Chapter 2
The Boys-Zeke
“Man, can you believe it’s senior year,” I say as I shove at Lucian’s shoulder. He shoves me back.
“Hey man, enjoy it. Next comes college and going out into the real world.”
“Yeah, but I’m tired of all the drama that comes with high school. It’s the same shit different year.”
“I get it, but I still want to enjoy this.”
I see Maximus, or Max as we call him, and Graydon walking down the hall towards us. I lean on the locker next to Lucians. “We will.”
“Where is everyone’s first class? I have Trig.” Max asks.
“Me and Lucian have Chemistry,” I answer.
“English,” Graydon grumbles.
We all chuckle. English is Graydon's least favorite subject and add-on that it’s his first class in the morning. I shake my head and laugh. We talk for a couple more minutes about our schedules and agree to meet up for lunch before heading off to our classes. Upon entering the class, me and Lucian take a quick look around the room. There are only two tables left with two open spots. A girl with red hair is sitting alone at one, and the table in front of her is empty. As we make our way over, the most incredible scent hits my nose, vanilla, and strawberries.
Mine.
Whoa. Where did that thought come from? We sit at the table in front of her, and that’s when I notice the smell is her. I can feel my teeth lengthen. The urge to mark her is strong. Then it hits me, she’s my mate. I found my mate. I don’t even know this girl. I have to distract myself until I can talk to the guys. I take a small inhale, trying to scent what kind of shifter she is, but I don’t scent one. Fuck, she’s human. How is a human, my mate? That shouldn’t be possible. I’m going to have talk to the Elder Council.
Lucian grabs my attention. “So, there is a new girl.”
We both glance behind us. Damn, she’s beautiful. And she’s mine. Luckily, the teacher walks in, drawing my attention to him. He says he is going to assign partners. I roll my eyes. The rest of the class isn’t too happy about it, but what are you going to do. I wait for my name to be called and hope I’m paired with someone who will do work. Hopefully, I can get paired with the new girl.
“Callyn Silvers, Zeke Montgomery, and Lucian Harris,” the teacher calls.
Hell yeah, I got Lucian. I don’t recognize the girl’s name. I look around the room. Next thing I know the girl who is sitting behind us moves and sits next to me. I barely hold back a groan. I take a deep breath, drawing in her scent. My wolf wants to brush up against her and coat his fur in her scent.
“Hi, I’m Callyn,” she says.
“Zeke,” I manage to say. I’m surprised, to say the least. Her face is free of makeup. There is a splattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Her eyes are a light brown with gold flecks. Her voice, oh man, it’s soft but slightly raspy. It’s the sexiest thing I’ve heard. I hear Lucian say his name. The teacher pulls her attention.
She is beautiful. I keep looking at her. I just want to get to know her, touch her, claim her. Before I know it, class is over. She gathers her things.
“See you tomorrow,” she says with a smile and leaves.
That smile, holy shit. Thank God, I’m sitting. I stare at her hips as she walks away. Good lord. Lucian taps me on the shoulder. I see it on his face too. This girl is about to turn our lives upside down.
Lucian
I tap Zeke on the shoulder. We need to get going or we’ll be late for our next classes. When he looks at me, I see the sucker punched look on his face. I know because I have the same expression on my face. I wouldn’t have believed anyone if they told me. But I found her. I really found her.
My mate.
And she is the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on. We grab our stuff and hall ass. I make it to my class right before the bell rings. Sitting in the first available seat, I pull my phone out and hide it under the desk as I send a message to Zeke.
Me: Damn, chem is going to be interesting.
Zeke: Yeah. I need to tell you something, but I want to wait until lunch when Graydon and Max will be there. I want to tell everyone at the same time.
Me: Everything ok?
Zeke: Yeah, just something important happened. If I’m honest, I still don’t believe it.
Me: That works, because I need to tell everyone something too.
Me: I don’t know what to do about it.
