Chapter 1

Sitting on top of my favorite spot I watch as the sun starts to come over the horizon. I love coming out to the ridge about a mile from my house. No one comes out this way as it’s the other direction from town. The ridge is more like a small cliff with a stream below. It’s beautiful with large pine trees surrounding for miles. It's spring so there is fresh grass and little wild flowers blooming everywhere. Spring is in full swing and I love this time of year, new beginnings. I can hear the birds making nest to lays eggs and little animals coming out of hibernation. In this moment everything is so simple and perfect even just for a little while.

My name is Katie Stevens but everyone calls me Kate and I'm a werewolf or at least my family is. My father is the Beta of Pine Mountain Pack. My older brother Trent will follow my father and be the next Beta. My mother is the Beta female and one of our top worriers. Then there is me I have no wolf or at least not yet as my dad keeps saying but I’m honestly loosing hope. See for a werewolf there are two big age millstones if you will at 15 you get your wolf. That means we shift for the first time on the first full moon after our birthday and can talk to our wolf counterparts on our birthday. The next millstone is 18 when you can find your mate. Our mate is like the other half of our souls and once we find our mate the mate bond starts to form. Only once completing the mate bond will you truly become whole. The moon goddess blesses use with our mate and it is something that we learn from a young age to respect and covet when we find it.

As I'm sitting here I start to think about how this weekend will go. See it's the spring festival the pack has a big party each year and this year it's also a full moon. But the biggest thing is it's also my 18th birthday and the day I've been afraid of for a while now. See I still have some qualities of a werewolf thankfully like great hearing and smell I'm also a lot faster then normal people and even some werewolf’s. I have been training since I was 5 so I am fit but still slim at whopping 5'5 and 110 pounds. Don't let that fool you I can beat even our best warriors. Mom and dad raised my brother and I to be strong and confident. They wanted to make sure we could protect ourselves and that was even more important when I didn’t get my wolf. Most people treat me with respect and are kind but in high school being different is hard. Thankfully I graduated a year early and can avoid most of the bully’s. I can say that it has made me stronger and is one of the reasons that I am so head strong and confident.

Even with all that I'm still terrified that I will not have a mate. We are suppose to be able to find our mate once we turn 18. So that is why I'm sitting on top of my hiding spot behind our house trying to tell myself that I will get a mate. As im watching the sun I get a mindlink from mom.

" Kate breakfast is ready"

" Coming Mom.”

I climb down and start heading home hoping that I will be able to find my mate and that he will still want me with out a wolf.