"Hey, Grandpa?" He walked along the sidewalk of the long empty streets.

"Yes, Shiro?" he watched him curiously as Shiro balanced himself on the small stone wall that they had been walking beside.

"What's it like to find your mate?"

"It's indescribable bliss," he smiled at him. "Finding your mate is finding the other half of your soul. Not only do they complete you, but they bring you happiness and peace for the rest of your days."

"Do you think I'll find mine?" he stopped and sat down on the wall, looking at his grandfather with excitement.

"Of course, you will Shiro," his grandfather chuckled and put a hand on his small shoulders. "You are a Wang. And the Spirit of the Moon blesses our family with mates right when they are of age."

"What do you think they will be like?"

"That's a good question," he said. "The Spirit of the Moon doesn't like telling her secrets when it comes to that."

"But I didn't ask the moon," Shiro huffed. "I asked you, Grandpa."

"Well," the tall man laughed again. He was always so happy when it was just the two of them. "Since you simply asked for my opinion, I think your mate is going to be someone just as caring as you. Someone who will give you peace when they are near, and will love you unconditionally."

"Really?" he smiled.

"I truly believe that," his grandfather said. His dark eyes sparkled with joy. "But that also means that you must do the same for them, Shiro. You must love them as much as they love you, and care for them in the same manner. For they are your second half."

"Shiro?"

His eyes refocused onto the person standing by the door. He was trying to meditate to prepare for what was ahead of him. But it seemed as if his thoughts had something else in mind.

"Yes?" he asked his sister. She walked in to his meditation room with a small smile on her face.

His meditation room was one of the few in the house that was completely soundproof. He needed it to be in order to keep focused on his mind and mastering his skills. He had spent a long time in that room throughout the years. It had helped him find peace within himself many times.

"Are you still trying to meditate?" she walked up to him. He was sitting on the ground of the large room. She sat down next to him.

"There is no try," Shiro frowned. "I was meditating when you came in and interrupted me."

"It doesn't look like you were that successful at it," Hiroko giggled a bit.

"I was until you came in," he muttered.

"Then why is your foot twitching?" his sister giggled again as he stopped his foot from moving. He hadn't known that he was doing that until that moment.

So much for being in control of himself again. Shiro sighed and fell back onto the ground.

"I hate this," he stared up at the ceiling. "I can't even stay in control of my own emotions at the moment."

"Emotions are tricky to control," Hiroko told him. "Sometimes it's simply not possible."

"Anything's possible," Shiro told her. "But, for some reason, I just find myself..."

"Nervous?"

"Yes," he frowned again.

"Has he called yet?" Hiroko looked over to the phone that was laying by the side table along the edge of the room. "We sent the invitations a while ago."

"No," Shiro covered his face with his hands. "What if he doesn't want to come? What if I hurt him too much by running away from him?"

"Don't you remember what Grandpa would say about asking those kinds of questions?" She laughed.

"Hiroko," he groaned. "This isn't just a worry over some small thing like when we were little. I didn't want to hurt him."

"He'll call," Hiroko assured him. "From what I heard, he seemed excited to get the invitation."

That's what Jin had told him as well. He said that the man looked rather confused to see him there delivering it, but as soon as he was brought up in their conversation he smiled.

But if that was the case, then why wouldn't he have called already? Shiro wasn't used to waiting on phone calls like this. His duties had involved phone calls and paperwork quite a lot, but it had never left him nervous like this instance.

The sound of the door opening distracted him from his thoughts yet again. Shiro looked to see the rest of his friends coming into his room. All except Jin. He was too busy dealing with preparations for the party that weekend.

"Shiro!" Tammy stomped her foot. "You have way too much explaining to do! And before you try and blow me off, you owe me this time!"

"Why do I owe you?" he asked her. He wished he could say that it brought a smile to his face like all the other times she had acted like this. But his nerves were too frayed to enjoy the moment.

"Besides the fact that I brought all of your homework to your classes for you," She sat down on one of the chairs by the wall. "Both Geo and I had to avoid that freshman that has a crush on you."

