"Come on, Lara, be the fun one for once in your life," My best friend, Tessa, teases me as we lay on my comfortable bed.

"It's just a party, we won't die if we don't go," I reply to her, and she rolls her eyes playfully.

"I heard Ashton Martins is going to be there," She informs me, and my heart skips a beat at the mention of his name.

Ashton Martins is an alpha, one without a mate. I have had a massive crush on him for as long as I can remember. Though I have not met him in person, I have heard that he is powerful and mysterious.

He is perfect, and he is one that I would love to spend the rest of my life with. I know it's a little dramatic, but I don't care.

"I swear I will kill you if you are lying, Tessa," I threaten her as I sit up on the soft bed. She chuckles at my threat and also sits up.

"When have I ever lied to you?" She asks me confidently.

"Um, let me see. One, two, three…" I begin to count, but she stops me from going further.

"I know, I know. Okay, let's forget about those times, I am definitely not lying this time. Plus you know I never lie when it comes to Ashton Martins, I know you have wanted to do nasty things with that man in a bed for years now," Tessa says as she wiggles her eyebrows, and my face gets instantly red from embarrassment.

"Tessa!" I playfully slap her, causing her to laugh.

She stares at me for a few seconds and then her face gets serious.

"I didn't want to tell you this before, but tonight is the night he's finding his mate," She says the words carefully.

"And you are choosing to tell me this now?!" I hurriedly get off my bed.

"I just don't want you to get hurt…" She strokes her hair and avoids looking at me when she says this.

I scoff in response as I head to my closet. I need to find something nice to wear to that party.

"And what makes you think that I would?" I ask her as I open the door of my closet so I can begin my search for the perfect clothes that might make Ashton notice me tonight.

"You may have a crush on Ashton, but so does almost all the other girls in this town," She replies.

"Except you," I remind her, and she nods proudly.

"He's not my type," She says carelessly as she stands to her feet and walks toward me.

"All guys are not your type, Tessa, you like girls," I tell her, and she shrugs.

"My point is, you are not the only one in line to be Ashton's mate. You have not said a single word to him before, whenever you see him, you run and hide," Tessa explains as she picks a beautiful dress out of my closet for me.

I run and hide because he is intimidatingly attractive, I just can't help it!

"I'm going to that party and you are not changing my mind," I argue with her, and a smile creeps onto her face.

"Why are you smiling?" I ask her and she raises her hands in surrender.

"It's just funny because you were so adamant about not going to the party until I told you that Mr. Handsome was going to be there," She replies to me smoothly.

The dress she is holding in her hands was a gift from my mom last year, I have not worn it since I got it.

"Should I wear that?" I refer to the dress, and Tessa looks at it for a few seconds and then nods. She hands it to me, and the first thing that captures my attention when I hold it is the material. It is premium.

"I think it is too revealing," I complain when I try it on, it fits perfectly.

"Well, I think you look great in it," She compliments me, and I can't help but smile.

"You do know it's a party and not prom, right?" She comments.

She walks away from me and stands in front of the full-length mirror as she fixes her long wavy hair.

She is wearing tight denim jeans and a maroon-colored oversized sweater.

"And this is not a prom dress, stupid," I defend my dress.

In my opinion, it seems like something someone very confident would wear. I think I am way too shy to pull it off, but I have a good feeling about tonight.

"I know it's not a prom dress, it's just that you're overthinking what to wear just because Ashton is going to be at the party," Tessa grabs her purse and walks toward my room window.

She opens it and a cool wind blows in the room, causing me to shiver for a few seconds. With the opened window, I catch a glimpse of the almost full moon.

"Why are you opening the window?" I ask her.

I walk toward the full-length mirror and I comb out my hair. My hair is brown and long, it passes my shoulders a bit. When I am done with my hair, I reach for my shoes and wear them.

"Because we are going to be using the window to get out of the house," She says, and I laugh as if she just told a joke.

She can't be serious, right?

"And why would we do that?" I fire another question at her, causing her to groan.

"Damn, you ask too many questions," She whines.

"I'm just saying, we could just use the front door. My parents won't have a problem with me going to a party even though it's late," I explain to her what she already knows.

My parents are strict but they know that I hardly go anywhere. I just stay in my room and read all day, except when Tessa drags me out to go with her somewhere. Now that school is closed, it gives me even more reason to stay at home all the time.

I have a dog that my sister named Biscuit, it's such a funny name but I love it.

I only have one sibling and that is Zoe, my older sister. She is the exact opposite of me, a complete extrovert.

She has perfect hair, a hot body, and excellent grades. She is very popular and knows almost everyone. Even Ashton hangs out with her sometimes.

I am a hundred percent sure that she is at that party right now, and because she is there, my parents would have no problem with me being there. Plus they like it when I go places instead of being stuck in my room.

"Fine, let's do it the boring way," Tessa replies to me, and she sighs loudly.

The shoes that I am wearing go well with the dress, it is not too glamorous, yet nice.

Tessa leads the way by opening my room door. I follow her and we head downstairs into the living room.

"Oh, you look nice," My dad comments when he sees me.

My mom looks at me and smiles proudly. I am sure she loves that I am finally wearing the dress that she got me.

"Wow, you look…just wow," She says, and the both of us chuckle.

"Thanks," I tell them.

"Um, Tessa and I are going to a party, we would be back before it's too late," I inform my parents.

"Is it the party that Zoe's at?" My dad asks as he turns his attention to the football game he was watching before Tessa and I came in.

"I believe so," Tessa replies.

"Alright, love, be safe!" My mom says to us as we get out of the house.

"Dips on driving!" Tessa exclaims and I hand her the keys that I took from the house before we stepped out.

"Okay, captain," I joke, and she smirks.

The both of us get into the car and Tessa drives us to Ashton's house, a very huge, luxurious mansion.

I can already hear the music blaring loudly as Tessa parks the car in front of the huge house.

"Wow, it's more alive than I thought," I mumble as I stare out the window.

There are so many people, who are kissing and drinking tons of alcohol. This is not really my scene, but I would not have been able to forgive myself if I had missed the night that Ashton Martins found his mate!

"Sh*t, the party is bigger than I thought," My best friend comments when the both of us exit the car.

Now that I am actually at the party, I am beginning to have second thoughts. Maybe I should leave.

Instead of listening to my thoughts, I stick close to Tessa as the both of us enter the huge people-filled house.

Almost everyone is dancing and the music is so loud that I can feel it in my chest.

"Stay here, I am going to get us something to drink that does not have the devil's pee in it," Tessa excuses herself, and I laugh.

Alcohol is what we call the devil's pee, we have been calling it that way from the day we tried it for the first time three years ago at our first party.

As I watch her walk away and try to pass through the sea of drunk teenagers, I awkwardly stand still.

Gosh, the music is so loud.

The lights are dim and instead of normal ones, they're blue and many other interesting colors.

"Oh,sh*t," Someone bumps into me and spills a drink on my dress.

"What the hell?" I lash out angrily and a few people stare at me.

This can't be happening!

The very first time I choose to wear the dress that my mom got me, I get drenched by god knows what.

I try to save my dress by wiping out the drink that was spilled on it with some tissues that someone else hands me.

"Are you blind that you can not see where you're…" I begin to say but when I finally stop paying so much attention to my dress, I notice the person that spilled the drink on me.

It's Ashton freaking Martins!