Landon

No one ever sees it coming.

Except for the people who came to the meet and greet last Saturday, no werewolf ever expects to meet their mate outside of their own 18th birthday.

They want to, try to, give it their best shot. But more often than not, mating happens when we least expect it. Though Rhiannon's mating really takes the cake.

Absolutely no one saw that coming considering who her mate is.

Upon further examination, I get the reason behind the mating. Their pack needs a successor for Alpha. It would be my mate, but he's already mated to another Alpha and it wouldn't make sense for me to abdicate here to be Luna in a pack that literally tried to kill me.

I guess deep down I know why Aaron got a second chance mate. Not that he deserved it, particularly. From what I have seen from him so far, it doesn't exactly bode well for their future, but as long as he doesn't try to kill one of us again - preferably not me - I am staying as far away from this controversy as possible.

I already have my own pack to handle.

Now this is a confusing pairing. Ares mated to Spencer? Why? What is so special about either of them? No shade, my friend. I love you Ares, but I fail to see what the true purpose is here. What was the Goddess thinking when she concocted this match?

I am genuinely at a loss here. But I guess it's not about me. It's about them. Ares kept staring at his mate from a distance, waiting for the confirmation to happen. Spencer frowned at Harry, who seemed to be at peace with this. But he is pissed off.

"I've never heard of anyone being mated without their eyes glowing. Why are you looking at me weird?" Spencer asked Harry in an accusatory tone.

"Aaron's eyes didn't glow either. I'm just waiting." He replied, sincerely. I guess all of us were, though not everyone knew what to expect from this. But Ares certainly did, which is why he kissed Spencer in the first place. To trigger the mate bond in him.

"Waiting for what, weirdo?" Spencer glared at him, annoyed at this whole thing.

Suddenly, Spencer cried out in pain. His skin felt like it was burning and all of us couldn't look away. My mother even mind linked the staff to hold off on serving the food for now.

"Ouch, my skin is burning!" He cried out, removing his layered clothing as if it was turning into burning flames. Once he was shirtless, his whole skin was flaming red. It freaked everybody out, especially those who didn't see the same thing happening to Aaron.

"Oh my Goddess, why is my skin burning like this? Please help me! Somebody call a doctor!" He shouted in such pain that was difficult to witness. All of us felt bad for him, but we knew what would happen next.

"Why aren't you helping me? I'm in pain, Harry! Please help me!" He begged him, agonizingly.

"I'm sorry! There's nothing we can do except to wait it out!" Harry replied, desperately. I could tell he was in distress over watching his best friend in pain. But what could we do?

"Can't we get him to a doctor? Look at his skin!" Gustavo chimed in, looking at Spencer worriedly.

"There's no point, man. It's gonna pass soon enough once the healing commences." Aaron replied, watching this scene play out in dread. He was positively triggered by the phenomenon, considering it happened to him mere days ago.

"What healing? My skin doesn't seem to be healing!" Spencer rebuked, annoyed.

At this, we gaped in shock as we watched his skin's redness recede. Especially for the people who didn't get to see it before, what happens next is practically unfathomable for any living werewolf.

"Oh my Goddess, his neck!" Grayson gasped in utter horror, wide eyed at this.

As expected, his mate mark healed completely, shocking Spencer in the process. The entire room is utterly floored by the incredible phenomenon, except for the people who already knew what to expect once it started.

In a moment, his skin was normal again. Completely healed and without a single redness. His neck healed and his mate mark was removed, cleared.

"What the hell! My mate mark is gone!" Spencer gasped in shock. Rhiannon got up from her seat to hug him. They don't know each other, but she can relate to him to some extent. She then returned to her seat, looking disturbed. As triggered by this as her mate.

"I'm so very sorry for all this. I wish I could have helped, but there's nothing I could've done." Harry told him, feeling bad for Spencer in this unusual situation.

"I cannot believe this! Why me? Why him? Why is he so special?" Spencer looked at his mate suspiciously. As if he had anything to do with this, when in reality he did not.

"I'm guessing it's not about him. If I had to guess, I'd say you are too young to be left mateless. You deserve someone special in your life. Or maybe they didn't have enough Omegas in Regency Falls to pair Ares with. Who knows?" Harry conjectured, as puzzled by this as everybody else in the room.

"Wait, you're an Omega?" Ares spoke for the first time since this whole thing happened.

