"Do you want the light pink blush or this warmer blush?" I ask, holding up both options.
Lily doesn't open her eyes. "I don't understand why I need to look pretty too."
"Hm." I answer my question for her: "Pink, probably; it will look better on your complexion—not too harsh."
My sister sighs. "Fine."
Lily and I sit on the floor in front of my wooden mirror, which leans against the wall, lacking proper feet. I dust the pink blush onto her prominent cheekbones with one of my bigger brushes. "How about a lip color?"
"Celeste, I know you're nervous about the Beta's son, but dolling me up isn't going to change whether or not he's your mate."
"I know, but this is distracting. Since I woke up this morning, I haven't felt as calm as I do right now, so don't make me lose it."
I pick a random lip color and pop off its tin lid, but when I bring the rosy color to Lily's lips with my finger, she opens her eyes and ducks. "Hold on," she says and lowers my hand. "I know Mom is making a big deal of it but—"
"She's not making a big deal of it; it is a big deal. I'm already twenty-one," I say, my shoulders sinking, "and with Dad's promotion and me being the eldest child, they need me to make a good match. After the beta's son turns eighteen, his father is going to step down, and he'll be the only unmated man in our pack who's holding a worthy enough title."
"I just don't like seeing you like this, no matter how Mom justifies it. I know in my heart that no one deserves to be mated to our next Beta more than you, and you will be mated to him, but—"
"There are no buts. This is my only option."
Lily peers to the ground, her caramel hair draping. "Our family's reputation shouldn't depend on something that's out of your control. This is why I don't want a mate—this is why I want to run away and never deal with Mom's impossible expectations. Not every girl can just find out she's mated to a beta the second she turns eighteen."
"Run away? What are you talking about? Never say that."
Her voice dwindles as she fiddles with my strewn-about makeup. "It's the truth."
"If you ran away, the family would be heartbroken—destroyed."
She mutters, "Destroyed? Come on. Mom doesn't love me as much as she loves you."
"I-I'm sorry you feel that way. It's not true, but..." I stand and uncrease my carefully chosen outfit, a dress I usually wouldn't wear for an evening in the house. "But if you leave, just know I'll have to come after you and drag you back home—kicking, screaming, whatever."
"You wouldn't last a night on unclaimed land," She refutes, also standing. "Not with the rogues, the wilderness, and...well, who knows what? Probably horrible things like everyone says. If it were safe out there, we would go out there, but you know the rules."
"You're right. I probably wouldn't, so don't make me go."
"Okay. I won't."
I place my hands on my hips. "Let's wait downstairs with Mom and Dad. The future Beta should be eighteen soon; the day's almost over."
"Imagine he was born a minute before midnight; they'll fall asleep and miss the show."
"Mom said he was born just after dinner."
Lily makes a skeptical face. "How does she know that?"
"She has her ways, now come on."
I grab Lily's hand and lead her out of my bedroom and into the hall. Together, we descend the staircase and join our parents in the living room. Dad is sitting on the couch paging through the pack's guard information—tired after being shifted all day—while Mom paces in front of him.
She settles at the sight of me dressed and prettied. "How are you feeling, Celeste?"
"Fine," I chirp and sit on the empty living chair.
Lily walks past Mom to the loveseat adjacent to the couch. Mom glances at her and then asks me, "You aren't experiencing any abnormal feelings, are you? Any smells or tingles or fluttering?"
"My stomach hasn't stopped fluttering all day."
Mom exhales. "According to his aunt, he should be of age any second."
She notices my Goddess pendant is crooked, so she signals this by straightening her own imaginary pendant. I rectify my crooked necklace by laying the moonstone in the center of my chest and turning the clasp to the back; Mom thought wearing such a pendant would show the Beta where my priorities lie.
"Why don't you sit down?" Lily suggests to her.
Mom waves her hand dismissively. She hasn't spoken of anything but the future Beta's birthday all week. It's my job to procure a match with him, and I worry so much over it that I begin mumbling to the Goddess to make me his mate. It isn't a greedy prayer; I can't let my family down. An unmated girl my age is only seen as more of a burden by the year.
"Celeste? Anything?"
My anxiety resurrects in full force because it's taking too long, and the mysterious feelings aren't tingling. Just as I beckon my chair to swallow me whole, Lily gasps and places her hand over her heart, gathering everyone's attention. My nails dig into the upholstery.
"Lily?" Mom questions. "What is it?"
Lily's mouth opens, and she stutters. "I-I don't... I think..."
My heart hammers. Lily is hardly of age, but she is, and even if she's only been eighteen for a month, it's all the Goddess needs.
