One of the guys

It was rainy afternoon as Stephen met with Thompson, the previous pack beta and his late father's best friend. Thompson was Luna Lilliana's father and had been mated to Lilliana's mother who was a human. She died giving birth to Lilliana. Now Thomson was mated to Sarah who was Lilliana's maternal aunt. It had been a natural evolution of feelings for the two considering they'd cared for Lilliana together.

"There really isn't that much of a difference." Thompson spoke almost reverently as he looked down at his wedding band Sarah had placed on him. "It might be a little different for me because I was also the one that turned Sarah into a werewolf, so my wolf naturally feel protective of her. But the main thing is knowing the minute you smell her, see her. You form an instant connection with your true mate. And it only gets stronger as time progresses. Your wolf is constantly humming in contentment being near your true mate. With a chosen mate, your wolf might or might not be happy. He won't be as active when you're around chosen mate. I believe it's also easier to break the bond between chosen mate. Rejection is enough whereas for true mates you must reject as well as mark another to completely sever the bond." Thompson paused watching Stephen go over all this information. "Are you considering taking a chosen mate?"

"I don't know." Stephen confessed.

Because really he didn't. They sat and talked awhile longer before Stephen was satisfied that he'd gleaned enough information to form an appropriate conclusion. Stephen thought back to what he'd experienced with Kara in the future. They'd definitely been true mates. But how? Wildly, he couldn't help but think that maybe all of that had been an alternate reality. Goddess he hoped not.

Still confused, he dejectedly made his way to the training ground. He'd missed the last three days in a bid to figure out exactly what was going on. With an odd surge of emotions, Stephen also realised this would be the first time he'd be seeing Kara since the whole kiss fiasco. He'd ended up taking the week off from patrols and training to sort through the mess of emotions clouding his brain and to do his research. Part of him wanted to throttle his future self for doing something so stupid and pissing Kara off.

* * *

Flashback*

"Hey!" Stephen caught up with Kara as she made her way towards the cafeteria for lunch. It had been Stephen that had called out to her.

"What's up?" Kara acknowledged with a tilt of her head, adjusting her book bag shoulder strap.

Liam and Caleb soon spotted them and headed over.

"Pizza and video games at my place tonight." Liam said brightly as Stephen playfully rested his elbow over Kara's should, trying to highlight their difference in height.

Kara smacked his arm away and Stephen laughed.

"Stephen's coming too. Xander_" Liam made a face. "_he's got something going on with Sandra tonight."

Kara smiled. "Cut him some slack. He's so busy with his new alpha duties, he probably barely gets anytime for her. Not to mention he has college."

"Hey I'm the beta now but I'm still going to take out time to hang out," Stephen protested.

"We can't all be slackers like you." Kara said condescendingly.

Liam and Caleb laughed.

"Come on sweetheart, you know the only reason I'm coming over is because you're there." Stephen teased.

Kara adverted her gaze, ignoring the quickening of her heartbeat as Stephen called her ‘sweetheart’. He was just kidding around. But truth be told, she'd been crushing on him for awhile now. However, she wasn't ever going to admit it. Ever since his first shift at 16, he'd shot up in height and developed a physique any girl would drool over. He'd become ripped in such a short span of time that he was able to pass the selection process for beta while still a senior in high school. But there was no way Kara could ever entertain the idea of something more.

For one, she was determined to wait for her mate. Secondly, he was and always had been her friend, so he was off limits. Third, she just wasn't Stephen's type. He made it no secret he liked curvy girly girls. Kara was the farthest thing from girly and curvy. Ever since she'd decided to become a warrior, she'd been working towards preparing for the pack warrior recruitment test. Caleb and Liam were also working towards the same goal. They all had the same interests, they'd all grown up playing together and that's probably why they were able to maintain their friendship. Stephen's younger brother, Dylan, sometimes hung out with them too but he was three years younger than the rest of them so they definitely don't see him as often during school.

"There's Lilliana!" Kara spoke up as they entered the cafeteria. She fist bumped the guys. "See you tonight."

And with that she hurried off, making a beeline for the only female friend she had.

