~June 29th~ Sixteen years later…
Poseidon and Sally had been introduced to their new Luna, Hera Grace. From the moment she met them, she embraced Sally in her arms, cooing over how cute Baby Perseus was. Hera herself had just had a child, too, on July 1st. His name was Jason. He was one month old when the Jacksons came to live in the pack.
But now, Jason was sixteen years old. He had been groomed to be an Alpha since birth, training the hardest and getting the best grades. He was about to begin his senior year of high school, come September, and most importantly, Jason was ready to start looking for his mate.
Jason didn't want to sound like a huge whiner, but he thought it completely unfair that all of his friends had already found their mates. Reyna Arellano, his Beta, had Annabeth Chase. Frank Zhang, his Gamma, had two mates: Leo Valdez and Hazel Levesque. Those three were quite possibly the cutest and most awkward trio Jason had ever seen. Even his ex-girlfriend, Piper McLean had found her mate: one of Frank's brothers whose name he couldn't bother to remember right now.
Jason wanted to experience finding his mate. He dreamed of holding him or her, sending them looks when they weren't looking that screamed I am absolutely and positively in love with you.
Tomorrow was his birthday, an in celebration of the new Alpha coming into age, the entire pack planned on throwing a party. The next day, Jason would be seventeen, and his wolf would be able to pick up on his mate's scent; if they were in this pack, at least.
Jason sighed and walked home. The Alpha's house, as expecting, was the biggest house on the property. But that's not to say that the Olympian Pack was crazy rich. The house contained five bedrooms (two of which were occupied), five bathrooms (one in every room), a kitchen, a dining room, and a large area out back that was only used for events like, say, an Alpha's 17th birthday party.
As Jason opened the door, he was tackled in a hug. The person had extremely curly hair, but only reached Jason's shoulder, and he immediately knew it was Leo. "Hey," he laughed. "Hey, Sparky. It's about time you showed up!" Leo ruffled Jason's hair and he swatted Leo's hand away. When Jason looked up, he noticed that basically everyone in his friend group was here.
Leo walked back over to the couch and sat next to Frank, who was helping Hazel with her summer homework. They both smiled and waved and went back to the papers. Reyna nodded at Jason with something less than her usual fierce expression. Next to her, Annabeth waved at him without looking up from the book she was reading. Piper grinned and got up to give him hug too.
"Not to be rude, but what are you guys all doing here?" he asked.
"We just came over to celebrate a friend's birthday!" Piper said. "I mean, I know you have the ceremony tomorrow, but there's going to be adults along with us kids, so we figured we would do something just for us teens, you know?"
"That was really sweet of you guys." Jason smiled.
"Yep. As soon as Hazel finishes calculating what 8x+6b over 2x-3 simplifies to, we will be ready!" Leo smiled. Frank shook his head at his mate's foolishness and threw an arm around Leo's shoulders.
All the way across the pack grounds, Percy Jackson walked out of the high school with his friends Nico di Angelo and Will Solace. "I just don't understand why Mrs. Bartholomew doesn't like me!"
Will laughed. "Well, what did you do this time, Percy?"
"She was using a ruler as some sort of pointer for the board, and caught me doodling in my notebook. So she pointed the ruler at me and said, 'Class, there's an idiot at the end of this ruler.' So I asked her which end, and she gave me detention!"
Nico and Will laughed again at their friend's antics. "I can't believe you, Perce." Nico said, shaking his head.
"Did you guys hear about the Alpha's birthday festival tomorrow night?" Will asked. Of course they had. Everyone on the premises was going to be attending Jason's birthday celebration.
"He's going to find his mate." Nico whispered, looking around.
"Why are you whispering?" Percy whispered back. "It's not like you have anything to worry about! You've already found your mate, Neeks."
Nico blushed and avoided Will, who was staring at him like he was a gift from the Goddess (which he technically was; and this staring happened at least ten times a day from each of them. Percy witnessed it all).
"Personally, I find the Alpha a little bit too intimidating." Percy winced. Nico and Will gave him a supporting look, knowing what position he was in.
"If you're worried about it, Percy, then don't be. Whoever he or she may be, they're coming soon enough."
"Yeah, they'd better be." Percy said playfully. He saw his mother standing on the front porch talking to Hera Grace, and waved goodbye to Nico and Will, whose homes were farther away from the school.
As Percy walked up the steps, he bowed to his Luna, then kissed his mother on the cheek. "What are you guys going out here?" He asked with a smile.
Hera grinned and looped her arm through Sally's. "We just figured we both needed a little girls' day out." Sally chuckled and leaned into Hera. The two had grown quite close over the years.
"That's great! Well, I'll be inside doing some homework if you need me." Percy said, then opened the door. He found the house empty, as his father would be working and didn't come home until seven. Percy walked into his room and closed the door.