Zeke: Is it serious? You know we will all be there for you.
Me: I know. It is life changing.
Zeke: Same here.
Well, shit. I wonder what his could be? I’m going to have to talk to my grandfather about this. As far as I know, no human has ever been mated to a shifter. Let alone, that human being a destined mate. Destined mates are few and far in between. They are the one being put on this planet, that is made for you. They are the other half of your soul. Destined mates mean everything to a shifter. Now, more so than ever. Fewer shifters every year are able to find their destined mates. Eventually, shifters will cease to exist, because of some war that happened 200 years ago. That war ended the life of the Alpha Queen and her mates. In the process, ending the last true alpha mate pairing.
True alpha mate pairing, helped stabilize the magic that makes shifters possible. It is said that the Alpha Queen, with the help of her mates, helped harness the magic. I’m not quite sure how that works, yet. My grandfather has yet to teach me this. But now, with me having a human destined mate, he can’t put this off any longer. I found her. I need to know.
I put my phone away and try to pay attention, but I can’t. My mind keeps wandering back to Callyn. That is how I spend my next couple of classes. Lunch couldn’t come fast enough. I grab my lunch and sit next to Zeke. Max and Graydon are sitting across from me.
“So, there's this cute redhead in my English class. We got paired up to work on our first project,” Max says as I sit.
“There was this cute red head in my math class, that got called on to work this problem out on the board,” Graydon says.
I look over at Zeke. It couldn’t be the same redhead. “Me and Zeke are paired with a cute redhead in Chemistry.”
“Huh,” Max exclaims. “Petite, long, red hair, brown eyes, freckles, new?”
All of us nod. I swear it’s as if we somehow manifested her because there she is walking by our table. We all follow her as she takes a seat at an empty table.
Mine.
The urge to go to her is overwhelming.
Zeke clears his throat, grabbing our attention. “About her. She’s my mate.”
What? How? That can’t be right. Am I wrong? No. I’ve been told you would know, and I’ve never had this feeling before.
“You’re not going to like hearing this, but she’s my mate.”
Graydon
What the hell is going on here? Zeke says she’s his mate. Then Lucian. But they’re wrong. They must be because she is my mate. I knew the moment I caught a whiff of her scent. The smell intoxicating.
“Hate to burst your bubbles, but she is mine. My mate.”
“No, all of you have it wrong because she is my mate,” Max chimes in.
Now, the whole table is glaring at each other. There’s no way she can be the mate to all four us. So, three of us have it wrong and it’s not me. Her scent called to my bear. The lazy fool perked right up the moment the vanilla and strawberry scent hit his nose. Now, he is lumbering back and forth telling me to go and take what is ours. Can’t say I disagree with him but now we need to sort this mess out.
Lucian sighs, “Looks like a trip to the Elder Council is in store for us. Maybe my grandfather will know what is happening.”
Lucian’s grandfather is a member of the Elder Council. Lucian is being groomed to take his spot once he is old enough and his grandfather is ready to retire. Glad it’s not me. It’s a shit job, but that’s just my opinion. It’s really a position of prestige and honor. Yeah, fuck that.
“No sense in arguing about it now. Side note, since she’s new that means she has no friends. I say we fix that and be the first.” Max says with a Cheshire grin.
I know what he is doing, and I can’t fault his logic. He wants us to stake our claim. I was up and out of my seat in a heartbeat. No way was I going to sit here and let my mate sit by herself. I am at her table in a couple of strides.
“Do you want some company?” I ask as I sit down taking the seat across from her. I’m not really giving her a choice. I’m trying to be polite. Her eyes widen in surprise when she looks up. I saw her earlier, but nothing beats sitting this close. I get to really see her. Her eyes are a light brown, like a rich honey color. And we all know how bears love their honey. I could get lost in her eyes. Her creamy pale skin is dusted with freckles. Her red hair almost reaches the top of her butt. I could drink my fill of her and it would never be enough.
