As the train rolled away and disappeared, my heart dropped. I started think of all the dumb decisions I made while taking this trip. One of them being ever showing up. The alpha did a signal of some sort towards his pack and all the werewolves gathered around us. It was like we were being rounded like cattle or sheep. My heart kept racing and I saw Lucinda and Dante's face turn into sheer panic. The alpha came from the group and announced to us;

"Don't be afraid," His voice was deep and comforting. "We are here to give you a better life. If are too listen to what we say you'll find that we are not here to hurt you but, to help a good cause. We'll be traveling a few miles and I don't want to hear anyone of you complaining or disobeying one of my guards." That red head guy smirk at me. He knew that I would having a hard time with that. "Welcome to our tribe, Phoenix Drop."

With that, the alpha started leading everyone towards our destination. I stuck with Dante and Lucinda, Kimberly joined us as well. The wolves guided us up rocky trails which was hard for me to get a steady step up with my shoes that my mother told me to wear that morning. Soon, the alpha lead us off the trail and we ended up by a river that we decided to follow instead. Lucinda seemed to be struggling walking with her heels in the mud and she clutched my shoulder, needing a bit of support. I gladly let her seeing her a bit frantic about everything. We hadn't really said much. I think it was because we were too afraid to say anything. I decided to look at everyone else and our kidnappers. They all seemed to be in the same situation as we were. Since there wasn't many of us, I was a bit worried if it would cause a problem in the future.  I couldn't help but notice each one of the werewolves looked quite approachable. Especially the alpha. When he didn't try to look intimidating he seemed to have a soft smile on his face. The only one that always made me want to back away a few miles was that red head. His eyes were piercing at anyone who looked at him.

"What do think his problem is?" Dante asked under his breath. I honestly didn't know but, I responded with; "He's just trying to look menacing. Don't pay him any mind."

I hoped he didn't hear me. Maybe he did. Since he might have the senses of a dog. I kept Lucinda steady as we continued on. I could tell she wasn't happy with mud on her magenta velvet heels. Once we reached solidified ground, she let go.

"Thank you Garroth," She said, smiling. "You're a true gentleman."

It was a few minutes more and I asked myself; "What am I doing?" It was under my breath but, Kimberly noticed and asked; "What is it?" I looked at her and blinked. "What is it? Kimberly, we're walking like a bunch of cattle letting them take us to who knows where. Why are letting them?"

"I...I guess you're right!" She exclaimed quietly. "What shall we do?" She had that playful spark in her eyes and I could tell I was going to enjoy this little friendship of ours'. I nudged Dante and Lucinda who looked at us.

"Let's try-"

Just then, some man stopped in his tracker. He looked middle aged and his hair was starting to get a gray hue to it. He looked agitated and looked at the Alpha.

"How dare you take us like this! We have lives, family, and friends back at home and you have the audacity to take us away from it?" He stomped. The alpha looked back at him and glared at him. His grey eyes turned crimson red and he came close to the man. By now, he had stopped everyone so, no one could ignore this.

"I wouldn't question this sir. Our tribe has our reasons for this," He said, calmly. "I'll give you one last chance."

"I rather be killed than listen to you."

The alpha only chuckled and said; "So be it."

His eyes seemed to glow and the man cried out shortly after. Everyone gasped in shock and I assume one of his partners of whom the man was traveling with was in utter shock and too afraid to do anything. I clutched my first and decided this needed to stop. I stormed up to the man and dragged him aside, away from the alpha. The werewolves, even the red head one, gasped at this.

"Can't you see you're hurting this man!" I shouted. "He has the right to express what he feels! You don't have the right to hurt him!"

The alpha turned to me and glared the same way towards me. The older man stood behind me, dazed by what happened but kept his head down. I kept my ground and glared back at the alpha. His eyes glowed a deep red and I stared right back at them, trembling inside of what he was about to do. After a while, his expression softened into confusion. The other dogs seemed to see this as well. They looked at their alpha like something was suppose to happen.

