She smiled and then squeezed my arm. "Well, I'm going to go find your brother." She said before practically skipping away. I turned to get a glass of anything alcoholic. I ordered a glass of rye and coke. A moment later the drink was placed in front of me. "Are you old enough to be drinking?" Jacob asked. I nodded. "I'm eighteen." I said curtly. He arched an eyebrow. I took a sip from my drink and walked away. He followed me over to a wall. "Why do I get the feeling that you are trying to make this difficult?" He asked as he looked at me with those eyes you could get lost in. "Maybe I didn't want to find a mate. Did you ever think of that?" He chuckled. "Every wolf wants to find their mate. It's ingrained into us. Your mate is your other half. Makes you whole." I took another swig of my drink. "Yeah, well. I'm not the kind of girl who's dependent on a mate. So don't expect me to be panting for a scratch behind the ears from you." I said before walking away leaving him there.
I went and found some of my friends and was dancing with one of the girls. The song 'All about that bass' came on. We were having fun. She saw someone behind me and stepped closer. "My god he's yummy." I turned my head and saw who she was looking at. My mate was over talking to a couple of his pack. I growled at her without realizing it. "What's your problem?" She asked. I calmed myself down. "He's my mate." Her eyes went wide and shock was written on her face. "Seriously? Sorry." She said realizing that it was me and not one of her other friends. Lets just say most of the pack knew that my temper was one that you didn't want to mess with. Just like my brothers. We kept dancing then she started slowly backing away. I then felt someone put their hands on my hips. I turned around quickly and saw one of the guys from my pack there. He smiled at me before he was grabbed from behind. He looked at who grabbed him. Jacob was in his face. "Touch my mate again and I'll remove your hands." His wolf said. His eyes were black. To know I found it incredibly sexy made me angry with myself. "Okay, man. Hands off of her." Hunter said to Jacob, hands up and backing away. Jacob turned to me and calmed himself. His eyes went back to their dark brown. I glared at him and turned to walk away but he grabbed my hand. "I think it's in everyone's best interest if you stay with me." He said. His grip strong but not enough to hurt me. I tried to pull my hand away and he didn't let go. "Seriously?" I said in a low voice. He nodded.
After the party I went to my room and got changed. I was just about to climb into bed when I heard a knock on my door. I opened it and saw that it was Jacob. "What now? There's no guys in here so you can go sleep peacefully." He looked me up and down. Just being near him was making my body react to him. I crossed my arms to cover my chest. "Go to bed." I said trying to close the door. He put his hand up and stopped it. "Why do you seem so against the mating? It can't be that you want to stay independent, you can still be independent with having a mate." I growled. "My past is just that. Mine." I said before forcing the door closed. I heard him growl but try to calm himself. He was muttering to himself while walking away.
The next day I woke up and went down to breakfast. Derek, Caroline, my mom, Jacob, and a couple of his pack members were there. I sat down beside my mom. "Morning." I said as I sat down. "Morning." Was responded by everyone. I was trying to keep my eyes off of Jacob who was sitting at the one end of the table. "So, sweetheart. I hear that you and Alpha Jacob are mates." My mom said. I tightened my grip on my fork. "Yeah, I guess." She smiled. "I'm glad that you found your mate." I bit my tongue to keep from snapping. "Maybe you'll finally be able to move on from tha-" I cut her off as I stood up suddenly, knocking my chair over. "Mom, Shut the hell up! You think you know, but you don't." I said before storming off throwing my bent fork on the table.
I had gone up to the gym and was currently punching the punching bag. I heard someone walk through the door. I smelt my brother. "What?" I said not even looking at him. "Kat. He's your mate. Caroline told me that your True Mates." He grabbed the bag as I punched it. "So?" He braced for another punch. "You will have to go with him when he leaves." I stopped. "No." I said trying to keep my voice low. "Kat. I get that you don't want to be hurt. But you need him as much as he needs you." He said trying to be understanding. "I don't need him." I said through clenched teeth. "Yes, you do. If you separate from him it will cause excruciating pain, and might eventually kill you." I looked to him as I had turned away. "How do you know. You and Caroline are true mates but you guys never were separated." He shook his head. "I tried to fight the mating. But it caused so much pain that I couldn't handle it." I arched an eyebrow. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" He shrugged. "Cause I'm the Alpha. If people knew how weak she makes me they would target her." I took a deep breath. "You know that I'm right. Being away from him makes you uncomfortable." I let out a sigh, rolling my eyes. "I don't have to like the mating though." He rolled his eyes. "You can't think that every guy is like him." I glared at Derek. "Don't. We agreed to never speak of him." He let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. But just give Jacob a chance." "No promises."
