"Athena Josie Mennison if you don't get your but down those stairs right now I am going to come up there with a bucket of ice water and don't think i don't mean it!" I shoot up in my bed, my eyes cracking wide open as I look at the clock on my night stand.

"Shit, shit, shit," I mumble, throwing the duvet off my legs and clambering in my sleepy haze to a safe distance from my door. "Yep! Yep I'm up!" I yell back and groan loudly, moving to grab my cell phone only to find it completely dead. I frown and look at the switch on the wall turned off and instead of getting overly upset about it I just yank out the adapter and throw it into my school bag, the new books and pens already stacked neatly inside.  I'm not usually late, ever. Being late attracts attention, attention attracts unwanted people and unwanted people are never pleasant to deal with. I show up ten minutes before the first bell, walk at a mediocre pace to my locker then to my first class and arrive just as the class begins to slowly fill.

If I could stay home and just start over again tomorrow I would but given the tone of my mothers voice, that isn't an option. Not to mention the fact that Henry is most definitely loosing his mind waiting for me to walk to school.

I practically jump into my pair of skinny jeans and fumble around for a pair of bras, the only pair left in my drawer being a rather exposing red lace, the price tag still attached after months of sitting there unused. Without wasting another second I tie my ratty hair into a bun, concealing the many knots that formed from my constant stirring in the night and slip on a sweater before grabbing my bag and walking over to the small latch in the corner of my room.

Living in an attic might sound drab and something similar to what a child of neglect might have to face but it really isn't all that bad. As a self-declared introvert, living a ladder away from a noisy family is a blessing. Besides, loft living in an apartment is basically like living in a penthouse which is what Henry and I have unofficially dubbed it. The penthouse, or 'pent' for short. Lame, I know, but it helps.

Of course this room used to be good for simply collecting dust but after my twin siblings were born there was simply no space downstairs for me to comfortably live so my parents used their initiative and voila. I shout "Heads!" Before letting the ladder retract until it hits the floor with a thud and I clamber down, pulling a string and setting it back, fastening it and moving hurriedly into the living room. It's a cramped apartment, one that was assigned to us when the reform began in the packs but it was so much better than what we used to live in.

My little sister runs past me in a giggling storm and jumps right into the arms of my dad who spins her around. He is dressed in his construction uniform having just come off a morning shift down at the docks and he smiles and pats me on the head as I walk past.

"Hey kiddo, you better get heading out that door soon or you'll be late for school," he points out and I grumble an incoherent mess back, still too tired to string my words together.

"Bye!" I yell into the house, grabbing my packed lunch from the counter and walking up to the door.

"Hey! Remember the rules?" My mom asks and I spin around to find her stood in the hall next to my dad, both of them holding a child as they stare at me with seriousness. My moms curly brown hair sits like a birds nest atop her head in a bun and the tired lines on her still beautiful face aren't visible in the morning light.

"Keep my head down, don't talk to any wolves, be home by nine." I repeat for what has to be the hundredth time and walk out of the door into the corridor, the walls effectively muffling any further comments they'd have to make. New year, same parents.

They seemed to miss the whole purpose of our Alpha's speech at the beginning of the assimilation attempts when my human school was merged with that of the wolves in a test trial that has yet to end. All they heard was that their daughter was going to be put in a classroom that held both species and it was enough to make them panic.

I take the steps down the relatively clean staircase two steps at a time, bouncing down to the first floor and pushing through the open door into the bustling streets. The fresh gush of morning air that ripples through my sweater is enough to make a frown form on my face. Some may paint this biting cold weather as a blessing, a little morning boost to kick start their day into greatness but there is nothing great about a frosty chill nipping you like some pest when you're already off to a bad start. Not to mention that damn wind.  As if my hair isn't untamed enough the coastal wind seems to love just sending any stray pieces of hair banging about like they are gymnasts on my scalp.

"You look like shit." I let out a small scream and jump higher than any sport teacher could've made me, a hand automatically resting above my beating heart. I turn to look at a grinning Henry and glower.

"Jesus Henry you scared me," I say and he narrows his eyes in confusion.

"Really? I thought that was how you nerds like to say hello." I push him lightly in the arm although all it does is push me off him rather than achieve my goal.

