The bell finally rang, and Cohen dropped his pencil, leaning back in his seat and letting his back pop after being hunched over for the past hour and a half. “All right, times up! Leave your papers facedown on the desk, I’ll come collect them. Have a good summer!” Cohen was the first one out of the room. He had never been particularly good at English for whatever reason, though he excelled at every other subject. It was like once he needed to write his thoughts down on paper his brain malfunctioned. He was almost positive that he’d just failed that, but it wasn’t his problem now that the school year was officially over.

Out in the parking lot, he could practically see the heat simmering off of the pavement, but Cohen liked the warmth of the sun almost as much as his wolf loved the moon at its fullest. Lennon, his best friend, future beta, and likely mate, was waiting for him by his car. “How do you think you did on your final?” She asked, a stupid grin on her face, even though she knew the answer. They weren’t dating, in fact their entire friendship was completely platonic, but there was a very high chance that his true mate would be… unfit. In that case, they had a pact in place.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He taunted playfully, walking right past his car, knowing she’d follow him. “I bet I can beat you to the pond.”

“As if.” She scoffed, and they both broke out into full sprints toward the woods behind the school. Once they were in the cover of the trees and were sure no one was around, they stripped of their clothes quickly and were in their wolf forms in seconds. Wolves (at least the partially human kind) were pretty obsessed with fur colors, though Cohen had never understood the hype himself. He was a pretty standard wolf, with a brown coat, but it was the type of wolf spirit that he shared a soul with that made all the difference. Hierarchies were highly genetic, and he’d gotten his Alphan traits and genes from his mother.

Now that he was in his animalistic form, his senses were much sharper. The trees seemed to be greener, the din of cars from the school parking lot louder, and the dirt smelled earthier. There were some negative side effects to this too, because being so close to humans meant he could also sense and smell the teenagers smoking weed about three hundred feet to his left and a couple having sex some ways out to his right.

‘I hate being so close to humans.’ Cohen’s wolf, who he had so gracefully nicknamed Axe when he was eight, helpfully spoke in the back of his consciousness. Axe had a true name given to him by Selene, their goddess, but it was in a celestial language that Cohen couldn’t even hope to say aloud properly.

’As a human that you share a body with, I feel like I should be offended.’ He thought back, and if Axe had a physical form, he would have rolled his wolfy eyes. ‘You’re going to lose your silly game if you don’t start paying attention.’

Sure enough, Lennon was quite a bit ahead of him now, weaving through trees and avoiding their roots with grace. Her wolf was much smaller than his, she didn’t have any Alpha blood to make her wolf big and bulky like his. Which was why she ended up beating him to the pond, while he was focusing on not tripping over his big, clumsy paws and falling on his face.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They spent most of the afternoon in their wolf form, play fighting and chasing after rabbits. Things were always much simpler in his wolf form, he didn’t have to worry about social cues, or speaking, or looking serious all of the time. He even let Axe take the forefront of their mind for a little bit so he could stretch his legs. Overall, it was extremely relaxing.

Unfortunately, the sun started sinking low in the sky, and the cicada’s song was reaching its peak, so they headed back to get his car, changing back into their human forms and throwing their clothes back on. “There’s a bonfire tonight.” Lennon commented as she rounded his truck to get in the passenger side.

“There’s one every year.” He grumbled, knowing Lennon was about to drag him to it. Parties, or large public spaces in general, made his senses go haywire. His nose was already itchy at just the thought of being around so many people.

“I know, but you have to keep up social appearances, Cohen-“ She began her usual spiel about how as an heir he needed to keep on good terms with not only their pack, but the humans of their town. It was all bullshit; she didn’t actually care about that she just wanted to get hammered on cheap beer and make out with cute humans.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Let’s at least go home and get cleaned up first.” He went right when he pulled out of the parking lot, heading toward their little community at the base of the mountain. Lennon cheered, throwing her arms around his shoulders and kissing his cheek. At least she was happy.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The House of Ophelia was the name of their pack, even though his family name wasn’t Ophelia anymore. When his mother became Alpha, she took on his father’s name, Sterling, despite the fact it was nontraditional. One time he had asked his mom why, and she had said it was because she wanted the pack to have a new start after generations of bad blood, and she hoped that one day their back would be The House of Sterling. Wolves were slow to change though, so it was still the same.

In a way, he was glad. Cohen Ophelia definitely didn’t sound as good as Cohen Sterling.

Their pack was nestled at the base of a mountain, a cozy little collection of houses surrounded by woods where they could truly be themselves. Some packs lived in one, massive house, but his parents preferred having their privacy, so everyone lived in their own houses. Once a week they had dinner together in the pavilion, which is also where they held meetings.

