze when he touched me like that.

"How will you hang up the decorations if you keep falling off the chair?" Bella asked as she swayed into the room.

I immediately sprung to my feet and cleared my throat. We weren't doing anything wrong, but her entrance saved me from losing my mind completely.

"Hey," I smiled. "It only happened one time okay? I can do it."

"I'll do it." He picked up the fallen banner and stretched his long hand to hook it up.

What I had to do on a chair, he had done standing on the ground. But I wasn't surprised because I was the shortest in our friendship group. My head was just as tall as his shoulders and my petite stature made me feel smaller.

"Everything is ready except the celebrants." Bella noted. "Will you do me the honors of dressing you, princess?" She asked with a soft smile.

I nodded my head and wrapped my arms around hers as we went to my room.

Bella was the same age as us but she acted like our older sister. If only I had long cherry hair like she did, they'd find it hard to pick us apart as not being siblings.

She always wore a dark shade of brown eye-shadow around her big pale blue eyes and her small lips were always a shade of deep orange.

A small gold earring pierced her straight pointed nose and a motherly smile touched her eyes as we walked to my room.

Rummaging through my pretty clothes, I ended up in a sky blue tight dress that almost matched my ocean blue eyes. A long slit preceded from the bottom all the way up to my thigh and the v-neck revealed my bossom.

My light blonde hair was let loose over my shoulders and allowed to fall back all the way to my hips and I applied-- for the first time-- little make up.

I was so excited! Ida more than me.

In our pack, we got our wolf when we turned eighteen and then our mate at nineteen. I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen when I walked out there into the party thrown for me and Ralph.

I kept imagining a scenario where I walked outside and felt the mate bond stronger than ever with Ralph.

Oh I was so excited!

"Is the woman of the day ready to go out there?" Bella's motherly smile touched her face.

"I keep thinking about Ralph and the fact that he could actually be my mate!" I had confided in her about the way I felt about him since I had no friends or family. "What do you think will happen?"

Her smile wavered or so I thought. She reached out and touched my shoulder. "Let's just hope you find a man who will love you and care properly for you. That doesn't have to be Ralph."

I guess she worried about what our friendship would become if Ralph and I started dating. A smile curved my lips. With a heavy sigh, I proclaimed. "Let's do this..."