Chapter 54

I lean forward to get a better view of who he's with, and I notice one person to be the Luna, and I lean a little further, and my foot gets caught on a tree root, and I claw at the bark to catch myself, and I slowly fall to my knees, and the group comes to a halt. I freeze.

They scan the trees until the Luna's eyes fall upon me, somewhat hidden behind a low bush. "Hello?" She calls out. "Who's there?"

I bite the inside of my cheek and get up, dirt coating my palms and sprinkled on my dress. "Sorry," I say nervously. "I thought I saw something out further, but I tripped and. . . Well, sorry if I scared you. I'm just on my way to the—"

"The gathering for the mateless?" The Luna finishes.

I finally land back on the path and get a good view of the small crowd. My eyes go straight to my Alpha, apologetically of course, but the man beside him grabs my attention. He's an Alpha no doubt; he looks like one. The sort of perfection only the most prestigious werewolves display. I could explain every one of his magnificent features and write a book about it all, but something else has me entranced. The feeling in my stomach. Or is it my heart? Or is it my more delicate regions? Maybe it's everything. It's like his eyes are tearing me apart just because they can. I swallow.

He makes my mouth water, this man, this Alpha, and I shouldn't think in such ways about someone above me. His position stomps on my entire life. I am a speck to him.

Finding it very hard to concentrate, I begin to see small movements on his face. His eyes shoot to me, then immediately gaze off, then come to me again, then leave again, like he's looking at an eclipse. His jaw muscles clench, and I cross my feet, one leg moving in front of the other, almost squeezing together. My heart races, like someone is beating a drum in my chest, and I don't understand any of it.

As I stare at him, I cannot help but imagine myself dropping my virginity in the forest, against a tree, maybe even the one I was hidden behind a moment or two ago.

Wait. What?

"Shouldn't you be on your way, then?" My Alpha cuts through the silence and drags me back to reality.

I briefly wet my dry lips before tossing together words that mean nothing to me at the moment. "Yes, I'll get out of your way."

I step to the side and watch as the man, the Alpha, walk past me along with the others, his scent giving my head a spin. He doesn't look back at me like I would for him, he only keeps on walking, leaving me in a confusing fog, lost, not knowing what to do next.

I struggle for a minute, still standing on the path.

Everything in my animalistic being is telling me what I do not want to hear. It's shouting at me, and I have my headphones on, trying to ignore it.

That Alpha, that man, that Alpha. . . An Alpha! What am I thinking? Me, mated to an Alpha? What a joke! If the girls were here right now, they'd sure get a kick out of this. Rae East thought she was mates with an Alpha, what a laugh!

I have the urge to smack myself for being so stupid.

I make my way down the path once again and dread the gathering. Not only will I feel like a complete idiot, but I will also now have to watch girls flirt and dance, maybe even discover their mates, something I would never experience because I don't have a Mate, and I will never have a Mate!

It is like convincing my sixteen-year-old self all over again.

There are one hundred males and one hundred and one females, and I am the one. I am the leftover.

I find the building and huff before walking towards it, preparing to join the crowd.