Avery Whitetail was excited for this moment, she had been making markings on her calendar since the beginning of the year. Counting down the days to August 21st when she will turn 18. It was a special time for her because not only would she be transforming into her wolf for the first time, she would also be able to smell her mate.

"Ok, it will be midnight soon," she told herself, trying to calm her excitement but it was hard to do so.

There was a knock on the room before her little sister poked her head in, she gave a smile, showing off her missing front teeth before speaking.

"Mom and Dad want to know if you will stay here or go out for your transformation." The little girl said.

Avery leaned her head from left and right, wondering what to do.

"I think I'll stay here," she finally said.

"Ok, I can't wait to see this." Her little sister seemed excited for the moment as well.

"Hayley, do you think you will be able to stay up until 12?"

The little girl nodded. "Well duh, I'm still up and there is only five minutes left. I would have been sleeping long ago."

Avery smiled at her sassy attitude.

The two of them shared similar features, looking like their father. They both had stormy gray eyes, thick brunette hair that was down to their backs and round faces with a double chin. The only difference was that with Avery, she had thin lips like their mother and Hayley's lips were pouty. Both girls were beautiful, and their father would always tell them that they would break hearts.

"Ok, tell them I'll be down soon, I just need to finish getting ready."

"Why are you even putting on clothes? It's not like your wolf will wear them."

Avery shook her head and went back to applying a thick coat of mascara to her lashes.

"You are already pretty, you don't need all that."

Avery paused at her sister's words, it was the first time she had ever given her a compliment.

As she stared at herself in the mirror, she wondered why she was even always so fussy about her appearance.

"Ok, I'm coming."

The two made their way downstairs, where their parents were waiting with a large two-tier cake and a few presents.

Avery told her parents that she would rather save the cake and gifts for them in the morning because right now she wanted to focus on her wolf and mate.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so happy for you. I remember the first time I went through my transformation. It was a blissful moment, my wolf and I bonded and your father came up to me with this grin on his face. As you know he is a year older, but he always had this crush on me."

"Yes, it was as if I knew it would be her. The same night we both lost our virginity, and nine later there you were." Mr Whitetail finished.

Avery made a face. "Do you really have to tell us that?"

"What's virginity?" Hayley asked.

Mr Whitetail laughed uncomfortably. "It is not something that you should ever-"

"Dad! Hard limits." Avery cut him off.

Just then, the clock began to chime.

Avery took a deep breath, her excitement soon replaced with nervousness and all she could think about was her wolf not coming out right or her mate rejecting her.

Sensing her anxiety, her mother held her hands to give her comfort.

"You'll do fine, sweetheart, just let your instinct take over." Mrs Whitetail smiled.

On the last chime of the clock, Avery could feel her body tingling. So she closed her eyes, focusing on calling her wolf to her.

Suddenly, all the bones in her body began to crack, repositioning themselves to accommodate her new form. Avery let out several whimpers because no amount of talk and comfort could prepare her for the pain that came with her first shift.

It felt as if her body was on fire, and all she could do was just lay on the floor until the pain subsided.

Finally, it was over, when she got home on her feet, her mother was smiling and her father was transforming into his wolf.

Avery turned to the sofa where Hayley was, only to see her fast asleep.

"Want to run together, kiddo?" Her father asked.

Avery let out a howl, her father howled as well then they ran through the backdoor.

Mrs Whitetail looked down at her youngest sleeping daughter, wondering how she slept through all that.

Avery ran beside her father, loving the feel of the wind in her brown fur. She finally felt free, and now saw what she had been missing without her wolf.

She could see in the dark, she wasn't as clumsy and her body felt powerful.

The two kept running, jumping over the small creek and making their way to a clearing that overlooked the expansive field where corn grew.

Avery let out a howl, receiving howls from the pack in response.

A breeze blew, bringing with it several scents. Avery paused to take a deep breath, almost going with what she was smelling.

"Dad, I think something is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm smelling four."

"Four?"

"Yes, there are four different scents. I don't know how to explain it but they all have the same earthly scent, but something else to it. What does that mean?"

"You have four mates."

"Four mates? That can't be real, I have never heard of that before." Avery was in a state of panic now, which caused her to involuntarily transform back to her human form.

Mr Whitetail transformed as well, trying to calm her down.

"It will be alright, there is no need to overreact or panic."

"Overreact? This is far from overreacting, I have four mates. What will everyone think about me now? They already thought I was weird, now this is just another thing added to the list."

Mr Whitetail rested a hand on her shoulder.

"These things do happen, but it is rare."

"Great, and I just have to be the rare case. I bet that after seeing that I have four mates, they will reject me."

Suddenly, there was rustling in the bushes, then a reddish wolf emerged.

"Mate?" He asked through their mind link.

Avery glanced at her father, then back at the other wolf.

Soon, they were approached by three other wolves, one of them was the Alpha.

Again Avery could feel herself panicking, without thinking. She ran between the wolves, and made her way home.

When she got home, her mother was there with a grin on her face. Waiting to hear the good news. But the look on Avery's face made her stop in her tracks.

"Oh, honey, what's wrong?" Mrs Whitetail asked, trying to reach out for her daughter but she stepped back from her.

"I'll be in my room" was all she said before racing up the stairs.

Her mother was speechless, not knowing what to make of her daughter's attitude. She knew she wasn't rejected, or else she would be going crazy by now and at least have that weird rotting smell as she died from the inside out.

The front door opened again; this time it was Mr Whitetail.

"What's going on?" She asked her husband.

"Our daughter is a rare case."

"What do you mean?"

"She has four mates and one of them is the Alpha."

Mrs Whitetail's mouth fell open.

