Meet me out by the gazebo after lights out. I will be waiting for you.

It was my fifth time reading the note. I already knew the words by heart, but somehow reading it over and over again made me feel closer to him. I’d been staring at him since I got here – at lunch, during Social Studies class, and when we would pass in the halls on our way back to our dorms.

He was gorgeous, devastatingly so. Tall, tan, with perfect strawberry blond curls. He walked like an alpha, his eyes moved across the rest of the student body like he was their elected leader, which he basically was. Everyone here respected him. He was like an older brother to so many of us, and looked out for the smaller omegas if anyone ever decided to pick on them. He was a walking beauty. And his scent…apple tea with a hint of spice…chili maybe.

I remember the first time I smelled it. It was my first day at Mrs. Brown’s School, an orphanage and school in upstate New York that began in elementary school and went all the way to twelfth grade. I had bounced around from place to place and come here midway through my sophomore year. I thought it would be just like every other place I’d been before, but then I’d run into him.

It was just after lunch, and I was on my way to Algebra, when a scent had filled my nose and stopped me right in my steps.

“Move it, new kid,” Josh Peterson had snapped at me, driving an elbow into my lower back to get me out of his way. Normally I would have bared my fangs and retaliated – even if I was an omega, I was tough and not to be messed with. Half of the alphas at Mrs. Brown’s had been there since they were children, and never had to be out in the world losing friends and fending for themselves like me.

But with the mind-numbingly intoxicating scent in my nostrils, I could have been run over by a tractor-trailer and not even noticed.

Who is that!? My mind was screaming out as I scoured the crowd in front of me for the source of the heavenly scent. When I finally saw him, my legs almost gave out.

He’d seen me too, and when our eyes locked, it was like a symphony had begun to play. My soul soared and I knew I was staring at my fated mate.

Your fated mate at sixteen years old!? I thought, my mind blown. Impossible!

Fated mates were something talked about a lot among teenage shifters, but I’d yet to run into anyone who had actually found theirs. Lots of alphas would use that as an opening line on a cute omega, just to try and get them to hookup with them, and hope the omega didn’t know any better. It had made me skeptical to the entire idea, but when I smelled him, I knew. Fated mates were real.

I wanted to scream at him to come and talk to me. I stood there, motionless, as his eyes probed over my body, examining every inch of me. I felt as though he was staring into my soul, but before either of us could make a move, the bell rang.

“Okay, everybody! Inside!” Mrs. Logan snapped from a door behind him. “Now!”

Everyone jumped and quickly filtered into their classrooms. Being late to class was a major offense at Mrs. Brown’s, with punishments like no dinner, no break time, or late night duty in the library.

“Casper?” I heard Mr. Jacob’s voice stern voice behind me. “Is there something more important for you in the hallway?”

Hell yes, there is! I wanted to shout at him, but I knew that would be a catastrophically stupid thing to do. It took all my might to tear my eyes away from the alpha standing only a few yards away from me, and I felt a pain in my chest as I turned my back on him and headed into Algebra class.

We’d shared broken moments together since then – a glance across the hallway, a moment at lunch across the tables, but he hadn’t come over to talk to me, even though I’d been pleading to him with my eyes. But then it had happened.

After the last class of the day let out, and I was headed back to my room, he’d brushed past me and placed something in my hand. A note. My heart almost exploded as I opened it and read it.

Meet me out by the gazebo after lights out. I will be waiting for you.

Since then, I’d been lying on my bottom bunk, staring up at the frayed fabric of the mattress above me, counting down the minutes until lights out.

I glanced at the clock hanging above the door: 8:58. Two more minutes!

I’d been working for a trucking company, sneaking out at night, which was completely against the rules, to earn a little bit of money that I’d been hiding in my mattress. I wasn’t going to be here forever, and if I had to move again, I didn’t want to be penniless. But tonight, I was going to be skipping work, that much was for sure. What were a few extra dollars versus the love of my life?

8:59.

I could hear the proctor’s footsteps in the hall, making his way to the light switch by the stairwell, and felt my heart start to race even faster.

What if he’s not there? What if I get caught on the way? What if he’s actually not my fated mate? What if he’s telling me he’s leaving?

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. Terry, my roommate, moved under his blankets. He was already asleep. The guy was the laziest person I’d ever met and could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I was starting to think he might have some kind of disease or something.

9:00. I didn’t even have to look at the clock to know. I heard the loud clunking sound as the proctor hit the main breaker for all the lights in the dorm. I waited for his footsteps to disappear down the hall, swung my feet out of bed and moved to the window.

Luckily, my room was second from the end and right beside the drainpipe that came down from the roof. Terry was a deep sleeper, so I didn’t have to worry about waking him as I slid the window open and climbed out.

It was fall, but the night was warm as I climbed onto the drainpipe and made my way down the three stories to the ground. When I landed, I stayed low and kept to the shadows, moving past the parking lot and around the hedges toward the gazebo. I could smell him before I could see him, and as I came around the apple tree and laid eyes on him, I felt my heart soar.

“Red,” I said simply as I saw him standing there, looking more glorious than I’d ever seen him before. It was like his entire body radiated a confidence that seemed impossible, otherworldly, like he was a king amongst kings.

“Casper,” he replied, his lips barely a smile. “I am glad you came.”

Red had an odd way of speaking, almost like he was from another time or place. It made him stand out even more than he already did, and I loved it. Slowly, I took the three steps up to the gazebo and stood before him. My body was tingling. I had no idea what was going to happen.

“I trust you are feeling what I am feeling,” he said, taking a step closer. “Do you know what I am talking about?”

I nodded eagerly. “Yes!”

“Your scent,” he mused. “I knew the instant I smelled you that I had found the one. My—”

“Fated mate?” I interrupted. I just couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t wait for him to finish. The words just leapt out of my mouth. I wanted to skip everything and throw myself into his arms. But I wasn’t brave enough. So I stood there and waited for him.

Red smiled. “Yes. Exactly.”

“I – I thought it was just a myth! A fairy tale!”

“It’s not,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “I have never been more certain about anything. You are the one I want to share my life with. I feel it, deep in my soul.”

He took another step forward, and as the autumn air blew through his short strawberry blonde hair his scent surrounded me, enveloped me like a warm blanket, a set of arms that made me dizzy with emotion. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, taking his scent inside me.

When his hand touched my cheek, I almost fainted. My eyes opened into his, and I felt overcome by his gaze. His fingers slowly drifted across my face, and then beneath my chin. He lifted my jaw to his and butterflies soared through my stomach.

He’s – he’s going to kiss me! I realized as his mouth opened.

I closed my eyes as our lips met, and it was almost too much to handle. Fireworks exploded in the air, a star went supernova and a brass band played a victory march. My first kiss, and it’s from the love of my life!