To Our Luna

To Our Luna - Part 19

One Year & Five Months Later...

October - Red Gulf Pack

Rocky Mountain Center

*Marcus POV*

I was still pissed! I couldn't believe they wouldn't tell me. So what I was still in college; who cares that I didn't have a job; what did it matter that I hadn't finished my Defense Team Training, shit I was almost done. What the hell was the big deal! I just wanted to know the name of my fated mate. It was part of my big plan, graduate high school, get the name of my fated mate and claim her, go to college, graduate and become Alpha of the Red Gulf Pack. But no, I had been denied on what should have been one of the happiest days of my life.

Everyone was siked about Alpha Amir of the Green Fields Pack coming to TX just to see me graduate. It was a huge honor. Everyone important to me was there and I had the biggest crowd erupt when my name was called. My parents threw me this huge party at the center. At the party I finally introduced Amina to the guys and they were cool about meeting her. They finally understood that we were just close friends and they realized after hanging out with her that you could forget how young she was. The most hilarious thing was watching James around Amina. He was scared shitless that he bowed to her every time she talked to him and called her Princess Amina the entire night. I didn't make it any better egging him on to continue, but Amina was so embarrassed that I finally let him off the hook.

Eleven months later, on my 20th birthday, I had arranged a formal meeting with my dad and Elder Thomas. We met in my dads home office with my whole speech ready. I told them about my grades at the university, as if they didn't know. I explained that even though my training wasn't complete that I had much more experience than the other guys in my set. Last I told them that I wouldn't claim her until I graduated from college and I was ready for my life to begin. I thought it was a perfect plan until they said no. I thought I was being punk'd! When I realized they were serious I went off.

It's been five months and I'm still pissed as hell. They gave me some bullshit about still being too young, that I wasn't ready to take care of my mate, that I needed to have a career and income, and that I still needed to work on my temper. I'll admit now that I could have handled it a bit better but I had been waiting on this for years. When I asked them, when would I get my mates' name, Elder Thomas said I'd get it when he gave it to me. What kind of shit was that!

The only thing that had me in a better mood was my flight tomorrow, I was leaving for Tennessee. Amina was turning fifteen and had invited me to her Birthday Bash. I spent weeks trying to find her the perfect gift, a one-of-a-kind choker. It was an oval shaped pendant; half was in gray Moonstone and the other half was green Jade. Connected at the top and bottom it was encased with copper that reached around four inches on both sides. The best part about it was the special material that connected in the back that stretched. So when Amina shifted it wouldn't deform or break, she would never have to take it off.

Normally when we shifted into our wolves we lost all clothing and jewelry if we didn't take it off before hand. I kept telling her she would shift it just wasn't the right time. A pup period is from 10 to 15 years old and this is when lupines reach puberty and are first learning how to shift. Most lupines shifted around 12 or 13. Tomorrow was Amina's 15th birthday and she still hadn't shifted yet. Learning to shift was hard enough without having to worry about puberty, the opposite sex and body hair as well as fur.

"Earth to Marcus, anybody in there!" Linux said grabbing my attention.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm cool." I replied rolling back into reality.

"Delta Patrick wants us to do a shift and run with the newest recruits. They're average time isn't fast enough." Linux said entering the locker room.