“Hello! Earth to Ava, hello!!!” Nicole didn’t know what was going on with her friend today, they had just been served their meal, and she knew something was up when the usual food lover didn't dig in the minute the waiter placed the tray in front of them. She snapped her fingers multiple times in her face to call her attention, but Ava wasn’t listening, neither is she focused on anything Nicole is saying, all her concentration was placed on the young man who just walked into the restaurant: her mate; and yes, she’s meeting him for the first time.Nicole’s eyes followed in the direction Ava was looking, she found it strange that her friend’s eyes had been pinned in that direction for a good number of minutes and she wondered what was up. When she saw who Ava was looking at, she understood exactly what was happening. It’s Ava’s 18th birthday of course, and Ava is experiencing the mate bond. This landmark i

“I’ll be fine Nicole, don’t worry,” she responded before opening the car door. As she was about to come down, she remembered something she was supposed to tell her friend. “Nicole, can you promise me something before you go?”“What is it?” Nicole feared what she was about to say. “I don’t want Ray, Ethan or anyone to know about what happened today. Can you keep it a secret?”“Are you sure? this isn't something you should keep Ava, if you're so uncomfortable about rejecting him yourself why not tell Ray? I'm sure he'll agree to stand by you when…”“No! I want to do it on my own, Ray didn't need my help when he rejected his mate, I should be able to do the same, the only thing I need you to do now is not to tell him what happened, promise me you won’t tell him.”Nicole sighed defeatedly. “If you say so.”“

He reached his hand out to her and she knew what that meant, this is how Ray would reach out to her too on the day of the joining ceremony in front of the pack, and she'd be expected to accept his claim according to the tradition, then she'd become his Luna and be joined to him forever. The man standing in front of her offering his claim was the one she was meant to reject so she could accept Ray, she ought to do it now, but why was she so finding it difficult? If she accepted Lucas now, she knew there'd be no turning back. She was unsure of what to do at this point, her heart told her to accept him but her mind, which always told her to do the responsible thing had been shut down, it wasn’t there to tell her what to do this time, all that was left to do was follow her heart, which bing-banged loudly for Lucas. She did the same thing every she wolf does the moment she sees her mate for the first time. She slowly melted to her knees in front of him, putting her han

Ava jumped right out of the bed the minute she realized this. Did it really happen? Did I lose my... Oh no! she cried within herself. 'Layla! Layla!!!' she called out to her despairingly. Layla always tends to be inactive mostly in the mornings, sometimes Ava wondered why she had a wolf if she couldn't get to her when she needed her. Was he here? If he was, where had he gone? She tried to pick up his scent, and then she noticed that he was in the cabin too, just outside the room. They were alone in the small building and he was sitting by the fireplace, playing a guitar, she could hear the charming melody right from where she stood in the room and it tempted her to go outside to go and meet him, or to continue from where they finished last night. No! She scolded herself, doing that would just add more fuel to the fire, would worsen the situation, last night wasn't even supposed to happen and it did. She had to find a way to escape before

This was strange, how could she prefer the touch of a stranger to the touch of the one she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with? The mate bond gave the answer to that question. She noticed that Ray was still kissing her; she found it strange that he was enjoying this whereas she wasn't. Didn't he know that what he was giving her was far from pleasure? She felt bad about how she felt; Lucas's touch was supposed to be the one that repelled her, but no, it was exactly the other way around. Ray then brought his hand to touch her breasts, and she pulled away from his kiss at that moment, panting heavily. He saw her expression and dropped his head in his hand, he was disappointed but tried well to hide it."I'm sorry," she muttered. "No, no, I should be the one apologizing, I know how you said we should wait and all, but I find it hard to restrain myself whenever I'm with you."Ray reminding Ava of the reason she refused him whenever he t