"Says you... you... nerd." Wow, that's gotta leave a permanent dent in my ego, my comeback game needs some serious modification. That doesn't stop him from clutching his heart and staggering back a few steps.

"You wound me," he fakes and I let out a laugh, "Am I still coming over to yours after school?" He asks as we fall into a steady walk.

"Yeah! Of course, as long as you bring over your Back to the Future set and snacks your welcome," I smile and he laughs.

"Wow, so I'm only allowed to come bearing gifts?" He jokes and I respond with a hearty laugh.

"Hey, pent is a pretty exclusive place, it takes more than a fifteen years of friendship to get in there," I confess and he just shakes his head, the grin that stretches over his face makes his slanted eyes turn up and dimples appear on his cheeks.

"Did you hear about Martha Gibson?" He asks me and I clutch onto the straps of my backpack, turning to him with a frown.

"No, what about her?"

"She found her mate on school break, some wolf from a pack she and her family went to visit." The space between us sizzles with tension as I gulp thickly.

"Shit," I mumble. This has been happening to more and more people as we reach our senior year, one day someone is just walking down the halls and the next they've locked eyes with a fellow student. Martha was a wolf, a well known popular wolf but she loved her home and her family here, everyone knew that.

"They say she's happy though, it's just a scary thought I guess," he comments and I shoot him a staled look before scanning around to make sure no one overheard him. I know why he's scared, we're both eighteen now, ripe for the picking should we be unfortunate enough to be mated but that doesn't mean he should blurt it out everywhere.

"Don't say stuff like that, someone could hear you," I scold and he just shrugs, an impassive look covering his face.

"I don't care, it's the truth," he says nonchalantly and I just let out a sigh, looking up at the high school we rapidly approach. The last time a human was mated in our school was two years ago and it wasn't pretty. She had a boyfriend and their relationship was rather well known throughout the school, so when her mate discovered who she was a truck load of problems occurred. It's also the reason that relationships have been banned in our school, in many schools across the continent to avoid any possible conundrums. Of course the rule is skipped out on by a lot of students, many of whom just resume to date outside of school.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, something very important," Henry asks, breaking me from my daze. A feeling of dread rises within me at the look on his face and I stare at him through softened eyes.

"What is it?" My voice drops to a whisper, the words too quiet to drift off with the wind into prying ears. He lets out a deep sigh and his expression of worry mimics mine.

"The other night... when you, when we," he stops himself for a second before locking eyes with me, "When we watched justice league and you said batman was better you were just kidding right? I just don't know if this friendship can continue with such a deep rooted rivalry brewing between us," he asks, only breaking into a grin when I playfully shove his shoulder.

"Don't kid about that kind of stuff," I grumble out through a smile, shaking my head, "and no, I wasn't kidding and as my best friend you have no choice but to love me regardless," I confess and he throws his head back in laughter as we enter the school parking lot, filled to the brim with students already inside.

"Nope, there are some lines I will not cross-" a loud thrum sounds in the distance Andre both glance to the sleek black Ferrari driving through the main entrance, packed to the brim with wolves. And not just any wolves, the ones wearing sports jackets with beautiful she wolf mates sat on their laps, giggling and laughing.

I don't object as Henry takes ahold of my upper arm and begins to pull me towards the building at a brisk pace. Keep my head down, don't talk to any wolves, be home by nine. Keep my head down, don't talk to any wolves, be home by nine. A gush of relief rushes through me like cold water washing out flames and we both make a bee line to the administration office, neither of us uttering a word until we get our passes from the scornful office lady and commence our journey out of sight until we reach a t section.

"Good luck today," I say truthfully and he smiles before giving me a quick hug and pulling back.

"We meeting at the same spot?" He asks, walking backwards down the hall to which I smile and nod eagerly, happy that we are getting back into the swing of things. Holidays were great for late night movie marathons and day trips to other packs but with Henry picking up a summer job on a fishing boat we hardly had anytime to spend together.

I raise my hand in a small wave and make my way to my first class, nerves coiling and uncoiling in my stomach. I don't even make it two steps before spotting a newly mated couple getting rather close against the school lockers, both presumably wolves. It makes each step I take towards Chemistry tentative, every nerve in my body standing on edge. The second I turn the handle and enter my class late the teacher stops talking and everything stills for a second. Then two. Then three. And it's only when I am reprimanded for my tardiness and told to sit down that I let the muscles in my body relax fully.

