Please don't kill meeee! Please...

I woke up startled once again, the same nightmare haunting my sleep. It's always like this, I even manage to sleep at first, but every morning I wake up to the same nightmare: a huge black wolf with glowing eyes watching me, slowly walking towards me as if I were its prey, and even when I try to run from it, I can't. I just wait for it to kill me, but it always stops before reaching me and starts howling at the moon.

It's better to forget about this nightmare and get ready. I have class soon, and no matter how early I start, I'm always late. My friend Zoe says I'm never on time for anything, which is absurd. After choosing a denim jumpsuit, a white long-sleeved blouse, and my white All-Stars, I put my curly hair in a bun, as it's dirty and I don't have time to wash it today. I grabbed my glasses and went down for breakfast.

"Good morning, my love!" says my mother, smiling and placing a cake on the table.

"Good morning, Mom!" I kiss her on the cheek and sit at the table.

"Did you sleep well last night, Liz?"

"Yes, Mom! But I had that nightmare again, like every day lately."

My mother sits at the table and cuts a slice of cake, looking at me with a worried expression.

"My dear, wouldn't it be good to see a psychologist? You've been having these dreams since you were 17, Liz. In a few days, you'll be 20 and these nightmares continue. It's not normal, honey."

"I know, Mom, but I don't think a psychologist would help. It's always the same thing; even though I'm afraid of the wolf, I know it won't hurt me. But I always wake up when it starts howling at the moon."

"Honey, we need to understand why you keep having these dreams. But let's leave this conversation for later because now I have to go to work and you need to go to class. Don't be late, Liz." Mom kisses me on the forehead and leaves.

It's just me and my mother. I don't know much about my father. She doesn't tell me much, I just know that he was the love of her life, a love that didn't last long. Mom says she never felt anything so strong for anyone. When she met my father, it was love at first sight. My dad wasn't from here, he would come to see my mother on weekends. When she told him she was pregnant, he was very happy, said he was living a dream, but soon after he disappeared and my mother never heard from him again. She looked for him in his city, which is 3 hours from here, but found no trace. At least after finding out that my mother was pregnant, he bought this house we live in and left her a good amount of money. So, I don't think he abandoned me because why would he abandon me if he was happy?

I push those thoughts aside and head to class. My dream is to be a doctor, and I am a dedicated student because I want to be the best!

Today's class was in the lab, and I simply loved it. I love practical class days where we get to know our anatomy up close and better understand the physiology of our body. I've always wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was a little girl. My mom always says that I'm very determined, which is why I'll be a great doctor. I'm taken out of my thoughts by Zoe's voice calling me.

"Liz, let's go! You know it's a struggle to find a table in that cafeteria. We have to get there early or we'll be standing."

"Calm down! We already have a table. Felipe is already at our usual table, he just texted."

"What wouldn't a man in love do, right?" Zoe says, laughing as we head towards the cafeteria.

"Stop making up romance where there is none, Zoe. You know very well that Felipe is my friend. We're neighbors and we grew up together."

"Girl, that doesn't stop him from being in love with you."

"He's not, friend. Felipe is a handsome, popular guy, living the dream of most girls in college. The cheerleaders worship him. I can't even compete, not to mention that I see him as a brother."

"If you say so! The good thing is that he has several hot friends, and I can always take advantage of that benefit," she says, already walking happily towards our table, seeing that Felipe is with his two faithful friends, Jacob and Sebastian, also teammates.

"Liz, I thought you weren't coming!" Felipe says, hugging me and kissing my head (he always does this when he sees me). "I was about to faint from hunger waiting for you, kitty."

"I think their plan was to kill us, we are athletes, we need to eat on time," Sebastian says, already shoving a fork with chicken into his mouth.

"And then they say women are the dramatic ones!" Zoe says, rolling her eyes at Seb. These two are like children.

"Since the girls have arrived, let's eat, because I have a party to organize. By the way, you two are invited to my birthday at Club Star on Saturday night," Jacob says excitedly.

"Yay, that's what I like! We'll be there for sure! Right, girl?" says a completely excited Zoe.

"I don't know, Zoe, we have to study for the test on Monday," I say, eating my salad.

"Friend, people study on Sunday, please? I never ask you for anything," she makes a pleading face to convince me, and she succeeds.

"Alright, who can resist that puppy dog face of yours?"

"I'm glad you're coming. In that case, I'll pick you up at 8 pm. We'll go in my car, it's better," Felipe says.

After lunch, Zoe and I had one more class, then she dropped me off at home and I went to study. My mom was on call, so I'll only see her tomorrow morning.

