He reached out and patted my shoulder, his way of comforting someone. "Don't worry, man. Tonight's your night. You just let it flow and everything will fall into place." I rolled my eyes. "Easy for you to say. You're not going to be forced to find your mate by your wolf and you will not be taking a high position in the next few years." He chuckled at my childish behavior. "Aren't you forgetting that I'm being announced Beta when you become Alpha?" I had to admit, he had a point. Lucky for him, Ethan had already found his mate within the pack when he had turned 16. He didn't know of the pressures of waiting to find your mate, especially when you were a person like me. But like he just said, he is going to be my Beta once I take the Alpha position. It was really hard to choose which person will become the second most powerful wolf in the pack, seeing as I have two best friends. But Alex was quick to step back and hand the position over to Ethan. He was a very intelligent guy, but he never took anything seriously. Once, we were playing out in the woods in our wolf forms for the first time, and he had accidentally fallen over a steep hill and cut his hind leg wide open. The bone could be seen and everything. Instead of crying out in pain, he simply just laughed. I swear he had problems, but you couldn't help but love the guy. "Let's go, your mom would make a scene if you don't get downstairs this instant. And besides, it's almost time." He had a point. My mother was one of those people who went insane if you never got to a place on time; and I didn't want to be standing in the middle of the crowd with her screaming at me. I had no doubt in my mind that even though I came downstairs right now, she would scold about my appearance. I had settled for a light gray t-shirt, dark jeans and converse. I was going to be shifting anyway so what was the point in dressing up? We made our way downstairs and I was instantly greeted by many welcoming smiles and respectful bows. I may not be the Alpha yet, but I was still next in line for the position. I looked around the crowd, trying hard to find if she had even made it to the party. My father had informed me that he had invited them since they were part of our territory now. It was really a disappointment to see that she was no where to be seen and I hadn't smelled her scent since the first guest arrived. In a way, I was happy she wasn't here. How do you think a human would react if they were to see me run to the woods at the stroke of midnight, and emerge as a big black wolf? Yeah, I don't think I'd be hearing from her or her father any time soon if they had decided to come tonight. As we crossed the large clock that my mother seemed to adore more than me, I noticed that I still had 15 minutes before midnight. We walked outside where the rest of the pack was and I was instantly bombarded with a thousand questions from the one person who was worrying about this night more than me. My one and only mother. "Where were you? The guests began to arrive almost an hour ago! It is not Alpha-like to arrive so late! Is that what you're wearing? Couldn't you have at least dressed up for this special night? How do you think your mate will react when she sees you in this attire?" I rolled my eyes at her. She really was quite a handful. My mother was literally a foot shorter than I was and I had to look down at her. She had light brown hair and hazel brown eyes that were now glaring up at me. I may tower over her easily, but she always made me feel like I was just a few inches tall whenever she looked at me like that. "Hello to you too, mother," I said sarcastically as I gave her a kiss on her delicate cheek. As I pulled away, a man that looked like the older version of myself appeared beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist securely before planting a kiss on her head. "Relax, Lucia. You're making the boy more nervous than he already is." My father gave me an apologetic look but I simply shrugged. What else would I expect from her? "Are you ready?" I nodded and gave them the best smile I could fabricate. I didn't know if it was convincing, but I didn't want to seem like a coward in front of my pack. I was meant to lead them one day and showing any signs of weakness would be futile. With a nod of his head, he led my mother away who was still shooting daggers in my direction. Great, I will not hear the end of it once I made it back home later on tomorrow. Well, that's if my mate wasn't so far away. 'She's not.' Oh, so now is when my wolf decides to come out of nowhere and respond. He had been quiet all week without uttering a single word to me. I could always feel his agitation as he awaited for this day to finally arrive, and now that it already has, he was more unsettling than ever. 'Calm down, you're making me more nervous than I already am', I scolded at him.