Chapter 2

Flora’s P.O.V

“Oh My God!” Ruth whispered before shaking her head and pointing behind us towards the exit to the woods with her fingers. “Let’s get out of here.”

I nodded silently and both of us made our way towards the back on our hands and knees when suddenly, we were met with a pair of sneakers in our line of sight. Heart leaping to my throat, I followed the leg that bore the sneakers and looked up into the angelic face of Clay Scotsman.

“Up.” He said hoarsely and immediately, Ruth and I scrambled to our feet. “Good. Now, you ladies mind telling me why you two were pretending to not have seen anything when you clearly have?”

“We, didn’t see anything, I swear.” I said immediately and when I saw Clay giving me an exasperated look, I added, “I swear on the honour code.”

I thought Clay might be angry that I knew about the honour code but instead, he barked out a laugh and patted my head lightly, ruffling up my hair.

“Good girl.” He said, looking at me with eyes that had suddenly gone wolf. “Now get out of the woods.”

Ruth didn’t wait even a single second before she took my hand and we both sprinted out of the woods and into the clearing behind our school.

“Fuck!” Ruth cussed as she collapsed onto the ground. “Why is that guy so intimidating? Don’t you feel intimidated by him at all? I could hardly open my mouth in front of him.”

It’s true, Alpha wolves, or even future Alpha wolves, had a lot of contained power inside them, which meant that normal wolves like us usually got really intimidated whenever we were in their presence. But, “Riley’s the beta, remember?” I reminded Ruth. Because of my brother, I was used to having that shove of power against my senses, even if it’s not such a vast amount, it still helped me build up a tolerance. Plus, my parents were two super dominant wolves as well. Having a houseful of powerful wolves could be a bummer sometimes, that constant shove of power an onslaught against your senses, but over time, it allowed me to build up a tolerance.

It was actually really shocking that in a house filled with dominant wolves, I turned out to be a submissive. Well, not exactly a submissive, since I was the future healer but healers are gentle and caring by nature, someone who is approachable by everyone in the pack, even the most submissive members.

“Fine, I’ll give you that.” Ruth patted the seat beside her and I plopped down on the ground and folded my knees up against my chest so I could rest my chin on them. “But what the hell is this honour code?”

“It’s something my brother and his friends came up with while they were in college.” I told her truthfully. “It’s when you catch a higher raking wolf in some kind of a compromising positing, you keep quiet about it. It’s got some sweet talk about them honouring you for your shut lips by being your guardian or some stuff like that. It’s something like a favour for a favour.”

Ruth gave me a wide eyed look. “Wow! We never had anything like that in our old pack.”

“Don’t get too excited, Ruth,” I shook my head. “It’s just some shit that they made up so they could hook up with anyone they wanted to without facing any serious consequences. Well...that’s before they meet their mates.”

“Well, that’s fucked up.” Ruth shook her head. “What if your mate’s a virgin who’s been saving herself only for their mate?”

I gave her a deadpan look to which Ruth burst out laughing. “Yeah, right!” She sniggered. “I forgot that for that you’d have to be younger than sixteen.”

“Those are rough two years.” I shook my head as I took my lunch box out of my backpack and offered Ruth a slice of my sandwich before digging into my lunch.

What Ruth and I were discussing wasn't an exaggeration. Wolves are very sensitive creatures that need the continuous touch from their packmates, which doesn’t usually have to be sexual touch, but wolves are also very sexually active in their juvenile years, especially the time from their sixteenth to eighteenth years. This period is usually called the Heat, but it’s not like someone can’t resist the sexual urges. They can but for that you need to have nerves of steel and a very strong determination to stay a virgin for your mate. And unlike what romance novels make it look like, wolves find their mates at or after their twenty eighth birthdays, when the wolf is mature enough to understand its responsibilities and it’s usually the male who finds their mates first. The females can’t usually sense who their mates are before the male has matured. Sometimes people have claimed that there was this spark, this chemistry that leads them to know beforehand, but that’s not true for everyone.

I sometimes feel like it’s an unfair advantage that the Moon Goddess had given the male wolves, but it’s not like we can do anything about it. What’s been set in stone can’t be changed. Just like the mating bond itself. Once you feel the pull of the mating bond, you can never look at anyone else. It does seem unfair to me, almost like an arranged marriage where you don’t really have a say in the matter and are forced to love the person who was chosen for you, even if said choosing is done by a Goddess. It felt more like a beautifully decorated cage.

When I told Ruth about my theory, she just shrugged. “I think you’re right about the part where we don’t have any choice, but it saves us a lot of work.” She said as she bit into her spring roll while offering me one of those crispy fried goodness. “No matter what happens, your mate will always be faithful, always love you more than anything in this world.”

“I guess you’re right,” I bit down on her spring roll, the spicy filling blowing my head off and distracting me from my worries for a brief few minutes while we ate lunch and talked about all sorts of things. Ruth’s mother, Armina Summers, was an amazing cook and it was no surprise that she often found that half the pack had invited themselves over to her place for lunch or dinner or for some snacks in between. But Auntie Armina loved feeding people, which was why she was always inside her kitchen, making up delicious snacks for anyone who wanted to drop by. I’ve never once seen her complain.

But even as thoughts of mates and Moon Goddesses swam through the back of my mind as I finished up my lunch and went back inside the building to head to my next class with Ruth by my side, I was unaware of the wolf that had followed us to the clearing and was keeping an eye on me all throughout.