Shannon
‘Hello Shannon.’ The foreign voice is deep and beautiful. In my dream a huge baby pink wolf is walking towards me. Her aura is compelling, calming and powerful.
‘Hello. Who are you?’ I ask in utter confusion. She doesn’t seem real, but at the same time she seems too real to be a dream.
‘My name is Ruby, and I am your wolf. I have been looking forward to meeting you.’
‘Ruby? Like a jewel?’
‘Exactly like that. You need to wake up now. Our mate is waiting for us.’
I wake up in my room, the dream still evident in my heart. I look at the clock on my nightstand; 6.10am.
I’m turning 18 today. This day has been underway for quite some time, and I hope to find my mate soon. It would be a nice change with a destined mate who will protect, love and take care of me and my mom. We have been alone since I was 12 where my father died. He was actually killed, but I have no idea how or why, just that my mother came home one day and said he was gone. I remember I was sad at first, because he was my dad after all, but then I was relieved. He wasn’t a good dad by any means, and he usually got really drunk and was mean to me and mom. He would either be cruel and smack us around because we were incompetent or he would yell and scream at us for any little thing.
I look up at the ceiling, not wanting to get out of bed. Am I not excited for my birthday? In some way I am, but then I have to go to school and then my excitement vanishes like the sun on a rainy day. The school is okay, and it has a nice big library with all kinds of books and adventures far away from this cruel world. But I also have to attend classes, and recess. I hate recess. And lunch time. UGH!
“Shannon, come on downstairs baby.” Mom yells from the kitchen. I sigh and get out of bed. Mom has been my rock and my only supporter since dad died - well technically since I was born. I go to the bathroom and do my business, looking at myself in the mirror. It’s not because I’m ugly. My big honey colored eyes swirl with life, but dulls as soon as I think of life. And my caramel hair goes down my back in long thick waves. My complexion is darker than the usual northern werewolf because my mother originally is from the south and has the dark skin typical from that region. We’re not all the way up north, but not quite in the middle either.
“Morning mom.” I greet her when I enter the kitchen. She smiles, and points at the table. There are two small packages. One is square like a book and the other is square but really small.
“Mom! You didn’t have to do that.” I say with a small smile, sitting down to open the gifts.
“I know, honey. But you should have something on your 18th birthday. It’s a big day for any shifter.” I nod my head, looking down at the big square one. I open it and find my all time favorite author underneath the paper - Charles Dickens.
“OH! Thank you, mom! I love it.” I say with sincerity, looking up at her smiling face. She’s making my favorite breakfast as well - pancakes with bacon and scrambled eggs.
“Your welcome, darling. Now open the other one.” She urges, before turning the pancake on the frying pan. I do as she says, and in the smaller packages is a necklace with a heart and wolf pendant. The wolf is sitting with one paw on the heart. The necklace is made from red gold, and the heart is a ruby as far as I can tell.
“Omg, this is so beautiful. Thank you, mom.” I have tears in my eyes, as I recognize the necklace as something she’s worn my whole life. I look at her neck and it’s bare, so this is the same thing.
“This belonged to my mother, and her mother before her. We have been gifted with it on our 18th birthday throughout generations, and today I gift it to you.”
We eat breakfast together in silence, before I need to get to school. I always try to get there just before classes start because then I can avoid most of the populars. Especially Eric and Annie and their cronies. They are just as dumb as they are cruel and entitled. Eric is the next in line to the Alpha title of his pack - a small one just west of here. Our highschool accommodates wolves from 6 different packs, mine included and is located on neutral ground, just in between the different borders. This means no one is on home turf on school grounds, and the principal rules supreme. Just too bad she is a kiss ass to the Alphas of the packs and a huge snob. She’s also Annie's mom, which doesn’t help matters at all. I try to keep my experiences in school from my mom. She has enough to battle with, without the complaining from me.
We were deranked from Beta’s after my dad, to Omega’s after his death, making it that much easier for everyone else to make mockery out of us. Mom takes it with her head held high. Me? I take it with my head hidden in a hood, ducked into a book and preferably out of sight.
I’ve never been a people’s person. Even though mom always told me I was special, she also cautioned me to keep to myself and take my meds. The meds should help me with an illness that apparently runs in her family. When I asked her about it she became really vague, and I must admit as time went on and I became a stubborn teenager, I forgot to take it more than I remembered, thinking it was stupid. I did notice how I harness more attention from the male population on the days I forget the meds, than on the days I remember, but that has to be a coincidence.
Mom drops me off at school before going to work herself.
“I have a surprise for you when you get out of school today, honey.” She says with a huge smile going into her eyes. I smile back at her, her mood infectious.