I was packing my closet and heard someone open the door. I looked over and saw Jacob. I took a deep breath before continuing to pack. "I get that you don't want to leave... But let's try to at least get along." I arched an eyebrow as I faced him. "Look, I've never been away from my pack before. So excuse me if I'm not necessarily happy about having to go live in an entirely different state." He nodded. I turned back to packing. Then stopped. "I'll try to not be a bitch. But only if you promise me that you won't try forcing this mate thing." He chuckled. "The mating process?" I nodded. "Deal. But only if you actually try to let the mating bond work." I arched an eyebrow. "Fine." I turned back to packing. "God... You're stubborn." I smiled. "Yep, got it from my dad."
I was looking around my room one last time before I left with Jacob and his pack. I knew once I left I would become a member of his pack and no longer one of my brothers. I closed the door and walked down the hall towards the stairs. I got to the top of the stairs and saw my mom, brother, and Caroline. I got to the bottom of the stairs and walked up to them. I hugged Caroline. "Take care of my brother for me." I told her. She nodded. "Of course." We let go. I turned to my brother. He pulled me into a hug and held me. "Take care of yourself." He said. I nodded. I was fighting tears. He let me go and smiled at me a rare sight. I smiled back but it was probably a sad excuse for a smile. I turned to my mom who had tears sliding down her cheeks. She and I hugged. "Promise me that you will take care of yourself. And that you will try and let yourself be happy." I nodded. "And try to accept your new pack." I nodded again. "I love you my little kitty." I bit my lip to keep from crying. "I love you to mom. I'm so sorry for all the times that I was a pain in your ass and said things that hurt you." She squeezed me tighter. Then we had to let go. She ran her hand down the side of my face. "My beautiful girl." I turned away and headed out the door. My bags were already in the vehicle. As soon as I was outside the door I saw half the pack there. Everyone who I was friends with. Some of my friends were crying. I took a deep breath to not cry. I waved at everyone and got into the car. Jacob was already in the drivers seat. The other guys were in a second vehicle.
As we drove down the only road that lead to the town I heard paws pounding on the ground beside the road, just inside the trees. I could hear their thoughts. It was some of the guys. I could feel the connection break. As soon as it did I let the tears go. I kept my head turned away from Jacob and I cried silently. The only thing to tell that I was crying was the tears and sniffling.
Jacob's POV
We were waiting for Katarina so we could leave. She had just walked out of the house and was looking at the people that had gathered to say goodbye. She was very good at hiding her sadness. But I could feel it. She waved to everyone and then got into the car. I looked at her before pulling away. Her jaw was set and you could see her fighting her emotions. We pulled away and were driving for a little bit. We could hear her old pack running beside the car. I glanced over at her and saw her hands clenched tightly. I was watching the road when I heard her sniffling. I discreetly glanced over and saw her head turned away. But I could see the tears running down her cheeks. I hated that she was upset. But she had to leave.
Katarina's POV
I woke up and looked out of the window. I must have fallen asleep while I had been crying cause I didn't recognize where we were. I wiped the remnants of my tears, which had dried and looked over at Jacob. "Where are we?" He looked over. "Montana." There were rolling hills and I looked at the passing fences. "We close?" He shook his head. "We still have a few more hours. We're just about to the Washington State border." I nodded. "You hungry?" He asked. I nodded. We came into a small town and pulled over in front of a diner. We all went in and sat at a table. A middle aged waitress came over. "Hi there. Can I get you anything to drink?" We nodded. The guys all ordered coffee. "I'll have an Iced Tea." I said. She nodded and smiled as she turned away. "So hows driving with him?" A guy I found outs name was Nate asked. "I slept the entire way so far. So I don't know." They laughed. "Your missing all the nice scenery." I looked over to Jacob and then over to the waitress walking back with our drinks. "Here you guys are." She said as she put down a bunch of mugs and filled them from a pot. "And here you are sweetie." I thanked her. "You all ready to order?" We all ordered burgers and fries.
After eating we hit the road again. We passed a sign saying 'Welcome to Washington.' We drove for a few more hours and I was happy to see lots of trees again. I loved the woods. I watched the trees pass for a few more minutes until Jacob cleared his throat. "So, we'll be arriving in a few hours but I think we need to talk." I looked over at him. "Okay?" He glanced over then back to the road. "I get that you don't like the idea of the mating thing. But unless we practically kill ourselves we're stuck like this." I watched him. "So I think it would be good for me to know the real reason why you don't seem to like me." I growled at him. "You overheard my brother and me?" He shook his head. "No. No one has that much of a dislike to something that everyone searches for their entire lives for without a reason." I glared at him. "What makes you think that I don't like you." He glanced at me. "How you seem so angry whenever I'm around, and how you constantly push me away... Look, I'm trying to be patient but your making it very difficult." I looked out the window. "Maybe it's just mates in general that I don't like. Guys who would force the mating. Did you think of that?" He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I thought that you were going to try to not be such a pain in the ass?" I chuckled. "I said 'bitch' but I like how you didn't quote me." We sat in silence the rest of the trip.
