How?

That was the only thing that was coming to mind.

I regained consciousness mere moments after passing out, and Rafael was by my side apologizing for scaring me. Once I had calmed down, I asked him to do it again.

He was unsure at first, but I promised him I would stay calm and not freak out again. It must have been good enough for him because he shifted back into his wolf, and I was amazed.

I reached my hand out to let his wolf sniff me before I attempted to pet his head.

His wolf was surprisingly soft, like he had rolled around in conditioner for days. I had never felt a dog as soft as this.

I heard the wolf that had his head in my lap scoff, and realized that I must have said the dog part out loud. "Sorry, Raf. I didn't mean you were a dog."

His wolf let out what sounded like a chuckle and I nodded at him. "Can you shift back now? I would like to talk to you about all of this please."

I was scared. No, I was more than scared. I was completely and utterly terrified. Raf and Dennis had explained to me that when a human is bitten by a werewolf, they will transition and become a werewolf as well. Over the next three weeks, which seemed like a sick joke of the amount of time for me to train to not die during my first shift, Raf and the packs lead warrior would be training my mind and body to prepare.

I felt like I would never be ready. A week ago, I had never even heard of werewolves, and today, I'm being told I'm slowly but surely becoming one. How is a person even supposed to begin to cope with that?

Dennis was coming in to run a few more tests on me before he would tell me whether I could leave or not. According to Rafael, their Alpha, who is apparently the leader of the pack, the head honcho, would be coming to visit me today.

He had given Rafael permission for me to stay on pack lands while they train me, and if I wanted to, I could stay after my first shift. Since no one I knew was a werewolf and I didn't know of any packs in my home town, I had basically already promised that I was going to be staying, because I knew this place was going to feel more like home to me after this month was up than Thomasville had in 18 years.

I was excited though. A bit fearful, but mostly excited. I was going to do everything in my power to make sure I survived my first shift. I would put my best foot forward and make it through this, train harder than any human or wolf ever had, to make it through this. Of that I was sure.

Dennis came back a while later after running a few tests and confirmed that I was indeed beginning the transition from human to werewolf.

Apparently, the cells in my body were starting to morph and change into the makeup of werewolves cells and genes.

It scared me to hear it because it confirmed everything for me.

My life was never going to be the same after this.

Hearing Dennis tell Deirdra that her life was going to change forever admittedly hurt my heart, but for some reason, my wolf was excited, and so was I.

Seattle was supposed to be my last stop in the US on my quest to find my mate, which had proved uneventful. I went to every pack I had permission to enter, yet I did not find her.

There was an undeniable attraction between Deirdra and me, I just didn't know what it was. Like I had said before, there was no kind of information of a human and a wolf being mates, plus, even if she was I would have known by now. She's 18 years old, my wolf would have recognized his mate if she was mine.

Something about her brought out the dirtiest side of me. I had never done anything further than kiss a female before, because I wanted everything to be a first with my mate. But Deirdra, oh the things my wolf and I wanted to do to her. That night back at the pub when she had had one too many drinks, she admitted to me how...appealing, she had found me.

I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the same way.

She had the most perfect body I had ever seen, the most beautiful face and her lips. God, I wished to kiss those lips for the rest of my life.

They were perfectly plump and I dreamt of the sinful things those lips could...

I shook my head to rid myself of the dirty thoughts of the beautiful woman before me. I had never thought of a woman this way before. I had admired their beauty, no doubt. But never to this extent. I wanted her to be mine, in every single way imaginable. She had spilled to me that first day how her plan to lose her virginity to her longtime boyfriend was spoiled by the "school slut named Brittany" as she had put it.

I honestly couldn't help but wonder if she was talking about my lovely little sister.

My sister, Brittany, was a character. She had been a sweet girl, gushing of how she was going to save every little thing for her mate, even down to her first kiss. Then our parents lost their lives in a rogue attack in town and she changed for the worst.

Several times when she'd call to catch up, she would mention a guy named Taylor. How she had been after him for ages but he always turned her down because he was in love with his girlfriend of almost four years. But Brittany was not one to give up so easily. So when Deirdra told me about how her boyfriend of four years that night, coincidentally named Taylor, had cheated on her with a girl named Brittany; I had a feeling she was talking about my sister.

Now was not the time to worry about that though. Deirdra, Lucas, and I had a lot of ground to cover in the next three weeks.

I had made it my personal mission to see to it that she made it through this. Because I knew that when she did, she was going to give all of the other she-wolves out there a real run for their money.

As soon as she signed the discharge papers that Dennis had written up for her, she was ready to get out of there and go. I couldn't blame here, she had been in here for a week, whether she remembered most of it or not.

"Alright then Raf, let's get this show on the road, shall we? A week of training has been wasted while I was laid up in that damned hospital bed recovering from the bastard rogue wolf that attacked me. I want to train. I want to make up for the lost time. And when I survive my first shift, I want to hunt him down and tear him limb from limb myself."

Her words shook me to the core, and for some reason, made me slightly aroused.

This is the kind of female I would be proud to call my mate. Fearless and full of fight.

"Well, let's get going then," I said back. There was no better time than right now, so that's what we did.