“Okay, can’t wait to hear it. Bye mom.” I wave at her before entering the school and going to my locker. I look around, my hood up and my head down. There’s not many people around, seeing as classes start soon. I get to my locker without incident, opening it to get my history books. History is one of my favorite classes - it’s intriguing and exciting following the events of werewolf history. From when we were created by the moon goddess, to now. The growth of pack and establishment of Alpha lines. Why there are ranks in a pack, and how it works. It crosses into our laws and pack structure class, which I also love.
I’m so engrossed in my own thoughts that I don’t feel the presence behind me before it’s too late. Ruby perks up in my mind, tongue hanging out in delight and then she says the words I’ve been hoping for all my life, but dreading I never would hear ‘Mate’.
Turning around I come face to face with that jerkward to Eric, and I can’t believe my own eyes.
“Hello mate.” He says, his voice deeper than normal. It’s his wolf speaking.
“He.. Hello.” I stammer, and Eric pins me to the locker, grinding into me. I try to push him away, but find it impossible. “What do you want?” I ask, frightened of his intentions. I’m not sure if I really want him as my mate, but perhaps he’ll change now that we are mated.
“You to accept me.” He answers, keeping my eyes locked on his. I nod slowly and a smile creeps on his lips. I feel like I’m in a trance, and then I feel myself stand on tiptoes to kiss him. I close my eyes as our lips almost meet, but instead of feeling his lips on mine, I feel a heart shattering smack on my face. I tumble on the ground, and then the world catches up to me. There are people all around us, laughing, pointing and recording.
“You found your mate, huh, Eric. Ain’t she a bit pathetic?” Annie’s shrill voice speaks over all the laughter. I feel the tears in my eyes, but I dare not speak. Ruby growls in my mind, but I shush her. I don’t want any trouble.
“That piece of trash is not my mate.” Eric spits, and the punch of his words make me lose my breath. “I, Eric, future Alpha of the Snow pack, rejects you, Shannon Hirth, as my mate and future Luna.” He smirks at me, and I suck back the tears. He’s not worth them. Not now, not ever. I feel dizzy from the rejection, but I manage to get up and accept it.
“I, Shannon Hirth, accept your rejection.” I answer, bending over in sheer heartache. Even Eric grunts in pain as our matebond is severed.
If it wasn’t enough with a rejection, Annie just has to throw salt into the wound. She stalks up to me, her perfect face covered in makeup, her hair professionally done. She slaps me across the face with her manicured hand, sneering at me.
“Once a loser, always a loser. No wonder your father drank himself to an early grave. You are disgusting, Shannon. Filth! It would be better for the world if you just killed yourself. You are a disgrace.” All the words are knives in my already shattered heart, breaking my soul as well. Annie walks to Eric, tongue kisses him in front of me, before giving me a rude hand gesture. Everyone else is laughing and mocking, until their two leaders walk away hand in hand. I stumble to the bathroom and let the tears fall. This has turned out to be the absolute worst birthday ever, except from gaining Ruby.
‘I understand if you want another human as your counterpart, Ruby. I’m pathetic.’
‘I don’t want anyone else, and you are not pathetic. You are broken, but can be mended by the right person
s
. Our path is no way near its end.’
I wash my face in the cold water, and decide to go about my day as if nothing happened. Classes are a blur of information, more mockery and teachers ignoring the bullying. Luch is spent in the library, and then the final class is over.
I walk to mom’s car, trying my hardest to stay invisible amongst the crowd. No one pays attention to me, and they won't because mom is here. They have always left me alone whenever she’s there.
“How was your day, honey?” She asks in the car. My eyes are still puffy and my hair disheveled from all the pulling and ruffling.
“I had better.” I answer, and she looks at me in that special mom way. I sigh. Might as well tell her now rather than later.
“People are mean and stupid.” I mumble, but I know she heard me and understands. She takes my hand, squeezing tightly.
“I have something to tell you, Shannon. Something that’ll make life in school easier.” She says, and I look at her as we park at home. There are people packing up our home. “I have found my second chance mate - Alpha Robin in the Dark Moon pack. We are moving there today.” She looks at me with nerves evident in every fiber of her body.
“Congratulations mom! I’m happy for you. When are we going?” I ask, hiding the pain inside at the chance of her gaining a new mate on the day mine rejected me.
“We’re just getting the things we are taking, and then we are gone. I already got Alpha to release us.” I nod, realizing I can’t feel the pack link anymore.
Half an hour later we are driving up the driveway to our new pack. The pack house is a huge mansion like house built out of trees. It’s gorgeous, huge and foreign. Mom is sitting on pins, she’s so excited. I’m more wary than anything. I wonder how my new stepfather is going to treat a lowlife such as myself. My mom on the other hand is going to be a wonderful Luna! Then I panic. She’s going to be Luna. And I’m going to be.. The pathetic stepdaughter everyone pitties. Great.
