Worst Birthday Ever
“Happy birthday!!!” They chorus as soon as I step into the kitchen.
Mom is beaming, carrying a stack of pancakes dripping with maple syrup to the breakfast table. A single candle is burning right on top of it. Dad is already sitting at the table, smiling wide.
“Hyaaaahhhh!!!” I hear my sister yells as she bounds down the stairs behind me.
I huff the candle out before she even reaches the bottom of the stairs.
“Genesis! Damn it!!!” she yells in frustration.
“Autumn Harmony Fairchild! Language!” Mom admonishes her.
I flash my sister a victorious grin before I turn back around and give mom and dad an angelic, innocent smile.
My sister Autumn is two years younger than I am. Last week was her birthday, and I blew out the candle on her special birthday pancakes. I knew she would try to seek revenge. Unfortunately for her, I came downstairs early today, and just like that, I've foiled her evil plan of revenge.
Mom disappears into the living room and I give my sister another mischievous grin. She takes her seat beside me at the breakfast table and scowls at me.
Not only are our birthdays close together, Autumn and I look almost the same. Sometimes people thought that we were twins. From our light hazel eyes to our red hair. The only difference is that Autumn's face is a little bit rounder than mine and my red hair is a darker red, closer to Auburn, while Autumn is more of a strawberry blond. I'm also a bit taller than she is. I'm 5'11” which is just a little over the average height of most she-wolves, and Autumn is 5'9”.
“Happy Birthday, by the way,” says Autumn “Are you excited yet?”
“Excited about going to school on my birthday?” I ask back, sharing my stack of pancakes with her. Mom gave me too much.
“No, silly! About possibly meeting your mate today!” she replies, looking at me as if I've lost my marbles.
“I don't know...I'd be more excited if I don't have to be stuck in school the whole day on my birthday.” I am, but I'm not going to admit that to her.
Yeah, we're the regular werewolf family, and as werewolves, we get the gift to sense out our mate as soon as we turn eighteen. That means for me, sometime during lunchtime today, if my mate is already eighteen and he's living somewhere around here.
“I had to go to school on my birthday too,” she reminds me. “I can't wait to turn 18 so I can meet my mate already.” She sighs. “Oh, I bet he's so hot. Hotter than your mate. The hottest guy in the whole pack.”
“My baby girl might be meeting her mate today!” mom exclaims as she comes back from the living room where she hid my birthday gift. She places my gift on the table and says, “You're excited, right?”
I'm going to be asked this question over and over again today, it seems.
“No, she's not. She's not going to let any boys near her until she's at least 40,” announces dad.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes at both of them as I rip open the wrapper. I already knew what's inside. It's a new airbrush paint set and mediums. I'd been giving obvious hints about wanting it for months.
“Thanks, mom, dad! I can't wait to try it out.” I give them both a hug.
Actually, I am very excited about meeting my mate. I can feel my wolf, Ezra, being restless and excited the whole night.
My Ezra is excited, which makes me even more excited. That's why I'm all dressed up today. Well okay, so I'm dressed the same way I always dressed for school every day. Jeans and t-shirt. Nothing special, but yeah, I am very excited about possibly meeting my mate today. Not that I would ever admit that to my parents. Goddess, no! That would be so embarrassing.
Autumn and I walk to school. It's just a 15-minute walk. The weather is mild and I always enjoy the short walk.
When we get to school, Autumn heads off to where her friends are waiting, while I stroll inside to where my friends usually hang out.
Penny, Reese, and River are hanging out by our lockers as usual. Reese and River are mates. Penny hasn't turned 18, so she hasn't found her mate yet.
“Happy birthday, girl!” yells Penny as soon as she spots me, drawing the attention of most other students loitering the hallway.
She pulls me into a hug and soon after, Reese and River do the same.
“You're going to have to wait until after school for your gift,” says Reese excitedly.
“You're going to be 18! Finally. Are you excited?” asks Penny.
“I don't know. I think I'm a bit nervous,” I admit.
“Yeah, I'd probably be nervous too, meeting our mates for the first time...but it's exciting too!” shrieks Penny, clapping her hands excitedly.
“Don't be nervous, Genesis. It'll be okay,” soothes Reese.
“It's better than okay. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me,” says River, wrapping his arms around Reese.
“Awww...isn't he sweet?” coos Reese with that look in her eyes as she stares up at River. “Anyway, we'll see you losers at lunch!” she says as River pulls her away.
“Later, bish!” says Penny. I just give them a little wave before I start digging my locker for my books.
“Boy, I wish we can mate with one of those hotties.” she suddenly whispers as she stares dreamily over my shoulder.
I turn around to the sight of three male lycans walking down the hallway. They are so tall, about 6'5 or more.
