---Paige's POV----

I quickly ran home after school. A plan was forming in my head but I pushed it away; right now, I needed to focus on making a good alibi. I was only hoping that nobody was home.

John and Kath were in the kitchen when I arrived and they looked slightly surprised to see me. Ah crap, I ran way too fast to make them believe that I ran home.

"Hey! I'm back from school!" I said in a cheery voice. If I could distract them with a few school anecdotes, they might forget to ask why I was here so early.

"How was school Paige?" Kath asked with a slight smile on her face. I think that they knew most of what had happened but I acted normally. They didn't know that I knew their greatest secret.

"Great! I have made some friends, like Jack, Tyler, those triplets...." I walked to the fridge and picked a bottle of water. "Turns out I'm a decent singer and Oh! I've beaten Jacob's team at baseball." I looked up to see both John and Kath's mouths hanging wide open. Well, apparently I succeeded had distracted them.

"Say what?" John asked, curiosity and amusement coloring his voice. So I told them about the match, the boys lack of interest in my team, how I fooled them and finally how my team had won the match. I had a huge grin when I ended my story and explained "Well, that might teach them to stop judging a book by its cover. Serves them right."

Kath was laughing out loud while she started to prepare the food and John had an appreciative smile on his face while he nodded his head. "Perhaps," he said, "But I think that you've mainly hurt their manly pride about breaking their continued winning streak." He smiled at me while I laughed.

"Yeah, only too bad that Jacob is such a sore loser." I said, hoping they would pick up on that. Kath didn't disappoint; she immediately started to ask me questions. "Why? What did he do?"

"Well, he did help me back up after I crash-landed and won the match but as soon as I was standing on my two feet, he gave me this look and charged off. As if he was disgusted with me." I said innocently, causing both John and Kath to stop preparation of dinner and exchange a loaded look with each other.

So they knew what this was about then...That settled it. I really needed to make myself an alibi so I could investigate and try and find out what was going on.

"Maybe I should go and look him up. Make sure that he is okay and apologize for , I don't know, tricking them I guess?" I said in a hesitant voice. Kath gave me a loving look and hugged me while she said, "It's not your fault that they were beaten by a girl, Paige." She slightly laughed when I said, "Actually, the girl that beat them is standing right here, so..." I trailed off.

John was the one to make the decision.  "You can go but..." he hesitated slightly before he continued, "I know Jacob, and he has slight anger-management problems so try not to push him too far, alright?" 'Hah, understatement of the year' I thought but I nodded my head.

My alibi was made; I could stay in or around the pack house without anyone getting suspicious. So I walked over to the enormous house and was about to knock on the door when a man walked out. He looked at me curiously while he said, "Yes? Can I help you?" his voice was filled with wisdom and authority, what made me think that he was the Alpha of the pack.

"I hope so, Sir. I'm Paige, living across the street with my new family?" I said while pointing over my back at the house. He looked at me with understanding when he nodded. "Ah, yes. The adoptive daughter of the Walkers?" he asked and I nodded in confirmation before he continued.

"Have you met my son, Jacob?" he asked with slight curiosity while he was observing me. Ah, so this was the Alpha. Jacob mentioned in the forest that Nick needed his father's approval to tell their secret. This man did look like Jacob, although his dark brown hair had a few stripes of grey mixed in them.

I noticed his changed stance; his posture was tenser, withdrawing. He was guarding his secret. Too bad that I already knew it.

"Yes sir, in fact, I was here because of Jacob. Is he here?" I asked politely, hoping I wouldn't be drawn in a staring game with an Alpha. He smiled at me but it didn't come to his eyes.

"Why do you need him?" he asked firmly, his gaze burning in mine. I immediately averted my eyes and looked down before shrugging, I mumbled, "He acted strange on the baseball field. I wanted to make sure that he was alright." His chuckle made me look back up with a curious frown.

"If this is about that baseball game he lost, then don't worry. He'll like his bruised ego and get over it." He smiled at me, this time for real. I was surprised that Jacob told him about it, but then again; he might have picked it up through the mental connection that werewolves seemed to share.

"Oh, okay." I replied with a smile, taking a step back. "Can you tell him that it was all just for good fun?" I asked nicely and he chuckled slightly, nodding his head before he walked away. I held back a smile while I walked back to the house to tell my parents that I was going out for a walk.

My alibi was complete; it would be normal that my scent hangs around in the forest and around the pack house. What they didn't know was in what form I had walked around. That fact had been proven when Nick hadn't sniffed me out when I was a mountain lion right in front of them.