The walk to the training building was full of questions. Most of them I had the answers to, some I did not. I explained everything I could think of from how a wolf shifts for the first time at 18 to how they can find their mate directly afterward. I explained how the bond was so strong that nothing could ever break it, for the bond between mates was a gift from the Moon Goddess herself. Mates were our balance. Where one was fire the other was water and everything in between. They complimented each other perfectly and loved without limits.

I explained heat to her.

I explained marking to her.

I explained how werewolves have impeccable stamina and stopped myself from embarrassing myself any further when I realized I was getting a little too excited about where the conversation was headed.

Then it came, the question I knew she was going to ask.

"I feel an attraction to you. One I can't explain, something I've never experienced before. Not even in my four years with Taylor did I ever feel this way. I have these...thoughts, about you. Does that mean that...we're mates?"

Everything in me wished the answer was yes. But sadly, the answer was, "No, I don't think so. Human and werewolf mates are unheard of. When the wolf in the relationship would go to mark the human, there is nothing guaranteeing that they would make it through the first shift. Mates are a gift, and the Moon Goddess wouldn't give a wolf a mate that could potentially die because of a primal need to mark them."

She hung her head sadly, almost as if she wished I would have said yes.

"I feel it too, Deirdra. I can't explain it either. But I won't give you the false hope of thinking we're mates when I don't think we are. Just know, though, that even after your shift if you find your mate and he or she isn't me, I will stay with you no matter what. You have a friend in me for life, girl. Don't forget that."

My statement seemed to lift her spirits, and she leaned in as we walked to hug me around the waist.

"By the way, Raf, you can call me Dee. Most of my friends back home called me Dee because it was easier than saying my full name all the time. My mother started calling me Dee when I was a baby, and from what she told me it just kind of stuck." She had a smile on her face as she was telling me this information, and it made me happy to know she was comfortable sharing this with me.

But her smile didn't reach her eyes. I could tell the thought of her family made her sad, and I said the only thing that seemed right in the moment.

"You know, if you want to talk to them, you can borrow my phone anytime. But one way or the other, you're basically going to have to disappear. They can't know what you're going through." My voice was sad at the revelation, and I could see the look in her eyes that told me she already knew that she was going to have to come up with something.

"What if... What if we faked my death? Could we send someone from the pack to give them the news, so they would have some closure? They haven't heard from me in a week since I landed in Charlotte. By now they're already probably out of their minds with worry about what's happened to me. This way, they won't come looking for me. They'll be told I've passed away, and that will be the end of it."

I was amazed at her boldness. I had never expected her to say something like this, but I had to admit that it was brilliant.

"Deirdra, I hate to admit it, but that's a pretty good idea. I'll get someone working on it now."

I stopped walking to mind link Alpha Samuel.

"Alpha, I need a favor. Deirdra needs to disappear, and she has requested we fake her death so her parents don't come looking for her. Even though she has just been introduced to this brand new to her world, she has the best interest of all of us in mind."

"Rafael, I completely understand. Please give her my condolences, and let her know I have someone working on it now. Ask her for their address and some things of hers to give them. It will make it more real for them, and hopefully easier to accept her passing. Let me know when you have gotten the information."

I looked over and saw Deirdra staring at me with a look of confusion.

"Your eyes... You looked like you had gone blind. I noticed the doctor's eyes do that earlier too. What is happening when that happens to your eyes?"

Her wonder was adorable, and I couldn't help but laugh at her questions.

"Werewolves have the ability to mind link the people in their pack. So when our eyes glaze over like that, it means we're mind linking them. Basically, a mental link is like a connection between my brain and everyone else in the pack. All I have to do is reach out and find who I'm looking for, and I can speak directly to them without anyone else or hearing or having to try to make a phone call."

She seemed satisfied with my explanation and was nodding her head slowly.

"So, does that mean that when I become a wolf, I will be able to do this mind link thing too?"

"Yes. Once you have been accepted into the pack, you will be able to hear everyone in the pack. But I will help teach you how to put up walls so you don't get overwhelmed by it all. When I first shifted, it felt like there were thousands of voices in my head. It was terrible honestly, and I had the worst migraine of my life afterward."

Her mouth formed a small "o" and she nodded her head in understanding.

She had so much to learn in such a short amount of time, but I was confident she would do well.

"Anyways, Alpha Samuel has asked me to get some information from you about yourself and your parents. Like their address, your birthday, and for you to give me something of value to you, or something that we can take to them to make the situation seem more real, so they will be more open to accepting your passing."

Her eyes welled up with tears at the thought, but she nodded anyway.

"Yes. My address is, I mean, was, 233 Appletree Lane in Thomasville, Georgia. My birthday is on May 13th, 2000. As for something of value to give you, what about my hair? I wanted to change my look anyways to accommodate my new lifestyle, and this would be the perfect way to do it, I think."

She seemed deep in thought, but it was plausible enough to me. So we agreed.

She was going to cut her hair and wanted to dye it back to her original dark brown, and what we cut would be given to Alpha Samuel to be taken to her parents.

All I could say was, this is going to be interesting.