“You don’t have to. I’m fine being on my own.” Her voice grabbing my attention. The raspiness is the sexiest thing I’ve heard.
“I know I don’t have to, I want to.” She smiles at me and it could very well be my undoing. I smile back. The rest of the guys quickly follow. Max took her right side, Lucian her left, and Zeke sitting next to me. “I’m Graydon James. You know Zeke Montgomery, Lucian Harris, and Maximus Anderson, or Max to us.”
“What are you guys doing? Is this some kind of prank? I really don’t need to be the butt of a joke. Did you come over here to pick on the new girl?” she questions.
“No, Callyn. This is not a joke. We didn’t come over here to pick on you either. We all want to be your friends,” Lucian says and gives her arm a gentle squeeze.
She winces. My eyes narrow. Did Lucian squeeze her arm too hard? I swear if he did, I’m going to beat his ass. I don’t care who you are, no one hurts my mate.
“Why? What makes me so special?”
Well, shit. I don’t know how to answer this. I want to tell her the truth, but chances are she would think I’m crazy. I doubt she would believe me anyway. Lucian an the other hand is usually pretty good in these kinds of situations.
“We would like a chance to get to know you and we hope you’ll want to get to know us. You’re partnered with most of us in some of your classes. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. It can’t hurt to make friends with the people you are going to be interacting with on a daily basis.” Lucian states.
“I don’t know. The hottest guys at school all want to be my friend. It sounds fishy.”
“So, you think we’re the hottest guys in school, huh?” Max asked as he gently bumps her shoulder.
Callyn rolls her eyes, flinching slightly. If that isn’t the cutest thing. Man, this girl is already making me soft. I just thought something was cute. I’m gonna lose my man card if I ever say this shit out loud.
“You know you are. Plus, some girls have been giving me the side eye since the four of you sat down. You all must be a big deal here.”
You could say that, but I only have eyes for one girl. The one sitting right across from me.
Maximus
Ha. She thinks we’re good looking. She’s not wrong. All the girls that go to school here have tried to get our attention. Don’t get me wrong, the girls are pretty, but some have some ugly insides. The way things were going, I would have ended up with one of them, because of how hard it is to find your destined mate. Thank whatever forces brought Callyn to me.
As I look to my friends, I can see that they are all enamored with her as well. I know even if she wasn’t my mate, I would still be interested. But the fact that she is makes it all the sweeter. The bell rings and we get up to throw our stuff away. Callyn tries to sneak away, but I grab her hand.
“And just where do you think you’re going? Are you trying to give us the slip?”
“I’m trying to head to class.”
“Which are…,” I trail off.
“Art, gym, and study hall.”
“Good, I have art,” Zeke says.
“So, do I,” Graydon claims.
“We all have study hall,” I say.
She nods. “See you in study hall then?” she questions.
“Definitely.”
I reluctantly let go of her hand. I watch as Zeke and Graydon flank her sides and walk down the hall. I look over at Lucian and see he is staring too.
“We gotta get going or we’ll be late, and I was almost late once today,” Lucian says.
We head in opposite directions and I think about Callyn the whole time. I saw the wince she gave when Lucian squeezed her arm. He didn’t squeeze that hard. There is no way that should have hurt. If I noticed, then I know the others saw it as well. Eventually, we’ll find out. I make it to class just as the late bell rings. I take the only available seat which is in the front. I can’t concentrate. I can’t even pull out my phone. Sitting up front sucks. Focus Max. I laugh to myself. No way that is happening. I just give in and let my mind wander to Callyn.
I can’t wait to learn more about her. The little bit of time I’ve spent with her today, you can tell she’s different. In a good way. I was a little hurt that she questioned why would want to be friends with her. I wonder what happened to make her think that. I guess it doesn’t help being the new kid. Makes me wonder if she was picked on in her other school. Well, that is about to change. Callyn doesn’t know what’s coming her way with the four of us in her life now.