Early Sunday morning, I opened my eyes and turned off my alarm. While some teens got to sleep in, I had to get up early. Normally, my lessons with Mike didn't start until 9am, but today was different. As a result of an important werewolf event, my lessons had to end earlier, meaning they had to start earlier too. As my adoptive family were the head of a pack, I was also expected to be present at important events.
At this particular event, all the pack alphas and their families in the entire province were expected to show up. The alphas would vote to decide who would be the Head Alpha to represent all the wolves in the province. It was required that each province and territory in the country had a representative.
As I didn't much feel like backtracking to my room later, I got dressed and ready for the day before going to get some breakfast. The kitchen was quiet. As I entered, I noticed it was also empty. I grabbed some banana nut muffins from a container as I waited for the kettle to boil for tea.
Suddenly, hearing a noise, I looked up. There was Kelly, walking through the doorway.
"Good morning, Kelly." I said trying to sound cheerful and not half asleep. "Why on earth are you up so early?"
"I couldn't sleep." She replied, sounding exhausted. "I feel nervous about the event tonight…"
I wasn't sure if I understood her properly, but decided it was worth a shot to say something. "Does this have anything to do with the fact that you have a chance of meeting your mate tonight?"
I knew that would have to mean her mate was a family member of an alpha that lived in our province. But if not, I didn't want her to feel crushed and disappointed. On the other hand, I didn't want to give her false hope.
"Yeah." She said quietly. "As much as I want to meet my mate, I also don't want to." She took a deep breath. "I don't want to have to change my entire life just because my mate wants me to do something different. My education is so important to me. I work so hard. I can't give it up, I just can't."
She looked like she was going to cry. 'Probably, she is way over-tired.' I thought.
I shushed her, putting down a muffin I was holding to open my arms and give her a big hug. I know we would have looked ridiculous from an onlookers' perspective; with Kelly towering a foot and a half over me and I hugging her like my life depended on it.
"Hey. It's ok. It's going to be okay." I smiled at her. "You don't know that that situation is going to happen. You haven't met your mate yet. Maybe you will meet tonight, maybe you won't. But it is not going to do you any good getting yourself all worked up over right now."
Kelly didn't say anything to me, but she smiled through her tears.
"You know what?" I asked her. "If you get a mate that deserves you- truly deserves you- then they won't want to change you or think that things which are important to you are unimportant."
Kelly hugged me very tightly for a moment and then let go. She wiped at the last of her tears.
"Thanks." She said simply. "You are a great sister."
I chuckled. "So are you." I said as I grabbed a second mug and poured the hot water for two teas, one black, the other peppermint.
"I think you should drink this and then try and get some sleep." I advised. As my eye caught the time on the oven clock, I added "I need to hurry up, Mike will be mad if I'm late."
"Alright." Kelly said as she took the mug from my hand and turned, exiting the kitchen.
I poured milk in my tea as I ate the two muffins quickly. I gave it a stir, threw out the tea bag, grabbed all my stuff and headed to the atrium.
When I entered, Mike was already there, as usual.
"Good morning." He said.
"Morning." I answered.
"I know you are dying to know, so I will answer your question before you even ask it." He said with a smile. "I didn't find out anything more about the book yet. But I did bring it with me for safe keeping." He reached into his briefcase and showed me the cover of 'Advanced Shifting Techniques: Volume 1'.
I smiled.
"If fact," Mike continued, "you are doing so well with your progress that I decided to test you. We will review today and do the test tomorrow afternoon."
My smile disappeared.
"Before you get all grumpy," he added, "know that the test is necessary. If you do well, then I see no reason we can't attempt to learn one of the easier shifting techniques in here." He gestured to the copy of Advanced Shifting Techniques.
Suddenly, I felt so awake and energized. I had to do perfect in this test. I wanted so badly to be able to begin mastering advanced techniques. There were so few of us shifters left, and I had no idea how many of us could do any of the harder techniques. I did not want this knowledge to be lost. I knew if I could learn them, I could also learn how to teach them.
"…Sam?" Mike asked. "Did you just hear anything I said?"
"Oh, sorry." I said apologetically. "I actually didn't.
He sighed. "Alright. Please pay attention. Everything I am saying is to help you and get you to do your best."
I nodded.
"So, as I was saying," Mike continued, "the first thing I would like to review with you…"
But I didn't hear any more of what he was saying. Despite my best intentions of being a good student and giving him my full attention, I began to daydream. Running through my brain was all the excitement of the possibilities for the future. I tried to imagine all the new things I could learn.