"Why? Are you going to reject me because I'm an Omega?" Spencer glared daggers at him.

"Fuck no! I love Omegas! I'm just puzzled as to why she didn't pair you with someone more important, like Landon?" He said, causing my mate and I to gasp in unison at the proposition.

"Because mating me with the Alpha of Regency Falls wouldn't stop a 60 years old war, which is exactly why she didn't choose an Omega for Landon Barnett." He snarled at him, annoyed at the insinuation.

Spencer picked up his clothes from the floor and got dressed while we all stared at each other uncomfortably in silence. After he was fully dressed, we got back to our seats for dinner, which was running very late at this point.

"You can have them serve us now, please Luna. I'm sure we're all very hungry." Harry told my mom as soon as he took a seat at the table next to me.

She did as he suggested and the food was rapidly served by - what I can only assume - ticked off maids who are going to have to work overtime tonight.

"Where were you last Saturday? Why weren't you at the meet and greet?" Ares questioned Spencer, looking intrigued from his seat at the large table.

"At my parents' house where I live during the Summer. I wasn't present because I am already mated, why would I need to attend it?" He replied, annoyed at the question.

"Oh, right." Ares muttered at the realization.

"I cannot believe I wasted four years of my life and all this time my mate was right next door." Ares whined.

"Tell me about it!" Harry and I spoke at the same time. Then we laughed at each other.

"Count yourself lucky if you don't get rejected!" Aaron complained and Ares gasped, horrified by the notion.

"Aaron!" Harry yelled at him from across the table.

Ares and Spencer exchanged worried looks, gulping in nervousness.

We ate in silence for a moment, as we were all starving at this point. But the shocking mating is on everybody's minds.

"I still don't know why I would get a second (chance) mate..." Spencer is baffled by this.

"Because you're wonderful enough to not only have been mated to the hottest boy from our pack. Now you're mated to the hottest boy from Regency Falls." Harry snickered, causing him to blush and people to stare at him in shock.

"Right. Says the boy mated to basically a model, he's so gorgeous." Spencer shot back and I blushed at the sidetrack compliment. Meanwhile, Grayson was looking annoyed by this conversation.

"I know, right? My mate is so gorgeous I don't know what good I did in my life to deserve him..." Harry spoke, sounding smitten by me. I swooned at him.

"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." Grayson intervened, a tad annoyed at this line of conversation.

"Yeah, behold my mate, bitch!" He smirked, boastfully.

"Harrison! I think we're done with this topic. You're all handsome young men. Move on!" Alpha Staedler interjected, glaring at his son.

"Sorry, dad. I got a little carried away. I guess I'm finally letting myself feel now that I've accepted my mate." Harry acknowledged and there was a collective gasp once again.

"What?!" Everyone except for Aaron, Rhiannon, Grayson, Gustavo and Spencer shouted in shock.

"Yeah, I decided to stop fighting the Goddess' plan for me and embrace my role. I'm done judging my mate." Harry said, grinning wide. Though not as widely as me right now.

"Congratulations, son. I'm so proud of you." His dad said, smiling. His mom too.

"Congrats, Lan. I know how much you really wanted a mate. Long live the Alpha!" My mom cheered me on with a radiant smile that honestly caused me to get a bit emotional.

My friends and the rest of those who are present all raise a glass in my honor.

"Long Live the Alpha!" They chanted together and it was difficult to not get teary eyed.

"I'm happy for you. Now we can both carpool here when we go back to college in the Fall." Spencer smiled at Harry, feeling excited at the prospect.

"What do you study in college?" Ares asked him, curiously.

"Pre-med." He replied without much thought.

"I'm mated to a doctor? My mom is gonna cry when she finds out." Ares celebrated this, radiantly happy.

"I'm not a doctor yet. There are years ahead of studying." He replied, humbly.

"Sure, doctor whatever your last name is." Ares winked at him, humorously.

"It's Jonas. Spencer Goliath Jonas." He informed him with a poignant look.

"Goliath? How have I known you for almost twenty years and I never knew your middle name?" Harry gasped in shock at the surprise information.

"Because you're not my mate, bitch! You didn't need to know my middle name!" He snickered.

"Well, congratulations Dr. Jonas. I'm sure you're gonna be a great doctor." Ares said with a smile, though I don't think that's exactly what his mate was fishing for when he told him his full name.

