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“That’s not even the best part. He came back outside with a mug and a book. Girl, I think I’ve got a crush on my neighbor. He’s the only guy that’s ever drawn my attention, especially enough to make me want to sit on my front porch each night in hopes of seeing him again.”

Her hand comes up to cover her mouth. “My baby’s gone and grown up on me. Never thought I’d see the day. I figured you would be old, surrounded by cats, and a room full of all the plants you took pictures of.”

My eyebrow quirks. “Cats?”

“Okay maybe not cats because ew. I’m pretty sure that would be a sin against the Goddess if we owned domesticated cats. Maybe birds? No, can’t be birds either. Alright, fuck it, plants. Yeah, let's go with plants.”

I shake my head as a smile spreads across my face. “I’d probably kill the plants too. I’m not my mom and grammy where I’ve got this green thumb to grow anything.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Either way, I didn't see you having a crush on a guy. Especially not the older, hotter, math nerd neighbor.”

“It’s not that serious Odes.”

“But it is! He might be your mate and you won’t know it yet since, you know, your birthday is less than a month away.”

“There’s no way to know that. You know we don’t have any way to know before the bond snaps into place.”

She holds her finger up as if she knows something I don’t. “You clearly didn’t pay attention to our Lorekeepers during that portion of our training did you?”

We are just rounding the corner beside You’re Bacon Me Crazy along with all the other students heading into school from the different pack lands.

It’s a long flow of kids of all varying ages.

With all three schools this direction, you are sure to run into the entire youth portion of our town on your walk to school.

Everyone’s feet are dragging as they march towards our prison for the day.

We thankfully only have two weeks left before our two month break.

“I paid attention well enough,” I huff.

“Clearly not. The Lorekeepers told us that some mates will have early signs. Being drawn to a certain person. Thoughts of mating, babies, et cetera. But most importantly, vivid dreams with hints of what’s to come.”

My feet come to an abrupt stop as I twist Odessa around to face me. “What are you saying, Odes? All I know from my dreams is the blue eyes and the handful of words he’s spoken to me.”

She looks at me without an ounce of joking in her body. “I’m saying that it sounds like you're experiencing early mating bond symptoms. Clearly those eyes are important and with the rest of him being shadowed means that fate doesn’t feel you are ready to know who that is.”

“But Caelon has hazel eyes, not blue?”

She smirks. “But, you’ve never seen his wolf's eyes.”

Her words wash over me, leaving me replaying every moment since I met the wolf in the wildflower field.

Could she be onto something? There’s no way.

My birthday is still 28 days away, surely the Goddess isn’t showing me this early?

Odes didn’t really say how early though, did she. Just that it could be early.

I’m quiet on the rest of the walk to school and thoughts of what Odessa said plague me all day. Before I know it, the final bell for the day is ringing and I don’t remember a single word spoken to me today. Not even sure how I successfully walked to each class.

Odessa finds me by my locker where she is leaning against hers scrolling on her phone. Her eyes light up when she sees me walking her way.

“Girl, you don’t look any better than how I left you this morning. If anything, you look worse. What’s happening?”

I sigh as I click my locker open. “I can’t get what you said out of my head. It’s literally consumed me today.”

She chuckles. “Don’t let it hold you down. We have lots to be thinking of and a possible mate bond a month down the road isn’t it. Not when we have the Summer Solstice to plan for.”

Her phone chimes right as she drops it to her side. “Shit, Howlr is feral right now. You’ve got to see this, Moony. They’re already guessing who’s getting Moonbound—and some of these trial ideas are unhinged.”

She swipes open her phone showing the Howlr home screen with a flashing banner saying:

“Moonbinding Watch Begins!”

Howlr is the most popular app for paranormal creatures.

It’s a social media platform designed specifically for us where you have to provide proof of your species in order to be approved for an account.

Some tech genius with a name I couldn’t pronounce if you begged me, created a safe space for us to chat without having to conceal who we really are.

Needless to say, the teens use it as a place to gossip.

“Mountain Lions are up next—who do you think is entering the trials this year? Drop those predictions below! We want drama, claws, and chaos! Let the games begin!”

