Instant Enemies. - Emily Zimmerman. (graded readers TXT) 📗

My name is Catalina Grace Harington. But most call me Cat. I’m seventeen – almost eighteen - years old, with natural dark red hair, and bright green eyes. My skin, despite my strange hair color, is dark tan from my dad’s side. My brother looks like my mom, though. Light brown, curly hair, light tan skin, and bright blue eyes, he’s nineteen. Now the thing about my family is…we’re all werewolves.
Yep! You heard me right, I said werewolves. Now the bad thing about being werewolves is…we’ve all seen each other naked more times than I can count, and it gets to be the norm.
Today was my eighteenth birthday, and the day I met the rest of the pack. I stood glaring at the mirror as my mom fixed my makeup. I was wearing a dark green sundress that showed off my long legs and made my curves known. I was not a dress girl, nor was I one to wear makeup, but my mom said this was the most important day in any wolf’s life. It was the day that the pack accepted me fully. If the alpha didn’t deem me acceptable, I had to work for my acceptance for three years, and then the alpha would evaluate me again, if I still wasn’t accepted, then I was outcast. Of course all of this was obsolete if I happened to find my mate in that pack, which wasn’t likely, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to find my mate anyway, they’re always so controlling.
“Stop moving! You are going to make me ruin your makeup!” mom scolded.
I crossed my arms and huffed. “This is not me! And didn’t you say that the acceptance ceremony is about letting the pack know who you are?” I asked.
“Yes, but I want you to look your best! And looking like a hobo when the pack is evaluating you won’t go over well with the alpha, he’s very strict.” She said.
She stood me up and looked me over, smiling and nodding once. “You’re perfect.”
I rolled my eyes and threw my hands up into the air. “Wonderful!” I said sarcastically. “Can we go now?”
She sighed and crossed her arms. “Fine, let’s go.” She said.
I slipped on my dark green silk flats, and stomped down the stairs. “Daddy!” I shouted. “Mom is making me look…girly!” I told him, my face scrunching up.
He smiled and enveloped me into an affectionate hug. “And you make a very pretty girly girl.” He said.
I smiled. “Thanks Daddy.”
“No problem Pumpkin Pie.” He said.
My brother, Riley, pulled me into a giant bear hug from behind. “You actually look like a girl!” he exclaimed, picking me up from behind and squishing me to him.
I squealed and kicked my legs. “I can’t breathe!” I said dramatically.
He laughed and dropped me. I landed gracefully on my feet and turned to face my brother, glaring at him playfully. “Let’s go before I beat the crap out of this little twerp.” I said, ruffling Riley’s hair playfully.
Riley actually wasn’t short, he was 6’2 and about a foot taller than me. He had a muscular build and arms that could squeeze the life out of a vampire, some say he was handsome, I only saw him as a big brother.
“I’ll show you, twerp!” He challenged, grabbing me and spinning me around in his arms. I laughed and smacked the back of his head when he set me down. “You’re a dork.”
We all got in the car and headed off to the pack house, where, if I wasn’t accepted into the pack, I’d have to live as a servant of the alpha for three years. If I was accepted, or found a mate and had to be accepted, I would go out with the entire pack for a celebratory hunt.

We arrived an hour later. The entire pack stood outside, the pack was one of the biggest packs in the world. They were called the Blades-of-Blood pack. A pack of about twenty people. I hadn’t met anyone from the pack yet, because it was forbidden to meet the pack before your time.
I stepped out of the car and stood beside my brother. The family of the wolf was not supposed to leave the half-blood’s – that was what they called the unaccepted wolves – side until Alpha ordered them.
My father put his hand on my shoulder, and Riley held my hand tightly in his. I met the Alpha Damian’s eyes as he walked forward, and he paused mid-step. He stared into my eyes and I felt heat flash through me. ‘Oh no!’ I groaned in my head.
“Mates.” We said at the same time.
I said it in disbelief; he said it as a fact. Alpha waved my family back into the cheering crowd as he strode toward me. Without a word, he pulled me into him, picking me up, and crushing me to his chest, he nuzzled my neck, inhaling my scent. This was a natural reaction to a male wolf who found his mate. My instinct reaction was to inhale his scent, wrapping my arms around his neck.
My reaction was completely my inner wolf’s fault. She was in control. I didn’t want this, but I had no choice. I’d been told that your wolf takes control when you first find your mate, but I hadn’t known it was this strong! I didn’t want a mate in the first place, and guess what I did? I jinxed myself!
Alpha let me down and stared into my eyes with his electric blue ones. He had hair as black as a raven’s wing, and was extremely muscular. His arms could crush a vampire to dust, and they were nicely tanned. He grabbed my chin and pulled my face up to his, smashing his lips to mine. I couldn’t resist him, my wolf was still in control, and even if I wanted to resist him, I couldn’t, you can’t deny the Alpha.

