The Runaway Mate

ARIELLA.

It all started with a simple game of truth or dare. Who would have thought that from there, everything between me and Eli would change? I didn't, especially the part where Eli, my childhood friend, would suddenly become some sort of love interest to me. Two years ago, Eli and I were simply friends, both young members of the Moon Shine Pack, the biggest werewolf pack in the country. But now we have this weird but surprisingly familiar sexual tension between us and it was all because of that dumb teenage game.

That night two years ago, we were just sixteen, me a tall girl with red hair and green eyes. People my age in the pack would call me pretty but also cheeky and brave. Eli was a lot taller than me, a shy yet confident boy in his appearance. Well, he was always good-looking, with his light brown hair and his hazel eyes making half of the pack swoon over him.

He had these softer features on him that only made him more handsome. And he would always have this smirk on his face that made him look snobbish and a little haughty, giving him the image that he was quite unreachable. But that only made the girls want him even more. In short, he was unbelievably super hot and everyone liked him, which made him become one of the most popular boys in our town. And that popular boy was my friend, tapping my window earlier that same night.

"Are you ready?" he asked as soon as I opened my window and he climbed in stealthily. There was a wide grin plastered on his handsome face that disappeared as soon as he saw that I was already in my pajamas. "Why are you not still dressed? No, Ariella, you're not going to bail on me."

"But we could get caught!" I whispered to him dramatically.

"Both our parents went out, Ariella."

"They could get back home early, you silly! I already told you I'm not going. Maybe next time."

"Next time? There might not be any more next time, Ariella. This is the closest party we can get into. Next time they might do it in some other town and we could no longer go because it's too far."

I sighed because he had a point. But still. "What'll you do if your parents find out that we snuck out?"

He shrugged. "Let's worry about that later. Now, get dressed. We're going. I'm not leaving here without you." Those were the magic words. Worry started evaporating from my brain as soon as he pushed me gently to my drawer. "We always wanted to do this, right? It's just this one time. There's no point in going there alone. I want you to be there too."

"Okay." He smiled and patted my head as I said that, and then went to my window and climbed out after telling me that he'd be waiting for me outside. So there we were that night, we both sneaked into a human party like we always wanted. As werewolves living in a werewolf-only community, we grew up watching movies and TV shows of teenage humans partying, and that had always made us curious and want to go to one.

It was just like in the movies. We arrived to some loud music and a lot of young people were hanging out even outside the house. It was a full house. Quickly, we found ourselves sitting together with a group of humans our age that we instantly made friends with. Though I suspect that the only reason they quickly befriended us was because Eli was attractive, I couldn't care less as I was having the time of my life at that very moment. I managed to befriend two humans, one a girl and the other a boy and they both sat beside me asking me random things.