Present
"Ember, wait up!" Mimi calls out, "You know I have short legs!"
"Stop making excuses," I giggle as I turn my head only to see my best friend struggling to keep up with me, "You can run faster than that, Mimi!"
I get to the little lake first and start to strip my clothes off. As shifter wolves, we are used to nakedness, so it doesn't bother me going skinny dipping with my best friend. I dive in just as Mimi stops at the edge, panting. When I break the surface, I look to the spot that I had last seen my friend, but it's empty. I glance around and start to become frantic when there is no sign of her. I call out her name, only to get silence as a response. I start to swim back to shore when something takes hold of my ankle and yanks me under the surface. Once whatever has hold of me releases my ankle, I swim back up, sputtering and coughing up dirty lake water.
Mimi is behind me laughing as she treads the water, "You forget that I'm a better swimmer than you, Ember! Paybacks are a **!" My friend grins wickedly.
I send a splash at her, "I could have drowned, **!"
"Oh, suck it up buttercup! Isn't that what you always say to me?" Mimi muses.
"Okay, okay, you got me there, but it's my birthday, so you're supposed to be nice to me. It's not every day that a she-wolf turns eighteen!"
"Well, if we want to get technical, a she-wolf does turn eighteen every day, maybe not the same she- wolf, but…"
"Oh, my Goddess, Mimi, you know what I mean!' I laugh.
"So," my friend grins, "are you excited to find your mate?"
I think about it for a moment. I'm really not sure if I'm ready to settle down with a guy or if I want to live a little bit before finding my mate. You see, shifter wolves are able to find their mates once they turn eighteen. The Goddess Selene has given each wolf a soulmate, their other half in which they can spend the rest of their lives with. Mates don't cheat on you, they love you unconditionally, and it's always love at first sight. My only issue with mates is, how do we really know if we really love that person? Of course, not all wolves find their Goddess given mate, and so they choose a mate. Those are the ones that you know you really love, but they are also the ones that could hurt you by cheating on you.
"I honestly don't know, Mimi." I lean back and let myself float on the water.
"Well, I know that I'm super excited to be able to find my mate in just a couple of months," Mimi copies me, and begins to float beside me," m dying to get out from under my parents." She realizes a little too late about what she just said, "I am so sorry, Ember!"
I smile a little sadly, "No, it's fine. I know you weren't saying it to upset me."
"It was still insensitive of me to say that about my parents." She moves to tread water once again as she watches me.
"It's been three years, Mimi. It's not as bad as it once was," I turn and start swimming for the shore, "Come on, we better head back before Alpha has my head for being late to my birthday dinner."
Once we are back on land, I turn to my friend and grin, "How about I let Kala out and you let Rani out, that way you have a better chance of beating me back?"
Mimi's face lights up. "You're on!"
I call my wolf, Kala, to the forefront and my bones begin to snap and pop. Unlike the first time we shift, it takes only seconds to let our wolf out. The first time, though, it can take up to an hour and hurts like a ***. We first transform into our wolves at seventeen years of age to help us get used to our new forms and new senses, before we are able to find our mates. You see, our mates have a distinct scent that only we can smell, indicating that they are our other half.
My silver wolf stands tall, shaking out her fur while we wait for Mimi's wolf, Rani, to transform in to her sandy-colored wolf. I pounce on my friend as soon as she's done changing, and we roll around in the grass, nipping at each other for a few moments. Finally, I jump up and prance over to my clothes, picking them up into my mouth to carry back home. Mimi follows suit, coming to stand beside me. Being in the same pack, our wolves can mind-link only in wolf form unless you are mates, fated or chosen.
"Are you ready, Rani?' Kala giggles.
"Oh, you better believe it!' Rani replies excitedly. Mimi's wolf is almost as fast as mine, unlike her human side, so she always loves to race me in her wolf form.
"On your mark..' Kala starts
'Get set… " Rani follows up.
"GO!' Both wolves say in unison and take of at a dead sprint.
We both run as if we are running for our lives, jumping over fallen trees and side-stepping anything that gets in our way. Our wolves glide across the terrain, no matter how rough it is, they are made for running fast, with the sight to see any and all obstacles that may be in our way. It doesn't take us long to get back when running in our wolf forms compared to our human forms, so as we near the pack grounds in less than ten minutes, we both slow down and then stop when we get to the huge tree that we always use to dress behind. Just because we are used to being naked, doesn't mean we want the whole town seeing us in our birthday suits.
Mimi transforms back into her pretty human self, with sandy-blonde hair and pretty brown eyes, with lashes to die for. She stands a few inches shorter than me and has all the right curves. Me, on the other hand, I'm a bit taller, standing at five-foot-seven, with my auburn hair and baby blue eyes, I'm not stick thin, but I could use a few more pounds around my assets. I'm lean and toned, with a barely- there-**and an okay rack. I've never been one to be self-conscious, except for when I'm standing side- by-side and naked with Mimi. Of course, she feels the same way I do about herself. We have always compared ourselves to one another, it's what helps us push ourselves to be better. We each have our own attributes that the other wishes they had, but we are never jealous of each other. If anything, we lift each other up and help the other improve themselves. We are sisters at heart and that will never change.