live with Keith, my life had been one big protective bubble. First, there was Griffin. After everything we’d gone through, Griff wouldn’t let any males, aside from Keith and his dad, near me when I’d first arrived. It took a while for him to allow that circle to expand to include Liam and Nick. I loved Keith to death, but saying he was over-protective was a bit of an understatement. Having three big brothers on top of that was suffocating.
“Why did you invite them along?” I asked. “I thought they were going up-north for a while?”
A couple months, actually. I knew that I would miss them in less than a week.
“Don’t be mean. And you know why they’re still here. They wouldn’t miss it.”
The “it” was my birthday party. The party Rose was trying to plan today. I avoided thinking about it.
“I know what you are thinking, Lettie, and you don’t have to be nervous.”
“I am not nervous. I just don’t like the idea of turning twenty-one.”
“It will be fine, and then we’ll know for sure if Liam’s your mate.”
I rolled my eyes at that. I made the mistake of telling Griff when I was twelve that I thought Liam cute. Griff had then told Liam to stop being attractive to me. I pressed my face to my shoulder hiding my grin. I giggled before I could stop from the memory of a scrawny Griff holding Liam by the front of his shirt screaming at him to stop being so attractive to me.
The idea of being mated to Liam sent a shiver through me. Liam could awaken any girl’s desire, but once someone spent too much time with him, they were usually turned off. Maybe it was just me. I had only ever wanted to be with one person, and I could never have him.
Unfortunately, our kind doesn’t get to pick their mates.
When a wolf turns twenty-one, if their mate is also of age, both wolves become instantly aware of each other. According to Rose, I’ll know my mate’s unique scent right away, and my mate will know mine.
It’s only a matter of time after that.
However, there was a down side. Each year a pair remained apart, their desire came to consume them all the more. To a mate bonded wolf, the fear they might not find their other half was real.
It didn’t always used to be this way, though. Way back, witches put a spell on our kind so we could never pick anyone but our destined mate. However, if the love never grows between a fated pair, or if a wolf failed to find its mate, they could always choose another wolf to mate with. But that was before the curse.
Even in the event we could pick, I knew that Griff could never pick me. And I would never allow him to, either. Griff was an Alpha. He needed a strong mate, one that could be as dangerous and as strong as he was. He needed someone who could rule beside him. I, unfortunately, would never be that person.
I couldn’t even shift.
The witches thought they’d blessed us with a gift. We disagreed and thought of it as a curse. But we were smart. We adapted. When a young wolf turns twenty-one, the pack throws a party inviting other packs – a sort of werewolf debut.
My mind kept circling around one thought: why didn’t Liam and Nick drive with us? I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Rose! Rose is with them, isn’t she?”
Griff had the grace to blush. He knew me. He knew I didn’t want this. Any of it. I wasn’t a party person. And...
“She’s going to make me get a dress. Don’t make me do this. There’s a good chance that I might not even have a mate.”
I was a half-breed, after all.
“I am sorry, Lettie, but we can’t take the chance.”
Griffin climbed out of the car, and I quickly followed suit.
“Traitor!”
We moved through the parking lot, Griffin standing close like he always did when we were in public.
“It’s the only way that we could get you to come. Beside, this is pack tradition and dad said it would be disrespectful for you to show up in jeans. You knew this was coming. But at least we aren’t making you shop with Trisha, and the other she-wolves.”
That was true. I rolled my eyes at the thought of shopping with Trisha. She thought I was hogging all our males, when she had yet to turn 21. But she was