Chapter 1

Kathrine and Christine were in her room waiting for time to go down to the full moon ceremony. Kathrine was dreading the ceremony mostly because as an unmated female, she'd have to touch the Alpha's sons to see if she was mated to one of them. There were few people in the pack that she hated on principle, but the new Alpha family were all on that list. Ever since Jackson challenged her father because her father wouldn't fund whatever bullshit proposal he'd wanted the pack had been in an almost constant state of upheaval. Jackson had been desperately trying to throw his sons at every unmated female wolf in the pack and pushing for radical changes in the government of their pack. Mainly, to do away with the democratic running that her father had put into place as a balance. Thankfully, up to that point at least, no one would agree to do away with the government methods or to allow more power to the Alpha than he already held.

"Is it too late to tell Mom and Dad that I'm sick?" Kathrine asked with a sigh as she checked the time on her phone.

"Probably, considering we are supposed to leave in half an hour." Christine replied though she didn't sound nearly as bothered about attending the event as Kathrine did. "I don't see what the big deal is about going. Just got to play nice for about thirty seconds, shake their hands, then go back to doing whatever you want to do and hating them in peace."

Kathrine saw her point, though from her perspective of having to shove her wolf down any time the Mitchell twins were around her wasn't exactly something she'd fessed up to. Christine couldn't know that Kathrine was pretty sure one of the twins was her mate. She'd rather go her whole life without her mate if it meant that she'd never be forced to be one of their mates. It was abhorrent on so many levels in her opinion.

"Girls! It is time to go!" Her father's deep voice called out from downstairs.

"Ugh!" Kathrine groaned as she reached for her purse and keys. "I might be forced to go to this debacle, but I'm not staying even one minute longer than I must. You want to ride with me?"

"Sure!" Christine said getting up to follow her sister down the stairs.

The drive to the pack house wasn't a long one, but Kathrine felt like it took forever all the same. Christine, ever the optimist, chattered the whole time about one thing or another that, thankfully, required neither input nor much attention from Kathrine. In the past two years, she'd managed to avoid the ceremony by conveniently being out of town for the weekend and happening to make it back too late. This year, however, the new Alpha pulled rank and threatened retribution to any female who didn't attend. He'd even be marking everyone off a list. Ugh, gag me! Kathrine thought to herself as she parked next to her father's vehicle.

"This year we have to go into the pack house and check you both in." Lincoln said, then gestured toward the front door of the mansion they were parked in front of.

"Don't you wish you'd have done this before they took over? Our slacker brother might have found his mate by now if you had." Kathrine said subtly nudging her sister as she waited for their father's response.

"On that same thought, both of you would probably be mated by now too and out of our house. Your brother isn't the only slacker out there." Their father sniped back giving them a narrow-eyed look of disapproval.

"Yeah, well we're angels and much less annoying than him." Christine said with a shrug, unbothered by their father's words.

As far as Kathrine knew, Christine was neither in a rush nor inclined to actively search for her mate at the moment. She enjoyed being able to just be in the house with their mother and father and not have too many responsibilities. Sure, it was expected that they help with the chores of the house and that they keep their room clean and do their laundry. But on the whole, their mother took care of pretty much everything else. Christine just wasn't ready to grow up yet. Kathrine, however, would love to have her own place and start building her own life. But the pack's tradition would balk at her leaving her parents' home before finding her mate.

Their father led them over to the line of people who were confirming names on a piece of paper. The line moved quickly since they just had to have their name checked off a list. Alpha Jackson was not taking any chances that the ceremony wasn't being attended by at least all the single female wolves. Sure, the yearly ceremony was a particularly opportune time for mates to find each other, but it was supposed to be something that was in the background of the ceremony. The full moon ceremony was supposed to be about celebrating the full moon and their pack's success over the previous year. There would always be a pack hunt and feast afterward. That would be the part that Kathrine missed the most, she loved going on the pack hunt.

Once they all reached the clearing where the ceremony would be held, they noticed they could easily have been considered stragglers. The clearing was already packed with numerous pack members. Their pack was a little different than most. Most packs had members who preferred to live pretty much on top of each other. Their pack preferred to be a little more spread out. Some members lived as far as an hour away, but those members were mixed families; wolves that had found their mate in a human. It was really rare for that to happen, but it wasn't completely unheard of. As a result, those members tended to be mostly outcasts. As a general rule, wolves distrusted humans since they had tried on multiple occasions to exterminate them.

"The outcasts have been summoned as well." Kathrine said to her father, who was walking next to her. She was almost sure the only reason he was attending her was because she was the flight risk of the group.

"They're not outcasts. Behave yourself." Lincoln chided his daughter, the tone reminding her of every time he corrected her as a child.

"I don't think they're outcasts dad, I'm just saying the term most of the pack use for them." She said defensively.

"Well, don't. You don't realize how much people listen to what you say. We might not be the Alpha family anymore, but a lot of people in the pack would be on board with us being Alpha again. It is very important to treat everyone with the same respect you expect to be treated." Lincoln said.