The Moonbinding Ceremony the Mountain Lions have is arguably the most talked about commodity of every single year.

Probably because they keep it completely secret from anyone outside their pride.

To add to it, the ones who have said stuff about it, only have mentioned that everyone fights for a chance with their selected females.

Needless to say, we love to speculate who we think is going to be selected.

I lean in closer as our shoulders smoosh together so we can both see the screen as she scrolls down to the comment thread.

@wildshift says: 2h ago – Jasper “Calling it now Chase & the mystery girls from Denver” 143 howls | 27 Growls | 89 Clipped

@moondustmage says: 2h ago – Jasper “Chase better get mates that are good to him!” 298 howls | 68 Growls | 12 Clipped

@alphatease says: 1h ago – Jasper “I’m hoping one of them has to streak through town. I’d pay to see that.” 103 howls | 89 Growls | 0 Clipped

@howlsbeforebros says: 1h ago – Jasper “@alphatease I’m there with you man! Let’s place bets on it! I have 50 on the girls having to streak.” 103 howls | 89 Growls | 0 Clipped

@purrfectlywild says: 1h ago – Jasper “@alphatease @howlsbeforebros You guys are gross. If you aren’t going to offer real predictions then don’t chime in.” 290 howls | 101 Growls | 77 Clipped

We both look at each other before we burst out laughing.

Howlr is always unhinged with a constant flow of threads.

Between what we chat about locally all the way to what we chat about around the world.

This app lets us meet other shifters around the world without having to leave Jasper.

It can be fun, but I’ve also seen how nasty it can be too.

“The top trending hashtags is #Moonbinding2025, #MysteryMates, and #GuesstheMate. With so many of us turning 18 this summer, there is an entire thread dedicated to people guessing each other’s mates.

” She clicks on the hashtag opening a whole new thread full of comments.

Some of them are as recent as seconds ago.

“Want to see who they are guessing is your mate?” She nudges me with her shoulder.

I shake my head. “Absolutely not. I would rather live in my bubble of ignorance a little longer. Thank you very much.”

She shrugs her shoulders as she scrolls through the thread, probably looking for our names to see if anyone has mentioned us.

“I’ve got to run over to Flash Me Studio to drop off some rolls of film I’ve been meaning to have Lou develop. Are you coming with me or want to meet me there after I’m done?”

“I’ll walk with you.”

Kids are pouring out of the building as the rays of the sun warm all of our skins.

There are so many conversations going on at once that it’s hard to even think, let alone hear what anyone is saying.

One thing is for sure, everyone is talking about the Guess the Mate Thread on Howlr.

Seems I might be the only one not wanting to know what their guesses are.

Odessa is still scrolling through the threads as we walk down the path until she scoffs and throws her hand up. “There isn’t even a single comment saying Raiden is my fated mate. Everyone is guessing it’s going to be Kai and like, ew.”

I can’t help but giggle. “Kai is cute, what’s wrong with that?”

She lets out a sigh. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I just don’t see how they came up with that one. We don’t even talk to each other or go in the same circles.”

“I guess they see something that you don’t. Who knows! It’s just a stupid social media app full of people with nothing better to do.”

We are just coming around the corner of Flick the Bean when she gasps and holds out her phone for me to take. There on the screen is something I can’t even believe.

@thegraywolf says: 30s ago – Jasper “I think Selene’s fated mate might just be the math nerd, Caelon. My money is on him.” 178 howls | 16 Growls | 6 Clipped

I look from the screen to Odessa… “Who’s thegraywolf?” We huddle together as I click the hyperlink to his profile. “Of course it’s blank. Why wouldn’t it be?!” There is only one post and it’s the one we just read. There’s no name, photo, or anything to go off of.

I hand the phone back to her as I walk off to the studio. Odes runs to catch up.

“Don’t you want to know who that is?”

“How do you expect to figure it out?

“I say we comment back to them. Maybe we can get some details out of them.” She clicks back on his comment and hits the Growl button to open a box to write a comment back to him.

I grasp onto her wrist bringing her attention back to me. “I don’t want to know. I said that earlier. It’s weird, I get that. But honestly, nobody knows and maybe they guess right but it's just that, a guess.”