You see, lycans are different than us regular werewolves. For one thing, they are known to be the direct descendants of the moon goddess, so they are treated like the nobility in the werewolf world. In fact, our king is a lycan.
Second, they are bigger, faster, fiercer, smarter, stronger and more powerful than any werewolves, even the alphas. They are like killing machines when provoked. You don't want to mess with them.
Third, in their human form, they are better looking and more attractive than us regular werewolves who are considered to be better looking than most humans...like way more. So, lycans are god-like smoking hot.
Fourth, they don't have to belong to a pack. They can travel anywhere alone and not be considered a rogue.
And fifth, they don't have mates chosen for them by the moon goddess like us regular werewolves. They get to choose their own mates, either another lycans, regular werewolves or even humans they're attracted to. They would form a bond, much like a werewolf's mate bond, or even stronger if they're both attracted to each other, to begin with. Once, I heard a story about a lycan who took an already mated she-wolf, leaving her mate broken since there's nothing anybody could do about it.
There are only three male and two female lycans in our school of over six hundred students. Only 10 percent out of those six hundred students are humans. All the teachers and the administration of this school are werewolves too.
The three lycans who are heading this way right now are Lazarus, Caspian, and Constantine. The female lycans who are not around right now are Serena and Milan. I haven't seen those two around for a few days now. They are, of course, drop-dead gorgeous.
I think Serena is mated to Lazarus, and Milan may or may not mated to Caspian. There are rumors that those three boys are closely related to our ruling king, but we don't know for sure. There's not much else that we know about the lycans in our school. Not even their last names. They keep to themselves and pay no attention to us mere werewolves and humans. That makes them so mysterious and much more attractive to the female population here.
So yeah, those three god-like looking Adonis are drop-dead gorgeous. Jaw dropping. Panty melting. And I so would be making a fool of myself if I don't stop drooling over them—like Penny—and all the other un-mated she-wolves around us right now.
I quickly turn back and start pulling books that I need from my locker. There's no way a lycan would be interested in an Omega like me. Lycans are attracted to strength, intelligence, and beauty. Besides, I might be meeting my mate today. Flutters of excitement start in my tummy at the thought. My wolf Ezra is getting excited. We've been waiting for this for years.
I grab Penny's hand and drag her along to get to our class before the bell rings. We share English lit class together.
“I can't wait to be out of this place soon. Thank goodness we only have a few months of school left.” I inform Penny.
“Oh, I don't know...I don't mind school. There are lots of hot guys around, like those lycans.” she says. “ Or like those boys...too bad they're such jerks and man-whores,” whispers Penny in my ear as we pass the popular group in our school.
Logan Carrington, our future Alpha is kissing or rather shoving his tongue down the throat of Mia Brown, the head cheerleader. They're together, but everybody knows they're seeing other people on the side. Zeke Walker, future Delta has his arms around Elle Johnson and Marie Jacobs, while talking to Hunter Stevens, the future Beta. I think Hunter isn't so bad. He doesn't seem like a player like the other two. He talked to me once or twice before and seems pretty nice.
“I wonder if he's digging for hidden treasure down her esophagus,” I whisper back and Penny starts laughing.
Hunter turns to look at us, then his eyes shift to me, looking amused. I think his lips twitch a bit like he's trying not to laugh. Cuddly bunny and fuzzy slippers! He must have heard me.
I practically push Penny into our English lit class, while trying to hide my flaming face.
Yes, I do think that those boys are pretty hot. There's no way in hell would I admit it to anyone, though.
Logan and Zeke have this class with me and Penny. They enter the class ten minutes after the teacher started teaching. Not that she would say anything.
Logan slides into a seat in front of me and my wolf stirs. I stare at the back of his golden head for a bit. Logan is about 6'2”, well-muscled; has high cheekbones and sharp features like a model; bright blue eyes and golden blond hair. When he smiles, wow. His straight white teeth and those adorable dimples are simply to die for. Well, maybe I have a bit of a crush on him. Just a little bit. I think a lot of the girls here do.
The rest of the classes went pretty well —boring and uneventful. Art is the only subject I look forward to. Did I mention that my mom is an artist? Well, she is, and I'm very proud of her. Lavinia Fairchild is quite well known. Every werewolf household here has at least one or two of her prints or originals. My dream is to go to an art school and be as good as her.
We are sitting at our regular table during lunchtime when I suddenly smell that wonderful smell that I can't describe. Whatever it is, it smells awesome! Ezra, my wolf is fighting to be let out and take control. I guess I was born during lunch time. I stand up and start to follow my nose to identify where that smell comes from. I can't help it. I have to find it. I vaguely hear my friends calling my name, but I can't seem to focus on anything else but that smell.
