My Enemy, My Mate (Complete)

Chapter One

          I adjusted the ornate, forest-green mask that was concealing my face but managing to bring out my emerald eyes. I hadn't wanted to attend the masquerade ball that my parents were throwing in honour of Halloween and my twenty-first birthday. However, despite my blatant protests my mother had thought it was a perfect idea and my father, the Alpha of the pack, had invited not only all the members of the Cardaver pack but every pack in the surrounding territories.

Except one, I reminded myself.

So, regardless of what I wanted to do for my birthday, I had to attend the stupid masquerade thrown by my parents. Not only did I have to be a dutiful and loyal daughter, but also pack member.

I secretly thought that it was a ploy from my father to find my mate, although he would never admit to such a thing.

So here I stood with the other revelling guests with my face masked. The cubic zirconias on the mask often caught the light, causing a mini-prism show. My dress was beautiful and matched the mask perfectly, thanks to the expertise of my mother and no doubt the money of my father. The dress was cut close and form fitted, showing off my curves. The tiny straps crossed in the back, which plunged as low as it could go. I wasn't sure how my mother had my father approve such a revealing dress, but I loved it. I was glad to have something sexy for once.

"May I have this dance, Milady?" A young man with blonde hair dressed in a white tuxedo and black/white mask asked.

I was sure that I knew who this was. My father had been trying, unsuccessfully, to set me up with a young wolf from our pack named Brendan. Brendan was always nice and sweet, but there just was no spark - no fire that would set my wolf aflame. And, without that, why would someone even bother?

I wanted to hold out for my mate. It was becoming rarer and rarer to find ones mate in recent decades. I blamed the Alphas. All of the packs were constantly at territory wars or each other's throats. If your mate was a member of another pack it would be almost impossible to find them. Even more so to actually be with them.

"Why, of course," I replied to Brendan and placed my hand in his. I didn't want to be rude and I didn't want to be left partner-less for dances at my own party.

Brendan led me out to the dance floor where, surprisingly enough, the music didn't completely wasn't terrible. My parents had had enough sense to hire a DJ and let him play whatever got people out on the dance floor, which was mostly the new music as a lot of the pack members now were in their twenties or thirties. For a while, when there had been a brief bout of peace for once, there had been a big baby boom among the packs.

"You look beautiful tonight, Rosemarie," Brendan said, leaning in close enough to whisper it into my ear.

I felt nothing from the whisper, except hot breath on my ear which kind of tickled.

"You aren't supposed to know who I am," I laughed and hit him on the chest playfully. It wasn't his fault my father kept trying to put us together.

"You weren't hard to find, I must admit. All I had to do was look for the most beautiful girl in the room."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Brendan," I teased. "I am guessing it was more my bright red hair that pointed me out than anything else."

"Oh, so you know who I am too. See? We are even."

I gave him an incredulous look and backed away playfully. He reached out for me and I brushed someone behind me and suddenly the whole room stopped moving and my breath hitched.