We all sat behind the house, waiting for the moon to come out. I sat with Riley, both of us not happy about me finding a mate. “I’ve told you hundreds of times before that I didn’t want a mate, and what did I get? A mate!” I crossed my arms with a huff.
Riley growled, “And mated with the Alpha no less. I’m telling you I don’t like it.”
“You and me both.” I muttered.
“Really? Because you seemed very friendly with him before.” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“That was my wolf. She took over when our eyes met.”
Alpha Damian was speaking with a few of the pack members, but his eyes strayed to where I was sitting every once in a while. “Now that I’m his mate, he’s not going to order me around…right?” I asked Riley.
Riley shrugged. “It depends on what kind of person he is. I don’t order Lily around because I know that she can rip my head off and use it for volleyball.” Riley laughed.
I smiled. Lily is Riley’s mate. I haven’t met her because I wasn’t allowed to meet fellow pack members until I was a full blood. Lily stood by her brother, Blake, and they spoke in quiet voices. “He better not order me around. I don’t like that.” I said the last part slowly.
Riley chuckled, giving me his famous half smile. “Don’t I know it. Remember when I told you to clean your room? You literally kicked my ass all the way back to my room.”
I groaned and slapped my hand to my forehead. “Why do I need a mate?” I asked Riley.
Riley pat my shoulder comfortingly. “I don’t know. Why does every wolf need a mate?” he asked me.
“To keep the generation alive, but I don’t have Alpha blood in me, it doesn’t make sense that I would be the Alpha’s mate. You have to have Alpha blood to mate with an Alpha!” I threw my hands up in the air.
Riley shrugged. “The Wolven Goddess works in strange ways sometimes.”
Ah, yes, the Wolven Goddess. Legend has it that she still lives today, she resides in the body of a werewolf. No one knows who it will be. She created wolves. I’ve read hundreds of ancient history books, forbidden to be seen by human eyes, which say the Wolven Goddess was born from the spirit of two wolves. Her powers were so great that no human could see her, lest they surely die. So she decided, because she was so lonely, to create a being like her, only in human form. She called him, Linsahamo. He could run at speeds, unknown to humans, and could see in pitch black darkness, but his greatest power of all, was his ability to transform into a wolf, twice the size of a regular wolf. She made a female for Linsahamo that she called his ‘mate.’
Together, Linsahamo, and his mate Gathamas, created the first generation of wolves. And so, werewolves were born. It is said that the Wolven Goddess had hair as golden as the sun’s rays, and eyes as dark as the night sky. She had skin like winter’s snow and lips like the blood in our veins.
I snapped out of my thoughts when Riley stood and walked over to Lily. I realized that Damian was making his way over to me. I looked down as he sat in the chair beside mine. “I didn’t realize having a mate was that hard for you to accept.” He said, his voice was soft, but it still held the authority of an Alpha, in fact, you could feel authority rolling off of him in waves.
I looked up in chagrin and grimaced. “I guess you heard me.” I whispered.
“My hearing is better than most of the wolves here.” He said, his eyes boring into mine.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “It’s just…I’m not…” I growled, shaking my head and trying to find the words to explain why I didn’t want a mate. “I don’t want a mate, I don’t want a boyfriend and I don’t want to date anyone! I’m not ready for any of that, and I won’t be ready anytime soon.” I said.
Damian nodded once, eyes hard, face stone. “I see.” He said.
I sighed. “It has nothing to do with you.” I said. “I’m just…I don’t like relationships.”
“So you’re denying me my right to a mate?”
I shrugged. “If you take it that way. I’m just saying that I’m not going to accept your advancements with open arms.”
He stared at me with dark eyes and then nodded again, glancing at the sky. “It’s time for the celebratory hunt.” He said.
I looked up and realized the moon had shown itself. It was only a half moon, but it kept the night bright.
Damian got up and faced the pack. “It’s time!”
Riley smiled a huge smile at me and grabbed my hand, pulling me up. “You think I should annoy mom and change with the dress still on?” I asked Riley, whispering conspiratorially.
Riley laughed and shook his head, slinging an arm over my shoulders. “She would murder you ten times over.” He said.
I laughed. “I know that’s right.” I muttered.
I winced as everyone started stripping and sighed, stripping off my dress. I could feel Damian’s eyes on me, but I ignored it and changed to wolf form. I shook myself out and sat on my haunches. I could feel my wolf smiling and yearning for me to run.
‘We meet