The Alpha's Mate: Book 3 E-Book

Bella Lore

• Herausgeber: Lukeman Literary Management
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: The Alpha's Mate
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 266

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

As an Omega, 17-year-old Sarah is used to being at the bottom of the pecking order, even in her new pack and new high school. But her usually-boring life changes when she turns 18. She expects to shift—and nothing happens. Now, as if being an Omega isn't bad enough, Sarah is also human. But Sarah, to her surprise, soon finds her mate: in the pack's handsome and compassionate Alpha. And the lowly Omega finds herself rocketing to the top of her pack's status as the new Luna. Just as it seems that life is finally going her way, Sarah learns of a terrible betrayal that results in tragic death, exile, and upheaval of what should have been her storybook ending… Or does it? In Book 3, Sarah joins forces with her trusted and true friend, Ayala. Together, they search for Ayala's true mate, attempt to unlock her shifter powers, and fend off threats from the deadly Coello. Can they escape his mercenaries, Isaac and Regan? Or will Sarah and Ayala fall prey before they can find their true mates?

Leseprobe

T H E   A L P H A’ S   M A T E

(Book 3)

B e l l a   L o r e

Bella Lore

Debut author Bella Lore is the paranormal romance author of the MY TRUE MATE series, comprising four books, and THE ALPHA’S MATE series, comprising four books.

Bella loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit bellaloreauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2022 by Bella Lore. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Subbotina Anna, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BELLA LORE

MY TRUE MATE

MY TRUE MATE (Book #1)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #2)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #3)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #4)

THE ALPHA’S MATE

THE ALPHA’S MATE (Book #1)

THE ALPHA’S MATE (Book #2)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY SIX

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

I wake up early these days, as soon as the first rays of sunlight start to come through the curtains of my new room. Today is no different. When my eyes open, it’s only dawn, and the rest of the place is completely silent.

So I stay in bed, knowing there’s no way I’ll be able to go back to sleep, but letting my body rest as my thoughts run wild.

The reason I can’t stay asleep as soon as the sun comes up is probably because my eyes still aren’t used to sunlight. Not the way it looks here on earth, at least.

I’ve spent the last few centuries living in the celestial realm, a strange, magical place that only barely overlaps with the earthly realm. And before that, I only spent a few years on earth, having arrived as a seventeen year old when my Star Twin conjured me forth as part of a rare, powerful spell.

So in all, I’ve only lived on earth for a few years. Which would explain why my eyes aren’t used to sunlight, and why I’m always the first one awake.

I put my feet on the floor, sliding them into fluffy pink slippers that my friend, and now my Luna, got for me. Her name is Sarah, and she’s the one whose powers were strong enough to rescue me from the celestial realm. Since I’ve arrived, she’s been looking out for me, trying to make sure I have everything I need.

Which is why she got me the slippers. I’m not used to wearing shoes - in the celestial realm, I only wore a simple white dress, my hair long, my feet bare.

I don’t remember much about my time in the celestial realm, but I do remember always being barefoot. The ground would be cold and hard against my feet, but I never got hurt. My earthly body didn’t age, didn’t suffer any sickness, while I was there.

Which is why, even though my Star Twin, Layla, is an old woman, with creases around her eyes and her hair gone completely gray, I still look the same as I did when I was a young woman.

I brush through my blonde hair and pull on a soft dress with flowers embroidered around the neck and sleeves. Layla found it buried in some closet for me, and it’s been the most comfortable thing I’ve worn so far.

Still, Sarah tells me that the style is completely out dated. I know that if I want to fit in with this modern day pack and start my life on earth, I’ll need to figure out how to live like them. So she’s taking me to the shopping mall today to pick up new clothes.

Since it’s only just dawn, though, Sarah won’t show up for another few hours. I pad out of my small bedroom and into the rest of Layla’s house, a cluttered but gorgeous apartment above her veterinary clinic and spa. I’ve been living with her and her mate, Arnold, ever since I’ve been back. I’ve only been here for a few weeks, and so far, it’s been a pretty big adjustment after living in the celestial realm with all the lunar beings, and now showing back up in the modern world surrounded by other shifters.

Layla studies all sorts of powerful magic, and she wants to help me now that I’m back. Both of us want to figure out how to shift, and how to protect me from Coello, the Moon Rabbit, who seems to want to recapture me and bring me back to his lair in the celestial realm.

The only problem is that I don’t really remember the specifics of my time in the celestial realm. Things work differently there, and since coming back to earth, it’s all fuzzy in my mind. I know that I was a servant there, under the command of the Moon Rabbit. I remember how I felt sometimes - lonely, trapped, missing my Star Twin and my life on earth, longing and waiting for the Crescent Child to come and retrieve me.

But I don’t remember much more. I don’t know what sorts of things the Moon Rabbit made me do, or how I filled my time in captivity with him. Layla thinks there might be some sort of secret hidden within those lost memories, something we can use to help me and to finally defeat Coello.