"Wake up! Come on, Roman, we have a lot of work to do today" I wake up to the yells of Theo, my secretary and childhood friend, invading my room as he does every morning.

"Good morning to you too, Theo. If you were patrolling the borders last night, you wouldn't be in such a good mood at this hour."

"You're always in a bad mood, Roman! If you had a mate you'd wake up happier, if you know what I mean" And there was the sly smile on Theo's face, he's a real libertine.

"It's not my fault if the Moon Goddess forgot to give me that gift, so go complain to her."

"Your mate will show up, the Moon Goddess doesn't forget anyone, besides we're still young."

"Young, Theo? I'm 32 years old and you're 28, in what world are we young? All the wolves in our pack at our age are already mated to their fated ones, usually by the age of 25 at the latest for a wolf to find his mate."

"Look on the bright side, humanly it seems like we're at most 25 years old, and it's not just the two of us, did you forget about Antony?" he says, looking at himself in the mirror and fixing his hair.

"Theo, you know that if I reach 35 without a mate to give me an heir I lose my Alpha position, many of the neighboring packs already judge me as weak for that, I'm the only Alpha who doesn't have a mate, you know how much a mated wolf is stronger than an unmated wolf and when it comes to an Alpha the power is even greater."

"I know Roman, but I don't have a mate either, even though I don't have the weight of an Alpha on my back, I also miss having one, but that doesn't stop me from having fun" He gave that smile of someone who's always ready to go.

"I don't know the last time I was with a woman, you know that as Alpha I can't be with just any woman, she-wolves also prefer to mate only with their destined mates" The werewolves take pride in being their woman's first man, although it is not a rule, most she-wolves save themselves for their destined mate, this makes the bond stronger making both more powerful as well.

"It's not quite like that, they have to get married virgins, it doesn't mean they can't have fun, besides there are the human women you've always enjoyed having fun with."

"You know we have to be careful not to get a human pregnant." We live mixed in the world with humans but they don't know about our existence and that's how we intend to keep it, centuries ago there was a human hunt for werewolves, a war that lasted for years but the Moon Goddess saved us.

"I know, but condoms exist for a reason."

"Theo, you're hopeless but you're right I need to have some fun, let's go to the club on Saturday night. Now let's have coffee, I have a family and a pack to put in order, are my brothers up yet?"

"Mia was in the kitchen and Antony must still be sleeping."

It's me and my two siblings, just like my father was the Alpha after his death I inherited the position I was raised to be, my brother Antony is my Beta and my sister Mia is our little girl. Our mother died in childbirth giving birth to Mia, so our little girl was raised by me and Antony, as our father died shortly after our mother's death.

"Good morning, princess!" I go to Mia and kiss her head which displays a mane of light brown hair just like our mother's that goes down to her waist she smiles at me with her beautiful bright green eyes.

"Good morning, brother! I was anxiously waiting for you to have coffee." By Mia's mischievous smile I already know she's going to ask for something.

"Why so anxious?"

"Lucca asked me to go to the prom with him, you'll let me, right brother?"

"No, we won't let you!" Antony replies angrily walking into the kitchen, if I'm protective of Mia, Antony is three times worse.

"Antony, I wasn't asking you, I was asking Roman, he's the oldest."

"Roman won't let you either, you're a child, you can't go around with those human boys" I wouldn't let her either, I don't like my sister being such good friends with a human.

"I'm 16 years old, Antony, I'm not a child anymore, in a year I'll meet my wolf and I can mate" We all meet our wolf at 18, it happens that there are some who transform a little earlier or a little later as the weaker wolves, after the first transformation it is possible to identify your destined mate if you find him.

"Roman are you hearing this? Are you hearing our little princess talking about mating? May the Moon Goddess help me because I can't handle this."

"Trying to play the prude now Antony? You're the one who's always got she-wolves all over you. I'm not blind and I know it's not a prayer to the Moon Goddess that you're living it up doing with Karen." Says a furious Mia, I'm wondering when she grew up that I didn't see.

"Still involved with Karen, Antony? You know that girl is worthless" Says Theo, he can't stand Karen, and keeps saying that Antony is going to get into trouble because of the girl, we know she's really not the best person in the pack.

"It's no big deal, I'm still waiting for my destined mate while she doesn't show up..." He doesn't complete the sentence and he doesn't need to because we understand perfectly well what he meant.

"You should behave, Antony, you know you're my Beta and we have to set an example, you're not a kid anymore, you're a 30-year-old man and you know your obligations very well. As for you Mia, you're not going to the prom alone with the human, if any of the pack wolves go to the prom with you, I'll let you, take it or leave it."