I mentally made a note for myself that I should write that down in my book before I changed into my cat form.

Stretching my legs and spine, I pricked my ears up while listening to the sounds around me. My plan was simple: I would play my "I'm-a-weak-human" part and after school I could snoop around in my animal forms, learning as much as I needed from the pack. I had already picked up quite a few things with my enhanced hearing.

My tail flicked when I noticed a scent not too far off that was close to Jacob's. I walked over to the source, finding a little girl playing in the yard behind the house. I hunched over while I observed her. Obviously she was related to Jacob; she had the same hair, only curly and when she looked up, I noticed that she had the same gorgeous hazel eyes as Jacob.

Wait. Did I just think that Jacob's eyes were gorgeous? Where the hell did that come from? I was getting sick or something, to feel attracted to a guy who tried to attack me, growled at me and gave me a nasty look before running away.

Meanwhile, the girl stood up before she slowly walked over towards me. I kept a close eye on her, waving my tail slowly. If she would react as Jacob, I was out of here. But she didn't, she stopped a few steps away from me and kept looking at me with curiosity in her eyes.

"Where did you come from?" she asked while she looked at me. "You look amazing." She muttered, what caused me to internally chuckle. I had learned my feline shape from a book with cat breeds, so I didn't look like any normal alley cat. In fact, I looked like an Egyptian Mau; those big, beautiful eyes and that shiny grey fur with those black blotches had always mesmerized me.

I ignored her and started licking my paw, curious what she intended to do. Glancing at her from the corner of my eyes, I judged that she was between eight or nine years old, maybe even ten. It was hard to try and pin an age on a werewolf, no matter what age they truly had.

She smiled lightly when she held out a hand to me, the palm facing up, inviting me to come over and take a sniff. My senses told me it was safe, so I took small steps towards her.

When I came close to her, I noticed that her scent wasn't exactly the same as Jacob, but it swirled around her. Maybe she was his sister? I took another step forward, sniffing at her hand to get familiar with her scent, as her smile grew wider.

She slowly raised her other hand and started stroking over my back. I curved it along with her hand and started to purr, causing the girl to giggle with joy while she sat down with me. Being petted as a feline gave me a loved and comforted feeling. I really started to like this girl.

"Alexis? Where are you sweetie?" a voice called out. I looked up when I saw a woman coming out of the house, wiping her hands of the apron she was wearing.  Suddenly I was hanging in the air, meowing in discomfort; Alexis has yanked me up under my front legs, leaving the rest of my body hanging in the air.

"Mom look, I made a new friend!" she said while she ran towards the woman, clenching me against her chest. "Can I keep it? Please, please, pleaaaaaaase?" she begged as I heard her mother laugh.

"Alex let that poor thing go. You're hurting it." The woman spoke while she pried her daughter's fingers of me. The second her grip loosened a fraction, I jumped over the kid's shoulders and on the ground immediately and started to clean my fur, trying to look like a normal cat.

Alexis was looking at me with a guilty expression and I let out an angry meow, bristling my fur when she tried to pick me up again. Her mother looked between us and said, "You see? I have told you a million times to be gentle with animals."

She looked around while Alexis was trying to get my attention back. "And where's Jacob when you need him?" she said, causing me to focus on the conversation.

"I don't know." Alexis said, while she was slightly pouting, looking at me. Gah, those puppy eyes, kids should be punished to use a look like that. I walked closer to her and laid down next to her, allowing her to pet me. They both smiled while Alexis continued "He came back from school, fuming, and said something about human mates before he went back into the woods."

Mate? As in soul mate? Why would Jacob be angry if he would have found his mate? Luckily, it was like Alexis was reading my mind, because she started to ask questions about the subject.

"Mom, what is a mate? I wanted to ask Jacob but he's scary when he's angry." She said while she slightly shivered. I jumped on her lap and rubbed my head against her chin, causing her to giggle while she kept petting me. She was really starting to grow on me.

"Well, a mate is that one person who fits you the most. You have a connection with him or her that you can't find with anyone else. Because of what we are, it is the only person that you'll love, once you've met them." Alexis's mother explained while she sat down with us. "When Jacob helped that human girl on her feet, he felt the bond between them. He knew instantly that she is his mate."

What? Jacob LOVES me? Impossible! I tried to deny it, but I thought back at the match, how he looked while he helped me up. Maybe it was true. But...

"Why is Jacob so angry then? You and dad are happy with each other." Alexis said with a cute frown on her face. If I was in human form, I would be frowning too. Looking up at Alexis's mother, I saw a frown on her face as well, accompanied with anger and worry.