Gustavo turned to look at me puzzled. Rhiannon looked at him, also confused by this. Everybody else seemed to be getting the vibe except for Ares, who was oblivious to it.

The silence got uncomfortable fast as we finished the first course. Mom immediately ordered the second, though some of us were already full by the first one. Not me, though.

"Ares, aren't you forgetting something?" I asked him, trying to give him a nudge.

He looked at me puzzled, then turned to my mom a bit embarrassed for being called out in front of everyone.

"Thank you for this wonderful dinner, Luna. You've outdone yourself." He told my mom, who smiled politely at him. But even she got the vibe from Spencer.

"You're welcome, Ares. I'm happy for you to have found your mate after four years waiting. I'm sure you two are gonna be very happy together." Mom said, giving him a nudge in her own way.

"Thank you, Luna. I'm sure I will." He replied, smiling contently.

We started to eat the second course and no word from him still.

"I'm sorry, mate. I forgot to say it: I, Landon Barnett, accept you Harrison Staedler as my mate and my Luna." I stated, awkwardly.

"I, Harrison Staedler, accept you Landon Barnett, as my mate and my Alpha."

"Who the Moon Goddess united in bond let no one torn asunder." Alpha Staedler celebrated us, cheerfully.

"Congratulations, Lan. I know how much you wanted this. I'm really happy for you." Ares told me, emotionally.

"Thank you, my friend. We spent so many nights together imagining what it would be like to say the acceptance speech. Now we both have mates." I told him, widening my eyes.

"I know, right? Who would've thought? Honestly, I was starting to think the Goddess had forgotten to pair me." He said in a dark undertone.

"Yeah, but she didn't. If only you knew your mate's full name." I smirked. I couldn't resist it.

"It's Spencer–" Ares began, then stopped himself, finally realizing what we so clearly wanted him to. Once he did, he gasped as the hints finally hit him all at once. He looked at Spencer, who was blushing under his gaze.

"You do know you can mind link me, right? We're both werewolves from the same pack." He deadpanned. Harry laughed at this awkwardness and he wasn't alone.

"I, Ares David Saunders, accept you Spencer Goliath Jonas, as my mate."

"I, Spencer Goliath Jonas, accept you Ares David Saunders, as my mate."

"Who the Moon Goddess united in bond let no one torn asunder." I declared, raising a glass in celebration. We all cheered for them.

"David and Goliath? Come on..." Harry snickered, perplexed by the coincidence of names.

Aaron got up from his seat in tears. His mother went after him moments later.

"Please excuse my son's behavior." Alpha Staedler apologized to us, feeling embarrassed by this display.

"Why did you accept him when he didn't even believe you were his mate?" Rhiannon grilled Ares after an uncomfortable silence. Spencer and him both were shocked by the question.

"Because I didn't spend the last four years of my life crying over not being mated only to waste my chance of happiness over something so unbelievable, it literally has never happened before you." Ares replied in a serious tone.

Rhiannon gaped at his response, but he was being honest. Life is short. And he already wasted four years of his life unmated. She got upset and left the table as well.

"For the record, I'm not judging her. She was the one who asked the question." He said after a minute, with some remorse in his tone.

The atmosphere took a turn in the dining room. As the night went on, we capped it with a birthday cake for my mate, who blew out his 2 and 1 candles.

We still talked some more as we ate the delicious cake. Aaron returned with his mother to the dining room and apologized for his absence.

Rhiannon also returned a little earlier than him. We all celebrated my mate's birthday with a cheerful singing of the famed tune. Despite the shocking events, Harry looked happy to see his family and mine at the same table. And so did I.

Ares couldn't take his eyes off Spencer, but that is to be expected. I couldn't take mine off my mate either, so I get it.

I couldn't be happier to have this moment with him and the Barnetts. I know my dad would be so proud of me for this accomplishment.

Though I know I probably went about it the wrong way, but I didn't know what else to do. I had to take a stand. I can only wish we can unite our two packs now more than ever.

Because whether we like it or not, our lives are now linked forever. And to think it was all triggered by one single kiss [from each of their mates].

https://youtu.be/DkeiKbqa02g

A|N: Wow, so that happened. I know (some of) my readers were rooting for #Spares to happen, so there you go. You're welcome.

And life would never be the same again...

Though the question still remains... #WhoShotLandon

Love,

Léo.