Aine's Point of View

"It's your time, Aine," Dad said when I was about to eat. It was odd seeing him eating with us despite how he hated me and blamed me for my sister's death.

"Time for what, Dad?" I said, and started to swallow hard. Something is not right here.

"It's time for you to be engaged to a male wolf."

That was all it took for me to lose it. I couldn't believe this. How could it be my time? I'm not even giving up yet and they are trying to force me to be with someone. What's the rush?

"Why?!" I panicked.

"You're still mateless despite passing the right age. The Alpha thinks you should have a mate already. He offered us to find you one. You must thank him. At least you're not a failure. If Anne was still alive, she would have pulled us out of poverty, " Dad said, bored. "Make us proud for once."

"Daniel…!" Mom said.

I know he hates me so much even if he's not showing it. But Anne was dead and it's not my fault! But manipulating my life? No.

"That's not fair! I haven't even had the chance to find my true mate yet!"

"You will do as we say, Aine. You know the consequences of going against the Alpha," Dad said, looking at me intensely. "We will all be thrown from the pack and possibly killed by rogues."

"But-"

"If you don't do this, then you won't be able to be part of this pack and you know we can't make it on our own." Mom interrupted.

"But it's not like I can never shift if I don't do this now," I said. "He just wants everyone to change into werewolves, so we can be the strongest pack in the country. It's a selfish reason."

"Well, whatever he is doing, it is keeping us safe. Has there ever been a rogue attack that our pack couldn't handle?" Mom questioned.

I inwardly groaned, raging.

"No," I admitted.

"Exactly, now eat. Your future mate will be calling you tonight and I don't want you to disrespect him," father said with authority in his voice.

"Fine." I grumbled, throwing down my fork and stalking up to my room. I lost my appetite and went straight to my bed and started to cry.

I know she was right in everything she said, but it still bothered me. They have no right! It should be up to the people to decide if they want to mate or not. Maybe some of us actually want to meet our real mate, sometime in life.

What they are doing is wrong, but what can I do to change it? I have no pull and we are too low in the pack to even be heard.

Once you are mated to someone else then that's it. There is no un-mating, unless they die or you are released. So if your real mate happens to come along, you couldn't mate with them until you were free.

If only this were the only problem....

Another problem is your feelings for your true mate never go away. They will still be slightly stronger than the one's for the person you are mated to. It is nearly impossible to fight them off, which is different from your forced or fake mate. At least you can resist them to some degree.

See, a forged bond makes the wolves grow feelings for one another, but in the end the feelings you have for your true mate trumps whatever you are feeling with your forced mate. The only way to avoid this is if your real mate stays away from you.

So far, I have never seen someone's real mate turn up once they are mated to someone else and I'm glad for that. There is no telling what would happen if that occurred. It would be painful for everyone.

I was quietly crying about my fate when suddenly my phone rang. My heart beat so fast to the point that it almost made me deaf.

I swallowed hard before picking it up and saw an unregistered number. I tapped the accept button and brought the phone to my right ear.

"Mom, could I talk to Aine alone, please?" A strong voice, who I didn't recognize from the other line spoke, obviously he was talking with his mom.

"Sure sweety. Make sure to impress your future mate," a sweet voiced said and eventually I heard a closing door sound.

"Sorry about that, Aine," the man said. "By the way, I'm Tygah Holly, your paired mate."

I was quiet. I don't know what to say since this bomb dropped before me minutes ago. I'm having a hard time processing everything right now.

"I'm sorry for the sudden news of you having a paired mate."

"It's okay." I smiled even though I had no idea if this would work.

"Uhm, so I'm picking you around on Friday. My pack has already been anticipating your arrival since I told them I had chosen a mate" he stated, excitement was obvious in his voice. "They wanted to know who would be their future Luna."

His words immediately caught my attention and if I wasn't sitting down I'm sure I would have fallen over.

D-did he just say Luna? Future Luna? No way. He couldn't have because that would mean my fate would be sealed. Why? Why did he go on length choosing me as his Luna when he could choose in his own pack!

"Y-you chose me?" I stuttered.

"Yeah," he admitted proudly.

"But...but why?"

It made no sense for him to choose me. I'm nobody and certainly not Luna material. Has he gone mad?

"Because I like you," he answered. "I've liked you for a long time."

"You have? But I never met you."

"I saw you when I was still a kid and used to come there to play with your future Alpha. Don't you remember?"

"Sorry. I..uhm I never really know you."

This was definitely new to me. Since when did men ever show interest in me? I'll admit I was surprised. I'm just a nobody and no men have ever tried to look at me in a romantic way. But a man whom I never met or saw? It's too good to be true. would have thought that someone had feelings for me. I thought I was just a wall flower.

"But, don't you want to wait for your true mate?" I asked.

"Aine you know true mates are very rare. But in my case, I was deemed to be mateless. Besides , I'm glad I got to choose my mate," he stated.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, while trying to think of a way to respond to that. Who didn't want to find their mate?

"I'm flattered you chose me and all but..." I paused, not sure if I should finish that sentence.

"But what?" he asked.

Maybe I shouldn't. What if it angers him? He probably wouldn't like the fact that I was holding out for my true mate. Call me a hopeless romantic but it's true. I was counting on that whole love at first sight feeling.

"You don't want to be with me, do you?" he asked with a hint of hurt in his voice.

Now look what I've done? I've obviously hurt him. I'm such an awful person.

"It's not that it's just..."

How do I put this?

"What if our mates came looking for us one day?" I said.

"Then we would give them up because we would already be mated," he said.

"But what if we don't want to? What if we are unable to fight off our feelings for them?"

He looked like he was taking my words into consideration but didn't reply. Maybe I've said too much. I knew I should have said something. Me and my big mouth.

"Not for me. I don't have a mate, remember?" he stated. "I'm not worried about it and neither should you. Just trust me."

As sweet as that was, I just wish I could believe it. I mean if I knew that my mate would never show up then I might have considered his offer but right now I just couldn't. We have true mates for a reason.

"Look, just think about it, ok? Just give this a chance. You never know if something will work until you try it," he insisted.

"Uhm… I'm sor-"

"Friday at ten in the morning, I'm picking you up. Be ready by then."

Tygah ended the call right before I'm about to reject this mate thing.

I don't want to be with someone that is a stranger! He's not my mate! The only thing that was in my mind was to run away.