Annabeth's POV
October 6th, 2018 (Saturday)
"Hey everything will be fine. It is going to be the first time for both of us." Haley (my older sister who is 21; I am 18 as of 3 weeks ago) said as she curled my dark brown hair.
I looked my reflection and her standing behind me in the mirror. If you didn't know, you would have never guessed we were sisters just by looking at us. Haley has always been skinny never weighing above 110 and she has long blonde almost white hair with hazel eyes (that are green today). She is only 5'6 to my 5'8. I have always been on the opposite end of the scale compared to her. Right now I weigh 205 and I've always got overlooked when it came to Haley. I have long dark brown hair and light brown eyes.
"Hey, what are you thinking?" She asked tapping my left shoulder with her free hand.
"Do we have to go?" I asked.
She sighed before putting down the curling iron and looking at me in the mirror.
"It's the best for everyone Anna. We have a lot of females in our pack that are not mated while other packs have more males than females. It is for the survival of all of us to throw this mate party for everyone 17 and above in our packs that aren't mated." She said.
"But the Blackwell pack will be there and our pack (the Colson pack) have never gotten along." I said.
"I know and every Alpha etc. has agreed to put the rivalry stuff behind us so we can focus on the survival of all of us. We all know an unmated werewolf is vulnerable and not as strong as a mated one. We can't have a lot of vulnerable werewolves when we are constantly dealing with other packs not from here trying to come in on all of our territories." She said.
"The outside world isn't that bad Anna." She said squeezing my shoulders.
Our parents homeschooled both of us at the age of 17 because they didn't want us finding our mates until after we were done with high school. No male was allowed in our house unless they were mated / married. Which wasn't hard considering our dad is the Alpha of our pack and no one in our pack is going to disobey him. So far before now every pack as kept to themselves even sending their kids to different schools to keep the packs separate. Since Haley hasn't found her mate yet it is safe to say her mate isn't in our pack but is in another one.
"What if I don't have a mate? I mean I am already so differe…" I started to say.
"Don't; do not put yourself down. There is nothing wrong with you Anna. So what, you haven't transformed into a wolf yet or your wolf side hasn't shown itself. It doesn't mean you are defective or that your wolf doesn't exist." She said shaking her head at me.
I just nodded my head.
"Let's get finished; we all have an hour before we have to be at Harcourt Resort ( the Harcourt pack has a big resort and this mating party is happening at their hotel which has a really big conference room which is being transformed into a dance room)." She said and I nodded my head.
After she got finished with my hair, she left the room so she could get dress. I walked over to the dark red dress our parents had brought for me. After I put it on, I looked at myself in the mirror. To me it showed off all the bad areas that I hate (my curves). It showed a little bit of cleavage but not too much. I had just put on my black flat shoes when Haley walked back into the room. She had her blonde hair done in a braid and she was wearing a dark blue dress that stopped above her knees (my dress goes all the way down) and showed a lot of cleavage. She grabbed my perfume then sprayed some on me then she smiled at me before we left my room.
Noah's POV
I was outside the Harcourt hotel smoking a cigar as people started to show up for the mating party.
"You don't look so excited to be here." Shay (my best friend) said as he leaned against the building on my left side.
I took out my extra cigar and handed it to him.
"Like you want to be here either. Face it we are both here because of our fathers." I said blowing out some smoke.
"We need mates Noah. You know that." He said as he lit his cigar.
"I feel fine without one and so what I am 21. I don't see the need to have a mate if I don't feel any different without one." I said.
"My dad just wants grandkids." I said.
"And to let you be Alpha of the Blackwell pack. You know he will never do that without you being mated." He said.
"I'm fine without being Alpha. I don't want all that responsibility." I said before putting out my cigar and he shook his head.
"If having mates makes us stronger then we need that. The Everwood pack is trying to come into our territory too much lately and you know it's just a matter of time before there will be a war between us. We need mates so we can be strong and be able to handle our own." He said.
"Speak for yourself, I am strong enough without a mate and I would love to see one of those Everwood losers try to take me." I said before walking away and he quickly followed me.
I was getting a drink about an hour later when the smell of jasmine hit me. I have smelt jasmine before but never like this, this smelled a lot better. I grabbed a bottle of beer before following the smell. I followed the smell all the way down the hallway outside the dance room and to a room away from the party. The door was opened and I looked inside to see a girl with dark brown hair wearing a dark red dress sitting in a chair with a book. I could tell she was younger than me maybe 18 or 19. I don't know how long I was standing there staring at her before I felt someone stop beside me. I look to see it was Shay.
"You smell that?" I whispered.
He just smiled at me.
"I smell nothing which means that must be your mate." He whispered before looking at the girl.
"She's cute." He whispered.
I growled then he looked at me because I have never growled at him before.
"Yep, definitely your mate. You going to go introduce yourself or are you sticking to your original motto that you don't need a mate?" He whispered.
"She's reading. I'll introduce myself later." I whispered then I grabbed his left arm to make sure he followed me back to the party which made him laugh.
I stayed at the party for maybe an hour but I kept feeling the pull to go back to that room and be with that girl. I knew my wolf was mad at me for not staying with her to begin with. When I finally made it back to the room, the door was closed and when I opened it I saw the room was empty. I could smell her and I shook my head before going back to the party.
Anna's POV
I didn't stay at the party for long before I went off to find a place to read my book I brought. I knew Haley would be fine by herself. I was probably in that room reading my book for 30 minutes before I smelled mint leaves, green apple, and lemon but the one that was the strongest was the mint leaves. When I slowly looked up from my book I saw two guys standing at the door whispering to each other. They looked about the same age (Haley's age). They were both 6'5, if I had to guess, and both of them had muscles plus tattoos on their arms that I couldn't make out from where I was at. One of them had short blonde hair while the other one had short black hair. I looked back at my book when I saw them about to look at me again. They whispered to each other some more before the guy with short black hair grabbed his friend's left arm before walking away. I saw the guy with short black hair had piercing dark green eyes and the other guy with blonde hair had light blue eyes. I was in the room for only about 30 more minutes before Haley came and said we needed to leave. When I asked her why, she just said trust me we need to leave. Our dad didn't question when we came back home from the party early and we both went upstairs to our rooms.