The Alpha and his fairy Luna

The Race

Ben's POV

" What?" I asked her, confused. Was she trying to run away again? I thought we had gotten past that. "Mate wants to challenge us, see if we are worthy."  Said Nightpaw. Now that we had both marked each other it was possible for us to somewhat feel her intent but without completing the mate bond it was still hard. I could feel where she was but even our telepathic link was weak, with only a few odd words making it through. I regarded her sitting there with a sly look on her face, surely she must know that she could never run away now. "If you have a map, you can even know the track ahead of time, there is no danger now, is there?" she adds echoing my thoughts. Perhaps she had even heard them I suppose, but if she had she was choosing to keep it to her herself. I silently get her a map of our territory. She looks at it as I begin to speak, "What's the point? I'll win no problem, we've already seen that I'm faster than you." I couldn't help teasing her about that since she clearly isn't used to being bested at anything. " I know you will be able to catch me, the challenge will be to catch me in time." She offers a twist challenge. In time for what I wonder?  I get a little worried about what she is planning to do, who knows what state of mind she's in. She seems to have quickly learned to mask even her strongest of emotions from both Nightpaw and I. She offers her explanation, " I'll get a five minute head start and we will enter here." She gestures at the map and continues, " At the five minute mark, I'll shift into my true form..." So I was right and this isn't what she really looks like. I'm eager to see what she does look like, I bet it will be truly the most beautiful I've ever seen. After all how could it not? She was my mate after all. "...and I will continue to this waterfall, if you can catch me before I get there then you may see what I really look like. You may chase me on two legs or four, I don't care. If I reach the waterfall I will change back and you lose." This sounds too good to be true where was the famous catch? " That's my prize but what do you demand if you win?" I ask her. She looks at me puzzled before adding, "We will run this race as much as you want BUT if you can't tell me what I am in three months time I will never allow us to live as mates." I heard Nightpaw's growl slipping out from my lips before I added words to our singular thought, "No, we will never allow you to be away from us. We belong together." She turns to me with fire in her eyes before she angrily answers us. "I KNOW that! However, I will not accept you no matter what you do. I will reject your every touch, and your every word. I may not be able to get away from you but that doesn't make me YOURS! You don't understand, my people don't have mates, we don't embrace monogamy the way your people do. Any we NEVER allow anyone who has not proven themselves to us to so much as touch us. I have given you more leeway than most others would because of this cursed bond your Goddess has chained me with. Make no mistake you are lucky that I have even give you a chance to redeem yourself after marking me without my permission. I'll admit I didn't handle that was well as I could have either. That's not the point however. This isn't just a game to me, this is a challenge for you to prove to me you are worthy of me! Show me why the Goddess dared to chain me to you, what made you so worthy!" she just starred at me after she finished her long winded rant. I heard what she said but my head was reeling because of the implications of what she said. I didn't know of any species that didn't have mates in one way or another. I couldn't understand that the mate bond wasn't enough for her, that I would have to prove myself to her. I didn't mind proving myself, I actually kind of liked the idea of impressing her with my physical abilities, but the idea that she could just choose to ignore the mate bond was hard to understand. Slowly nodding I accepted what she offered me though. It was clear regardless of if I choose to race her I knew that she wasn't kidding about rejecting the mate bond between us and seeing her might help me better than any other thing to discover what she was. I saw a glint in her eye as she saw me agree to race. I could sense mild interest in her about the whole thing, I could feel it was due to her interest in what effects our marking had on one another. I suspected that she would be faster than before, but I would be able to sense where she was so tracking her wouldn't slow me down. Besides, I knew these woods better than her. She had only looked at the map for a few moments so I had no doubt she would get lost often enough I could catch her with ease. I couldn't wait to see what she really looked like, I think the excitement from that would give me even more speed than usual.

We were standing in front of the woods and she was getting ready to run away from me. I could feel Nightpaw's eagerness to chase after his mate in the woods. Something about this appealed to his wild side. At the five minute mark I began to shift, bones cracking into new places. I wanted to ensure my best odds in this race. To my surprise my shift suddenly started to burn as much as my first shift at 16 had. I howled out in pain and felt Faye slow down for a brief second before she continued on her way. I was unsure if she had felt my pain through the bond or had completed her own transformation. When my shift was finally done my first thought was that everything was smaller than usual. That didn't make any sense though. Shaking my head I looked myself over. My already large wolf seemed to have doubled in size..at least. No wonder it hurt, it'll probably hurt like hell to turn back too. I can't help but wonder just what Faye is that her mark could change my wolf though. It's never before happened in our history. Which means whatever she is has never in history been one of our mates. It also meant that we were unlikely to have much lore on it. Finding out what she is might very well depend on me catching her. Not wanting to waste time I took off into the woods to find her. To my surprise I could feel that she was already very close to the waterfall she had chosen. I ran at full speed and felt the gap closing between us but not quickly enough. I tried to run harder. My shift had taken too long and I had stood stunned too long. I didn't think I could make it but I still needed to try. I was close enough to smell her now and I could almost drool at the smell. It seemed that if she was in her true form her scent was much stronger and even more delectable. It must have been pure her, unchanged by her in any way. I longed to see what she looked like at this moment, I could feel a little drool dripping from my mouth. I heard a splash up ahead and in a few minutes came up on the waterfall to see Faye swimming in the pool of water below it. She didn't look any different and I knew I hadn't made it in time. I could see her eyeing me carefully as she looked over the new size of my wolf. As I made it closer to the pool I heard a slight intake of breath from her and could feel surprise coming through out bond. I took the time to look her over in her wet clothes. It might not have been her true form but still a sight worth a quick run in the woods for. Oh yeah, we can definitely run this a few times more. She quickly regained her composure and got out of the pool, she started running back towards the house and I was left here alone to sulk. Looking over the pool I saw what had caused her surprise, my eyes seemed to have changed as well. Looking into my reflection I saw my new purple eyes and I liked them. No other wolves had them, so I would stand out now. Something else that would put us in the history books for firsts.