"Who?" he sat back up to look at her. Miki had sat right next to her, looking rather amused at her mate's bossy nature towards him. Geo looked worn out and stressed as he sat down. He immediately felt guilty that he hadn't gone to class with them.

"That kid with the really fluffy hair," Tammy said. "I think his name started with a 'W' or something."

"Wiatt," Geo groaned. "And holy crap does he talk way too much."

"Wiatt?" Shiro furrowed his brow. "He never talked that much to me." Why would he have tried to talk to them? They hadn't said anything to him.

"That's because he's crushing on you," Tammy rolled her eyes.

"You mean he likes me in a romantic way?"

"Duh!" Tammy put her arms out. "What did you think I meant?"

That was strange to think about. He didn't think anyone in that school thought much about him at all. He had always tried to stay reserved so as to not get anyone's attention. Most people outside the pack didn't even know his rank because of it. He liked it that way. It allowed him to talk to people from a neutral stand point. If omegas caught onto his rank, they might cower to him. And that was the last thing he intended to do.

There was also the fact that Wiatt was related to Jett. Which, for some reason, made this feel really, really awkward.

"Shiro, you have no idea how many people have a crush on you," Tammy asked. "Do you?"

"I didn't think that people saw me in that way."

"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "Do you know how many times I get the death stare from both girls and guys at school just by pretending to be your girlfriend?"

"Who gives you the death stare?" Miki asked her. Her shoulders got tense as she asked. "I'll show all of them a lesson."

"I'd be careful with making that kind of promise," Geo said. "I'm pretty sure Alpha Jett was one of those people."

"Alpha Jett saw you two together?" Hiroko asked. Shiro had a lot to catch her up on.

"Can we stop saying his name?" Shiro laid back down on the floor again. It still hurt to hear his name. If anything, it hurt now more than it had before. He was still trying to clean up the mess of emotions that running away from his mate had done to him.

He shouldn't have run away. He should have let him make his mark, and made his mark on him in return. That's what mates are supposed to do when they find each other. And, in a perfect world, with a perfect situation, that could have very well happened.

"Why can't we say his name?" Tammy asked. "Does this have to do with the curse again?"

"Yes."

"I still don't get it," Miki shook her head. "Why does the curse affect you two so horribly when all it does for me is...well, not that." Her cheeks flushed just a little bit. As much as Miki was the dominant one in her relationship, it didn't mean that she stopped blushing. When they were all younger, Shiro used to love embarrassing her and making her blush. His grandfather had thought it was funny as well.

"It's because you've accepted your mate, even without marking them," Hiroko explained. She had the most experience and knowledge in this. Shiro had merely helped her when she was at her worst. "Shiro hasn't even accepted him as his mate yet."

"Why though?" Tammy asked. "If it was going to cause you this much pain, why didn't you at least accept him? Like, don't you just have to think it in your head or something?"

"No," Shiro sighed again. "You have to talk to them about it. And I wasn't willing to risk his reaction while I was so close to gaining my title." There was also the fact that he had been trying to hide it from him, which he still partly was by staying so far away at the moment. But he'd rather not get into those miniscule details with a human who didn't even have to worry about getting the curse.

"This all winds down to your dad, doesn't it?" Tammy asked.

Shiro didn't answer. He just stared at the ceiling. Tammy didn't know just how true that statement was. She didn't know just how many of the twisted roads that were their pack and their politics that all led to his father. But of course, it would. He was the Alpha after all. He gave the final order on just about everything they did.

Sometimes he wished that he could bite the hands that fed him.

"Let's save that for another time," Hiroko changed the subject. "Geo, what happened that made you so worn out?"

"Besides having to listen to an overtalkative omega all day?" Geo said. "Jimmy kept trying to follow me to every single class I had."

"Do you want me to give him an order not to?" Shiro asked. He was patient when it came to his pack, but Jimmy had caused this problem on himself, and he needed to let this go.

