"Today, we are going to delve a bit deeper into mates" Mr Dale announced. As was usual when this area was brought up, many of the members of the class blushed while others grinned at the hope of talking about sex.

Cassie was sat with Sam to her left and their new friend Hanmi on her right. Hanmi was a sweet and soft spoken girl with a jet black Bob that curled into her neck and a full fringe hiding her entire forehead and eyebrows. She was one of the girls in the small friend group they had made in their first week but they didn't often get to be in the same classes. Both Sam and Hanmi went red to the tips of their ears at the mention of mates.

Hanmi knew her mate but things weren't going great so far, everyone thought that once you found your mate you lived happily ever after by each other's sides but Cassie noticed that Damien (Hanmi's mate) almost never spent any time with her. She confessed to them both that while they had acknowledged that they were mates, Damien was just very disinterested. He didn't treat her badly... He didn't hurt her or say mean things... He just didn't seem to care... And Cassie couldn't understand why - Hanmi was the cutest girl she had ever seen! (Karliah being sexiest girl and Sam being cutest boy). She tried not to be too nosey and let her friend bring up her lack lustre romantic life only when she wanted to... But god, she wanted to ask so many questions, everyone was curious about mates - And everyone was desperate to find theirs as soon as possible.

Cassie pulled her plain black notebook and pen out along with the rest of the class and took notes as the teacher began to talk.

"Right, I'm going to ask questions and I want you guys to answer them to see what you already know, no point being shy about the topic." His favourite method of teaching - Getting his students to do it for him. He pulled his whiteboard-on-wheels out and wrote the word mate in the centre, "What is a mate?" He asked. A few hands raised and he picked on another new friend of Cassie and Sam, Aminali. She was in the same pack as Hanmi and they had come to the academy as friends. Aminali was very smart and even though she was normally shy, she would always put up her hand in class.

"Mate is short for soulmate. It's the person you are meant to be with" she answered.

"Very good" Mr Dale added it to the board on a line coming from 'Mates', he loved mind maps. "Who gets to have a mate?"he asked next. His eyes scanned the room and he picked a boy in the first row.

"Everyone" They announced confidently. Mr Dale nodded with a smile.

"Even Omegas?" Joked a dominant male from the back of the class. Cassie turned around to look and noticed it was Damien... Hanmi stared straight ahead silently. Sam and the other omega in the room (Cassie didn't know what pack she was from) blushed and kept their heads down.

"Yes, of course, Damien. Omegas aren't as different as you seem to think they are - but that is a topic for another lesson. Now, why do we have mates?" Mr dale noticed that this time there weren't as many hands up and pointed at a dominant sitting in the corner to answer.

"But Sir! I didn't have my hand up!" He whined,

"Just try, Taylor"

"Uh, cause trying to find someone to bond to yourself is too much effort?" He asked in a 'duh' voice.

"Not quite" Mr Dale smiled, "While it does help in time saving for some people - others become too obsessed and waste all their time trying to find their one." He turned back to his board and wrote as he gave the answer,

"We have mates because a wolf should never be on its own. We are always part of a pack and we are stronger together. Your mate is the person who can bring out the most strength in you, whether that's physical strength or emotional strength." There was a rustle of paper and the scratching of pen tips as they all hurriedly copied down the answer before he moved along again. Mr Dale waited a few moments and continued with his questioning. "How do you know if someone is your mate?" This time there were absolutely no hands and Mr Dale chuckled to himself, "C'mon, surely some of you have already met your mates? I see enough kids making out in the hallways!" He teased lightheartedly, "And the rest of you should have at least heard what it's like?" No one was biting so he picked a random student again. "Mr Jones, tell me anything, just one way that you might be able to tell."

"Um, by eye contact?"

"Yes!" He added it to his diagram and pointed at someone else, "Now you, tell me one thing"

"Scent?"

"Yep!" He continued round the class.

"Wolf presence?"

