After successfully burying my thoughts and worries away inside of Brittany, I was feeling back to myself.

Walking into the bathroom I grabbed a towel out of the cabinet and cleaned myself off, then threw it at Brittany to clean herself up as well.

One look in the mirror made me realize I needed to clean up more than my manhood because one glance in my direction would give away what I had been up to. That's assuming nobody heard Brittany's screams. I have to admit, it is the sexiest thing to me to hear a girl moan, but she seems a bit over the top. It wasn't like this before she left, so whoever she had been with down there must have liked a screamer. Me? Not so much.

I quickly brushed my hair back into place and decided on changing my shirt. I really didn't want the lingering scent of arousal where everyone could smell it, and the last thing I needed was Brittany's brother, Rafael, smelling me on her. He was never a fan of our "shenanigans," and I didn't feel like fighting with him tonight over his sister's choices.

I changed my shirt and went to walk out of my bedroom door when Brittany threw something at me.

Turning around quickly, I saw a pillow lying at my feet. "A pillow? Really, Brittany? What was that for?"

"You're just going to walk out like that? Just going to leave me after you're done having your way with me?"

She was pissed, and I didn't understand why. There had never been any cuddling or pillow talk after one of our "sessions."

"Uh, yeah? What's the problem? This is no different than any other time we've hooked up, Brittany. I need to get downstairs to my party anyway. The party that I am almost two hours late to now." I scoffed at the end. It has to be hormones. She is getting ready for her first shift after all.

"Fuck you, Sam. I'm never doing this with you again. I hope you don't treat your mate this way, if she even wants you!" She was hysterical at this point. What the fuck did I do?

Confusion took over my features briefly before I schooled my expressions to my normal "I don't care" facade.

"You say that like you assume I even want her."

And with that, I was gone. I could still hear her hollering about something upstairs, but I didn't want to hear it. Not tonight anyway. At midnight, the pack will gather and shift into their wolves for their first pack run with their new Alpha.

I was ecstatic, I couldn't wait to become alpha and take over the responsibilities of caring for my pack. I may not be the best guy ever, but I cared about my pack, and I was more than ready to become their Alpha. I had been training my whole life for this, learning the ropes and who our allies and enemies were. I was ready, and I was going to prove to father that I could be just as great an Alpha as he has been all of these years.

"Ah, there's my boy. Happy birthday, Sammy. I can't believe it's finally your time to take over. I've been waiting a hundred years for this!"

"Thanks, dad. I learned from the best, you know." I said with a sly grin. I admired my father more than anyone. He was an amazing father and husband, and I truly hope to be even half the man that he is one day.

My father and mother may have met at 25, but they didn't have me until they were 125 and 118. They had tried for baby every single one of her heat cycle's, but it just wasn't in the Moon Goddess' plan for them to have me yet. He has been the Alpha of the Night Fall Pack for 109 years. That's an unusually long time for someone to be Alpha of a pack, but then again, most couples conceive on their mate's first heat.

It gave him a lot of wisdom, and a lot to pass down to me. He built this pack up and made it one of the strongest packs in the North American region. Our pack was relatively small, at only around 200 members. But it seems to be growing by the day with all of the pups being born left and right.

I gave my father a quick hug and walked off into the back yard where the pack had gathered to celebrate their new Alpha on his 21st birthday. There were kegs galore and I saw quite a few she-wolves drinking wine straight from the bottle.

What is it with females and wine? I don't understand it. It all tastes like moldy grapes to me. I'm more of a beer guy. I like all of them, especially craft beers, the local breweries around here were fantastic, and I saw a keg from one of my favorites, with my favorite "Georgia Peaches and Cream" IPA.

This was definitely going to be a night for the books, and I couldn't wait for the pack run tonight, lead by me, their new Alpha.

*Two weeks have gone by*

I have decided I didn't really like the West Coast. It was very hot, and the people didn't seem as friendly as they were on the east coast, more so where I'm from. "Southern hospitality," as everyone called it.

I had only briefly spoken with Rafael since that night at the bar, but none the less it was great. He had told me he was heading back home to North Carolina because something came up with his family. But he hoped once I ventured over there, that we could get together again.

Which sounded wonderful to me, I would love to see him again. There was something about him that excited me, something that made me feel alive. It was that something that I had been craving for this trip, and for some reason, I had found it in him.

So here I sat in the airport, waiting on a flight again. This time, I was headed to Charlotte, North Carolina. I decided to go there next and then go home for my father's birthday that was on August 14th.

I hadn't been waiting long when I heard my flight being called over the intercom system and made my way to the gate to board the plane.

The short trip on the plane to Charlotte was spent napping. I had plans to try to find my way downtown and check out the shops there, and the big convention center. A friend of mine in school was a competitive cheerleader and had been here several times and said it was beautiful. It just so happened that there was a local beer, wine, and food festival there and I had managed to get my hands on a fake ID while I was in Corona, California. He seemed legit making it, and it looked pretty real to me. It looked exactly like my Georgia drivers license, the only difference was my birthday was set to May 13th, 1993 instead of May 13, 2000. Making me 25 years old instead of 18.

I wasn't sure how it would work out for me so I decided to try it while I was still in California, and to my surprise, it worked. He did a double take and I was sure I would be caught, but the only thing he said was, "you sure don't look old enough to be 25 this year girl." And he was right, but there was no way I was going to tell him that. So I told him I got the trait from my mother, who aged like a fine wine and passed the gift on to me.

He had seemed satisfied with my answer and asked me what I would be having to drink.

So now here I am, sweaty palms and a bundle of nerves at the convention center as the first booth is checking my ID over.

"25? You don't look 25, but then again, no one this day and age does. It's amazing how different these 14-year-old boys and girls look compared to when I was 14. I don't think this whole contouring thing even existed when I was 14!" The lady behind the booth said with a laugh. I mean, she wasn't wrong. Today's youth looks much different from when I was 14 as well. While it may have only been four years ago, it feels like a lifetime.

"So, sweetie, we make our wine from muscadine grapes. They taste quite a bit different from normal grapes, but they make excellent wine. We actually just made this one, it's a rose. Would you like to try it?"

"Sure! I haven't really ever tried a rose, so I'm down to give it a go."

I was excited to try it, I usually only drink Moscato because I'm not a big fan of red wine. The taste is too bitter and thick for my liking.

She handed me the plastic cup of wine and told me to smell it first, saying it had aromas of watermelons and raspberries. Which, I admittedly couldn't smell but whatever.

The first sip was heavenly. The taste of the muscadine grapes was different but amazing. I politely thanked her and made my way to the booth across the hall that smelled amazing. They had a small menu of "cold trays" and I decided to try the pear one.

It came with Bartlett pears, gorgonzola slices, sliced salami, and two different dipping sauces. It looked great, and I was happy with my choice. The pears went surprisingly well with the wine, but after that, I decided to move on.

I wasn't a big fan of crowds and there seemed to be more and more people filing in by the second, which was my cue to head to my next destination.

I decided since I was in Charlotte I was going to give Rafael a call and see if he was close to Charlotte, and maybe he would want to get together.

I turned down an alleyway that leads to a different part of town and I could see the other street at the end of it.

As soon as I made the right turn into the alley, something in me started screaming at me to turn around and go the long way. I quickly dismissed it and kept walking. It was broad daylight and I was convincing myself that nothing bad could happen in the middle of the day in a big and busy city like this.

Boy was I wrong.