"I can handle it," Geo sighed. "I mean, I've dealt with him throughout all of high school. I can handle him for the rest of the week."

"Do you think he's actually going to run away?" Miki asked him. She looked worried for the tiny omega. "If he becomes a rogue, I doubt he'll last by himself."

"He's not going to if he doesn't have anyone to go with," Geo shook his head. "That's why he was so adamant about me running away with him."

"I mean," Tammy said. "The look on your parent's face would be priceless."

"Are you kidding me?" Geo laughed. "I can't wait until I can finally tell them that I'm gay. My dad is going to have an aneurism or something."

Shiro smiled for once that day. That was always a moment to look forward to: when there wouldn't have to be anymore secrets. He wanted it to happen the day after he got his title. There would be a big party where everyone could simply enjoy each other. The Spirit of the Moon would absolutely love that as well, he was sure of it.

"Your father is almost as frightening as the Alpha himself," Miki shivered. "You'd need to have Shiro there when you said it, or else he might just try and throw you off a roof or something."

"Eh," Geo shrugged. "I've fallen off rooves before. It's not that big of a deal as long as you keep your legs bent and your head tucked in."

"Guys!" Tammy interrupted them. "We're getting off track here!"

"I thought we all came in here to calm Shiro down?" Geo said. "And he looks pretty calm to me."

He was right. They had actually calmed him down a lot. He hadn't remembered that party that he had planned out for a long while. Whenever he thought about it, and all the joy that the pack would be filled with, it gave him peace.

He needed any temporary peace he could at the moment.

"Well, I want to know what this guy said at least!" Tammy whined. He was glad that she had remembered to not speak his name. "It's bad enough that I have to break up with my imaginary boyfriend. Did he call to accept the invitation?"

Shiro groaned and turned onto his stomach, letting his long hair cover the sides of his face and hide him from all of their stares. He had almost forgotten about that.

"I'm going to take that as a 'no'," Tammy said.

"How long has it been since he got the invitation?" Miki asked. "It's not like we have a lot of time to prepare for this."

"At least our plans simple," Geo said.

"What's the plan?" Tammy asked. "I may have missed this."

"Easy," Geo smiled. "We each distract the guests that he brought with him, while Hiroko watches the garden where they're going to be talking."

"His Beta is clingy," Miki shook her head. "It might be difficult to distract him."

"I don't think he's going to be a problem," Tammy giggled.

"Why?"

"Well, that day after school when they were in the parking lot," Tammy laughed a little more. "He was so checking you out."

"Me?" Geo looked at her confused. "You sure he wasn't checking Shiro out or something?"

"No way!" Tammy shook her head. "He would have been giving me the death stare along with his friend then!"

"Alex is known for getting around a lot," Hiroko gave Geo an apologetic look. At least, Shiro thought it was that way from what little he could see through his hair. "If anything, you could use that as a means of distracting him."

"And risk my parents seeing me?!" Geo asked. "Fuck no! I'm better off trying to marry a monkey!"

All of them laughed. Even Shiro couldn't hold back a chuckle or two. Geo was his best friend, and had the magic ability to always help him feel better when he was down.

"We'll figure it out when they come," Hiroko said. "It's not easy to strategize something like this when you don't know just how many he's bringing anyway."

"Or if he'll actually come," Shiro grumbled. He was angry with himself for not approaching the situation better. Now that he knew that the man wasn't going to reject him, he felt like an idiot for not trying to say something.

Then again, he could have just tried to mark him right at that meeting when he first started to hide it from him. Shiro shivered at the thought of what might have happened.

"Okay, that's it," Tammy said. "I'm finding this guy's number and calling him myself."

"What?!" Shiro sat up from the floor again to look at the phone that she had pulled out. "How do you even intend on finding his number?"

"Social media," Tammy answered. "I still can't believe you all don't have one, by the way. It's the best way to talk to people."

It was also the best way for people to pry into their lives. And none of them wanted that.

"Why didn't I think of this!" Miki laughed. "He's been over at my dads Inn from time to time as well! I could have picked up his number from our log books!"

