It was a normal routine for Mason these days. Wake up, take a shower, wake the twins so they could do their routines, cook breakfast, have breakfast with the twins, then go to school. They were driven to school by Dony.

Dony was the alpha at the time. He was going to stay that way until Mason was of age. He was seventeen while the girls were eleven. Mason would become the alpha when he finally become eighteen.

They all lived in the pack house, but it wasn't that packed. There were only Mason, Lily, Lauren, and Dony's family. Dony's family consisted of Diane and Ron who were his wife and son respectively. Ron was Mason's best friend and soon-to-be-beta.

Ron and Mason were the same age and same grade. They had always dreamt of being the alpha and beta together. They used to imagine all the changes that they would make and those included some rainbow-coloured foods to be sold in malls.

Right now, Mason was preparing breakfast for him and his two sisters. He had already woken the two up. He prepared two eggs and one cereal. Lauren would only eat cereals for breakfast for some reason. After he was done making breakfast, he put their plates down on the table and sat on his usual chair. He waited for his sisters to come downstairs.

They always ate breakfast and dinner together because their parents had taught them to. They said it was a reminder that they were a family.

He stared at the table, doing nothing. Then, he finally sighed. As usual, he was feeling devastated and it was still very early in the morning.

Still no news of his parents and that was bad. Well, he was used to it but he had hopes every time, so it was slowly killing him inside. 

After a few minutes, the twins went downstairs in their school uniforms and with their backpacks. "What did you cook today?" Lily asked excitedly. Lauren didn't have to ask because she ate the same thing every morning.

Mason smiled at his two sisters and replied, "Eggs." He watched them as they carefully walked down the stairs before running to the dining table where he had put all their plates on.

Not long after, Diane went downstairs. She and Mason made eye contact and smiled as she walked past the dining room to the kitchen. Diane had been a mother figure to Mason and the twins ever since their parents disappeared.

No one in the pack house dared to say or even think that the rightful alpha and luna of the pack “died.” They always said “disappeared.” Mainly because Mason wouldn't let them say that without proof.

When they were finally finished eating, Mason asked, "Excited for today?"

They never spoke while eating because their parents taught them so. Yes, their parents taught them a lot of good things and they followed their parents' instructions.

"Definitely not. Mason, it's Monday. Ugh. Why do we have Mondays? Why don't we have like two weekdays and five weekends?" Lauren was the one to reply.

"Then you'll be protesting about how little the amount of time you get to hang out with your friends is," Mason said, chuckling at his sister's negativity. It was only morning and she was already not in the mood.

"I don't think so," Lauren said in her in-a-matter-of-fact tone and crossed her arms as she continued, "All the friends in school are fake. They only want to get close to us because we're the soon-to-be-alpha's sisters."

Lily, on the other hand, didn't think so. "Aw, don't be like that, La. I'm sure they all want to be friends with us. Positive, even," she told her twin sister. Then, she grabbed her shoes and socks, slipping them inside her feet.

Lauren rolled her eyes. She grabbed her socks and shoes, following what her sister did. "You do know that they talk about us behind our backs. They think our hairs were dyed and it's unfair that we didn't get kicked out of school because of that. And they also think that it's unfair that we stole all the boys' hearts. And I'm sure there are many more to come."

Mason tried to stop a long argument by saying, "Girls, c'mon. We're gonna be late. Correction: I'm gonna be late."

It was six and their school started at seven. It took around fifteen minutes to get to Lauren and Lily's school, but it took around another forty-five minutes to reach Mason and Ron's school.

It seemed that Mason's words went into thin air because then Lily sighed and said, "Okay, okay. Maybe you're right. But I still think that—"

"You guys ready?" Ron asked as he hopped down from the last stair to the floor.

‘Thank goodness he came,’ Mason thought. Those two girls would argue all day if no one stopped them, and it seemed that they never listened to Mason anymore, and he never used an angry tone on anyone except the other creatures.

