Elly

The little girl has tears in her eyes. This is the last day she will see the boy she spent the summer with. She might be only eight years old, but she loves him, and what seems so magical is that he loves her too. She walks across the warm beach of Barcelona, looking for something special to give to him, to the boy with the eyes like the ocean. He always smells so good, like rain and the forest. Like home.

She walks for a while until she sees it. A smile blossoms on her little pink lips. She knows that the seashell is the perfect gift to give to him. It looks like a unicorn horn and has lots of colors.

So pretty, she thinks. She picks it up and puts it on her ear, and she listens to the ocean.

She rushes back to the building she is staying in. Right at the entrance, she sees him. Her heart beats fast, and she stops running.

When she gets in front of him, she stops. In her tinny hand, she is holding the seashell, but suddenly she thinks it is silly to give him the seashell.

“That is a beautiful seashell,” he tells her.

She smiles brightly.

“You think so?”

“Yes, but you are more beautiful. The most beautiful girl I have ever see.”

She blushes. He always tells her the prettiest things.

“This is for you,” she says. “So that you will always remember me.”

Tears threaten to fall down her cheeks, but she doesn’t want to cry. She needs to smile for him.

“Thank you. I will treasure this all my life. I will look for you. Will you wait for me?”

“As long as it takes,” she said.

She gives him a kiss on his cheek and rushes inside the building, not being able to hold back her tears.

The boy had seen the tears on her little cheeks when she rushed inside. His heart hurts. He doesn't know when he will see her again. He looks at the seashell. Takes out from his pocket a photo.

My most prized possessions, he thinks. He puts the seashell to his ear and listens to the ocean.

I wake up, my face wet from my tears. I know I have the same dream every night, but as soon as I wake, I forget the dream. But I know that I will dream the same tomorrow.

I look at my alarm clock and see the date. I groan. It is June 29th, my birthday. The day I turn eighteen. I don’t want to be eighteen, I want to remain a child a little more because being eighteen means that I have to face problems that I am not ready to face- like finding a mate.

I am not a typical werewolf, I am shy, and I am scared of almost everything. Darkness? Scares me. Spiders? Scares me. Thunders? Scares the life out of me.

I wonder who would want a mate that is scared even of her own shadow?

I know that I wasn’t always like this and that something bad happened in my past, but here I am, too scared to remember what happened.

I get out of bed and get ready for today. I shower, and after I have dried my hair, I brush it and tie it in a ponytail. I put on a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and my sneakers and get out of my room.

“Happy birthday!” my older brother, Dan, tells me the moment I enter the kitchen.

Dan and I are pretty close and spend a lot of time together. He is the only friend I have in the pack. The pack we live in is Little Moon Pack, is not a very large pack, with only three hundred members.

“Thanks, bro!” I said and smiled.

“What do you want to do today?” Dan asks me.

I shrug. Ever since our parents died, Dan took care of me, and I am very grateful for everything he did. He is three years older and has yet to find his mate.

“We can see Safe Heaven,” I suggest.

“We have seen that movie, so many times I have learned the lines,” Dan grunts.

“How about we make popcorn and see Lake House?” I ask, hoping he won’t make me go out.

“Elly, this is your birthday. How about we go outside and enjoy the day?”

I groan hard. This is exactly what I have feared.

“Come, out with you,” Dan says and drags me out of the house.

Please, Goddess, don’t let me met my mate and don’t let him reject me. Not on my birthday.

We go to the Main House to get ice cream. I love ice cream. Vanilla and strawberries is the best.

Dan was putting me a big bowl of ice cream went I felt the scent. Cinamon and oranges. My mate is close.

“Dan, can you help with something in the gym?” I hear the Alpha asking from the door frame.

My heart started beating fast. My mate is very close to me. I know he is going to reject me.

“Sure, Alpha. Elly, I will back quick. Wait for me, OK?” Dan asks me.

I nod, but all I hear is my hammering heart.

Victor

“I hope you find your mate soon,” Jake, my best friend and Alpha of the pack, tells me.

“It is not like I haven’t looked for her. In the last five years, I visited a lot of packs. Either I don’t have a mate, either she is too young.”

“Don’t lose hope. I am sure you will find her soon. After all, you are already twenty-five years old. She can’t be that young,” Jake tells me.

As we get closer to the Main House, I am starting to smell cherries and watermelon. Does this mean my mate is close? It was someone from the pack all along?

I follow Jake and enter the Main House. We are coming from patrolling the woods. Rogues were spotted in the woods lately, and we wanted to make sure no rogue got close to the pack.

As we walk down the hallway, the scent has become stronger.

I wonder who my mate is? There aren’t many females in the pack that catches my eye. And I hope it is a strong female. I hate weak females that scream and run away as soon as they see a spider.

When we get to the kitchen, I see who is inside. Dan and little Elly. She can’t be my mate.

Elly, that is afraid of everything, my mate. I will have to reject her and hope to get a second chance with a better mate.

I wait until Jake leaves with Dan to check some equipment in the gym, to talk to Elly.

She is already shivering in fear and not looking at me.

“Elly, can you look at me?” I ask her.

I see her inhaling deeply and, after a few moments, she looks at me.

“I know we are mates and all, but I don’t want you. I need a strong mate.”

She looks at me with the big, soft, chocolate eyes, and, for a moment, I am tempted to accept her.

“I understand,” she says with a sad voice.

“I am really sorry, Elly. I wish things were different. But I am a Beta, and as a Beta, I need a strong female next to me.”

She nods.

“I, Victor Hunter, reject you, Eliana Wolf, as my mate.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a sharp pain in my heart.

On the soft cheeks of Elly, I see tears, and I feel sorry for making her sad.

“I am sorry, I have to go,” Elly says and rushes out of the kitchen.

I want to go after her, but I already made up my mind. I only hope to have a second chance with a more suitable mate.

Kain

I have been looking for the little werewolf girl that smelled like cherries everywhere. She must be a woman now because ten years have passed since I last saw her. But I never forgot her soft chocolate eyes or her brown hair.

Even after all this time, she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. I counted myself lucky when she has spoken to me. Vampires and werewolves don’t usually mix, except if we are fighting about something. But somehow, I made friends with that little girl, and the summer that I spent playing with her was the best of my life.

One year ago, I decided to look for her in the USA after looking for her in Europe. Up until now, I had no luck.

I am in a forest close to a werewolf pack. I usually observe a pack for some time, and if I don’t spot Elly, I move on.

As I walk through the forest, I catch a faint scent of cherries. I inhale deeply. I am positive it is Elly. I follow the scent until I get to a waterfall. Next to the waterfall, I see a young woman with brown hair. She is crying. I don’t see her face, but I know it is Elly. I wonder why she is crying.

I want to go and talk to her, but I decide to wait and observe first. What if she has a mate by now? She looks old enough to have a mate.