The class starts up again and I open my book, running a hand across the smooth blank surface and clicking down on my black pen. I write down the heading for the lesson, running a highlighter through it as I begin to furiously take down the notes on the board before the teacher can rub them out. He's a wolf teacher, one with a very thin patience for slackers and a reputation for holding students back when they don't complete their set work.

"Did you hear about Micah? I heard that he went to all the mating balls in the surrounding packs over the holidays and couldn't even find a hint that his mate was there," a girl says in a hushed voice behind me and I stop writing for a second, their words catching my attention. Micah. The Alpha's son, the star player of the football team and head student of the school, both socially and as our body president.

"Poor dude, I can't imagine meeting James any later than I did, I think my wolf would've died from the agony of waiting," another voice whispers, they two must be were's then.

-

My eyes flick over a careers poster stapled onto a post as I wait for Henry to meet up with me after his class. At age seven I was pretty set that my future was to be a maid or a factory worker, fitting fish down at the docks where my father was close enough to complete his trade work as a carpenter on construction jobs whilst still being able to keep an eye on me. I thought that maybe I'd be assigned to clean up duties, picking any litter from the beaches until one day no more litter came.

If I'm being completely honest I would sometimes pray to be found as a mate rather than have my hands covered in fish guts and small slices from filleting. I remember once my father took me to where he worked, along the markets in the street one Sunday and we loitered near a fishing stall, at the back where the ought reek of the raw meat floating too close to my nose. He was explaining to me that one day, when I grew up I could come and work down here near him and help out some of the other human workers. The positive spin he tried so hard to embroider into his words fell apart at the seams with one shift of that ghastly stench and the sight of a tall, well dressed woman.

My little finger had lifted out and I asked him who she was, what she did as a job and any hint of a smile he carried vanished. He told me exactly who she was, a former human worker from this very market who had been mated off to a higher ranking wolf who, sure enough, walked out after her. They were both glittering diamonds amongst a crowd of stones and I envied them, even after my father told me of how terrible and horrible their pairing was before reminding me to stay as far away from wolves as I could.

But the sight of her riches wasn't even what stuck so deeply, it was the look of pure adoration they shared together, like they were living every single moment for each other and nobody else. It seemed awfully appealing through the eyes of a child.

Now I don't have any clue what I want to be. My grades aren't exactly mega high but they're not awful, at this point I think I'd settle for maybe getting a degree in a field to do with history, maybe anthropology I don't know.  I think ever since education was an option for me outside of my mothers lessons both my parents just expected me to graduate with a high earning job in my direct vision.

I hear shouts and hollers sound from down the hall and turn my head to see a group of wolves celebrating around a newly mated couple who grin widely, holding each other close. That's the third couple I've seen find each other today, school is quite literally a hub for mates to discover each other and its daunting as hell. Before schools integrated, wolves would gather up humans to find their mates in different ways, some lining them up, others holding galas or events to make the outcome run over more smoothly. The human girl latching onto her new mate down the hall clearly doesn't have an issue with it.

My face softens as Henry emerges from behind the crowd, pushing his way through awkwardly to give me a small wave, the hand resting on his backpack strap lifting slightly. His shoulder accidentally bumps into that of a large male wolf who snaps around to glare at Henry, sending my heart plummeting to the bottom of my stomach. Henrys arms raise up on instinct and I watch as his mouth moves in profuse apologies to which the wolf simply glares harder before saying something back and turning away. I watch the Adams apple bob in my best friends throat and its enough to make my bones stiffen.

He moves diligently over to me, careful not to bump into any aggressive animals on the way and smiles sheepishly. I continue looking at the guy he bumped into warily, making sure that he won't decide to thump in Henry's head from behind.

"That was a little crazy," he mumbles in a joking way and I shoot him a stern look.

"You gotta be careful, one wrong word and bam, there goes your good arm. You know how they are, H," I say and he just laughs before hooking his 'good arm' though mine and starts to pull me down the hall.

"So you were thinking of a career hey? You know I really see you as an enforcer of the law, up there with all the pack police telling everyone what to do. There's a bossy streak in those eyes that'd make a damn Alpha quiver," he jokes and I smile, a blush rising onto my cheeks.