"Do you want to talk to her, or should I?" Mrs Whitetail asked.

Mr Whitetail made a gesture with his hand.

When Mrs Whitetail got to the second floor and was about to knock on the door, she could hear muffled screaming coming from inside.

"Honey, can I come in?"

"No."

Mrs Whitetail went in anyway.

"Why did you even bother asking?"

Mrs Whitetail hugged her, knowing that that was exactly what Avery wanted.

"Your father told me what happened."

"Yeah. I just have to be the unlucky wolf who has four mates."

"Well, I can't say that this will be a good thing."

"Do you know of anyone who has had four mates before?"

"I have heard stories."

"What happened?"

"After you bond with the person you choose to be your mate, the others just move on with their lives."

"That sounds much easier than it actually is. So tell me what will happen if I don’t choose."

"Then you all will die." Mrs Whitetail gave a sad smile.

Avery froze.

"What?" She let out after a while, her voice and lips trembled as the words left her mouth.

"Sadly, it is the law of our land."

"Law? That's just bullshit! The only thing I see here is that the fates are cruel, how can they do such a thing? It's just not fair."

Mrs Whitetail played in her daughter's hair, trying to comfort her.

"I know, but that is just how things are. Just like with a rejection, a wolf begins to decay until they die if their mate doesn't take back their words and bond with them."

‘’But me only choosing one, wouldn’t that be like me rejecting the other?’’

‘’No, the fates will provide them with a different mate.’’

Avery made a face. ‘’Why not give them a different mate now?’ Why am I being tested?’’

‘’It isn’t a test, Avery but I trust that you will choose wisely because your mate is your lifelong partner.’’

Avery sobbed. "But why me? Why am I the one given four mates and have to make such a hard decision?"

After crying for a while, Avery looked up at her mother. "What am I going to do? Who will I choose?"

"Get to know these men, let them court you and capture your heart."

"But what if all of them do or don't? Then what?"

Mrs Whitetail was silent, for the first time she had no solution for her daughter.

"Everything will be fine," she finally said, hugging Avery closer to her.

"I think I should just go to bed, maybe this really is a test and the fates will appear in my dream and let me know what I should do."

But it didn't work like that, when Avery fell asleep, she ended up twisting and turning. Dreaming of dying because she didn't know who to choose.

She woke with a gasp, staring up at her ceiling. Thinking about how she would go about this, because no matter who she chose the others would die.

She thought she wouldn't choose Cruz because he used to bully you in high school but at the same time, she had a huge crush on him and still did. If she didn't choose the Alpha, then the entire pack would turn against her. And the other two she wasn't so sure about, because one of them was a mysterious wolf who got accepted into their pack after some accident of some sort and the other was the Alpha's brother, who threw his weight around and acted all high and mighty.

"What do I do?" Avery questioned herself, then rolled into her pillow and screamed.

Not long after, she was fast asleep again. She had the same nightmare, and a fitful sleep until minutes before her alarm went off, when she woke up, feeling groggy.

She laid in bed for a while, contemplating if she should get up but the smell of food made her stomach grumble. So she got up, got ready for the day and made her way downstairs only to pause when she got to the kitchen door.

There sitting with her parents and having breakfast with them was the Alpha.

"Alpha Grey." Avery let out, shocked that he was there, gracing them with his presence.

He seemed so out of place, as he sipped his coffee with a pinky in the air, staring at her.

"Good morning, Avery."

"You know my name," she said out loud without meaning to.

"I do, I am the Alpha. I know everyone in this pack."

Avery raised a brow at him, because to her he seemed to pick and choose who to interact with. Sure he listened to everyone's complaints, but he didn't seem to care much.

Just then, Hayley came into the kitchen, yawning and stretching.

"Man, I can't believe I missed it." She folded her arms and pouted.

"So, what are you doing here?" Avery asked as she made her way to the counter to make a plate for her and Hayley.

"As you are aware, we are mates but so are three others. I'm not here to tell you to pick me, it would be selfish to manipulate you like that. I don't know how easy it is to capture your heart, but right now. I just want to make sure you are alright."

'Wow,' She thought.

Alpha Grey was so formal, yet his words made Avery's heart flutter.

"I'm not ok, and I won't lie and say that I am. This is scary, it's stressing me out, I don't know what to do and wish I could make it so that no one has to die because I don’t want to choose."

The Alpha moved so fluidly and gracefully to make his way over to Avery, where he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, I can't imagine what you are going through right now but just follow your heart. Don't do what you think the pack would want, or what would make others happy. Do what will make you happy."

Alpha wiped a few stray tears away from Avery's eyes.

"Yeah, I was going to take my mother's advice and get to know you all before making my decision. I just wish I didn't have to, I don't think I will be able to live with myself after rejecting anyone."

"Good thing is, this form of rejection isn’t a death sentence. Maybe I can explain it to you better after breakfast?"

"I would love an explanation to get my mind around things, but can it wait until I'm done with work? I promise to come right to your place right after."

Alpha Grey nodded, finished his food, then left.

Hayley gasped. "That was the Alpha. Is he your mate?"

"Yes, one of my mates."

Her little sister's mouth fell open. "Wow, you are so lucky to have four."

Avery tried her best to hide her emotions and continued eating her food.

When she was done, she hurried out of the house without clearing the table because she didn't want to be late again. She was already on the third strike.

As she walked to the supermarket, she glanced behind her shoulder every now and then because she had the feeling of being followed.

Suddenly, someone rushed at her, tackling her to the ground.

Avery kicked and punched wildly, hitting her attacker.

"Calm down, mate," a deep voice said.

She paused to open her eyes to see who it was, then closed them immediately.