[9] Ezra: 'The Beginning.'-1

Ezra Harland's PoV: The party is a success. Seneca and Micajah are somewhere deep in the crowd, working the room with their smooth hobnobbing. Unfortunately, the sole motive I'd had in mind while planning this huge bash hasn't been fulfilled yet. Much to my Wolf's dismay. 'Huh,' he scoffs. Yeah, okay, mine too. 'Why is she still not here?' My Wolf gripes at me, pacing back and forth in the back of my mind. 'Heck if I know,' I reply, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible, although I can't deny that I secretly am waiting for the same thing. 'I'm in your mind, y'know. You can't hide shit from me.' My Wolf comments indignantly as he growls lowly at me, probably super annoyed with how everything has transpired. Well, at least he doesn't hate me anymore for my history with Nyah. 'Only 'cause you promised to make things right.' 'Yeah, yeah, I know.' I crane my neck around the group of people standing by the door to check the entrance for the umpteenth time, wondering if she'd even show up. 'You wouldn't've had to worry so much if you'd listened to me when we were kids and played nice with our Mate,' My Wolf says irritatedly. 'I didn't know she was our Mate!' I yell back, tired of his constant complains. 'Oh, yeah? Didn't I tell you, though? That I got a feeling that she's special? You know very well that identifying your Mate when you come of age is just a custom. It's a known fact that if you already know your Mate as a child and if you really look into your bond with them, you'll get the gut feeling that you're Mates.' He lectures, getting even more annoyed by the minute. 'You know better than I do that I had a boner for her from the moment I saw her.' I shoot back, pissed that the creature inside my own head can't understand my reason, 'How in the hell can I trust my instincts around her when I'm trying so hard to stop myself from doing anything stupid? Because if I'd done what you'd asked me to do, I'd have been convinced that I thought she's my Mate only because I wanted her to be. So badly.' 'I know you think you might'a gotten it wrong. But, trust me, no one can be wrong about this thing.' My Wolf sighs sadly, 'But being the stupid human you are, you never listened to me. Now, all there's left to do is to grovel at her feet and beg for mercy until she takes us.' 'Grovel? Beg? Are you kidding me? No way!' I protest, shocked that he'd even suggest I do that. 'If you ain't gonna beg for mercy then she ain't never gonna accept us. Lemme tell you that.' My Wolf says sagely and I push him away and try to erect a mental block for a while between us, because Goddess, I've had enough of his wise-assness. 'Don't act like I'm the only one who ever did something. She did, too.' I declare and slam a wall down, not waiting for his reply. ~ I'm thirteen and it's one of the numerous field trips I'd been forced to come with as a child, but as we grew older, me and Seneca have come to enjoy these little gatherings where we meet all our other friends. It's known that we are all meant to socialize whether we like it or not, but thankfully, we get along great with quite a lot of kids and hence, it's very convenient. And also an event we look forward to. I've very carefully pushed all my memories of a certain little brunette from my mind, because no, I've not been looking forward to this trip because she might or might not be here. Besides, considering that she'd been entrusted with the future-Alpha responsibility only months earlier, she will mostly be unable to make it. After her brother had been banished, me and Seneca had begged her father until he'd agreed to take him in and tried so hard to search him everywhere, but all our efforts had been fruitless. It hurt to think he didn't trust us enough to turn up at our doorstep on his own or even contact us. But, I guess it's really not his fault as he'd been abandoned by his own family. Thinking of his family, I'm yet again reminded of the-girl-who-shall-not-be-named-in-my-head. The very thought of her little face drags up the memory of when I'd first really seen her a year ago in a trip very similar to this one. I'd been throwing a ball around with a few of the guys and Seneca had just left with Alarice, Angier and some other kids to check out the lake or something, and since some people were too bored as they'd already seen the lake, I'd agreed to stay and play. That's when the Pineda family car had pulled up and I'd actually not paid much mind to it. Moments later, Estevan had come up running to us and everyone went up to exchange some back slaps and man-hugs, and that's when his runt of a little sister had also come up, squealing in excitement. Don't get me wrong, I know me and his little sister are the same age, heck, there are a lot of us who're the same age as her, but she'd always been so small and playful and just so carefree, that I'd always had trouble seeing her as a kid of my age. Most of the second-born kids were like that. It's not me stereotyping them, really, it's just that they had no responsibility to act nice and be respectful, so they generally tended to stick together and behave like little kids. So when I'd looked at Nyah Pineda the first time that day, it was like a bucket of cold water had been poured on me, like a rude awakening that I'm not the same kid I'd been last summer, that I had, in fact, reached the stage where girls are no longer gross. Obviously, I've seen her before that, as she's the little sister of our friend, but last year, it'd been like seeing her for the first time. She'd skipped over to the guys, chocolate eyes sparkling with confidence and mischief, grabbing the ball from the ground where it'd been forgotten at the siblings' arrival, and launching it in the air at Donovan Casey. Her brown ponytail had bounced in the air as she'd whooped when he'd stumbled and let it fall, and then she had turned to me, meeting my eyes directly as she'd shot me a wide smile. I bet she would definitely not remember that, because it's just who she is. Always warm and sunny and spreading her brightness wherever she went; that smile she'd given me that day was nothing of consequence for her to remember. But the way my heart had lurched in my chest? I'd been floored. It was the first time that had happened to me. I'd never found any girl so entrancing in my short life.