Ever since his parents died—or disappeared—Mason had always hated the other creatures. Vampires, witches, warlocks, fairies—everything. He changed the rules to “No creatures other than werewolves and humans are allowed in the territory.” He killed every one of those creatures that he met. For that, he was a bit popular around some packs, but since he didn't have any problem with the other packs, they didn't have any problems with him, either.

"Yup!" Lily answered Ron excitedly as she ran through the front door into the unlocked car. The cheerful girl was shortly followed by her sister who wasn't as cheerful.

"Thanks for coming to the rescue," Mason said to Ron as he used his shoes.

In response, Ron just patted his back and said, "No problem."

Then, they walked outside.

"So, what's up?" Mason asked.

"Nothing much, really. Just the sky." Ron shrugged before stating, "You know, I feel something is going to happen today."

Mason smirked, his eyes showed his flaming excitement.

"So do I."

---

"Sir, we're sorry to disappoint you, but—"

Mason hung up.

He already knew what the guy on the other line was going to say. Probably something like, “We didn't find your parents. Not a single trace,” or,“There was this forest, but we're too scared to go explode it because it was all gloomy and stuff.”

It wasn't new to Mason, but he still felt a bit disappointed because this morning, he had actually thought that a good thing might happen. He had learned too many times that he shouldn't hope too much because in the end he might get hurt, but he still dared to.

Soon, Mason was already calling Ron to tell him to assign another group. His mind was telling him, 'No, don't do it. You're going to hurt yourself again,' but his heart was saying, 'Never give up on your parents, Mason. Never.'

He decided to trust his heart, even though it had been proven so many times that his heart was wrong.

Dony was the alpha of Silver Moon at the time, yes, but Mason and Ron were the one who made the decisions. He simply just told him what he thought of their decisions.

Yes, everyone had tried to tell Mason to stop wasting money on the search groups, though he only lost $50 every time he sent one—and yes, including the twins and Ron's family; but Mason never listened. He was too stubborn for his own good, but he couldn't help it.

Ron simply replied with a usual “okay” before hanging up. He was extremely bored with his homeworks, so his beta stuffs could help cheer himself up.

Ron exited his bedroom where he had done his homework and into the alpha and beta's office. The offices used to be different rooms, but since the two guys had been dreaming to be an alpha and beta together for a long while, they wanted their offices to be merged.

Ron was about to mind-link his third-in-command when he got a text. He sighed, irritated. He took his phone, unlocked it and opened the text. It was from Mason. It said, ‘Please say my apologies to the last group for hanging up on them earlier. Thx.’

Ron rolled his eyes. "Typical Mason," he said, but he was a smiling.

He finally mind-linked the third-in-command and told her to go to his office. The third-in-command came instantly. She was a woman named Betty.

Betty was very serious about doing her job. She took her position of being a third-in-command very intensely. She had no room for useless stuff and she didn't listen to anyone except the alpha, and only the alpha. 

There were some packs that forbid women to lead the pack as a beta or third-in-command, but good thing Mason wasn't like that, and neither was his father.

"What is it, Beta Ron?" asked Betty with a straight face, as usual. Betty had always been so serious and focused about her job on being a third-in-command. She liked everything organized.

Ron sighed. "I told you to just call me Ron. I'm not a beta yet, Betty," he reminded her. "Mason told me to assign up another search group. Can you do that for me? If so, then I'd be so thankful," he explained.

Betty nodded. "Okay; I'll go assign another group for this task. Don't worry, I'll get this done.” She said it with such a flat tone that it made her seem like she was a robot.

"Oh, and please gather the last search group and tell them I'm waiting for them in my office?" Ron added.

Betty nodded. "Is that all?" When Ron nodded, she walked outside.

Not long after, a guy came inside the room. Ron noticed him as Darren. Darren blinked. Once, twice. Then, he went outside of the room again. You'd think that he had probably just gone to a wrong door, but no. He went outside, closed the door, and then Ron could hear his knocks.