She pushed her blond curls behind her ear while she sighed. "It is a little difficult to explain..." she trailed off. She continued after a while, "Jacob believes that, because he is going to be the next Alpha, he needs to have a strong mate. Meaning that she has to be non-human."

Alexis looked at me with sad eyes, causing me to meow while I playfully pawed at her. A smile broke through and she rubbed over my head before she put me back on the ground. "So, Jacob doesn't want his mate because she's human?" she asked and I was surprised by the feeling that overwhelmed me.

My heart felt like ice had been poured through, and I was unable to breath. If I was Jacob's mate, he was also mine. Meaning I couldn't love anyone else like I would love him. Would he truly reject me just because he thought I was human?

Her mother's next words weighed down on me. "I'm afraid so. I feel sorry for his mate because, for now, Jacob will hate her with a passion. But," she said, causing me to look up with a sliver of hope left in me, "the bond is too hard to resist, so in time, Jacob will come to accept her."

I had heard enough. I stood up and walked away, almost running for the bushes. Jacob might choose me, but it was more likely that he would hate me. Changing back in my human form, I walked back home, repeating the whole conversation over and over. I didn't notice that I was home until I sat down on my bed, a small sob coming out of my throat.

There was no use in getting depressed. Yes, Jacob was my mate, a mate who didn't love me. Then again, I had been through difficult situations before. I couldn't be brought down that easy. I sighed before I went downstairs for dinner. I would see what would happen at school tomorrow.

---Jacob's POV---

I ran through the forest in my wolf-form, rage controlling every move I made. My wolf wasn't in control; if it were up to him, he would be a lapdog for that human. I growled out loud while I thought back at that moment. Her soft hands in mine while I pulled her to her feet, the distinctive tingles that you only feel when you touch your mate...

How could a human be my mate? I was going to be the next Alpha for crying out loud. I had to have a strong Luna by my side. A weak Luna would provoke other packs to attack mine, and I couldn't risk that.

"Jacob, calm down. She is your mate for a reason, she'll suit you just fine." Father's normally calming voice seeped through my mind. I couldn't calm down however.

"Well, the divine match-makers have really made a mess of it this time. How on earth do you expect a weak human to be a good Luna? How can she even begin to understand what we are?" I growled through the link.

I heard father sigh, and I could imagine him rubbing his hand through his hair. He'd always do that when he stood for a difficult situation. Eventually he muttered, "Don't do anything stupid, I'm there in five minutes."

Relatively calming down, I listened to the sounds of the woods around me and picked up on the chatter through the mind link. I was getting frustrated however, when father opened the door and Paige stood in front of it, a slight surprised look on her face, with her hand in the air to knock on the door.

I didn't listen to their polite conversation, it only infuriated me that she had to come to MY house and stop MY father from coming down to help me calm down. I plowed through a dead tree, hearing it snap on impact before I lunged forward again.

This was NOT happening!

Father's presence surprised me; I didn't notice that he had stopped the conversation, or that he shifted in his wolf-form to catch up with me.

"Probably because you were too busy destroying the woods and ranting on and on about having a human mate." He said in an amused tone, barely holding back his laughter.

I snapped at him, I couldn't find anything funny about this situation. He growled at me in response and raised the hairs on his back. I went too far, trying to challenge him like that; he was and still is, the Alpha of the pack.

Lowering my body to the ground, he stepped over me while showing his canines. "If you can't accept your mate, then leave her alone for now. Tell the others what she is to you so that you won't be challenged before you are ready." He slowly backed down, allowing me to stand up. "Don't do anything stupid that you might regret when you realize what you've got." He turned around and left me alone in the forest.

I shook out my fur while I thought about it for a moment. Leave her alone for a while on school. I can do that.

------------

Turns out that ignoring Paige is impossible.

The whole week long was a slow torment for me; the guys bring her at the lunch table every single time, where she's asked a bunch of questions, or she's in one of the lessons with a pack member, where he blabbers on about her through the pack-mind or I have a lesson with her, while my wolf keeps harassing me to go to her, be nice to her.

At least it made sense to why she fit in so well with the group. Their wolves instinctively recognized her as Luna and treated her that way. Too damn bad I wasn't about to jump for joy and accept her.

Thank god it was Friday today; I would have a whole weekend without Paige this and Paige that. Ok, she was my mate, but why does the whole pack need to run around her like some drooling lechers?

I scowled at Nick, who sat beside Paige at lunch. He just rolled his eyes at me while he gave me a pointed look; I didn't tell any of the guys, except Nick, that Paige was my mate, so of course, they didn't knew that they were ticking my wolf off every time they spoke with her.