So I’m trying to remember. Layla keeps finding these ancient or obscure books about Star Twins, and lunar beings, and deals with the Moon Rabbit. She wants me to read them, to see if anything sparks a memory inside me. So far nothing has, but I’m doing my best.

I sit down on the plush, worn velvet sofa in the living room. There’s a scroll open on the coffee table, with weird geometric diagrams and star charts all over it. I pick it up and scan over it, trying to force myself to remember something.

Nope. Nothing. Unless you could boredom and frustration, which I already knew were major features of my time in the celestial realm.

I spend the next few hours poking through the things Layla has left out for me. There’s even a shiny flat disc that’s supposed to make music for me to listen to, but I can’t figure it out, and I doubt it would matter much if I did.

I hate to disappoint my beloved Star Twin, but I just don’t think this is going to work.

Finally, Sarah is here to pick me up. It’s just her - her mate, Nash, is watching her baby so that we can hang out together. I climb into her little blue car, and she laughs good naturedly at my outfit.

“It’s a good thing we’re taking you shopping today,” Sarah says as she starts the car, its loud motorized noise still a marvel to me. “You look like someone’s grandma. Even Layla doesn’t dress so old fashioned!”

I smile, tracing the embroidered flowers on the sleeve of my dress with one finger.

CHAPTER TWO

The mall is a wild maze of loud sounds and bright lights. Sarah brings me first to a little shop that sells tiny electronics.

“We’ll get you a phone,” she tells me, “and that way you can stay in touch with everyone, and do whatever you want online. If you want to learn about the modern world, this is the best way to do it.”

“Okay,” I say. Sarah buys me one of the devices, a rectangle that fits perfectly in my hand. It lights up with words and images from all over the world, and I get lost in it, a wide grin breaking over my face as I see pictures of far off locations and incredible animals.

¶Earth is a wonderful place. I’m so glad I get to explore it.

It’s a good thing I feel this way, too - because I’m going to need to get out there and start exploring, sooner rather than later. I need to find my mate. That’s the only way I’ll be free of the Moon Rabbit, who has vowed to take me as his mate and keep me forever under his spell in the celestial realm.

Plus, based on Layla’s research, it looks like finding a mate is the only way I’ll ever be able to shift. Layla, too, is locked away from her inner wolf until i can complete this quest.

So there’s a lot riding on me being able to find my made. Which is one reason Sarah is so insistent on getting me cool, modern clothes.

“I’m sure whoever your mate ends up being, he’ll love you just as you are,” Sarah says, chattering away as we wander the mall in search of her favorite clothing store. “Still, it’ll be a lot easier to meet people out here if you fit in a bit better.”

I certainly hope she’s right - on both counts. I hope that I can meet a mate who loves me even though I’m something strange, a Star Twin, someone from a different century who has been frozen in time, a former prisoner of the Moon Rabbit.

And I hope these new clothes will help me find him.

“I know you prefer dresses and skirts,” Sarah says, taking me by the hand and leading me into one of the stores. “So we’ll stick with that, for the time being.”

She starts pulling things off the racks, soft pink and powder blue fabrics. They’re soft, and easy to look at. I have a hard time putting them on at first, not used to the new zipper fasteners that modern clothes use, but Sarah helps me into the first one, a long pink dress with gold stitching around the chest.

“You look awesome!” Sarah claps her hands together, and I twirl slightly, making the dress flare out a bit.

It’s shorter than the dress I’m used to, and my ankles feel oddly bare, exposed. Still, my reflection in the mirror looks lovely. You can see my long legs, and my blonde hair falls like corn silk over my shoulders.

“Okay, yeah, we’re definitely getting you that one,” Sarah says. “Now let’s try on some more!”

We spend hours shopping for clothes. Although I was nervous at first, I genuinely enjoy spending time with Sarah. She gives me advice on navigating the modern world, and she makes me laugh with her jokes. I was worried about spending the entire day with the Luna of the pack, but Sarah isn’t haughty or full of her own power.

I guess that makes sense, given what I know about her past. She’s used to being an outsider, and she knows what it’s like to not fit in. I’m lucky to have her as my friend and Luna.

Sarah buys me a bunch of new clothes, plus some ribbons to tie my hair back if I want to, and some comfortable sandals. Then we get ourselves some snacks, sausages on buns with all sorts of toppings on them, and wander toward the exit.

But as we’re leaving the mall, something catches my eye. There’s an old human woman sitting behind a small table covered in black gauzy fabric. There are tarot cards and tiny crystals spread out on the table.

“Come, young ladies, and have your fortune read!” She beckons to me with a long, bony finger.

After all the high tech, modern stuff in the mall, this finally feels familiar. She reminds me of Layla, and the time she and I used to spend together, with crystals and cards and herbs and spells, trying to find our inner wolves, trying to enhance our powers.

I start walking over.

“No, Ayala, come on,” Sarah mumbles, tugging on my arm. “They’re just scammers.”

But I don’t listen. I sit down beside the woman and tap the deck of cards three times.

With a twinkle in her eyes, she stars to shuffle.

