His Human Mate

It has been a week since Erick had last seen Amber in the library. Since then, she had been avoiding him for who-knows-what reasons. Many times he had tried to approach her and even sneaked up behind her, but she managed to slip away from his grasp. She has been using excuses such as going to the toilet, having other group meetings with other people and so forth.

Erick smiled smugly as he recalled her strawberry cheeks blushing from his touch. She seems quite s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e and he liked being touchy-touchy with her. It was too bad that nowadays he has been busy with his football practice that he did not have the time to see her. They did agree to meet up someday to work on their Literature assignment but they haven't decided on the date and time.

That day, Erick was having a practice match, going against their friendly rival; a team from another town called Port Robston Bay. The Burkendall football team played host this time.

Erick was actually close with a couple of the players in Port Robston Bay team. This was because Port Robston Bay was also one of the shifter towns. Hence, there were also some shifters in the team; similar like Erick and Hamish.

And coincidentally, one of the players was the future Alpha of the Robston pack. His name was Bastian Cesaro. He was somewhat similar to Erick, as well, when it comes to his personality. They were of the same age and have the same interest, which was to play football. Although Erick has black hair, Bastian was a blonde. With his blue-green eyes and muscular body, when standing next to Erick, it was like, he was the light and Erick was the dark. They first met each other when their parents had a shifter meeting a few years back. And they got along well as friends.

During one of the meetings, they had promised each other that if they got into a school team, they should go against each other; be it in an actual match or a practice match.

Now, they finally met up at the field. Bastian had already gone to Burkendall town for a match before. It was during the time Erick had his punishment and when he went to the Kraken Forest. So, this was actually their first time meeting in a football field, albeit a practice match.

So, at the field where there was little wind in the air, two newly shifters stood, facing each other. Both were sporting a smirk on their faces as they studied each other.

Not wanting to waste time, the two shifter captains immediately went into their position as a quarterback. When the whistle blows for the game to start, everyone at the field wore their concentrated look as they began to yell, jumping up from their crouching position.

Sounds of body hitting each other and yells of commands and instructions sounded throughout the field. The football can be seen whizzing through, passing from one player to another. It was a bit chaotic in the field as the adrenaline rush was high. Each player was energetic, even if this was only a practice match. It shows how much they regarded this as a real match, not practice. And how much they deems this as an important match.

In the Burkendall team, Erick was the quarterback and also the captain, whereas Hamish was the wide receiver. The two of them worked well as partners where Hamish does his best to receive the ball while Erick pass [1].

Once the game ended with a draw, the two teams did not walk out of the field. Instead, they hung out at the field, laying down on the grass, exhausted. Their coaches stood near the field, talking about the match. Probably discussing their next practice match.

Erick was lying on his back, with his arms and legs spread out, when Bastian walked over.

Bastian laughed as he looked down. Erick immediately got up and stood in front of him.

"Thought you were dead after the shifter ritual. Seems like you survive," Bastian joked. "How unfortunate," he ended with a smirk.

Erick rolled his eyes and was about to punch Bastian on the shoulder as his answer.

Bastian retaliated with a quick jab to Erick's gut. His moves were quite agile.

Erick smoothly blocked his fist by pushing his arm down and was about to head Bastian below the chin.

The other teammates who were oblivious to the two's close relationship, thought that there would be a fight happening between the two captains. One of them was about to run over to the coaches to report this but Hamish had held him back, shaking his head.

Bastian quickly turned around and tried to hook his arm around Erick's neck but Erick was too fast and he avoided the hook by pushing his elbow down again.

He tried to trip Bastian by hooking his leg under his and pulled it forward.

Bastian finally fell down on his back. He was stunned at first and then he let out a loud booming laugh. He ran a hand through his blonde locks and grinned. He quickly jumped up on his feet and laid his arm around Erick's shoulder. "You've improved, mutt."

Erick smirked. "That didn't take much out of me, though."

Bastian laughed out loud again. He loved to joke around with this guy. "Yeah, yeah," he grinned. "We all know that the Cesaro pack is much stronger than the Kendall pack."

Erick scoffed. "You wish. The Kendalls are the best because their future Alpha has already found his mate," he bragged, pointing to himself, looking proud.

Bastian's mouth dropped open in shock. "You're kidding me?" he exclaimed.

Erick just smiled smugly.

Bastian whirled around to Hamish. "He's joking, right?" still in shock.

Hamish pushed his sports glasses up his nose and shook his head.

Bastian turned back to Erick, with wide eyes. "Who is she? Where is she? Is she someone from your pack?" then he smiled evilly. "Is it a man?"

Erick growled. "Of course, my mate is a woman." then he widely grinned. "A beautiful one, too."

Bastian's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How beautiful?" he asked. He still could not accept that his rival had gotten a mate before him.

"There's no way to judge how beautiful she is," Erick replied. "She just is."

Bastian nodded.

Then he rolled his eyes when Erick continued, "Of course, she has to be beautiful when she's mate with me."

Their coaches had called out to them to get a shower before heading home. Because the Port Robston Bay team had to go back to their own school before dark, they too went straight for the showers.

Along the way, Bastian began to talk about his experience of the shifter ritual. He said that his wolf's name was Amarok. Again, he was similar to Dane. Kind of quiet but intelligent.

Erick snorted with irony. "Dane's not quiet at all," he disagreed. "I admit he can be quiet at times but he's quite a nagging old wolf too." He continued on complaining how Dane likes to call him names and insult him. And how he seems to favour Hamish and his mate than himself.

Just then he felt a sudden shudder inside him.

Soon after, Dane's voice can be heard inside his mind. 'Seems like you have fun talking bad about me,' he growled slowly.

'I'm screwed.'