"You'll have to tell them sooner or later." Nick said through the link in a calm voice.

"I don't have to do anything. Good chance that I fall in love with a werewolf and that I forget about this stupid bond." I growled at him, what made him look up with a shocked expression on his face.

"You- you wouldn't- I..." he took a deep breath to calm himself. "You really would dump Paige for being a human? You'd dump your mate like she's a high school fling?!" he half-growled at me while he stared at me.

I growled at him, keeping my tone inhumanly low so that I wouldn't expose our kind to the humans. "Don't. Tempt. ME." I hissed at the end, causing him to flinch and turn away.

I saw Paige look at him with concern in her eyes, a small wrinkle in between her brows before she turned her gaze at me. She quickly turned away from me, probably because of my ticked off mood. I felt slightly guilty for a moment before I pushed it away.

There had to be a better way to keep away from her. I sighed while I pinched my nose bridge, closing my eyes in the process. A plan was slowly forming in my mind, but I needed to be careful with it. If father would find out, he would be furious with me, because it was a 'stupid thing that I might come to regret.'

I slightly smirked while I looked around. This would be the last time that Paige would annoy me further.

---Paige's POV---

Last week was great; it turned out that I had class with several pack-members, who still didn't had a clue about what I was or that I knew about them, and I made tons of new friends, even human ones.

The music lessons were relaxing; we learned about the different types of music, how to play the instruments of choice, which I did rather badly, and Mister Parker had made a new class for those that were qualified to sing.

I used my weekend to look for wildlife in the forest. I've finally found a wolf pack, about fifteen minutes running from my house and I was eagerly accepted amongst them; I'd almost forgot that the animals truly respect me. I found several other animal forms, but they weren't that interesting to learn: I wanted to learn forms that could help me in difficult situations and I had a hard time to figure out what a fluffy rabbit could do for protection.

Nick had unintentionally helped me by giving me a flyer of a Zoo, not too far away from home. He gave it to me, saying that I could find some interesting subject to draw while I had another idea; I could go there to learn more animal forms.

It turned out that I could learn a new form very fast; I was running in my wolf-form when the pack came across a viper and they might have killed it, for food or out of curiosity. I however changed back into my human form and slowly picked it up by its tail.

A massive risk, I know but my bond with wildlife made me want to help them, not just kill them.

I was probably acting like a fool, mumbling against that snake while I placed it away from the pack.  But I couldn't place it down; it had slithered its way across my arm until its face was hanging in front of me, those green-yellow puffy eyes looking at me. What surprised me was when the viper dangled its tongue out and touched the spot above my nose bridge with the tips of its tongue.

Flashes of the viper's life filled me, along with the knowledge of that animal. When the seemingly endless stream of information was over, the snake slid down my arm and on the forest floor, leaving me behind in a slightly shocked state. It was only later that I realized that it had taught me his form.

I used the rest of the weekend to describe the event in my book and I've written down mother's chosen words.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. If you know how to look, you can see the soul inside.

I smiled at that line while I drew images of what happened that moment; the snake dangling in front of me, our eye contact, how its eyes looked...

I closed my book when I noticed the time; it was way past midnight and I had school tomorrow... well today technically. So I quickly placed my book and pencils away and went to sleep, already feeling excited to speak to my boys about the weekend.

-------

Something was... off today. For instance, I was talking to Nick in the car while he drove me to school. He was in the middle of his story about what he and the guys usually do during school holidays when he stopped speaking, halfway his sentence.

He had his mouth gaping open, opening and closing it while a shocked expression filled his eyes. I noticed that his knuckles became white while he slightly started to shake. When I asked him what was wrong, he just looked at me and sounded like he choked on his breath. He darted away from me as soon as we arrived at school.

I was confused when I entered my math lesson and sat down with Emilie, who became one of my best friends after the introduction to singing. She smiled at me and noticed my swirling emotions.

"Hey," she said in a soft, gentle tone, "What's wrong?" I sat down with her, trying to figure out if I should tell what had happened. Eventually I just told her. She frowned while she thought about it before she softly said, "Maybe he forgot something?" sounding unconvinced.

"Yeah, perhaps." I said. I didn't want to discuss it here; there were some wolves in the class. Speaking off them, they hadn't glanced at me or even spoke to me, while I knew some of them really good.

I tried to start a conversation with Chris, who always sat behind me and was eager for a chat, but he ignored me while he played around with his cellphone. During the whole class, I noticed that none of the wolves tried to make contact with me, which was odd, since they couldn't leave me alone for more than two seconds.

