Jackson-

“You finish hunting already?” My little brother, Levi, runs downstairs to greet me after hearing the front door click shut.

“Yeah, a mouthwatering prey fell right in my lap,” I smirked, thinking about my beautiful mate.

“Really?!” Levi tugged on the hem of my shirt, excitement evident in his eyes. “Is it outside? I bet it’s a really big deer!”

“No, it was just a little red rabbit, and I let it go.” 

“What? Why’d you do that for?!” My little brother pouted. The fact that there wasn’t a tasty deer waiting for him caused him to clench his tiny fists.

Spoiled little brat.

“I’ll bring you back something next time, so just–”

“What’s that smell?”

Fuck.

My brother leaned in to sniff my clothes, but I was quick to block him, pushing him back by his head and walking upstairs to my room, locking my bedroom door behind me. 

Why did I let him go? It’s not like I couldn’t have easily overpowered the runt, so why did I let him go home instead of dragging him back to my place and claiming him as my own? 

— 

Attempting to clear my senses, I peeled off my clothes that were soaked in his scent and got into the shower. As the cool water rushed over me, my thoughts became more rational.

It would've been wrong of me to take him with me if he didn’t want to go.  Clover was just so cute and innocent. How could a beast like me just take him from his home in the middle of the night? If I wanted my mother-in-law to like me, I would have to present myself as a respectable man who was perfect for her gorgeous son, not as some sort of delinquent. 

I did need to make him my official mate quickly, though, if I wanted to become the new Alpha. If I didn't, everything I ever worked for would be stolen from me by my bastard of a cousin, Liam Hemming.

My dad, the current Alpha, was getting too old to lead. Normally, I would be given the Alpha title as his oldest son, but my dad had promised my uncle, his predecessor, that he would make grabs for the title fair between me and his son when the time came.

I told my dad to just ignore whatever Uncle Albert had said and to hand the pack over to me, but he got all pissed off because his brother had died saving him from a rebel pack, and he respected his blah blah blah. 

Anyways, thanks to my stupid dad, I could now only earn my rightful title by either finding my mate before Liam or turning 25, and Liam was older than me, so it was completely unfair!

Whenever I brought up how unfair this fair way of becoming Alpha was, Dad would always be like “Your mate will find you when the time is right.”

Well, Clover sure took his sweet time finding me. I had less than two weeks before Liam turned 25 and ran the pack into the ground. The guy just wasn’t trustworthy. He was always sneaking around and showing up in different outfits than the ones he left the house in. I had long since given up warning others about his oddities, though. They treated him like he was some sort of martyr, just like his daddy.

I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when I showed up at the packhouse with my mate hanging off my arm. I’d make a big show of kissing Clover in front of him and flash the bite mark that would soon decorate his neck, signaling to others to back off.

Grinning, I stepped out of my shower onto the steamy tile floor and wrapped a towel around my waist. 

Seeing that sexy neck would really show that prick… all slender and pale and sweet and–

Fuck. My towel began unraveling as something started to grow down below. 

How dare my mate make me spend our first night alone.

I stormed out of my bathroom, water dripped from my hair, but I didn’t care. I was only fixated on one thing. Growling, I scooped my dirty clothes off the floor and pressed them against my face. His scent was still there.

“Fuck, Clover, you’re gonna be the death of me.”

Clover-

“Ugh.” I shuddered and walked downstairs to have breakfast with my mom. 

“Took you long enough to come down. Hurry up, and eat, we need to get going in the next 10 minutes.” She pointed at the cold pancakes in front of me.

“Chill out, bruh.” I poured some syrup on my pancakes and rolled my eyes. She was only tweaking out because she also had her first day today at her new job and didn’t want to be late.

“Do not sass me, young man.” Mom huffed and walked out of the kitchen, probably headed to her room to finish applying her thick makeup. Her cheeks were also painted with freckles, but unlike me, she chose to cover them up with copious amounts of makeup. 

Well, even if I wanted to cover mine up, I couldn’t. I was a guy after all.

I yawned and poured some coffee for myself. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep last night at all, despite feeling so exhausted. How could I, when every time I closed my eyes I saw him.?

“Clover, are you done? We need to go!”

“Yes.” I chugged the cup of coffee and slammed the mug on the table

—-

The drive into town didn’t take too long from where we lived on the outskirts… only around 15 minutes? Mom filled the time with all of her repetitive questions:

“Do you have your schedule?”

“Yes.”

“Did you remember your lunch?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how to get to your classes?”

“Uhh probably?”

“What do you mean probably?!”

“Mom, chill! I’ll ask someone if I need help.” I was 18 years old for pete’s sake. I could find my way around a tiny ass high school.

“Well, I’m just worried. It’s your senior year, and it’s hard for you to make new friends and–”

I sighed. Growing up as an only child caused her to baby me way too much. Still, she was my mom and I knew she was only trying to look out for me.

“It’ll be okay, Mom, I’ll make new friends and introduce you to all of them,” I lied. I planned on having a quiet senior year and then meeting back up with Carson and the guys at UMiami. Who needed new friends when I already had perfectly good ones back home?

“Oh, I know you will! You’re just so sweet and charming.” Mom pulled the car to a stop in front of a high school that looked straight out of a 70s movie and, despite my resistance, kissed me on the cheek. 

“Yeah, bye, love you.” 

“Love you too hone—”

I quickly grabbed my bag and slammed the car door shut. Rubbing the lipstick off my cheek, I sensed was there, I walked headfirst into a giant pair of titties.

“Are you cheating on your boyfriend already?”