Peering over the very edge of my large warm blanket I stared wistfully at the fragmented pieces of what used to be my fully functioning alarm clock. It had proven to be very useful over the many years I spent in school, but today was the first day of summer break, the end of the torturously long 4 years of high school. High school wasn't a pleasant experience for anybody but definitely not for the few humans amongst the prideful wolves.

Finally freedom, it was the first day of summer break, after 4 torturously long years of high school, filled with prideful werewolves who thought they were much better then us human students, who there very few of. I was making the most of this day by staying in bed all day cuddling into my warm blankets.

I could hear my mom bustling about ranting to my father about how I was an idiot to plan to go to college so far from home, where my father and her couldn't protect me. I wanted to become a psychiatrist, and the best school for that was in another pack right near the border of the free state. The free state was what I called the one of very few places around the world that were not ruled by wolves, and I planned to practise there, after ten long gruelling years of post secondary. My mom though didn't understand that, she was a pessimist who always said I would never get permission from our alpha to stay in the free state, after college, she believed him letting me out of pack territory was a stretch. Mostly alpha didn't let any unmated females out, especially if we were human, but he couldn't deny the fact that I had very high potential, my grades had always been higher then most kids. I planned to lay low this summer. Enjoy the time with my family, and few friends, and then never return and I had made this very clear to my parents.

The one thing that was deterring me from enjoying my two months of relaxation was the upcoming mating ball. The mating ball was hosted by Alaricus Knight at his castle, this was very odd because Knight wasn't very social, he tended to skip anything which involved socializing only adding to the long list of reasons he was called a beast. The mating ball, like it's name is a ball in which unmated wolves and humans from the territories come to find their mates, and now that I was seventeen it was mandatory for me to attend.

My door was suddenly thrown open by my mom, her curly hair wild, her green eyes ablaze, dainty nostrils flaring in anger, she was angry and as usual it was my fault. My father knew better then to anger her. My dad's head peeked into the room slightly from the door, and at being caught he trudged in smiling sheepishly.

"Have you even decided what you want to wear to the ball yet?" My mother demanded.

"No." I said softly biting into my lower lip nervously.

"But me and Marina were planning to go shopping today." I hastily explained as I noticed her dainty little nose begin to turn red in anger. To my relief my answer seemed to appease my mother for now although I knew if I didn't get a dress today I was as good as dead.

"Can I trust you to get this done on your own?" My mom asks suspiciously her eyes probing at me, pressuring me to crack and beg her to come along, but not this time I would stay strong.

"Yes, I promise mom, I can do this on my own." I say attempting not to look away from her probing. A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips, lighting up her whole face as I stare enviously, I was going to miss them, but perhaps some time alone would benefit my parents, make it easier on them. Having an unmated child no matter their age in the house led to a lot more attention from the wolves. After spending their entire lives under the wolves' watchful eye, my parents would appreciate some time not being under the radar.

"My little baby is growing up so fast." My dad said his voice cracking slightly, as he came to sit beside me.

"Oh god not again I swear if you cry again, I'm gonna force you to go ball gown shopping with your daughter." My mom threatened, making my dads eyes widen knowing my mom always lived upto her promises.

After my mom had completely cleaned my room and me and my dad had awkwardly stood there trying to not get in the way, I had shooed them both out of my room so I could get ready to go shopping.

Showering quickly had never been a strength of mine, but fortunately, Marina was running late. I dried my hair quickly, pulling on a soft creme sweater and dark jeans before stumbling down the stairs, pressing kisses to my parents cheeks before rushing out the door, but even then I was early.

Sitting on the porch waiting for my friend I played with my phone, throwing it up, and catching it, something my mother detested, since my hand eye coordination wasn't exactly adequate. My phone dropped into my lap and I gave up letting out a huff I looked up only to see somebody we were unfortunate enough to call a neighbour approaching. He was a pack warrior, and absolutely like every other high positioned pack member loved by the unmated females. Unfortunately he seemed to enjoy the fact that I wasn't vying for his attention. As a human I was ranked very low meaning I would get severely punished for disrespecting him, outright rejecting his advances would be considered an act of disrespect as well. Only one of the many insufferable rules humans were forced to follow.

