Chapter 3 - Celia

I started walking towards the high school. I had plenty of time. I was kind of lost in my own thoughts. Mostly, I was thinking about my family. My Mom, Clara, lives at the packhouse. She is an assistant to our Luna Mazie and holds a Delta rank. Mom likes to stay close in case the Luna needs her. Dad would be welcome to live with her as the head Epsilon, but he likes to be home with me. My younger brothers live with Mom. As a teenage girl, I am the only one that would not be allowed to live in the packhouse.

At 15, girls become unranked. Before that we are considered the rank of our parents, so I have been unranked for 2 years, 11 months and 13 days. I turn 18 in two short weeks. I don't expect to find that I have a wolf when I turn 18. I just kind of think that if I had a wolf, I would feel it. Besides, I have a plan and having a wolf isn't in the plan.

I plan to finish school in two months and leave the pack. Technically, I can go to college and the pack will pay for my schooling and housing if I am unmated. The trade off is that females return to the pack lands each quarter for the Mates Dinner. It's basically a big party for all the unmated pack members to mingle and hopefully meet their fated mate. In our pack this is a huge deal for females to return since it is a second chance to find our wolf. I don't know that I want to return once I leave. Again, I don't think I have a wolf. But college is expensive and having the pack pay would be pretty nice, maybe the trade off would be worth it.

If I do have a wolf, my plan is moot. I will be expected to mate and breed. A she-wolf's greatest contribution to the pack is making little wolves to strengthen the pack. Moonless Night is a medium sized pack. There are around 1,200 members. I have never really seen myself as a mate and mother. If I have a wolf, I will be introduced to every unmated male in our pack at the earliest opportunity.

This is in the hope that my fated mate is a member of our pack. Moonless Night females rarely leave the pack if they have a wolf. A male wolf can reject a fated mate, but a she-wolf can not initiate a rejection. The last rejection in our pack happened so long ago that it's like a legend.

The sounds of cars and teenagers talking around me got louder. I was close to school now. I hunched my shoulders trying to disappear as I headed up the stairs and into the building.

Standing at my locker, I opened it and began prepping what I needed for my morning classes: Physics, Geometry, History and English. Once I had my morning stuff in my bag, I locked my locker and turned towards the stairs only to bump into something solid. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't...." I started to apologize but stopped speaking when I looked up to see it was Carson. Twice in one morning! What are the odds?

"Hi Celia. I couldn't wait until English. I am assuming these are yours." He said as he handed me my shorts and socks, neatly folded.

"Uhm, yeah. Thanks." I said, shoving them into my bag. "Sorry for crashing into you twice today."

Carson smiled. "I don't mind. Feel free to crash into me anytime." He winked and started walking away.

"WTF!!! Celia, what was that? How do you know Carson? And what did he mean 'crash into me anytime'? Did he wink at you?"

I sighed heavily. "Morning Ang. I don't know. He is in my English class. I ran into him while running this morning and then again now. I am going to have bruises from it. And yes he winked at me, but I don't know why."

Ang hooked her arm through mine and we both headed for the stairs. This was going to be a long morning. I hoped she would drop it, but I knew she wouldn't. We have 2 classes together in the morning and more in the afternoon. "I need details!" Ang said excitedly.

"Can we just drop it and forget it happened?" I said rolling my eyes.

"Hell no! That man is hot with a capital h! And he is winking at you and flirting. 'Crash into me anytime', she imitated Carson's husky voice. " I think he likes you." Ang giggled.

"No. If anything he was worried that I was scared this morning when I crashed into him and he reports to my Dad, so he is probably just worried about his job." I tried to brush it off.

"So you were far enough from town that you crashed into him while he was on patrol? What were you scared of? What happened? Oh! Better question! Did he shift in front of you? I definitely wouldn't mind getting an eye full of his hot bod as he shifted." Ang smiled and leered.

"Goddess! Girl you need to get a grip. Yes, he's good looking, but all the warriors are! He's not interested in me though, he can't be." I said as we slid into our seats and the bell rang. I breathed in relief that Ang couldn't continue her barrage for at least 50 minutes now.

Class flew by, mostly because I was dreading the questions Ang would have locked and loaded the minute the bell rang. We had a pop quiz, which was too easy for me, but everyone else in class groaned like the teacher was a sadist. During class, I thought about answering Ang's questions and decided that I needed to simply refuse. I took a deep breath in and tried to find my spine. I usually played along with Ang. But this time, no. The bell rang and immediately Ang was right beside me. We headed out the door on our way to our next class.

"Where did you crash into Carson? Was it at the lake? Did he see you swimming? Do you swim naked? Did he see..." I held up my hand to stop her.

"No Ang. Just no." I really didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want rumors starting and I didn't want to cause trouble for our Epsilons. If it wasn't common knowledge that humans were coming onto pack lands, I didn't want to be the one to let it get out.

"Wow. You never tell me no." Ang said softly as we heard a snort behind us.