"No," he stopped them. This was getting too much. "You aren't going to call him. It's not necessary."

"It is if he's your mate," Tammy argued. She was the only one oblivious to the tone in his voice. "And don't think that just because we're pretend dating, I'm not going to give him an earful. He shouldn't be giving you the silent treatment."

Shiro snatched the phone from her, shocking the girl with how quickly he had done it.

"He's not the one who had given the silent treatment," Shiro shook his head. "And it wouldn't be a good idea to call him yourself."

"Why?" she slitted her eyes, still trying to fight him on this issue. "I'm not scared of him."

"You should be."

"Why?"

"Because a jealous mate is always something to be feared," Shiro told her. "Even more so if it's an Alpha. You've seen Miki when she gets jealous."

"Shiro's right, unfortunately," Hiroko said. "It's not a good idea to try and talk to him yourself until he knows that you and Shiro aren't together."

"Then I'll just tell him that I'm not actually dating his mate," Tammy rolled her eyes. "You guys make this ten times more complicated. Just talk to the guy already!"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Tammy," Shiro rubbed his eyes. "I don't even know what to say to him!"

"That you're sorry you ran away from him?" Tammy said. "That you still want him as your mate? That you haven't stopped obsessing about him the entire week, even though our finals start tomorrow!"

"You're going to do fine, baby," Miki rubbed her hand. "Don't worry so bad about it."

"Right now, I'm more worried about Shiro," Tammy shook her head. "If he doesn't call by the end of the day, I'm finding that number."

"With what phone?" Shiro smirked as he held up her phone. She must have forgotten that he had taken it from her before.

"Shiro," she tried her best to give him a menacing glare. To him, she looked more like an adorable stuffed animal that you got from the fair than anything truly frightening. "You're going to give me back my phone."

"Not if you're going to be using it to play cupid," he told her. "I can handle this on my own, Tammy."

"You obviously can't."

"I must."

"Why do you always have to be this way?" Tammy whined. "I'm just trying to help!"

"And I'm telling you that I-" Shiro's sentence got cut off by the sound of a phone going off. It wasn't Tammy's either.

"Is that him?" Geo asked as they all looked over to the phone that Shiro had left on the other side of the room.

"It better be," Tammy said. "He's got some nerve calling this late!"

"Be quiet, all of you!" Shiro told them. "One peep out of any of you and I'll never let you in this room again."

Hiroko laughed a bit at that, but she nodded her understanding. This was technically a room shared by the both of them. But, with Hiroko gone so much, it was practically only Shiro's. Everyone loved it for the fact that no one could listen in on them. They were free to talk about anything so long as the door was fully shut.

She didn't count though. He knew that she would stay quiet.

He wasn't going to look at the phone ringing any longer than he had to. If he waited on answering, he might stare at it for too long in worry that he'd say something that would be rude to him. There were so many things that could go wrong, and Shiro's nerves were already right back to where they were before Geo and all of them even came in.

"Hello?"

"Shiro?" Jett's voice came over the phone loud and clear. He hadn't known just how much he had been wanting to hear it again until that moment.

"It's nice to hear from you again, Alpha Jett," Shiro said. Hopefully his politeness would make up for what had happened the day before.

"It's good to hear from you too," Jett said. "Although, to be honest, I was expecting to hear from whoever was in charge of the Luna duties of your pack."

"That would be me and my sister," Shiro told him. "We've been helping our father with internal affairs for quite a while now."

"Really?" Jett asked. "Even while going to school?"

"Yes." Should he have just answered that simply? Should he have said something else? He wasn't used to keeping a conversation like this going.

"That's impressive," Jett said.

"Thank you," Shiro told him. "Are you calling about the celebration?"

"Oh, yeah," he sounded a little nervous as he said that. It seemed like he had almost forgotten the true reason for his call. "Is there any limit to how many guests your pack is willing to allow over? My sister has a whole list."

"How many are on the list?"

"About ten," Jett said. "If that's alright with you guys."