A Change In Pace

~Annora's POV: Present Day~

I chuckled softly as he looked at me in surprise and confusion. I was actually teasing him, though I wasn't wrong. Those sneakers so didn't go well with the plaid. I could deal with the Nikes and the jeans, but the plaid? Bleh. Don't come near me!

"I- " He blinked. "Really?"

I nodded and he just looked at me before stepping forward. My heart started to beat faster as he kept moving towards me, eventually cupping my cheek with his hand gingerly. Sparks erupted where his hand met my cheek. I froze, my heart trying to break out of my chest as he looked at me. His pupils dilated as I tried to slowly pull away again. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned in to kiss me.

"Caleb... I can't..." I whispered as he planted a light kiss on my forehead. I held back a moan at the slight pleasure it gave me. He looked at me for a moment, then stepped away slowly. The sadness that filled my mate's eyes made me feel regretful for saying anything, but it was the truth. I couldn't be in a relationship right now, especially not with such a sexy alpha that I could get attached to. Not until I was older. Not until I knew for sure I couldn't hurt him on my 20th.

"But why, my mate?" He whispered, his eyes starting to turn a darker shade as his wolf began trying taking control. He grabbed my arm gently, giving me a pleading look, and watched me closely. "Why won't you accept me?"

"I can't...Not until my brother comes back..." I lied. "I need to know he's okay before I leave..."

He growled softly, no doubt smelling my lie, then leaned forward slightly. His voice sounded a bit different as he whispered in my ear, "At least let me mark you, Annora... I won't leave otherwise you know."

"I-" I started, only to freeze as his fangs extended and brushed against the soft spot on my neck where he would someday mark me. "No... Caleb... Caleb please don't..."

He was sharply yanked away, his fangs grazing my shoulder slightly, as my father growled. I looked at the pissed figure of my father in my doorway and the worried looking figure of my mother in the hallway. The front door downstairs opened and closed hurriedly, and the smell of our alpha hit me. My heart started to pound again, this time out of fear, when the alpha called upstairs for my parents to come down.

~Caleb's POV: Present Day~

"Caleb... I can't..." She whispered, honesty in her eyes. I looked at her sorrowfully, stepping back slowly after planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. Something silently hit the back of my ankle in that moment, and the sudden urge to mark my mate hit me like a van.

"But why, my mate?" I whispered back. I grabbed her arm gingerly and tried my best at a pleading look. "Why won't you accept me?"

"I can't... Not until my brother comes back. I need to know he's okay before I leave..." She mumbled. I strongly smelled the lie and growled softly.

"At least let me mark you Annora..." I whispered in her ear after leaning forward. My voice sounded different, but I only thought of it as my wolf doing it. "I won't leave otherwise you know..."

I extended my fangs and brushed against the soft spot where I was about to mark her.

"I-" She began before stiffening at my touch. She was clearly panicked but I suddenly didn't care. "No... Caleb... Caleb please don't..."

I nearly had her, but a hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. Her father's scent reached my nose, her mother's too, as the front door opened and closed. Their alpha called up, and next thing I know they are dragging me downstairs like I'm an omega in the hands of an alpha. I would have disciplined them for manhandling me the way they were when I had a higher rank in my pack than they did in theirs; however, they aren't my pack to discipline, and it didn't matter anyway.

"I let you and your father onto the land of my pack for a single reason." He growled. "That reason was not so that you could force one of the young females into being your Luna!"

"Alpha Luke..." A voice piped in from the stairs. I looked over and saw Annora standing there. "If I may, he is actually my mate."

All heads turned to her as she said this, all faces a bit shocked. I watched her closely as her father let go of my shoulder.

"I asked him to not mark me just yet." She continued, clearly starting to lose some of her confidence with her alpha watching her so closely. "He was merely doing what many young future alphas seem to do nowadays and tried to claim me as his as soon as he possibly could..."

I admit that for once my heart skipped a beat at how she was going up against her alpha over me. Then again, girls are so unpredictable so she could just be trying to save my skin for some other reason. I looked at the alpha. He sighed, then waved me off with a stern face. I ran off before he could regret it, leaving my mate there in my dust.

"Well, now what did you do, my boy?" Dad asked as I ran into the house panting.

"I don't know why but I wanted to mark her, so I tried to- Wait why am I telling you this?!" I panted back at him as I went upstairs to take a shower. I couldn't believe that that had just happened. I had imagined meeting my mate more like we meet, we kiss, I make her mine, and then we live happily with our kids possibly. Not we meet, she runs, I follow, I try marking her, I end up getting yelled at by their alpha.

And there it was again. That urge to mark her right now, with or without her consent... Where was this coming from?! This couldn't just be me turning into a possessive alpha, could it? I was born with more submissive genes instead of dominant, so this was a big change for me without a doubt... So what the hell is wrong with me?!

I heard the sickening sound of wood cracking and I looked around. There was a broken chair across from me. I must have thrown it while I got lost in my thoughts... Sighing, I stripped off my clothes and got into the shower with hopes that dad wouldn't find the chair and get mad at me. He'd thrown a few chairs when he was my age, and he ended up with anger management issues for a year or so. It didn't exactly end well for him, especially when he met his mate halfway through it all.

~Annora's POV: Next Day~

When I woke extremely early the next morning, I was actually a bit glad. No one could catch me leaving to go for an early morning run; therefore no one could stop me. The sun had only started to rise as by the time I got myself out of bed. I went to my closet and picked out a t-shirt that said "All I need in life are my running shoes and my sanity" along with some running shorts and a sports bra. As I went downstairs and grabbed myself an apple to much on while I finished getting ready, I scribbled down a short note for Mom and Dad. I was out the door within around 10 minutes, from when I got up to when I locked the door with the spare key.

Halfway through me stripping off my clothing so I could shift 5 minutes later, a branch snapped behind me and I froze. I was only in my bra and underwear as I turned around, my heart beating like a drum in my ears. I screamed as I saw a masculine figure standing a few feet behind me, his face obscured by shadow. As he hurried over to me so he could attempt to make me stop screaming, I caught his scent and the hairs on the back of my neck shot up. I growled as I recognized his hair and his scent as the one werewolf I truly hoped I wouldn't see right now; Caleb. I snatched up my shirt with one hand and smacked his arm with the other, growling softly.

"What do you think you are doing?! You shouldn't be here you idiot!!" I half whispered half shouted at him.

"I didn't know you were undressing right now!" He whined back.

"You were watching me from a bush you moron! How the fuck "did you not know I was undressing?! I shouted. As his face changed, I knew I had him there. I knew that he knew I was right.

He nodded sadly and walked away, though from the sounds of it he was stripping himself. Lovely. I morphed, not caring about the now shredded bra and underwear on the grass. My wolf was happy to be out now, that was for sure. It had been a while actually since I had gone for a run because I had become occupied with keeping my grades up, so it was nice to stretch my secondary pair of legs, if you will. The bushes where my mate had walked off into to strip rustled, and I took off before he could see much of me. I was a white wolf, and I didn't want him to see that. He might tell someone else eventually and then I was screwed.

My heart started to flutter traitorously as I picked up the sound of large paws behind me. Alpha's paws. I scrambled into a bush just as he came into view, knowing that I was now cornered but at least hidden. He looked around, his ears swiveling around for a moment. His nose twitched slightly and my heart began to pound as he slowly started walking towards me. He stepped through the bush, but he was too late. I had already slipped behind the tree that I was cornered against and had my tail tucked out of sight as my heart continued to pound. He whined softly then ran off.

'Idiot...' I thought. 'He could have confronted me. So why... Why didn't he? He can't actually care that much about me, can he?'