MY BROTHER'S BEST FRIEND

It all started with an innocent dream of a light brown wolf with blue-grey eyes. That was HIM, my mate in his wolf form. I was only 12 when I dreamed it.

You couldn't blame me for taking note of every brown wolf in our pack after that. As in I literally took notes. I had an actual list. It was quite a long list. It turned out that at least half our population at Night Leaf were brown wolves.

Which made me the minority. My dad, Beta Lucas was a black wolf. My mum was a grey wolf. They had twins, my brother Ben and I. We were both black wolves with the same emerald green eyes and black fur as my dad in wolf form.

In our human forms, Ben was said to be the exact replica of Dad when he was young. And when the other adults said it, it was always also implied that my dad might not always had been the respectable, responsible dad and Beta that he was today.

Because Ben was a... If I could borrow the word from classic romance novels, Ben was a rake. One that would require my mum no small amounts of smelling salts should she also be in a romance novel.

I was... the sensible bookworm. I loved a good romance, whether they were in a comic book, a paperback novel, or just a webnovel, I've read them. I spent most of my highschool years reading them. You could say I was a romance major.

So it was really just a very typical morning at the breakfast table where I sat in front of a bowl of cornflakes, revising my favourite novel, while Mum drank her tea while working at the laptop. After Ben and I started highschool, Mum went back to work as a full time counsellor. She worked half week at our school, another half week at her office in the Princess Town, and early mornings and evenings researching and writing papers on mental health. It was her passion.

Dad clomped in from morning patrol. When he opened the door, the smells and winds of Autumn slipped into the kitchen with him, "Lizzy, where's your brother?"

And I answered like I did every single time, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Dad stomped frustrated into the kitchen, "That boy, it's past 7. Why isn't he down for breakfast?"

Dad seemed to believe breakfast was a type of roll call for his family. Everyone was supposed to be at the breakfast table at 7 in the morning - even on weekends. I could count all the times Ben had made roll call this year in one hand.

"Is he even at home?" Dad grumbled as he made himself a cup of instant coffee. "That boy is like a tom cat."

Ben had taken on his beta role since the last year of middle school. I guess that was his passion, running alongside his Alpha Sam and the other betas. Or whatever else tom cats did. Haha.

"I dread the day some crying girl appears on our doorstep." Dad shook his head.

"It's okay, Mum can counsel her." I suggested.

Someone knocked on our door and let himself in, "Hello, is Ben home?"

Meet Jonah. Ben's best friend and our pack's young gamma.

"I was just wondering that myself!" Dad answered.

"He's home, Dad." I looked pointedly at Jonah, "If SpongeBob is here, Patrick can't be far."

Never mind peanut butter and jelly, Jonah and my brother were like:

1. SpongeBob Squarepants and Patrick Starfish

2. B1 and B2 (if you've ever watched Bananas in Pyjamas - yes, that's a real show)

3. Dumb and Dumber

4. Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum

"I can drive you to school, if you want Lizzy." Jonah offered. He got a new truck a few months ago on his 18th birthday. A present from the Future Alpha Office (FAO), a blue pick up truck to welcome the official Future Gamma of Night Leaf. So now he could officially run errands for the FAO.

I rolled my eyes, "No thanks."

Why should I take his truck when Ben could drive me in the Lambo? (Now that I knew Ben was here.)

Ben came down the stairs with a t-shirt and boxers. My brother may be the head beta of the green packlands, but he was so gross sometimes.

"Mum, Ben isn't wearing pants again." I said.

"Ben, put on your pants." Mum said without looking up from her laptop.

"And brush your teeth, I can smell your morning breath from here." I added. So gross.

"My breath is always minty fresh, you can check it out." Jonah offered. He breathed out in my face.

"Ewww... No, Jonah. I do not want to check it out." I pushed him away on his broad chest. Jonah's breath had the smell of apples, not mint.

Jonah was the Captain of the football club in our school, so he was built like a jock. Laura, his mum, often said Jonah was just like his dad when he was young. Tall, dark, handsome... So I expect Jonah to become inherit his dad's waistline and deep set frown later on in life too.

"Can you send Lizzy to school for me?" Ben ask.

"Yeah, sure." Jonah nodded, "What's up?"

"Term is starting on Monday. I need to set up the security and IT at the dorm." Ben answered casually.