My nose brings me to the popular group table. Oh no, I can't seem to bring my feet to stop. Ezra's taking control. Everybody stops talking. Logan Carrington? My mate is Logan Carrington? No no no no.
His beautiful blue eyes widen as he looks up at me. His eyes softened as they roam my face. I can see lust and hunger flitting across his face briefly as his eyes move up and down my body. But then he looks away quickly. His breathing ragged. My wolf howls with joy and my first instinct is to jump on him and stake my claim.
“Follow me,” he says gruffly, and swiftly walks out the cafeteria through the back door.
I follow him across the lawn to an Oak tree. The tree provides us a bit of privacy from prying eyes.
“What's your name?” he finally asks. His beautiful eyes are not even looking at me. I can't seem to tear my eyes away from his perfect face. The sun is glinting in his golden hair. The shadows fall across the planes of his sharp features.
“Genesis... Genesis Fairchild,” I finally answer.
“Fairchild? You're an Omega, aren't you?” he says. “I can't have an Omega as my mate. My pack needs a stronger luna, not someone weak like you. Besides, I love someone else. Mia makes a better Luna than you ever could.” Each word is like a knife slicing through my chest. Ezra whimpers.
Oh no, suddenly I know what's going to happen. My heart starts to race, my breaths come out short and shallow. I don't know what's happening to me. All I know is that my heart is breaking.
“I, Logan Carrington, future Alpha of Shadow Geirolf pack, reject you, Genesis Fairchild, as my mate and future luna of my pack,” he utters coldly, not looking at me once.
My wolf cries and howls in pain. She doesn't understand. Why is our mate hurting us so?
“Hey baby, what's going on?” says Mia, wrapping her arms around him. Where did she come from?
“Nothing to worry about, sweetheart,” he answers.
She looks me over with disdain. She pointedly pulls Logan's head down and plants her lips on his for a claiming kiss. He wraps his arm around her waist, and then they turn and leave. I watch her whispers something in his ear and they both laugh.
I watch them laugh as I fall to the ground, clutching at my chest. Oh, goddess, it feels like he just plunged a knife deep into my chest and twisted it. Then he just keeps yanking the knife up and down, left and right over and over again until there's nothing left of my heart but a bloody, twisted ugly gash in my chest. Ezra curls up in pain then goes silent.
***
I'm lying on my bed now. Everything was a blur after I fell. I remember seeing my friends Penny, Reese, and River running to me, calling my name in panic. They were asking me what was wrong. River carried me to his car. Then I don't remember anything else. The three of them must've brought me home.
“Talk to me, honey. Tell me what happened,” says mom gently, pushing my hair from my forehead.
“He rejected me, mom. My mate rejected me.” My eyes are tearing up again. I still find it hard to believe that this is really happening to me. I was wishing that it was just a horrible nightmare.
There are a thousand different emotions chasing across mom's face. Disbelief, anger, pain, sadness....
All the pain comes back. I start twisting in my bed and mom wraps her arms around me. Even mom's comforting loving arms can't stop or ease the pain away.
“It hurts so bad. Make it stop...make it stop. Mom, please make it go away.” I sob, clawing at my chest. “I'd do anything...just make it stop.” Goddess, it hurts so much, I want to die.
“My baby. My poor baby girl,” cries mom. Tears running down her face as she hugs me close, willing my pain to go away.
After what feels like hours, I calm down, or maybe I'm just too exhausted to even shed a tear. Only my chest is moving up and down. Sleep doesn't come easily. In the middle of the night, all alone in the darkness, tears leak out again, falling down my face silently. My wolf, Ezra, is completely silent now, but I can feel her crushing pain, as well as my own.
I had been looking forward to meeting my mate since I was four. Mom told me about it like it's the best thing to ever happen to a werewolf. I had been waiting for someone who would love me and protect me and be by my side no matter what.
All werewolves look forward to meeting their mates. It's very rare that a mate gets rejected, but it happened to me. What is wrong with me?
All werewolves know you only got one chance of having a mate. What now? Will I ever be loved and have a family? Will my wolf, Ezra, ever comes out and be the same again? A werewolf without his or her wolf is only an empty shell. Most would eventually die or go crazy after they lost their mates. Their wolves decide to disappear when the pain gets unbearable. Now I understand how very painful it is, and we're not even mated yet. Will I die or go crazy too? I hope Ezra is strong enough to stay.
How could the moon goddess do this to me? What did I do to deserve this? I didn't ask for an Alpha. She could've matched me to another lowly Omega and I'd still be happy. As long as I am loved, I'll be happy.
How did this day turn out so bad? Worst. Birthday. Ever.