Rogue Queen

Chapter 1

"I can't believe you." Cora, my best friend, continues to annoy me while I attempt to enjoy the nice weather. "You're eighteen now, which means you could have found your mate." She throws her long naturally red curls over her shoulder.

"Exactly I'm eighteen, which means I can stay home by myself." I roll my eyes at her persistent prying. She's been going off for over an hour about how stupid I am for not going to the annual leaders meeting with my parents.

"It's crazy that they let Troy go considering the whole late night "training class" incident." She giggles. Last month my older brother, Troy, thought it would be a genius idea to convince my parents to let him run a training session at night for other teens and young adults. His whole pitch was that some people are night owls and prefer to work out at night. The problem was no one was actually training it was just a cover for them to party with an excuse as to their whereabouts.

"He's an idiot." I shake my head pulling at the grass beneath my fingers. I'm convinced the only reason they bought it was because they had been getting complaints about training exercises out in the blistering summer heat. This summer has been particularly grueling, and it's not even half way over. My solution to that problem? Bring the sessions inside the air conditioned gym, but know one listens to what I have to say recently.

"And hot." I scoff pushing her shoulder causing her to roll over onto her back. She just lays there and covers her turquoise green eyes with her arm shielding them from the bright sun.

"Gross." I sigh resting back onto my elbows stretching my feet out in front of me. "Plus last time I checked you don't go for people with a penis." I raise an eyebrow at her even though she can't see me, but a smirk spreads across her face non the less.

"You're right about that, but I can still appreciate beauty when I see it. That and all the girls haven't shut up about him being shirtless last week." I groan rolling onto my stomach and burry my face into my arms on the blanket I laid out for us. "So are you in charge now that the folks are out of town?"

"Nope Emeric is, but I have a feeling he's going to have his hands full with Ellie and Maya." Yep Emeric finally had a kid, well two. He's great with both of his daughters, but now that my parents are gone he's in charge of the whole pack whilst dealing with a teething baby and chatty toddler, so I have a feeling I'll be stepping in a couple times to help out. Melody just went back to working at the school, and unfortunately for both of them Maya isn't quite old enough to attend yet.

"Can I ask you something?" I turn my head to see her sitting up with a serious expression on her face. My stomach churns with unease because Cora is very rarely anything but cheerful, so for her to looks so worried scares me,

"Of course." I push myself up sitting across from her, and grab her hands in mine giving them a reassuring squeeze.

"Do you really want a mate?" She looks at me through her lashes with regret. I drop her hand laying back down looking up at the sky through the transparent green leaves in the trees. The truth is I don't know if I want to have a mate. Having someone forced into your life on the basis of eventual love seems barbaric. I know everyone including Cora wouldn't understand where I'm coming from because my parents are the prime example when it comes to perfect mates. On the other hand I know stories of mates who nearly destroyed each other because they didn't truly love one another.

"I guess." I answer her with as much emotion as I can muster. She nods accepting the fact I don't want to talk about it anymore, which is exactly why we are best friends. We understand each other's limits and never attempt to overstep that invisible line. Although I still feel guilty for shutting her out when I don't want to talk about my feelings. "I don't know." I whisper gripping the grass next to me waiting for her freak out.