I put my tray down and immediately every one stared at me, waiting for my news.

"It's your mate, right?! You found your mate last night?!" Sophie was practically crawling on top of the picnic table.

I almost choked on the water I had taken a swig of. I can not tell them. Not yet.

"No, I haven't seen him yet. No what happened was-" but right as I was about to begin, William reached over to take my French fries off my tray. Without thinking, I snatched his arm by the wrist and pulled him toward me, baring my teeth and hissing loudly. Everyone except Nate hopped up on their feet and bared their teeth back at me with growls. Nate just had a shocked expression on his face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I did not mean that, it just happened" I yelled, throwing my hands up and bowing my head in frustration. "I'm sorry... it's all new to me...because I shifted last night".

Everyone slowly relaxed and sat down, but hesitantly, as if I was going to eat them.

"Into what?! Because that was not a wolf like reaction!" Jason yelled, more than slightly freaked out.

"No...it was more like a... panther reaction. I am a shifter, a were-panther" I told them.

"I don't like that"

"Shut up" I whispered.

"Terri, no one said anything..." Brett said quietly.

"Oh, I know. She...talks to me...and I'm not used to it yet. This is all new to me, remember?" I told them, slightly embarrassed.

"That explains why I've been feeling...itchy...around you all day" Sienna said.

"Itchy?" I queried.

"Yeah" William agreed with Sienna, of course, "it's like I know it's you but something has been making me feel like it isn't all day".

"Oh, I'm sorry" I apologized.

"NO! It's great! Do not apologize! I'm happy for you!" Sophie yelled, booking it around the table to hug me.

Everyone was nodding and agreeing with her. "Thank you. Oh! And my panther, she knows a lot of things and has super senses because she very old" RUDE, "and she said that Nate is like me... but a different species. He's a later bloomer than wolves, but he is not a panther either".

"Whoa, that's crazy. Although it makes sense, you're too big not to be a shifter. What do you think you are?" Jason asked.

"I have not the slightest clue" he said with a furrowed brow.

"I was just wishing that there weren't so many secrets surrounding me" he said sadly. I put my head on his shoulder and rubbed his back. The action was something I would have normally done but for is felt I little less comfortable with this touching.

The bell rang, ending lunch, and everyone stood up. Nate gave me a sad smile, then left. I saw Sophie kiss Jason goodbye, then she pushed him on ahead of her.

"Hey" she said.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked curiously.

"Ummm, are you sure you didn't find your mate last night?" Sophie inquired. I literally felt my stomach hit the floor.

"No, I definitely did not find him. I mean... I would be really excited and all over him if I had found him, right?" I said, trying to throw her off the scent.

"I guess...it's just that... well Alpha Alex acts very strange around you and Jason, Nate, and I have been wondering if maybe he knew you were mates". Dead... I'm dead.

"Nate has been thinking this too?"

"Yeah" she said with uncertainty, "well when Jason and I first asked him about it, he thought we were insane. But when we started explaining it to him, he started to see it too. The whole reason we went to him was so that we could warn him to be careful. When an unmated male starts messing with another male's mate, especially an Alpha's, bad things happen. But Nate decided that he liked you and that he was going to persist. Which that actually worked well for us because it showed how jealous Alex... seemed to be getting" Sophie was looking at the ground while she spoke, which was probably better because my mouth had dropped open.

"You have good friends. Smart, wise, observing. I approve, you may keep them". Leave it to her to pipe in now. I shut my mouth and took a deep breath.

"Sophie... you are going to have to control yourself and your mouth from this day forth, ok?" Sophie looked at me in confusion but vigorously shook her head. I sighed and messaged the bridge of my nose. "Yes, Sophie, he is..."

"I KNEW IT!!!" Sophie screamed at the top of her voice. It rang out through the entire high school and I covered my ears due to the shrillness of it.

"CONTROL... SOPHIE!" I yelled in exasperation.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But I knew it! I...knew...it... So are you two together now?"

"No, Sophie, he is an ass. I am not getting together with him" I said, rubbing my still ringing ears.

"But...he's your mate..."

"She is your best friend, listen to her"

"Shut up", Sophie dawned a hurt expression, "Oh, no Sophie not you, the angry cat lady in my head. Yes. He is my mate and he knew and he still treated me awfully."

"Well... Terri, Alex has not had a very...healthy emotional life. I am sure it was just taking him a while to figure out to handle this. Jason has told me that he has a very... warped... opinion of mates, because of what happened with his mother and his father." Sophie explained, peaking my interest.

"Warped? People keep telling me that he had this terrible, warped past, but I don't quite know what happened" I looked to Sophie, expecting her to tell me.

"I... should not be the one to tell you what happened. You need to go talk to Alex about that" Sophie dawned a sad, hurt expression.

"I am not going to go talk to him. I cannot be anywhere near him, he has this...hold over me." Sophie smiled sadly at my remark.

"You can't fight it forever, Terri. Fighting the mating bond causes both individuals to become extremely unstable. That is why Alex is acting so...off... his body and brain are taking a severe beating" I stared at her and she gave me an affirmative nod. "C'mon, lets go to class" she said, standing.

We head into the building and split ways when I headed toward my English class. As I turned a corner, I ran into a girl a little shorter than me. She rammed into my shoulder, sending both of us careening out of control.

"I am sorry" she said in a rushed jumble then fled down the hall and out the school doors.

"What the-" I could feel my brow furrowing.

"Something was not right about her"

"Yeah, I know. And I am pretty sure she's not a student here either" I mumbled, then slowly headed back to class.




Thank you for reading! Vote and Comment please! Alex's Dad, Ex-Alpha Phillip Brutus on the side!