Consorting Jordan

Chapter 1: Anthesis

And the flower started to burn

It's petals stretched into ash

The mind starts to learn

And change happens in a flash.

ANTHESIS (an·the·sis) (anˈTHēsis/ noun)

        1. the flowering period of a plant, from the opening of the flower bud.

        2.the time when a flower becomes sexually functional

Korali's Pov. (Core-uh-lye) (Coral-eye)

I was walking down the street on my way to college like I've always done. I wasn't expecting much because this is my boring life. Besides, everything happens for a reason and I couldn’t control the way life worked.

Life was like a flower; you're born, you bloom, you die. That was the cycle, and all we could do is flow with it.

I looked to my left when I heard a high pitch squeal. Nicole Andersen was waving her pale manicured hand in the air as her friends finally noticed her. I could hear their entire conversation because of my highly sensed ears.

"Yes, my mate! His name is Turner and he is to die for! You all are totally jealous of me." I zoned them out right after that too. I could care less about forcibly meeting my mate like all the other she-wolves around here. I know that when I do meet him, that's just it, it will be the time God thought we were meant to meet. I wasn't going to rush him out of that playboy style that all the male wolves seem to go through after puberty hits them.

I tried not to think too deeply about what my mate would be like. Because that would only set up expectations that he might be the complete opposite of. For all I know we could be a complete juxtaposition. One thing I could only hope was that he was ready for me.

I kept walking blissfully ignoring her babble to her friends.

The age for werewolves to find their mates was 18, and I was now 20; so it’s been a while for me especially since most of the weres in my pack were on their ‘time of travel’—a certain amount of time our school gives wolves off to go find their mates in other packs across the world. But I wasn’t going to force anything. If I was going to meet him, he would show up.

I lived in a town in California where half the population was werewolves, and it was so close to a major city that it kept us active enough to where no one really paid any mind to the differences—although they weren’t noticeable to plain eye.

I was looking for my best friend Kaliko, who was running late from her chemistry class. She was becoming a biochemical engineer—the little brainiac. Her long flowing dark hair fluttered around her as she ran to where I was.

“Did you hear?”

“What? About Nicole and some guy named Turner?” My response was drier than she would have liked, she being the ultimate drama queen.

“Well, aren’t you just the unromantic Debby-Downer?” She made a face and frowned at me. Kaliko had a flower crown made of Plumerias and she was wearing a simple white summer dress. Kaliko was a native Hawaiian, her name meaning ‘Beautiful Bud’. Although modernized, she stuck to many of her traditions.

The sun was out and it was a nice bright yellow, the clouds running by like bunnies across a blue garden. There was a peaceful chatter amongst the youth at the college and I could even hear a nearby stream flowing soundly.

“So do you want to go for a run later then, since you obviously don’t want to talk about mates?” She sighed dreamily, as if I was wrecking a talk that was supposed to happen.