I ended the discussion and went to the office as I had a lot to sort out.

On Saturday night, Zoe came to get ready at my house since it was easier for Felipe to give us a ride. She brought a few dresses for me to try on since we have practically the same body type, and I don't have anything to wear for the occasion.

"Oh my god, girl! You look so beautiful, this dress makes you look even hotter!" Zoe seems like she's going to deafen me as I come out of the bathroom wearing a red sequined dress with straps that falls to mid-thigh.

"This dress is beautiful, I feel so powerful in it" I say while putting on my black Scarpin. I did my makeup with my eyes highlighted and gloss on my lips, tied my hair up in a loose bun, and left a few curly strands framing my face.

"But you look absolutely stunning too, girl. This black dress really highlights your pale skin and blue eyes, not to mention your blonde hair, which is any girl's dream" Zoe is a typical Barbie, blonde, blue-eyed, shoulder-length hair that she's left down tonight.

"Tonight, I want to cause some damage; I hope there are a lot of hot guys at this club" says Zoe, applying her red lipstick "I just hope Jacob didn't invite Noah, he keeps calling and bugging me."

"As if he would be there, girl. He's part of the guys' group, but let's not give him any attention. Let's enjoy the night and have fun," I say trying to calm my friend down since her breakup with Noah is still recent.

"Girl,"Star"is the best club in the city; a lot of people come here to enjoy a night at"Star". Good thing Jacob reserved a VIP area for us."

"Girls, behave yourselves! I want you both home at 3 am at the latest, and that's it," says my mom, entering the room already in her pajamas. "You both look beautiful, have fun! Felipe is already downstairs waiting for you."

"Aunt Anna, I think you should come too, who knows, you might find a nice gentleman there. Not to mention that with that amazing body of yours, all the young guys might flock to you, with all due respect, of course" Zoe says with a laugh, teasing my mom.

"I'm too old for that, dear, my partying days are over; I'm staying in with a good wine and a book. Now hurry up; Felipe is not going to wait all night."

"My God, Liz, you look beautiful!" says Felipe, looking me up and down. "You look stunning as well, Zoe, I'm going to arrive at the club with the hottest girls at the party."

"Stunning, but not quite as much as Liz, wouldn't you say, Felipe?" says Zoe sarcastically to our friend.

"We better get going; we'll run into some traffic. Saturday nights are usually very busy" says Felipe, changing the subject, and Zoe looks at me smiling, as if to say, "See?".

We spent the entire ride chatting and singing along to Beyonce songs that Zoe insisted on playing just to tease poor Felipe. We arrived at the club, and since our names were on the VIP list for the area Jacob had reserved, we didn't have to wait in line and went straight to the area, which was already crowded. I recognized most of the people because they were from college. Jacob was in a group with some people, all excited, and Sebastian was sitting on one of the sofas in the area, chatting with two girls. We went to congratulate Jacob, who was happy to see us, and then we headed straight to the bar to grab a drink.

"What will you two be having tonight?"

"Liz and I will have gin," says a very excited Zoe.

"I'm not drinking tonight because I'm the girls' designated driver, I'll just have a Coke."

"Always responsible, a true gentleman," says Sebastian, already approaching and hugging Felipe. "A nice cold beer for me, please."

"Seems like you're already enjoying yourself, Sebastian," says Zoe, subtly gesturing with her head towards the sofa where Sebastian was sitting with the two girls.

"Ah, you know how it is, life's too short to waste time, so let's live it up! In fact, how about we hit the dance floor?"

"Great idea, Sebastian! Let's go, girl, I want to dance until my feet hurt," Zoe grabs my hand and drags me along as she follows Sebastian. Felipe and Jacob stay in the VIP area, chatting.

We reach the dance floor and start dancing crazily to the electronic beat. Dancing always gives me a sense of freedom, so I let loose and start dancing with Zoe and Seb. The music changes to "Partition" by Queen Bey; I close my eyes and start dancing more sensually, then I undo my bun and let my hair down, dancing like there's no tomorrow. I feel like my body is in ecstasy at the same time that I feel observed. On impulse, I stop and open my eyes to come face to face with a pair of deep blue eyes staring at me as if to devour me. I feel something stir inside me as I remember the eyes from my dream; however, it's not a wolf looking at me, but a very handsome man dressed all in black, a social shirt unbuttoned at the top, black jeans, dark hair falling across his face, tall, must be over 6'2", definitely a heartbreaker with such good looks. I stand frozen on the dance floor, mesmerized.