He smiled at me, trying to look friendly but being so close to a girl had apparently gotten his wolf a little happy cause his canines were showing, and I struggled to not cringe. Luckily though before I had to endure the awkward small talk my friend pulled up in her cute little blue car beeping obnoxiously. Sending him an apologetic smile I ran right past him to my friends car pretending I didn't hear him call out for me frantically.

Climbing into my friends car I sent her a grateful smile while panting after my sprint across the parking lot.

Soft music played in the car as I rest my head against the soft headrest, mindlessly drumming my fingers to the beat. Marina chatted animatedly about her boyfriend, and I tried to pay attention, trying to give her the best advice, she had a tendency to overreact. Having no experience in this area myself I was completely clueless.

Marina turned into the mall and I sat up attempting to decode the difficult parking chart before directing her. Finding parking fairly quickly we hurried into the mall excitedly, and after countless stores and trying on thousands of dresses we had finally found a beautiful blue number for Marina. While she purchased that in the very long line I told her to meet me in the adorable cafe and book store at the end of the mall. Knowing how I got around books Marina was more then happy to not have to accompany me to a book store, and easily let me go before making me swear that I wouldn't take too long there.

Buying a gingerbread latte I went to the classics section since that was one of the few sections that didn't have books about wolves and mates. Wolves' existence revolved around their mate, and since humans were rarely allowed to publish most books were about mates. In a way they were very romantic, besides the fact that their mate was simply the best biologically suited for them, there wasn't much of an emotional connection to it, no spontaneity of anything unexpected the way love should be.

The owner an adorable old lady who was human, and shared my love for romance, came to chat with me while her husband served drinks. She was the only one who understood my love for classics, and one of the very few I was comfortable telling I didn't like books about mates. I just didn't believe in love at first sight, love was not loving someone for their looks but getting to know them, falling in love with their personality their odd little quirks, and loving them despite their imperfections, and that was only found in human romance books. Werewolves were big on romance since mates were a huge thing for them their mate was their sole reason for existing. But I liked that old fashioned slowly falling in love, and that was probably why I had a seriously sad dating history, I was old fashioned and about the biggest prude ever, most teenage guys don't like that.

While giggling with Mrs.Burkins over fictional characters, I hadn't even realized the amount of time that had passed by and before I knew it Marina was there dragging me out while scolding me when I tried to protest, and looked away ranting how I still needed a dress when I tried my infamous pout.

She had managed to drag me to 5 more stores and forced me into countless dresses before we finally found the one, it was beautiful, a very soft pink that was off the shoulders and slightly trailed behind me when I walked. It was absolutely stunning, but nothing too daring or flashy, blending in was my intention, and this dress was perfect for it, covering, soft colours, absolutely perfect.

Marina gushed about all the guys that would be at the ball, over dinner and the drive home, and scoffed at my indifference.

"Amara you need to at least try to be excited about guys" my friend said.

"Hey I am interested in guys." I said defensively I knew I was a prude but I didn't like to be told that.

"Yeah fictional ones." My friend bit back while aggressively biting into her side order of celery.

"Really you need to start dating who knows maybe you will find a mate soon and never get the chance again." Marina said, and I gulped realizing she was right there was a 30% chance there was a psychotically possessive wolf out there waiting to tie me down forever, and not let me live my life the way I've always planned to.

Having very supportive parents I had big dreams, becoming a psychiatrist traveling the world, volunteering at orphanages around the world, none of those involved being stuck with an oversized mutt.

Before I knew it the night was over, I was back in my house and after showing my parents my dress, I went to bed thoroughly exhausted from all the shopping. Like always though my parents came in to kiss me goodnight.

I fell asleep to troublesome dreams about oversized mutts claiming I was theirs and ripping my plane ticket in half with their canines.

A/N

Please do not copy this story, I also do not let people translate my books, so don't do that either. I will find out eventually and I will report it, and your book will be deleted. There's no point going through that hassle and you have a mind of your own, please use it don't be as low as to copy someone's book. Also if you see any translations or copying of this book please let me know, I have not given anyone permission to do so.