End of flashback*

Kara was one of the guys, but not because she hated girls. No, she got along with girls just fine. In fact, Luna Lilliana was one of her closest friends. She had more guy friends by virtue of her career aspirations and interests. While the other girls began gravitating towards makeup and playing dress up, Kara remained firmly in the camp of playing ‘pack Vs rogues’. She loved playing video games and training to be a pack warrior. Which is why today she was the only female who was a high ranking warrior, falling right underneath the rank of beta.

She was too good to be a gamma but not yet strong enough to be a beta. It was why, when Luna Lilliana had been in danger a year ago, Kara had been part of her security detail. It's also why most of her friends still remained guys. None of the other warrior females were high up in rank, nor did they have any desire to be. They were content to fill the ranks and fulfill mundane duties such as paperwork.

Kara just didn't have the same interests as them and thought of them as being overly dramatic as well as way too gossipy for her tastes. Kara did her best to ignore the mindless locker room gossip in the girls changing rooms.

But try as she might, the one thing she could never bring herself to turn a deaf ear to was the female locker room gossip regarding Stephen Sinclair. It was no secret that he was an amazing screw. He was funny and easy going too, unlike brooding Alpha Xander. Which was why it wasn't an uncommon occurrence to spot him sneaking into the groundskeeper sheds or the locker rooms with one of the girls for a quick f*ck during training sessions. Kara couldn't help but grit her teeth when the girls would sit around afterwards, trying to get Stephen's latest girl to spill the details. Kara had picked up a pattern through it all. It was always fast, rough and the most amazingly mind-blowing s*x ever. But Kara didn't care.

No...what was it to her whatever Stephen did with his bimbos? It didn't matter. The only reason Kara would be a little irritated is because it was so irresponsible. They were being paid to train...not do that!

But today was different. Today everytime any girl rubbed against him, Stephen would merely brush it off, telling her to concentrate on her form. It was like he just wasn't interested anymore. And maybe Kara was imagining it, but she could have sworn he looked her way more than necessary. Then, when all shifted to train in their wolf forms, Stephen didn't disappear with a girl. No, he stayed firmly with the rest of them. Maybe it was because he'd missed too many days. Kara didn't even want to think about why he'd requested time off. She really hoped it didn't have anything to do with that kiss. Everyone knew Kara was waiting for her mate

There had been a thing back around the end of high school with someone. He'd been her first, it had happened after prom, but Kara didn't like thinking too much about it. It had been a mistake and after that brief fling. She decided it was better to wait it out for her mate. So she'd made herself completely unavailable to any guys around her, furthering cementing her label as ‘one of the guys’. But Stephen with his kiss had thrown her for a loop. She'd worked so hard to get over her silly crush over him and that kiss had just brought everything rushing back.

"You're coming over for a drink?" Dylan asked as Kara emerged from the female locker room after her shower.

"Not tonight."

Truth be told, Kara wanted to avoid Stephen.

"Oh come on!" Liam appeared out of nowhere. "It's the first time we're all getting together after that entire Alistair mess. We all need to unwind."

A few month ago, alpha Xander had been defeated in a challenge by his ex-girlfriend's father, Alistair. It had been an attempt to take over the dark phoenix pack lands as well as mate with Xander's Luna. Xander had been severely injured and Luna Lilliana had forbidden the warriors from getting together for schedule trainings or even congregating together. She hadn't wanted Alistair to find out exactly how many warriors the pack had. Luckily, Xander had healed and come back like avenging angel to defeat Alistair. But Lilliana had suffered a seizure in his absence.

Luckily, everything was back to normal now with Lilliana health recovered and a baby shower in the works for her. So it seemed like the right time for Dylan to invite everyone over to his place. He was now Alpha of Alistair's old pack. He now by default also owned the silver creek pack alpha's mansion.

Dylan was still 16 so his mother, Jennie wouldn't let him move out. But Stephen had convinced Dylan to use the mansion for guys nights and the occasional wild party.

"Yea Kara." A new voice spoke up in challenge. Kara stiffened at Stephen's voice. "Are you too tired from all the training? Or maybe you're just trying to avoid us?"

To an onlooker, it seemed like Stephen was teasing her.

Kara raised an eyebrow, understanding the challenge that had been thrown down. She wouldn't let him see that he'd gotten to her with his stupid kiss.

"All right fine, let go." Kara grit her teeth, ready to make sure Stephen regret ever thinking she was trying to avoid him.