Mason and Quinn's House, Beacon Hills Suburbs

Mason

One would think an apartment is a great place to start for new young mates, but Father decided to go all out and buy a family-sized house in the suburbs of Beacon Hills for me and Quinn. Well, at least that's what the navigation system tells us, as well as the letterbox with 'Hewitt' on it, as Quinn turns her car into the driveway.

"Is this really your dad's surprise present for us?" She excitedly asks in her human voice in human shape as she parks the car, looking at the house.

I look at the coordinates on the navigation system, then on the paper Father gave me, and look back at the letterbox. Everything checks out.

"Yep," I reply, sitting back in the middle of the backseat. "I don't like it."

"What?! Why?!" Asks Quinn, turning around to look at me with genuine confusion and surprise.

"It's too-" I start to answer, but I can't find the right word, so I say the one on the tip of my tongue. "Real ."

"What's that suppose to mean?" She doesn't understand.

"It feels too much too soon," I explain. I notice breathing is becoming a challenge, but I can't stop. I have to explain. "We just became mates, an-and now…"

And now everything feels real and permanent and-and overwhelming, and-and-and I can't breathe.

"Mason," I hear Quinn say my name, but it sounds like she's far away and my vision appears to be taken over by a thick fog, so I can't see her. "Mason! Mason! "

She breaks through the fog and the distance, and… Suddenly, I feel myself shift into my human shape, and my werewolf vision - my new enhanced Alpha werewolf vision - shifts into my human vision, and I'm greeted by Alpha red eyes looking at me with great concern that slowly changes into surprise as they shift into human ones, and then human eyes look at me with awe.

I blink a few times to get used to my human eyes, which I haven't used in a long time - aside from during the full moon eclipse a few hours ago.

"A-are you OK?" Asks an audibly worried Quinn, gaining my attention.

There is something about werewolf vision that non-werewolves don't know. It gives as much as it takes. It enhances a werewolf's vision by giving far sight - at the cost of near sight, and more access to the spectrum - at the loss of visible spectrum for human eyes. So, as much as I know how Quinn looks to my werewolf sense of sight, I don't know how she looks to my human sense of sight. Well, I didn't know until this moment.

As I lay my human eyes on her, the vision that is Quinn Finch bathed in moonlight welcomes my eyes and takes my breath away. I knew she was attractive, at least to my werewolf sight when I got a chance to steal a look at her, but…

"Hey, are you OK?" She asks again. "Please talk to me."

"Ah-um, I'm fine," I force myself to respond, avoiding her eyes.

It's a little weird hearing my human voice, but Quinn seems to like it. I wish I had a deeper voice like my father, which is one of the reasons I prefer my werewolf form as my predominant shape.

Speaking of, I ask, "did you just make me shape-shift into my human shape?"

"I'm not sure," replies Quinn, her face brow wrinkling as she thinks. "I-I think so."

"Me too," I say, unnerved. "But how? I'm an Alpha."

"Maybe it's a mate thing," she suggests a little too hopeful. I hope not.

"I prefer my werewolf shape," I tell her to stop any ideas forming in her mind, and focus on shifting back into…

"Stop! " Orders Quinn with Alpha authority and Alpha red eyes looking at me.

My transformation stops just as my hairs thicken. I growl to sound my disapproval, shifting my angry Alpha red eyes in the process.

"I meant, wait," she says more sheepish than apologetic, sitting back beside me. Wait. When did she come to the backseat? "We're supposed to be familiar with each other's werewolf shape and human shape, and I haven't seen your human shape all cycle. I don't even recognise your human scent."

"I prefer-"

"Your werewolf shape," she completes as though I've said that many times before, instead of once. "I know. But it's essential I know your human scent as much as I know your werewolf scent. You're my-"

"Mate. I know." I complete, copying her, and look outside at the house. "Everything is about us being mates. Don't you wanna date?"

Quinn looks at me like I've lost my mind, and asks, "What kind of question is that? Mates don't go around suggesting their mate date other people."

It's my turn to look at her like she lost her mind, "why would I suggest you date other people?"

"You…" she starts, confused.

"I meant us," I interrupt. "As much as I don't like how we got here, you're mine."

"You don't act like it," says Quinn, looking out the window on her side, but her scent says she's pleased that I acknowledged that she's mine.

Unfortunately, I have a confession to make.

"'Cause I'm not really yours," I finally confess what I've been keeping from Quinn and our Alphas and parents.

"What's that suppose to mean?" She asks, looking at me.

"I have a girlfriend back home," I clarify my confession, to silence.