Ron laughed loudly, realizing what the guy had done. He coudldn't help but smile. Darren smiled back sheepishly, his cute cheeks flushed. He looked down in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, forgot to knock," Darren stated.

Ron's smile just grew wider. Let's just say that he had a crush on Darren and he looked really cute while smiling from embarrassment like that.

Unlike Ron who was seventeen, Darren was only fifteen. His wolf would wake up on his sixteenth birthday which was in a week. Yeah, Ron remembered Darren's birthday. He wouldn't admit he had been stalking, though, he'd just say he somehow found it in a file.

Ron wasn't as close to Darren as he was to Mason, but they were still pretty close. Darren is like Ron's other best friend, not in a picky and hurtful way. They just didn't get too much time to hang out.

Another reason was because of the rumours at school that Ron had a crush at the guy—which was kind of true—and it made things a bit awkward, but only by a bit because none of them ever brought it up.

Ron just smiled at him in response for his apology. Then, he asked, "What made you so frantic that you forgot to knock?"

Darren smiled back at the older man because he was just too cute for him to handle. "Uh, there's a rogue outside who said that she knew you and wanted another chance from you," he said and oh did he sound very irritated there. He looked like he would kill everyone.

Ron wondered if it was out of jealousy, but he didn't dare hope too much. "That sounded rather worrying. Please do lead me to this rogue," Ron said. He stood up from his comfortable chair and walked behind Darren as they neared the area where the rogue was held.

As they walked, Darren was walking in front of Ron and couldn't help but lower his head a little from some unknown reason. Darren couldn't wait until his wolf wake up on his sixteenth birthday. He really hoped it was Ron.

"What's up with you?" Ron's relaxing, deep voice inquired him. Darren couldn't help but look behind, just to see the cutest confused face ever.

"I, eh…" Darren trailed off, looking into Ron's eyes. He stopped in his tracks, but Ron kept walking until they were mere inches away.

Then, to their surprise, Ron's lips brushed Darren’s and it was so magical. He could feel his warmth from their proximity. Darren felt like he could just collapse right then. It was so perfect, so beautiful. If only Ron was his mate...

Suddenly, Ron let go of their kiss. Darren opened his eyes to see Ron biting his nail.

Ron started sputtering. "I'm so sorry, Darren! Oh, my God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that—I mean, I like it and all, but I didn't mean to take your first kiss! Or kiss you at all for that matter. You might be straight for all I know! Ugh. I'm so, so, so, so sorry! I know you're waiting for your mate and—"

Darren just watched him in amusement, but then Ron started to get teary-eyed and he looked like he was holding back sobs. Darren hugged him, murmuring into his ears, "It's okay, Ron. I—"

"No, it's not!" Ron continued his rambling, "I'm pretty sure you're doing this just to cheer me up. Inside your mind, you must be thinking about how disgusting I am or something. I—"

Darren rolled his eyes. "Shush, Ron. I like the kiss."

Ron shook his head. "Y-you must hate that kiss. Oh my Gods, I'm so sorry, Dar! You must be thinking I'm disgusting or something! I'm so—"

Darren heard somewhere that kissing was a good way to shut someone up sometimes, so he did just that. Besides, it might make Ron realize that he actually liked the kiss.

It was just a one-second kiss, really, but it was special.

"I do like you, Ron, but I am waiting for my mate," Darren said.

Ron sighed. "I know, I know. Your birthday is in a week. You're gonna meet your mate. You're gonna forget me. Everything's gonna be awkward. I know. I know." His eyes became more teary.

"Aw, don't be like that. I'm sure Moon Goddess has prepared you a better soulmate than me, don't worry," Darren told the guy. "But for now I like you and you like me, so let's just enjoy the moment, yeah?"

"Mm-hmm..."

"There you are! I was wondering what took you so lo—" Mason cut himself off. "Oh. Never mind."