Midnight Moon

"Well, I suppose that pretty much proves my theory then," Logan said.

"What theory, Logan what's going on?" Damien questioned in a confused voice.

"You four are no longer mates," Logan shrugged.

"Four?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Uhm...Well, you might have been Jayden's mate for a couple hours..." Logan stated uneasily.

"Might?" I growled in return.

"You see, when he scratched you earlier in the forest, that automatically made you his mate. Elmira had the same mark from Damien, but it's gone now," Logan explained.

I made a mental note that the blonde's name was Elmira. I then turned to Jayden, anger evident on my face, and eyes ringed slightly with gold.

"Why on earth would you make me your mate, and how come I had no say in this?!?!" I hissed lowly.

Jayden looked away before speaking.

"It was the only way I could get you into camp without being questioned much, plus, I kind of felt a connection to you," he replied in a shame-filled voice,"I should have asked you though, sorry."

I looked at him with a pity-filled gaze, thinking that he was probably just lonely, and that was what caused him to act without thinking. I was about to say that I forgave him, when Elmira just had to put in her two cents.

"Why would you want to bring that back to camp anyway?" she asked snottily.

"Better than bringing back a hooker," I growled in reply, looking pointedly at her.

"Compared to an anti-social girl with anger issues?" she retorted, not disagreeing with what I said.

Hmmm, so I did judge her correctly, I thought before voicing my witty comeback.

"So you don't deny that you're a hooker?" I asked, the smirk evident on my face.

She looked like a deer caught in headlights at that. Her mouth was opening and closing, as she tried to think of something to say that would clear that up. She dared to look at Damien, who wouldn't meet her gaze. She then scowled at me.

"I don't sleep around! And, FYI, you didn't deny that you were anti-social or had anger issues," Elmira shouted in embarrassment.

"Why would I lie?" I replied.

"I can change the anti-social part for you", Lucas whispered in my ear, somehow appearing behind me.

I jumped off the ground I was seated on, and turned around to face him.

"And what makes you think that I would ever let you?" I asked, glaring at him.

"I highly suggest that you don't do that," Logan butted in.

"Why, it'd be good for her to finally-" Elmira started with a smirk, but was cut off by Logan.

"Because it would hurt both her, and Damien," Logan answered, glaring at the blonde.

"How would it hurt the both of us?" Damien finally spoke.

His voice, once again, seemed to melt me, but I shook it off. I joined Damien in looking at Logan confusedly.

"If someone else kissing you hurt you enough to make you yell, what do you think more then that would do, not to mention the fact that the kisses weren't even on the lips," Logan answered again grimly.

"I only yelled because I was surprised!" Damien and I exclaimed.

"Why would coming in contact with the opposite sex harm them though?" Jayden asked, being the voice of reason.

"Do you remember how we were all told that we can choose our mates, but if their true mate comes along, the mark fades and their current bond is broken? Well, I'm inclined to believe that that's what happened," Logan reasoned.

"I was never told that," I said, bearing a confused expression.

"Your mentor was supposed to tell you all of this," Logan replied, equally confused.

"My mother was supposed to be my "mentor", but she died giving birth to me, right after telling my father everything about the panther shape-shifters. He was going to teach me instead, but he died before he got the chance," I replied without shedding a single tear.

I had mostly gotten over my parent's deaths, to which I did so without crying because I didn't like others to think that I was weak. I had come to terms with it, in a way.

"Harsh, but then again, all of our mentors died too, after they taught us all of this stuff though. Then again, none of our mentors were our parents, except for Damien," Logan replied thoughtfully.

I looked at Damien, who shrugged and nodded. He made it seem like it really didn't bother him, but I could see the sadness in his eyes when Logan mentioned his "mentor", whether it be his mother or father, they must have meant a lot to him. I smiled slightly, reassuringly, but made sure that only he saw, so as not to embarrass him.

"So, just to make this clear, you think that Damien and I are "true mates"? What is that anyway?" I asked, getting back on topic.

"True mates are basically what people call "matches made in heaven". When a pair of true mates meet, if they are already bonded, their marks begin to fade. When they touch, it speeds up the rate at which the marks fade, which is most likely why you two felt a shock when you touched," Logan explained more in depth.

"We touched before that though, and didn't get shocked," Damien pointed out.

"Yeah, like when he picked me up to fix my wound, and when he helped me up after that," I added.

"His shirt was wrapped around you when he picked you up, and he was wearing gloves when he helped you up. In order for the fading process to speed up, your skin must come into contact with the other's," Logan answered.

I suddenly got an idea, and walked over to Damien slowly. He looked at me questioningly, wondering what I was doing. I then poked the exposed skin on his arm. Nothing happened.

"So that's it?" I asked Logan.

"Pretty much, though I am curious as to how you both feel pain when the opposite sex comes in contact with one of you. That is supposed to happen after one of you realizes you're true mates and marks the other," Logan stated with a thoughtful face on.

Damien and I looked at each other in confusion.

"So, in other words, you want Damien to mark her?" Elmira asked.

"Technically that's what is supposed to happen, yes," Logan replied, now smirking.

"I will not allow my Damien to be united with such filth!" she replied, wrapping her arms around one of Damien's.

We both winced at the contact of their skin, yet Elmira made no motion to move. The pain steadily increased the longer she held on, and we both eventually moaned in pain. I was gripping my arm now, trying to get the pain to die down, but having no such luck.

Jayden noticed this, and yanked Elmira off of Damien. We both collapsed on the ground. I was laying across him, and apparently our skin came into contact again, because in a matter of seconds we were both feeling fine.

"Okay, that's it, Damien I think you should mark her now before you both end up in the hospital, and the doctors try to take a sample of your blood or something and find us out," Logan said, getting slightly carried away with what could happen.

Damien looked at me to see if I agreed, and I reluctantly nodded. He transformed and extended his claws before looking at me again, I rolled my eyes as if to say "hurry up already!". He snorted, which sounded kind of funny because he was a leopard, but anyway!

He drew his claws across the skin on my shoulder, and left me feeling completely blissful. I then changed into my panther form, noting that it was night time. The others said good night and left into different tunnels, probably leading to their caves. Damien lead me to his cave, seeing as I didn't have one, and we were now mates.

I walked into the cave that Damien had bandaged my wound in, and he plopped down on a comfortable-looking mattress that I just now noticed was there. I curled up next to him, both of us still in our cat forms, and fell asleep within minutes.