"You have a girlfriend back home," says Quinn, breaking the silence without a major change in her scent and voice.

"Well, I'm not sure if I can still call her my girlfriend," I backtrack and hurry to explain, because there's a full moon out, and she is too calm. "The day you found my mother, my father showed up at school to pick me up - even though I was already in my car. He didn't tell me that Mother was seriously hurt until we were halfway here, and forbade me from telling anyone. I left my phone in my car, so I had no one to tell - not that I would have told anyone with Mother vulnerable."

I take a breath to give Quinn some room to process. She sees that I'm not done, and motions for me to continue, so I do, "two days later - the day before the full moon - I was informed about our arranged mating and was given a day to process. I couldn't tell Violet - or anyone, really - because we were at a safehouse until we left for the Preserve.

"So, I haven't spoken with her in over a moon cycle, but I'm sure she knows about our mating because the pack was informed but couldn't come for Mother's and everyone's safety."

"Why would this Violet of yours know because your pack was informed?" Asks Quinn after a moment of silence.

"She's my godmother's daughter, and they're both part of my pack," I explain.

NWO: P

Quinn

I now understand why Mason has been so distant from me: he has a girlfriend. My mate has a girlfriend, and he just admitted that although I'm his, he's not mine, he's hers. The confession hurts more than it angers me.

"Do you love her?" I ask, fiddling with my claws. Huh. I don't remember protracting them. Maybe I'm more upset than I feel.

"Yes," answers an honest Mason, breaking my heart and falling short of all of my expectations from him as my mate, especially after we bonded from killing Deucalion. "I also respect her, and you too, that's why I have to speak with her before this (he points at the house,) before I'm yours."

Oh. He wants to officially break up with his girlfriend before becoming mine in more than name and title, but we are not allowed to visit our parent pack friends or our pack homes for twelve full moons. I'm not willing to wait an entire year for my mate to be all mine.

"If you want to speak with her," I begin, moving to the driver seat via between the front seats. "I can make it happen."

"You can?" Asks a surprised Mason, a little hopeful.

"Yeah," I confirm to build his hope up as I sit on the driver seat, start the engine and retrieve my phone from the door compartment and switch it on.

Mason joins me in the front, excitement rolling off him as he sits on the passenger seat, and asks, "You know we're forbidden from going to Cannon, don't you?"

"I know," I assure him, unlocking my phone. Time to destroy his hope like he has been destroying my childhood expectations of my mate. "If you bothered to get to know me and tell me about her over the moon cycle, I probably would break the rules for you and take you there myself, but you didn't, so, here's my phone (I give it to him.) You want to speak with your girlfriend, Mason? Call her.

"You'll find me by our mailbox admiring our new house when you're done and finally ready to get 'real.' The moment you leave this car, you're all mine and only mine."

I get out of the car, close the door and walk towards the mailbox without giving Mason a chance to speak or react in any way. I hope I look as confidant as I sound telling Mason that he's mine the moment he leaves the car, because I'm very self-conscious right now. I especially hope that Braeden is right about being direct with her son and speaking my mind.

I reach the mailbox without Mason coming after me or making the call, yet. I know about the latter because I can't help focus my hearing on him even though I turned the engine on to distract myself so that I can admire the front exterior of our new house. Speaking of, I take my eyes off the car and look at the house bathed in moonlight. It fits the image of a typical suburban house, complete with a lawn, a few trees, some…

"Hey, V," greets Mason with his werewolf voice, attracting my attention. "It's me."

"Mason?" A sleepy feminine voice - belonging to V, AKA Violet the Girl-who's-dating-my-new-mate - asks over the phone. "Mason?!" It loses most of its sleepy tone and gains a surprised tone.

"Have you forgotten my voice already?" Asks a lighthearted Mason, but I pick up on his sadness.

"Where's your new white and werewolf mate?" Retorts Violet with an unreadable tone, making me look at the house in case Mason looks at me, but I keep my ears on them.

The tone may be unreadable, but the pointed question says a lot, and I guess she's not white, probably not a werewolf either. Unfortunately, Braeden didn't really speak about individual members of the Hewitt Pack with me, and I didn't ask about them.

Mason doesn't answer right away, so I wait in anticipation of his response, wondering if he's looking at me. When he responds, he responds with a question.

"Do you really wanna know?"

"I really want to know why you woke me in the middle of the night on your mating night after all this time ," replies Violet.

"First, remember that you were and are my best friend before you're my girlfriend, Monroe," responds Mason. "As my best friend, you should know that you're the first person I would contact the first chance I get regardless of what time it is. Second - as your boyfriend, (he suddenly softens his voice to the softest I've heard it) I'm sorry for waking you, Violet. I just informed Quinn about you, and she asked if I love you.