"...I would recommend that you stay back, sir," The alpha said to me. "I don't know who you are and why you think you have the same rights you had at home but, you need to realize that here, things run differently then back home where you're fire crackles and you have food on the table every night. We are wolves and you need to know how to be like one to survive."

With that, he turned and went back to the front. I took a sigh of relief, thankful nothing awful happened to me. The man said to me;

"Thank you young man," He said. "I owe my life to you."

With that, he joined his partner. I decided to go back to my party.

"G-Garroth," Dante said, shocked. "How are you-"

"I'm fine. Let's just not do anything rash for the rest of this journey. I suggest we figure something out when we get there."

I felt a hand get placed on my shoulder. I looked back to see red head, looking down on me.

"You're coming with me," He said.

I gulped and looked towards my new friends. Since I didn't want to risk my safety again, I just decided to follow my orders. The werewolf pulled me with him towards the back of the crowd. When we all started moving again, I stood besides him, too scared to say anything.

"What?" He teased. "Blondie too afraid to say anything now?"

"I have a name you know," I say.

"I know but, since you haven't asked for mind I thought it was fitting to call you that," He said.

"Fine. What's your name?"

"Blaze. Even though I know what your name is, what's your's?"

"Garroth."

"Who names a kid Garroth?"

"Same reason why someone named a kid Blaze."

He rolled his eyes and continued forward. Since we were behind everyone, I didn't want to bug him too much. If I hit his nerves too hard, he could do anything to me.

"You know," He says. "I think what you did was dumb."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, first off," He says, "you went on that train will the knowledge of what could happen to you all because of some paper I assume for the O'Khasis Gazette. Second, what you did back there was incredibly stupid. Alpha could've done something to you then and there that could've risked your life."

"But he-"

"I'm going to give you some advice Garroth," He said, looking forward. I was surprised by this but let him continue. "You can never disobey alpha."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked. "Don't you want me to get punish for disobeying you."

Blaze looked at me and said;

"You may not why now but, we are gonna need each other soon and I cannot have you getting killed just by refusing to walk."

I stared at him blankly. I didn't know what to say at that moment but, I decided to keep my mouth shut and move forward.

•••

   After maybe a mile or two, we reached what looked to be a hidden town of some sorts. It was decently sized and I couldn't count how many werewolves were there. The alpha guided us through the town. The werewolves seemed to stop what they were doing and looked at us. Some smiled or some just watched us with no expression at all. I couldn't tell if they were happy or confused to see us to be honest. We all soon reached a large mansion. The alpha dismissed all the guard except for Blaze and other two who broke into my car on the train. We all entered the mansion and I was in awe of everything. It dark yet, elegant. Red banners hung from the wall with a logo of a orange Phoenix. It actually looked like a castle that someone would only dream of. When you entered, there was a large staircase with a red carpet going down the center of it. Various vases of flowers littered the hall ways and portraits of other werewolves decorated the area as well. Torches lit up the place making it warm. I would actually really enjoy it if I wasn't, you know, being held against my will by these people.

The alpha stood on the third stair and said;

"Please form a line with Aries to the right with Pieces to the left," He said. "This very important and I suggest you don't lie about this."

We all did as told and as I asked around, I found out that out of the thirty or more people here, I was the only Leo. Once we all stood in a line, the indigo haired girl came up to us with a piece of paper and asked us out signs. I simply told her Leo when she got to me and she nodded. The next thing that happened was quite, interesting to say the least. The alpha instructed the green haired male to bring them in. I soon found out that them was more werewolves. I counted out the same amount of werewolves as there were people, not including the three from before. They formed a line as well by whatever order, I have no idea, including Blaze.

"Dotty, you know what to do," The alpha said.

