"Let's go." I mutter to Madison as I successfully pull her away from an intense make-out session with someone who isn't that cute. I look over my shoulder and walk faster when I see Mason trailing behind me. He pushes his way through the swaying bodies, causing a few people to turn and glare at his retreating figure as he tries to catch up to me. He speeds up but ends up getting stopped by a girl wrapping her arms around his neck, obviously trying to dance with him. He gently pushes her aside and proceeds to rush after Madison and me.

"Allison!" Mason yells, moving faster than I can. These stupid heels are slowing me down. I nearly take them off when I see Mason is a few steps behind me. There's no time, so I try my best to bolt in tall, strappy heels.

"What is going on? Why are we running?" Madison slurs from the shock of us running out of the club. She stares at me before glaring at Mason. "What the hell did you do, Wood?" Neither of us answer; we just keep playing cat and mouse. He's the cat gaining up on us, and I'm the mouse trying to run away because I'm frightened. I'm frightened of everything that's going to happen. Once we reach the club's exit, Mason grabs for my arm, but Madison slaps his hand away. She doesn't know what's going on, but she's trying to protect me, and she's a bit drunk.

As we make our way out of the club, a traitorous tear escapes down my cheek. So many questions are bouncing around my head at the moment. Why is he my mate out of everyone else I could've been paired up with? I would rather have the random bartender be my mate. Most importantly, why is he okay with it? He knows if we decide to stay together, there will be a conflict between both packs and many people involved. I'm scared about what's about to change after tonight.

When we pass the club entrance, I start running and drag Madison behind me. I can hear Mattie struggling to pull the keys out of her handbag. I snatch them from her hand and slide into the driver's seat. As I twist the keys into the ignition, I notice Mason slows down to a jog. The car roars to life, and Madison hops in the passenger seat. Before she can even close the door, I start driving.

Speeding away from my soulmate causes a twinge of pain to run through my heart. This isn't how it's supposed to be. I'm supposed to want to be with him constantly, not run away from him. I'm supposed to be happy with him and who he is. I look in the rearview mirror and watch Mason fail at running after the car. At this moment, I feel conflicted as tears start rolling down my cheeks.

"What happened back in there?" Madison asks with a gentle voice as she turns her body toward me. I blink away the tears. Do i want to tell her what happened back in the storage room? I know how Madison already feels toward Mason, so I don't know how she'll react. Everything happened so fast that it felt like a blur.

I take a deep breath, trying to steady my voice. At first, my voice is quiet. "Mason and I kissed." I don't look at her face, and she says nothing. I can only guess what's going through her mind right now. "And we were talking," I pause for a moment before continuing, "we were talking about this whole situation, and h-he wants me to be his Luna." I almost whisper those last few words. Saying those words make me want to cry and throw up.

"What?" Her voice is low, and the look on her face tells me that she is stunned. The only thing I can do is nod. After my announcement, we just sat in silence. I roll the window halfway down, turn the music up a little more, and think about the events that happened. If I hadn't gone to that club, none of this would've happened, but I know finding out was inevitable. This was going to happen anyways, like when we saw each. Other at school. I don't want to reject him, but I also don't know how this will work. My parents and brother definitely won't approve, and that's just going to make things more complicated. My mind is reeling with a borderline headache at the thought of what's gonna come after tonight.

It was about 12:15 am when we left to go out for my birthday; now it's almost 3:30 am when I'm finally pulling into a parking spot. Madison has stayed quiet the entire time, just staring out the window aimlessly. So much has happened tonight, and my mind is drained. I lay my head on the steering wheel and sit there for a few minutes before dragging myself out of the car. Now, I have to get by my family and act like nothing happened tonight. Madison got out of the car after me without saying a word.