"Yes!"

"Wolf howl?"

"Great! Now, the last indicator is less known and more uncommon - heat. For those of you who don't know what that is I'm not talking about body temperature or your rating of attractiveness" He took a moment to chuckle at his own joke, "but the heat that omegas go into, which we will discuss next lesson" Those who didn't already know looked around owlishly while those who did snickered or turned tomato red. Sam and the female omega across the room both looked particularly sun burnt. Mr Dale swiftly moved on, "When do we become old enough to recognise our mates?"

The hands were back now and Cassie raised hers,

"Miss Linette?"

"Sixteen" She said.

"Yes, that's right. Have all of you turned sixteen yet?" He asked as he added another line to his drawing on the whiteboard. There was a chorus of 'Yeah's in the room and the teacher began smiling that knowing smile again. These kids made him feel old... He geared himself to ask his next question, knowing no one would want to answer it. "What happens once you have found your mate?" He turned back to the class and just as he had expected, no hands. "Karliah, why don't you help me out?" He offered. The blonde raised an eyebrow and smirked,

"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a golden carriage" She winked and the teacher couldn't help but smile as the class around her started laughing. He thought teenagers were obsessed with sex, and yet nothing was better at turning them into a class of toddlers than bringing up 'the dirty deed'. He let out a mock over-dramatic sigh and the class started laughing again.

"Would you care to be more detailed, Miss Stone" He asked.

"Which part, Mr Dale?" She blinked a few times in mock innocence.

"Well, start with the marriage - last I checked, wolves don't get married."

"Okay, first comes love, then comes bonding ceremony, then comes a baby in a golden carriage." She conceded,

"Doesn't something happen before the baby arrives?"

"With all due respect sir, we know where babies come from." Karliah grinned and the class began snickering again.

"No, not that! The bit just before that, the hint being the word bit" He teased.

"Marking" She answered.

"Exactly." He then proceeded to write on the board: First comes love, then comes bonding, then comes marking, then comes mating and then comes a baby in a furry carriage.

The class copied it down quickly with a few whispered conversations taking place across the room on whether Mr Dale was referring to a woman's furry undercarriage or not.

~

Once the lesson was over, Hanmi and Aminali asked if Cassie and Sam wanted to go out with them for the afternoon and get dinner at the cute diner near their pack house, since their lessons for the week were over. But Cassie knew Sam wouldn't be allowed without permission so she claimed to have a lot of homework to get done so he wouldn't feel left out. They agreed they would text and arrange something for the next day. In the meantime Cassie planned to ask Markus, on behalf of Sam, if he could go.

She couldn't believe a whole week was over again already, she'd been getting more sleep after her day in the nurse's office but hadn't seen Karliah much, at least not alone. When they saw each other in classes they would give each other small, almost awkward, smiles. She still hadn't really filled Sam in on the situation with the alpha but she promised herself she would, eventually.

Once they both had collected their things from their lockers, Sam and Cassie began the walk home from school. It had been a while since they'd had a chance to have a full gossip about everyone and everything - and Sam knew everything about everyone! Being the omega had its perks when it came to being allowed in everyone's rooms, being practically invisible most of the time and having access to everyone's dirty laundry - literally. He was able to tell her that he had found a used pregnancy test in the room of an unmarked and unbound woman. It was positive. Cassie hoped for her sake that it was her mate's baby. She couldn't understand why someone would go all the way with either someone who wasn't their mate, or with their mate before being marked or having a bonding ceremony. Some of the less traditional packs didn't stress the importance of a bonding ceremony that much as it was just a party, really. However, mates are supposed to mark each other before they have penetrative sex for the first time or during their first time. Other sexual acts weren't worried about as it was an old fashioned rule from when all couples were expected to be straight (A long time ago - the werewolf community became LGBTQA friendly a lot earlier than humans) because of the fear of a woman getting pregnant without a mark, but the stigma had stayed and having full sex without a mark was still considered shameful. There are some particularly possessive wolves who feel the need to mark their mates before they've even had their bonding ceremony to make sure that everyone knows that their mate is taken.