The indigo hair girl nodded. She started off by saying;

"Follow me to the ballroom and stay in your order please," She says, with a cheerful smile. I was shocked that the werewolves were being all friendly. Except Blaze. "Dotty" lead us down various hallways and she stopped in front of two grand oak doors. She opened them to show an elegant, sparkling ballroom. We all walked in. Humans on one side and werewolves on the other. "Okay, alpha. We are all ready to go." The alpha came up to the front of the room and called out; 

"You're all here to be apart of a special tradition in our tribe," He says. "Once a year, we gather humans and werewolves together to join in harmony and become mates."

Everyone, except the wolves, stood frozen or went wide eyed. Mates? Mates?! That's what they want! Dante stepped forward and said politely;

"Um, excuse me! I know this must be really important to ya'll but, I'm already married and have a child at home," He says. "I can't mate with someone else!"

The alpha looked confused. He called Dotty over and whispered something in her ear.

"Sir, please follow Dotty. She'll be able to help you in this situation," He says. "Anyone else who is married in this group?"

About eight different people stood forward and Dotty motioned for them to follow her. Dante looked at me and waved goodbye as if this was going to be the last time I would see him. I waved back, worried for his fate. The nine including Dotty left the room, closing the doors.

"Sorry for interruption," The alpha said. "Let's continue. This tradition has gone on for decades now and it's how we continue to grow our tribe, adding diversity. This, my friends, is the last year for a while we will be doing this tradition for our tribe has expanded largely since the beginning of this century." Oh you have got to be kidding me. "You, humans, are lucky to be apart of this tradition. It's how so many couples find their one and only. It's how I found mine-"

Just then, someone came rushing into the room. I turned my head and gasped at the sight.

Aphmau.

She wore a purple dress with golden accents on it. Black and purple ears and tail were upon her as well. She looked rushed and said;

"I apologize that I am late," She said, breathing heavily. "I wasn't aware you were already back."

She walked over to the alpha and stood next to him. He smiled at her and said;

"It's how I met my one and only. I hope it does the same for you."

I held back a shout. Aphmau with a werewolf? Alpha no less? This is where she's been? She's a werewolf now? What's going on?

"I couldn't agree more," Aphmau smiled, looking at us. "I know this might be frightening to all of you. Don't worry. I was too but, once I met Aaron here, everything fell into place."

Was she brainwashed or something?

She took the alpha's, also known as Aaron's hand and looked to all of us. We made eye contact and I saw the same eyes I saw throughout my whole childhood. Boy, I missed her. Everyone did. Her mouth dropped slightly and her eyes widened. She looked to me then to Aaron. She was about to say something before Aaron called out;

"Let's start, shall we?"

The green haired wolf rushed over to him and handed him papers that I already knew had our information on it. He started calling out names.

"Jenny," A shy looking girl with blonde hair and fair skin came up. She looked petrified. "You and Daniel are now mates, congratulations."

Daniel, the wolf with the green hair, came over to her shyly. He let out his hand and she shyly took it. Maybe...maybe this won't be so bad. Aaron continued to fall out names of a human and then a werewolf. My heart kept thumping against my chest. I looked over to Aph again and begged her slightly to do something. She only looked back and gave me 'it's going to be okay' look. I wanted her to explain everything to me so badly but, I will do that later. I contemplated on running out or pretend that I fainted so I could delay this a bit. Then, Aaron called my name.

"Garroth Ro'Meave."

I gulped and stepped forward. Aphmau looked like she wanted to interrupt her mate and say something but, she bit her lip and looked at me sorrowfully. I looked at the werewolves in front of me. There were many beautiful ladies I'm going to lie but, none of them caught my eye. They were all looking at me, smiling shyly. The male werewolves all stood proud...Blaze was looking at his feet, holding his hands in front of him. Like he knew what was coming. I stood there, waiting for the name of my mate just wanting to accept that this was going to be my future. Grow old with a werewolf girl and raise a family with her...not my cup of tea but, at least I wasn't getting killed or anything thing.

Just say the name and get it over with.

"Blaze. Meet your mate."

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