"I said yes, and that I have to speak with you before I can be hers. She gave me her phone to call you. I haven't heard your voice in way too long to wait until Father sends my things, so I called. I'm sorry I couldn't contact you sooner."

"First, you don't need to remind me that we're best friends first, Hewitt," says an annoyed Violet. "It's the only reason I've been trying to accept our situation for the last thirty-two days and why I'm not gonna give you too much of a hard time. Second, (appreciation replaces annoyance) I'm glad you woke me up. I've been missing you like crazy . Crazy enough to not be too mad at your 'mate' right now.

"Speaking of your 'mate', what do you mean by you have to speak with me before you can be hers?"

"You almost killed someone the last time I…"

"You cheated on me," interrupts Violet.

"It was just a one-night stand, and we were not exclusive at the time," reasons Mason, but I'm with Violet here, even though I don't know the details. I don't like Mason's cheating history.

"Hewitt…" Violet draws out the name warningly.

"I just couldn't give myself to another person without speaking with you," interrupts Mason, solidifying the reason I think is behind him being distant from me the whole month.

Violet goes quiet for a moment, and then says sadly, "Judging by the position of the moon, you're officially hers, and you don't need to give yourself to her because your Alpha already did that for you, for the pack. (She pauses) Who am I to go against our Alpha's word?" The question makes me uncomfortable as she pauses again. "I set you free to be with your new mate, Mason Hewitt. But you'll always be mine, and I'll always be yours.

"Hey, eavesdropper!" Is she talking to me? "Take good care of our man!" Yes, she is. "And a word of advice, don't ever eavesdrop on Mason again or ask him questions you don't really want answers to if you want to keep your innocence and be happily mated ."

Too late for my innocence. I have already helped Mason kill a person, and so far, asking tough questions has gotten me closer to him in just a few hours than I have been in a moon cycle. If anything, I'll do the opposite of Violet's 'word of advice', but I'm not about to respond and out myself as an eavesdropper, despite the fact.

Considering Mason must be looking at me right now, I stop eavesdropping and focus my eyes on the full moon and my ears on my heartbeat, but I can't help thinking about what Violet said. Mom and Alpha Kincaid initiated and negotiated my mating with Mason, and we had no say in the matter whatsoever. It's as Mason said, it's been mate this and mate that, and I haven't dated even one person.

I wanted to date, but the pool from which I could date was extremely limited and lacking, and I wasn't about to settle for less than the best, let alone a weak boyfriend who could end up becoming my mate. But I don't have to worry about that now, do I? I didn't choose Mason to be my mate, but I have to say, Mom chose well.

Dating outside my race never crossed my mind, but now that I'm mating outside it, and Mason asked if I don't want to date him…

The wind suddenly teases me with the werewolf scent of the werewolf on my mind, and I take my eyes off the moon and watch him walk towards me all were-wolfed out in the open like we're far away from humans deep in the Preserve.

"It must be nice growing up where you're free to be who you really are twenty-four seven," I comment.

A thought crosses my mind that our offspring, hopefully plural because being an only kid sucks, will grow up in that safe place for our kind, and it melts my heart a little. Alright, totally.

"It is nice," confirms Mason, but his shrug tells me he doesn't know just how lucky he is to have had that along with the comforts of civilization. He stands beside me and looks at the house, our house.

"I'm sorry for not waiting, but I have to know," I say nervously. "Are you mine now?"

Mason looks at me. The way he looks at me tells me that he's going to ask me about eavesdropping, and I prepare myself to…

"Yes," he says instead, and holds out his hand facing up. "Mate."

'Finally!' I think, unable to hide or control my big smile.

But I remember what I was thinking about before I noticed his scent.

"How about we forget about the mate thing and start at boyfriend and girlfriend?" I ask with my hand waiting a few inches above his, and add self-consciously. "I've never dated before."

Mason looks surprised, but he quickly recomposes himself and surprises me by smoothly shape-shifts into his human shape.

"Then we're gonna do this properly," he replies. "Well, as proper as we can considering our situation." I don't know what he means, but he stands a relatively normal distance for strangers in front of me with his offered hand still out, just a little out of reach. "Hi! I'm Mason Hewitt."

I smile as I close the small distance to shake his hand and respond, "Hi! Mason Hewitt. I'm Quinn Prime."

"Quinn Prime?" He asks curiously. "Like Optimus Prime?"

My smile grows a little bigger. Maybe we don't need to rule Beacon Hills High just yet.