"Shut up, not all of us have it figured out like you," I comment and we round a bend coming face to face with the double doors leading to the back exit. Henry pushes through the doors dramatically and a gust of salty wind straight from the coast pulses through the air hitting me full force.

"Out on the open sea, the roaring ocean guiding me to an unknown adventure and plenty of fish to keep my tummy happy," he exclaims with a smile, nudging me. "Can't you see it? A boat of my own, a neat little cabin beneath deck and enough money to get me place to place so I can see a world outside this one little pack," he asks and it strikes a taut nerve I didn't know I had.

"You know it doesn't sound half bad. I'd stop hyping it up if I were you or you'll have to deal with me jumping deck and annoying you for the rest of eternity," his nose scrunches up distastefully and I shove him again, provoking another gleaming grin.

"That could be quite problematic, all those land ladies might get the wrong impression and miss the night of their life with the worlds most dashing sailor," he jokes and my laugh comes out in a snort, my head bobbing so far back I have to push the rim of my glasses back up to keep them from falling.

"What?" He says defensively and I try to calm down my laugher, clutching at my stomach which twists with the pain of happiness.

A football breaks me from my laughter in an instant however as it flys through the air and lands at our feet. A group of wolves a notable distance away holler at us to throw it back and Henry promptly picks it up and sends it back. It whizzes through the air, past the different groups sat on the lawn in their own secluded areas into the arms of the jocks.

High school isn't very different from pack life. You have those at the top and then those at the bottom, where I fortunately sit with my one and only best friend. Some humans, usually the talented ones, associate themselves with the wolves, fitting in amongst their ranks due to beauty or athleticism whereas others try to continue on as normal, not fitting in anywhere. The bottom rung might not be the comfiest all the time but I'd rather know where I sit than be drifting around clueless.

Henry breaks off into a story about how the last team he versed in the state finals for debates was THAT superficial as we wander down the small hill to our spot under a shade tree. 'Spots' proved to be more of an issue than I thought they would be at a conjoined school also. It should've been obvious in hindsight but wolves are territorial creatures by birth so it'd only make sense that they snap and snarl over a piece of grass.

"Thea," Henry snaps and I look over at him just as a orange peel collides with my face.

"What?" I say with a pout, rubbing my face where the fruit collided.

"You weren't even listening, I have a debate meeting after school so I won't be able to walk home unless you wanna wait," he says and I pout even further.

"But back to the future," I complain and his face falls in seriousness.

"I'll come over tomorrow and we can watch back to the future AND I'll bring ice cream over," he says and just like that a grin reappears on my face.

-

The final bell of the day rings and the school corridor turns into a bustle of people running to get out of the building. I always find it quite amusing, watching how it takes all of five minutes for the school to become as barren as the day is was built yet the mornings fill up in a slow filter. I push past a couple passionately making out and open up my locker, showing my books inside with a heavy thud. I'm only taking the bare essentials home today, books are heavy as hell. Usually, I would have a certain friend who happened to have built muscle on the holidays sailing ships to carry it all for me but no.

Once I have the items that I need I spin around and make my way to the exit, peering up at a large banner hanging above me. 'Midnight Moon Senior Prom'. Two girls in cheer uniforms stand on ladders hanging the sign up and my eyes linger on their action for a moment too long as someone bumps into me sending me sprawling down to the floor. My right hand hits a stool supporting two large tubs of paint and before I can stop myself the coloured liquid tips all over me and a short silence fills the hall.

I don't need to lift my gaze from the bright blue floor to know that almost every single person has stopped their rampant mission to escape school to look at me and snigger. Stay invisible. Well I really managed to stuff that one up didn't I? God, I can already imagine my Dad's voice ringing through my ears when I turn up covered in colours. If this day couldn't get any worse-

"Are you alright?" A hand touches my arm sending sparks running through my body, hitting my core like a lightning strike. My head snaps to the side and everything stops all at once, the only thing I can see is a pair of deep hazel brown eyes staring into mine.

"Mate."

a/n

!!!!!

So here's chapter 1 of the new boook! I'm so excited to share this with you all and can't wait to read all your comments and thoughts!!

This book is really just something I've been doing for fun the last year but I want to share it with you all as well in case some of you get enjoyment out of it too haha.

ps: i will be posting songs with absolutely no relevance to the plot each chapter, they are simply tunes that i enjoy jamming to.

Til next time!

Khalesi