Mom's eyes widen, and she clings to her side, dropping onto the loveseat and grabbing Lily's arm. "Do you feel it? Is it the mate bond?"
Lily says nothing—her words are lost—but she looks at me with an apology forming on her face. I rise.
"It is, isn't it?" Mom turns to Dad. "Go outside. Wait for him."
Dad pushes up from the couch and places his papers on the table before him. He studies Lily and then turns to me; his judgment is evident, silent yet heartbreaking. He touches Lily's shoulder affectionately as he passes her, and then he lets himself out through the front door just beyond the living room.
Mom peers at me but can't meet my eye, so she rubs Lily's back instead and tells her, "This is good news. Don't worry. How about a scent? Do you smell him?"
I turn my back.
"Celeste, give Lily the necklace."
My feet drag to a halt, and my hands rise to the clasp with jittering fingers. It takes a second to work the clasp open, but once I get it, I hand Lily the pendant. Mom helps her put it on while giving her a summary of every hopeful and supportive thing she's uttered to me this past week.
Suddenly I'm not here.
I head into the kitchen and through the backdoor, unable to watch her nurture my sister. The night isn't so cold in the summer season, but the wind molds my dress to my body and blows up its skirt. I hurry along the sides of the house and stop at the corner connecting to the front. Dad waits some steps from the door with his arms crossed, kicking the dirt under his shoes and monitoring the horizon.
No moon tonight.
I wait as long as it takes, and when someone finally appears, I withdraw further into the shadows and watch like a ghost. My father meets the strange visitor, and the houselights unmask the man as our soon-to-be Beta. My expression wavers, both ashamed and upset because not a twitch of the mate bond ignites inside of me.
Why would the Goddess mate my sister before me? Why would she make me look so incapable and undesirable?
Light casts on the ground as the front door opens. My father only speaks to our Beta momentarily before Mom comes out with Lily in her grasp.
I've done everything Mom's asked of me, fought to be her perfect daughter since the moment of my birth, and now she can't even look at me. Tears well and drip down my cheeks.
Lily is the Beta's mate. She's securing our family's name.
The moment the Beta takes Lily's hand, I thrust myself away, and rush the way I came. The ground is wet from this morning's rainfall. Still, I step carelessly into pockets of mud, not caring about my shoes, dress, or any pretty thing.
I head for the tree line behind the house and repeatedly glance back at my home and its warm yellow windows like a haven at night, yet I feel unwelcome. I kick off my shoes and join the forest. Mom always warned Lily and me to stay far from the pack border—unclaimed land is rogue-ridden and lawless—yet I shift, tear my dress, and run straight for it. I've never left our pack, never stepped past the border, yet I feel an encumbering need to make my own decision for once.
My small blonde wolf sprints past the border and into the unknown, running on an endless amount of energy that propels me forward and in no other direction. When my muscles strain, I push harder. When howling sounds from the mountains, I grit my teeth and ignore it. If I stay, I'll only be pitied while everyone congratulates Lily, and I don't want to be my parents' mateless, disregarded embarrassment; a dreaded topic at family gatherings, condemned to a demoralizing reputation all my own.
I flee with no destination but cover plenty of ground. Pride fills my wolf until the scents of others reach my nose. A large wolf appears beside me, matching my pace with pounding steps. I look at it repeatedly, and another wolf joins me on my other side—guards. The two males dash ahead of me and compel me to a skidding stop.
I trip and tumble on the forest floor, catching a potent yet strange scent as the guards surround me. One barks—a demand to shift—yet all I can focus on is the scent and its growing effect on me until the wolves leer from above and bare their teeth.
***
My stomach rumbles and churns under a worn and tattered men's shirt. Dust and grime cling to the fabric both from myself and its previous owners; it stunk initially, but my senses muddle from the metallic dampness all around and the mysterious scent that has yet to falter. The cell's barred window is my only tell of the time; it has yet to reveal daylight though my arrest has felt days long.
I tell myself the scent is nothing—no one. The mere thought of another mating disappointment is too much to bear.
The rogue man beside me rattles his chains. The guards cuffed him to the wall, but not me. "You better prepare," he says, always talking. "I-I have one thing coming because I hurt one of them, but even trespassing receives a punishment. Any other Alpha would let a trespasser go with a warning but Draven won't. You made a big mistake coming here."
"I didn't mean to," I mutter as I draw in the dirt on the floor with my fingertip. "It was an accident—I've already said that."
"I'm gonna get it. I probably won't leave his territory ever again. He's the ruthless kind. Not many left like him, but they protect that sort of reputation. It works, doesn't it? I mean, we're the only fools in here."