Tapping my pencil to my book, I frowned while pondering over the whole thing. The few wolves I saw were tensed while they ignored me completely, almost as if...

The bell rang and the three wolves in the class literally ran away from me. My emotions started to bubble up; I was feeling hurt about their reaction, how they avoided me. It was almost like they didn't want to know me anymore.

It went on like that for the next lessons, where David even said to me that I shouldn't bother to speak to any of the guys in a harsh tone. His expression turned sad when I quickly walked out of the class with my stuff as soon as the bell rang.

I tried to hold back my tears desperately, unable to understand what had happened. I didn't do anything wrong, did I?

It all became clear during lunch; I made my way over to our table, where the guys were laughing with each other. I noticed that Jacob was sitting on my place, and the others froze when I came closer. Before I took another step or even blink, Jacob's face was inches away from mine.

His eyes were burning, not just with anger, but also with pleasure and self-appreciation. I had a hard time to look him in the eye, remembering the conversation with his mother and sister. His next words however, shocked me to the core.

"You are no longer welcome at this table." He hissed, venom leaking from every word. My throat felt thick and swollen at his next words. " I don't want you near any of my friends anymore, especially me." He stared me in the eye and took a step forward while I automatically stepped back.

I glanced at the table, but none of the guys were looking at me; they were looking at their feet with a sad expression in their eyes. Some of them even looked angry. I fully understood what had happened; Jacob had made a command: they weren't allowed to make contact with me; even my own brother couldn't say a word to me.

I looked back up at Jacob while a tear rolled down my cheek, and I could swear that his expression and stance wavered a little, but I had already turned my back to him.

The rest of the week was absolutely painful. All my werewolf friends had abandoned me, like I was a bag of useless weight. I was still hopeful that I would have my human friends to account to, but Jacob bullied them until they too didn't talk to me anymore.

I felt like a pariah, everyone saw me but nobody wanted to see me. Even the wolf-teachers tried to ignore me in class, and if they couldn't, they spoke to me with a minimum amount of words. I was ignored during singing classes and eventually, I just stopped going to them.

Some might say that it is better to be left alone then to be bullied but I disagree. I felt like I was a waste of air, just stealing the space that I was in. Teachers made no remarks when I arrived late because my brother didn't brought me anymore, students ignored me...I was used to it at the orphanage, but I didn't expect that I would come back to this hellhole when I was adopted.

But this, this was even worse than the orphanage. At least there the staff still spoke to me, even if it was in a bored manner. There, I knew I wasn't accepted by anyone.

Here, I had finally made friends, could see these people as family after I lost mine. But it seemed it was too much to hope for and the world had cruelly ripped that hope away from me.

After another two weeks of silent treatment, I was a mess; I had lost weight, barely got any sleep and I started to have nightmares. Nightmares of my parents abandoning me, the pack sneering at me while Jacob sat there with a satisfied smirk. The hope that Jacob would accept me, or that he would allow the others to talk to me, had disappeared long ago.

By now it was Wednesday night and I slowly made myself ready to go to sleep. I had used every free moment that I had to escape to the nature around me. The only good thing about this situation was that I had learned several new forms; Viper, falcon and after my lonely visit to the zoo, I could count cheetah and barn owl to my list of forms.

I laid down in my bed, crying myself to sleep, trying to keep it down so that nobody would come check on me. Nick had often paused in front of my bedroom door before sighing deeply and walking away.

I truly am all alone...

Thursday passed by in a blur, but I noticed a change; I was followed, not by the pack, but by one of those creeps. At least, I figured that he belonged with them, because I had never seen them.

He kept his distance however, causing me to forget about him when I noticed that Jacob had a new girl draped on his arm. I wouldn't be disgusted if I didn't hear the conversation between Alexis and her mother. Now, it made me sad and disgusted, because Jacob hated me that much that he chose another over me.

My final class was an art-lesson, where we were given a new assignment for the next weeks; we would each get a large canvas, on which we had to paint our family on. I swallowed while I wrote it down before I left the class. How much of my family did I had left?

I started to walk back home through the forest, but came to a halt when I saw several men in the clearing, looking at me. Before I could react, I felt someone's breath tickle over my cheek, as a man behind me spoke up.

"For an Alpha's mate and future Luna, you aren't protected and loved like you should have been. That means we are in luck... But it's too bad for you." He said evilly before he quickly covered my mouth with his hand and pulled my head back by my hair as I let out a scream that echoed through the forest.

"Don't worry princes," he continued, "You'll be a great distraction to us." He whispered in my ear while I heard the other guys' chuckle evilly.