Sam also told her that two dominant males from the pack were fighting about something... But he wasn't sure what yet. This wouldn't seem so unusual except that instead of physically fighting and sorting out their differences over the course of a couple of hours, they had been holed up in one of their rooms together trying to talk, although not making much progress, which was a much more submissive way of going about it. Their names were Ash and Malachai and they had graduated from the academy last year (Wolves stay at the academy for four years as they're considered adults when they turn 20, unlike humans who believe you reach adulthood at 18). Cassie didn't know them well herself but she knew they were friends with Markus and his dad was always asking them to keep an eye on him. Even best friends fight sometimes, I guess... She thought.

They were halfway home when they noticed a car inching along a couple of metres behind them, they didn't know when it had started following them or what the occupants wanted and they knew it didn't belong to anyone from their pack house (Or Karliah, thought Cassie).

"Am I the only one hearing the jaws theme in my head right now?" Cassie whispered,

"I've got the Star Wars theme... But much slower and creepier" Sam replied.

"Okay, I think that means we're kind-of on the same page"

"Practically psychic" Sam agreed. Cassie grinned at him for a moment but it quickly fell when the window of their stalker's car rolled down and a familiar face lolled out.

"Hey baby!" Brandon called out. The car was stationary now as he hung out the passenger side window languidly.

"Oh, Jesus" Cassie muttered under her breath.

"Is that his name?" Joked Sam, but quickly shut up at the stony expression on his best friend's face.

"Did you need a lift?" Brandon tried again to get a reaction from her.

"We're halfway there already, thanks" Cassie answered without turning to look at him and continued to walk, Sam dawdling due to curiosity.

"Halfway where?"

"Home"

"Why don't we go somewhere more fun?" He offered.

"No, thank you" Cassie tried to keep her voice calm. She could see Sam trying to communicate with her through facial expressions but just shook her head to say she'd tell him later.

"Okay, how about we go somewhere more fun, or I tell your alpha how your omega friend disrespected me"

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure he told me to fuck off? But I can't be sure..." He knew he had her now and smiled creepily, "Did he hit me? Who knows..." Sam's eyes had turned round and doe-like in fear but he still shook his head at her not to do what this creep asked. He would rather be punished.

"Don't" Cassie breathed, turning to face Brandon's smug mug. "Please". Sam looked like he wanted to say the same to her but kept his mouth shut, she had made her decision and he only had one last attack he could use - His adorable face.

"Get in" Brandon leant back and opened the door to let her in the passenger seat beside him. Sam grabbed Cassie's arm and gave her a pleading look but she shook her head and told him to get home safe. Sam was giving her his killer pout, his most powerful weapon, but she couldn't let him get in trouble for her gross stalker. No one ever believes an omega.

Cassie climbed into the sleek black car, carefully lowering her bare legs onto the hot leather seats. It was one of the final warm days of the year and Brandon's car had probably been sitting in the school car park all day with the sunlight shining through the windows. She loved skirts and dresses because of her hourglass figure and today was no different, she wore a white blouse that had half length sleeves and an adorable line of ruffles down the centre, a burgundy peplum skirt, matching frilled burgundy socks and small black ankle booties. Trousers were her least favourite thing in the whole world but with this weirdo about maybe she would have to start wearing all her adorable dresses over a pair of jeans - Like some early 2000s pre-teen. Cringe. Once she had pulled the car door shut (A little more forcefully than was quite necessary) he pulled forward in what looked like the direction of town.

Twenty minutes of half-hearted small talk later, they turned into the forest they had been driving alongside for a few minutes. It wasn't a territory that Cassie recognised... We must be quite a way from the academy now... She thought. The car was driving along a very thin and bumpy dirt path and up to a small wooden cabin.