Lyric's Choice

Orion's Mate

-Lyric-
I struggled in the heels that Morgan insisted I wear. The hunter - green, tulle, dress I wore, was floor length, and backless, I felt exposed, and extremely uncomfortable, the bodice was pleated, and the neckline plunged into a high, banded waist, the whole thing was supported by adjustable skinny straps that crisscrossed over my exposed back. The dress was one of the ones that Morgan had purchased for tonight, but she opted for a sleek silver dress, with the same exposed back and plunging neckline. What could I say, the girl had a certain style preference. My mother had fixed my hair raven black hair into a braided updo, with a few strands framing my face. The Smokey eye make up that I applied, made my grey eyes stand out even more than they usually did, "Girl you look good!," Morgan exclaimed. I turned to look at her, "you think so? Well look at you, Paul is going to go crazy when he eyes you." I told her excitedly. She immediately became sad and sat on the bed, "What's wrong?" I asked her sitting next to her.

Morgan sighed, "Paul's not coming, he's scared that I'll be Orion's mate. Lyric, I don't want to be his mate, I love Paul, I Know in my heart that there is no one else for me." Her eyes were starting to water.
"Hey, no tears, you're going to ruin your makeup. Listen, if you are Orion's mate, he can't claim you for another two years, he can't even tell you. So you and Paul have another two years, that's more than some people get. Chances are, his mate is one of these Alpha daughters." I assured her. I handed her a folded up tissue, and she pressed it to the corners of her eyes to catch any wetness.
"Thanks Lyric, I know I'm being silly." She told me sniffling.
"Hun, you are not being silly, this is some serious stuff we're dealing with. This whole mate thing is really intense." I told her.
"Too intense. I mean our whole lives our parents tell us how magical it is when we find our mates, and the instant love you are filled with, but what they don't tell us, is that your mate won't always be the person you've loved your entire life." She whispered.
"I know luv, I know." We sat there in silence for a moment, only a moment because my mother entered the room.
"Well don't you two look lovely! Come along now, we don't want to miss a thing. Isn't this exciting? Well why are you two just sitting there? Let's go!" She told us, ushering us out of the room and out of the house.

The ballroom at the pack house was decorated beautifully, the ceiling was decorated to look like the night sky, and somehow they strung lights up there to look like individual stars. We were sitting at the main table, as my parents were the pack Betas, I took my seat in between Morgan and my mother, and looked around. There were wolves from every pack in the country, the Alpha energy in the air was slightly overwhelming, the Alpha daughters came in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they were all beautiful. The Alpha and Luna were the first to enter, then they were followed by Orion, he wore a black Armani suit, his hair freshly cut and styled, I could see the beginning of his tattoo that ran from his neck to his right wrist, I knew that it covered the right side of his chest as well, I knew because I was with him when he got it, but tonight, his suit covered all but that one piece.
We all had stood when they had entered the ballroom, Orion and I made eye contact, he shot me a goofy grin, and I gave him a small wave.
We all sat, and Alpha Cyrus stood to speak, "I want to thank everyone for coming out today to join us in the celebration of my Son, your future Alpha, Orion Dufort, it is our hope that our son will find his mate tonight, our future Luna. There will be no talks of politics tonight, tonight we will feast, we will dance, and hopefully for those of us turning 18, we will find love. Enjoy!" He sat and everyone clapped, the Luna signaled and pretty soon servers were moving about setting food down in front of ever guest.
Morgan and I chatted excitedly amongst ourselves, we watched as Alpha after Alpha paraded their daughters up to our table on stage, we watched as they batted their eyes and flirting with Orion. Soon music began to play and Alpha Cyrus led Luna Astoria onto the dance floor, slowly other couples began to join them. "Come on Lyric, let's show these old timers how its done." Orion said standing behind me. I turned to look up at him, "shouldn't you be dancing with one of your guest?" I asked him waving my hand towards the crowd. I could feel their eyes on me, on us, the last thing that I wanted was to be stared at all evening.  He took my hand, "come on Lyric, they'll get their chance."  He led me to the dance floor and took me in his arms, he pulled me close, "um O, too close, you are going to have these old biddies talking about us." I told him pushing away a bit. He pulled me back to him, "let them talk for once Lyric, this is our dance." After a moment I melted into him, and allowed him to lead me around the dance floor. "No matter what Lyric, you'll always be my best friend." He whispered in my ear. I nodded, and willed the tears that were threatening to spill to go away. The song ended, and Orion and I separated, we stood there staring at each other for a minute, then I slowly turned to join my parents back at our table. I sat next to my mother, Morgan was out on the floor dancing with a warrior from another pack, he must have said something funny because she threw her head back and laughed, I smiled to myself, and I felt my mother pat my arm. I turned to look at her questionably, "its time," she told me. I nodded and watched as all the unmated females from all the packs line up side by side, Orion and his parents stood before him. I held my breath as he slowly walked from one end to the other, he briefly stopped in front of Morgan and a sense of panic began to fill up within me. He said something to her, and she nodded, then he walk past her, both Morgan and I sighed in relief. Orion had reached the end and stood returned to stand next to his parents, and then he turned to look at me. We locked eyes, I saw his eyes widen, and his nose flair, and then nothing, he turned and whispered something to his father, who clapped him on the back.

"My son's mate is not here tonight! We ask that you continue the festivities, in a short while we will still have the pack run." He led Orion out of the same door they had entered in at the beginning of the night, I turned to my mother, "What's wrong? Where are they going?" I asked her. She gave me a tight smile, "Orion has found his mate." I looked around in confusion, "But he didn't seem any different." I told her, the confusion clearly on my face. My mother leaned in and whispered, "she's underaged, he's unable to claim her until she's of age." I scanned the crowd, the only person I could think of was Morgan, "Oh no, poor Morgan." I said in dismay. My mother shook her head, "its not Morgan hun, I think our night is over, they will be participating in the pack run shortly, you and I can head home now." I nodded, and stumbled after my mother, still looking out at the crowd, wondering what underage wolf here would become our future Luna.

It was almost morning, and I was still awake, unable to sleep I listened to first the sound of the packs turning into their wolves, then the howling that lasted into the early morning. In bed, I stared at the ceiling, I couldn't understand the tears that kept streaming down my face, Orion had found his mate, however, he couldn't claim her until she was of age. How long was that? I was so deep in thought that I missed the first two times the rock hit my window, the third time jarred me out of my thoughts, curious, I walked over to the window and peered down. There stood Orion, in a pair of shorts, he was shirtless and I could see his tattoo from where I stood. I opened the window, "What are you doing?" I whispered loudly, even though I knew that if my parents were awake, they would still hear me. "I wanted to check on you." He answered, "Can I come up?" I shook my head and stuck my head out of the window, "I'll come down, wait for me over by the tire swing." I told him. He nodded and headed to the swing my dad put up for us when we were kids, we would spend hours taking turns pushing each other on it. No one swung on it since Orion got his first girlfriend, as if it were suddenly too childish to use.