The House of Ophelia was a fairly modern pack, they made most of their money through the town, which they legally owned the majority of. It was still considered human territory though, which meant it was neutral ground for visiting packs and other supernaturals.

Cohen dropped Lennon off at her house, which wasn’t far from his, then went to his own. He parked his truck in the garage then headed inside. “I’m home!” He announced, and the thundering noise of human feet and paws alike was almost scary.

Soon enough he was being bombarded with hugs and wet noses sniffing at his legs, some of the kids weren’t even his siblings, just pack kids who were hanging out. After overwhelming him with greetings and affection, they left just as they came, all at once.

“Hey, bud. Are you hungry?” His father popped his head out of the kitchen, where it smelled like he was making spaghetti. Cohen wasn’t sure why he was even asking, of course he was hungry. Starving, actually.

“Yeah, just let me go shower really quick.” He jogged up the stairs, heading to his room. Once he was showered and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, he headed back downstairs. His dad was still in the kitchen, plating a heaping pile of spaghetti and garlic bread. Cohen sat down at the island, and his dad placed the plate in front of him.

“Where’s mom?” He asked between bites. His father leaned against the counter with a sigh, waving his hand. “Doing Alpha stuff or something. I don’t know. How was school today?” He’d never had any interest in talking about anything concerning leading the pack, though he was technically a leader himself. He was the acting Lunos, after all.

“Fine. I’m glad Junior year is finally over.” It had been a boring year, and this summer would probably be spent training to become Alpha, which meant it wouldn’t be any fun either. Ugh. “I’m going to a party tonight.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

By the time they got to the bonfire, it was already night. Cohen could hear it from a mile away, and once they finally reached the clearing where it was located, his head was hurting. The fire itself was the focal point, with teenager sitting on logs and talking to each other, and lots were milling around. There was music coming from somewhere and fold out tables had been set up some were holding foods and alcoholic drinks; others were supporting intense games of beer pong.

Lennon abandoned him immediately, and he was left to try and block out the deafening noise himself. He headed over to a cooler that was disappointingly filled with Natural Light, probably the shittiest beer known to man, but he took one anyway, hoping the liquid would help numb some of his senses. It was when he was finished chugging the beer that he finally caught a whiff of a strange scent, like freshly dug up soil and sage.

Even though it was weak and muddled among the other scents, the way Axe reacted was unmistakable. His feet were propelling themselves forward without his permission, because if he had been in control of his body in the next few moments, he would have gotten the Hell out of Dodge. But he wasn’t, so he was following the smell that was intoxicating his senses blindly, not caring who he ran into.

Then Cohen spotted the owner from across the fire, and his heart climbed into his throat. They were leaning against a lone tree, talking with a human named Isaiah who was a grade below him. He was screwed. Completely and utterly screwed for two reasons. His mate was clearly male, and from the power radiating off his aura he was also a Witch.

Cohen prayed for a moment that perhaps his wolf was wrong. Maybe it was someone else and he was confused because of all the other people around.

When the Witch looked up, straight at him, his futile hope was crushed. Cohen felt the tingling sensation of being under his mate’s gaze for the first time. The Witched studied him for a few moments, obviously confused, and Cohen knew he was a goner. His eyes were so expressive, they were so pale that they nearly glowed a silver color. Then he was smirking confidently, and his eyes flickered to a deep onyx color that filled his entire eye. Though it was there for barely a second, Cohen still caught it.

It was a warning.

He turned on his heel and got the fuck out of there. He wasn’t just scared, he was terrified to his very core, and he wasn’t about to stick around and let the Witch find out the sort of control he had over him. Quickly picking up on Lennon’s scent, he followed it into a secluded area behind the tree line, where she was making out with some female human.

Without thinking, he just pulled her back by her shirt, ripping her away from the girl. “What the fuck are you doing? There are other wolves around.” He growled lowly. Not that he had any issue with her being a homosexual personally, but Lennon could still get kicked out of the pack if anyone else found out.

“Cohen, shut the fuck up!” She hissed back, pushing him away. The girl, who was clearly drunk off her ass, was now laughing bitterly. “This your boyfriend? Oops.” Her voice was slurred, and he was confident she wouldn’t remember this in the morning, so he ignored her, pulling his best friend away.

“We have to leave.” He said, and Lennon dug her claws into his hand to try and get him to let go of her arm. “What the hell? We just got here! Why the-” He growled again, low and threatening, and she shut her mouth.