A strong arm wraps around my shoulder as I take a step into the pack house. My dumb ass brother is grinning down at me. "Happy birthday, sis!" He announces. Why the hell is he still up? Thinking about it, I wish I had brought an extra pair of clothes, but I didn't anticipate that anyone would still be up this late and wandering around. Justin is a few years older than me, 21 years old, but he definitely stepped up to the plate at a young age. He's always had a leveled head on his shoulders and does an excellent job of not mixing business with pleasure. I've always looked up to him because he's always been a good brother, and I know he has an abundant amount of responsibility.

I put on a fake smile and reply, "Thanks, Justin." I move away from his arm, sighing. Justin is my pack's alpha because our parents stepped down from their positions. They both agreed that he was ready. I do have to admit, ever since he became alpha, he has done a damn good job.

Finally looking up again, I notice Justin frowning as he examines my outfit. "What the hell are you wearing?" Justin is an annoyingly protective older brother, and sometimes I wish he was more chill.

I slowly take the pumps off and shrug, "Madison just wanted me to try this on because we might go somewhere later today. So we went to hang out with some friends, then she let me dig in her closet, and we thought this would be perfect."

I could tell he didn't fully believe the story, and honestly, I just pulled this explanation out of my ass with only a few functioning brain cells. He stays silent, so I take this opportunity to jog up the stairs. This short dress is really making it a bit difficult to run up the stairs. I open the door to my room and make eye contact with Madison. She is sitting on my bed, not saying a word. I close the door behind me and toss the shoes next to my open closet door.

"Careful with those!" She exclaims, shooting up from the bed to grab the heels. "They were expensive." I stare at her with a big sigh escaping my lips. Sitting on the bed, I let my legs stretch out in front of me and wiggle my toes. My feet are killing me right now, and nothing feels better than stretching your feet and letting them rest after wearing heels for a lengthy amount of time.

I watch as Madison carefully sets the heels in her bag with an unexplainable expression all over her face. "I can't believe Mason Wood is your mate. Fate paired you up with him out of everyone in that club. He's the alpha of the pack we hate, for fuck sake!" She stands in front of me and runs her fingers through her hair. She says this like I don't already know.

My throat feels scratchy, and tears threaten to fall down my face. "I-I don't know what to do right now. I'm so confused about everything." I whisper honestly. It doesn't take long for the tears to roll down my cheeks, one by one. I wipe my eyes and stare at the runny mascara smeared on my fingertips. "We're mates for a reason, Madison." I finally look up at her. Her face softens at the faint black lines running down my face. "I don't like that we're mates, but there must be a reason we were paired."

"I know, but I don't like the fact that my best friend is paired with that jerk." She mutters with her voice softening. This whole night has filled me with so many different emotions.

"I'm not so fond of the idea myself." I state, laughing slightly.

"You wanna go change out of that?" She asks, moving a piece of hair behind my ear. I look up and see a loose white t-shirt with a pair of black sweats in her hands.

"You know me so well." I state, attempting to lighten the mood. She laughs warmly and walks over to her bag. I strip out of the tight, red dress and quickly throw on the t-shirt and sweats. I carefully hand the dress to Madison before walking into the bathroom. I wash my face until it has no makeup residue on it and hope to wash off tonight's events before stepping back into my bedroom. I run my fingers through my hair and let it hang loosely over my shoulders.

"Just curious, but what else did you do in that back room?" Madison asks the minute I step out of my bathroom.

"We talked about this whole thing and kissed," my cheeks start heating up at the memory, "but that's it." She looks skeptical but nods anyway. I try my best to approach another topic. "How many guys did you dance with tonight?"

"Hmm," she taps the tip of her chin as if she's thinking, "probably about 25. I don't really remember; after a few drinks, everything became fuzzy, but all I know is it was more than 5." I roll my eyes and smile for the first time since Mason, and I locked eyes. There is only one thought that is crossing my mind right now.

I have so much to think about tonight...

———————————————————————————

Follow my Twitter for updates on brand new and newly edited chapters @Faith_H_Stories !