"Oh yeah, wow, I can't believe you're going to college already." Jonah said. I think he was disappointed. Until now, Ben and Jonah had crossed every life milestone together.

That was until Ben skipped a grade last year, and then took the college entrance exam. It was stupid crazy. The moment our pack's Alpha Princess, aka Sam said she was going to try for Gate City Business College after she graduated, everyone suddenly wanted to go to college.

Her mate, our Luna Bell decided it was high time he went back to school.

Harvey was already there in his third year. Ki applied for a post graduate degree. It was quite a shock to everyone that Ki was a university graduate. Sam actually blurted out, "You didn't even finish highschool!"

But he did. He didn't have the papers to prove it, they were destroyed with his family home. He had to write in to get them to send him new ones.

Anyway, college life was starting for all of them next week. I expect life to be quieter without them around so much.

"But you're still coming back for your birthday, right Ben?" Jonah asked.

"Yeah, I'm only a half an hour drive away." Ben said.

"Good! Cos I have a surprise." Jonah nodded satisfied.

"A surprise?" Ben narrowed his eyes at Jonah, "You have a surprised for me?"

"For everyone." Jonah promised, "You'd want to be there."

"Okay..." Ben still sounded weirded out. He wasn't used to Jonah keeping secrets from him.

"You should've skipped the grade with me." Ben told Jonah then.

"Nah." Jonah looked at me, "Someone has to stay to drive Lizzy to school."

"Idiot, I'd just go to school with Savy." I told him.

Savy was Sam's sister and my BFF. We were in the same year, and did almost everything that meant anything together.

Almost.

List of things Savy and I didn't do together

1. We didn't get born together

2. We didn't have our first shift together

3. We didn't meet our mates together

Savy was already dating her soulmate. Human king that took over the previously Lycan controlled Blue Packlands and killed the warlock next door and overall nice guy.

I haven't met my soulmate yet. I'm not even entirely certain I would meet him this year. I'll be turning 18 in a couple of weeks. It's a big deal. For wolves, 18 is the age of mating, and we would be able to sense our soulmate.

I looked at my romance novel in hand, and then up at Ben and Jonah. They were supposedly the hottest guys my age right now. Especially Jonah. Since Ben graduated last year, Jonah was like the hottest potato in New Leaf Academy. I was sure his position as Prom King was already a given - whether or not he signed up for it.

From the day he shifted, brown wolf with blue grey eyes, Mum and Laura (Jonah's mum) felt sure he was the ONE.

But he just wasn't my type. My type was the tall dark and handsome, with a mysterious air, a secret past, who was good with his mouth - whether he was talking back or kissing back. My type was the dashing and romantic, daring rescue, sweep me off my feet type.

And as my list had proven, brown wolves, even those with blue eyes, were not the rarest type of wolves.

I remembered how excited they were on his birthday. They threw a huge BBQ party and invited everyone they knew. Mum and Laura actually insisted I personally give my present to him instead of leaving it on the present table like everyone else.

They pushed me into the kitchen where he was washing up. (Who made the birthday boy wash up in the kitchen at his own party, anyway?)

The moment I stepped into the kitchen, Jonah had turned around, and froze.

He quickly wiped his wet hands on his jeans, "Uh... Hi, Lizzy. Hi Mrs Beta, Mum."

Awkward.

I offered him the gift, "Happy Birthday."

"Uh, thanks, Lizzy." Jonah said.

He gingerly took the gift from me like it might explode on him.

"Well, son?" Laura asked excitedly.

Jonah frowned - he seldom frowned but he frowned at me, and I saw the lines appear where his dad's frown was set too. A foreshadow of his future face.

I took a step back from him. I'm not sure how it could get more awkward.

"Actually, I dreamed of my mate last night." Jonah admitted at last.

Yeah. That was how it got more awkward.

"Really?" Laura paused. She looked at me regretfully and asked, "What was your mate like?"

Jonah shrugged and then broke out in his usual wolfish grin, "She was very beautiful, and very naked."

"Jonah!" Laura gasped.

I rolled my eyes, "Just typical. I'm going back to the party."

Jonah chuckled, "Thanks for the present, Lizzy."

"Whatever." I said. And I let myself out of the kitchen, the cool spring air feeling good on my flushed face.

Dad met me at that moment, he looked irate, "Lizzy, where's your brother?"

I wasn't in the best of moods either, "Am I my brother's keeper?"