I glance at the rogue. "Probably because the Alpha took care of the others already."
He nods, slightly frantic. "You're right. I should've known. But the Alpha won't care if what you did was an accident or not; there's no point in begging."
"Do you know what'll happen to me for trespassing? He can't... He can't make my sentence as bad as yours, right?"
"The Alpha can do whatever he wants," the rogue muses. "But no, it won't be the same punishment as mine. He might keep you here until your family pays for your freedom, or he'll make you work for it yourself."
"Doing what?"
"Labor, most likely. Though you don't look very capable of that work."
I sigh. "That's fine. I'd rather work for my freedom than have my family know I'm here."
His chains drag against the stone floor. "Your family doesn't want you?"
"I left." I sink into my spot. "I don't plan on going back any time soon, especially if my mate is here like I think he is. Maybe is. I don't know."
"Why'd you run? They hurt you?"
I shake my head. "I just had to get out and be somewhere else. For once."
"Whatever your punishment is, accept it," the rogue advises. "Don't challenge Draven. Don't even look in his eyes. Hopefully, you're mated to one of his men; it's the only thing that could save you from him."
I rest my head against the wall and slide my knees to my chest. The rogue quiets—surely contemplating his doomed fate further—so I delve into thought too. I wonder if anyone has realized I've left, or if they have yet to see past Lily and her glorious mate. I want my parents to want me, to miss me, but now that Lily has done my duty, I'm obsolete.
Our cell is quiet for some time, but I jump when a door further down the hall opens with a sharp screech. The rogue stirs and crawls as close to the bars as his chains will allow so he can see who's heading our way. A guard appears and unlocks the door.
"The Alpha is arriving," the guard says, entering the cell to unchain the rogue from the wall.
My heart picks up its pace. The guard takes the rogue by his chains and wrangles him to his feet before guiding him from the cell. And then the cell door closes.
I ask, "What about me? I told you I think I smell my mate, but no one is—"
The guard acknowledges me, uninterested. "Enough already. If you sense your mate, where is he? Huh? Lying isn't going to help you."
"Obviously, I don't know where he is, but I'm not lying."
The guard ignores me and relocks the door. He takes the rogue down the hall and out of sight, so I rest back against the wall, wrapping my arms around my legs and touching my forehead to my knees. The sun is beginning to rise now, lighting the small prison with a subtle glow.
I wait alone for a guard to collect me and bring me to Alpha Draven to receive my fate, but my chest begins aching so strongly that I forget about my impending punishment. I rub circles against the ache with the heel of my palm until it progresses into something undeniable. As though the breath in my chest is condensing, a strange painless pressure builds, warm and exciting.
The Goddess is mating me.
I release my legs and scramble from the filthy floor, clinging to the bars and shouting, "Hello," into the hall.
"Hello!" I call again, but no guard seems to hear me. I become restless, frustrated that my very special moment is being thwarted by cell bars. I smack my hand into them, and the bars don't move. "Goddess' sake."
The screech of the door reinvigorates me. I latch the bars and say, "Please! You have to listen! My mate is here and he won't find me if I'm—"
My thought escapes me as a powerful scent permeates my cell. A man steps in front of me and looks through the bars, stealing any possible plea from my throat. I breathe in as I discover the details of his face in the darkness of the hall. He must be the Alpha's prized guard as he's much bigger than the others around, and whatever examining I do to him is equally matched.
"Will you listen to me for just a minute? Please?"
"Go on," he says, his voice enticing.
"If you're about to take me to Alpha Draven, you should know I trespassed on accident—alone—but I think I'm being mated. M-Maybe you could talk to the Alpha and help me get out of here. He's gonna make me—"
"What will he make you do?"
My heart rattles. The scent—becoming so powerful—fogs my senses. Is it him? Is this guard my mate? If he is, why is he only toying with me rather than trying to help me? From the sound of it; he's almost entertained.
"There's no need to reason with him," the guard says.
"Why not?"
He asserts, "I'm the Alpha."
My face falls, and my hands slip from the cell bars. All at once, everything is made clear.
Alpha Draven opens my cell as I stand unmoving. I watch him turn the lock and drag the barred door open, and I feel our mate bond establish throughout my body like a rewiring of my nerves. I step away from the opening without realizing it.
He's my mate. He's Alpha Draven—tall, and muscular, and handsome. An Alpha. My heart cramps, and I thoughtlessly long to reach out and touch him, his arms, wide shoulders, and striking face, but I fist my hands instead. Our bond floods my chest, yet my lungs burn for air.