Sarah stands beside me, looking down at the table with a slightly curious, mostly bored expression. I know she doesn’t think this is a good use of time or money, but my life has been imbued with strange magic, and I could really use something familiar right about now.

The human woman starts chattering, laying out cards and pointing to various images. She tells me that I am a girl on an important journey, and that there are depths to me that I have yet to discover.

So far, all of that is true, although it’s probably true of nearly everyone in this mall. Maybe Sarah was right, and this was a waste.

But then, the old fortune teller flips over a card that makes her let out a small gasp, then go quiet.

I lean over to look. The card is upside down, but it depicts a rabbit, skinny and tall and white, standing under a full moon. Its eyes are red, and its teeth are long.

“This is an unusual card,” the old woman murmurs. “And especially rare to see inverted.”

“What does it mean?” Sarah asks, shifting from one foot to another.

The woman looks at me, peering directly into my eyes with an intensity that makes me want to squirm.

“It means that you, my dear, face some grave danger in your future.”

CHAPTER THREE

My heart pounds in my chest. I know exactly what that “grave danger” might be.

Coello, the Moon Rabbit, is coming for me.

He said he would, and his threat has been hanging over my head ever since. Now, this human fortune teller has shown me a card with a white rabbit under a full moon, and told me that I’m in danger.

I can hardly breathe. Sarah, too, seems to be as freaked out as I am. She grabs my hand, pays the fortune teller, and yanks me out of there.

I hardly remember the car ride back. The next thing I know, I’m back at Layla’s, in the downstairs part, the spa, with candles burning and bubbling hot tubs. None of it relaxes me, though. It feels like my lungs are collapsing, and my mouth is full of the tangy taste of fear.

¶“What happened?” Layla asks, rushing over. “Is she okay?”

“We saw him,” Sarah says. She and Layla lead me to one of the couches and make me lay down.

“What do you mean, you saw him?” Layla’s voice is clipped and nervous. “Coello? The Moon Rabbit? He’s back, already?”

“No, not in person.” Sarah shakes her head, running a hand through her hair. “A picture of him. Some kind of fortune telling card.”

“Where?” Layla demands.

“At the mall.”

“What on earth were you doing playing with fortune telling cards at the human shopping mall?”

“I don’t know! There was an old woman, and she called us over, and just started reading Ayala’s cards!”

“Okay, okay,” Layla says. “Relax, both of you.”

I hear Sarah take a deep breath, but I can’t relax. I feel like my body is being squeezed, like I have to escape, but there’s nowhere to go.

¶“You’re having a panic attack, sweetie,” Layla says, leaning over me with a concerned expression.

All I can do is look up at her and shake my head, confused. I feel faint, even though I’m already lying down.

“Stay with her,” Layla instructs Sarah. Sarah sits down on the sofa, taking my hand in hers, trying to reassure me. But all I can think of is the image of the white rabbit, and the look in the old woman’s eyes when she told me that I was in serious danger.

 Layla returns with a mug of something. It smells herbal and spicy. She lifts it to my lips.

“This will help you calm down,” she says. That sounds like a great prospect, so I drink it all, gulping it down desperately.

“Slow down,” Sarah scolds me.

“She’s still new to all this,” Layla says. “Having an earthly body. One that can have panic attacks, and drink tea.”

Sarah and Layla continue to talk over me as I lie back on the couch, the hot tea coursing through me, warm and heavy in my stomach.

I know they’re talking about me, and I try to listen, but my eyelids feel so heavy. I slide into a deep sleep, even though the sun is still out.

When I wake, Layla and Sarah are still nearby, murmuring in quiet voices. I sit up and rub my eyes.

“Hey, beloved,” Layla says, using one of the terms of endearment we used to use for one another, back when we were two Star Twins roaming around trying to figure out our own powers. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” I say, and I’m not lying. The terror that had consumed me earlier is gone, leaving behind a sense of steadiness and control. “Thanks.”

“We’ve been doing research,” Layla says, “and we really think that you need to -”

“Wait,” Sarah says, interrupting Layla. I can’t help but smile a bit at that. I’ve never known many people who were able and willing to talk over Layla. “She still needs to rest.”

“I feel fine,” I insist. Sarah might be my friend, but Layla is my Star Twin, and I’ll always do what she needs me to do. “What’s the plan?”

“If the Moon Rabbit is coming back for you, then we need to be ready. We need to figure out what he really wants, and how he’ll try to get it. And what his weaknesses are.”

“But I don’t remember,” I say, feeling deflated.

“I know,” Sarah says. “And you don’t have to push yourself.”

“Yes,” Layla tells me, “you do.”

“Layla!” Sarah scolds. “Hasn’t she been though enough?”

“She’ll be going through a lot more if Coello captures her again,” Layla says resolutely. “We can’t just sit around and pretend that he isn’t out there, waiting, and plotting.”

The fear starts to creep back up my spine, and I shiver.

“I agree with Layla,” I say. “I’ll do whatever it takes to give us a chance at defeating him.”

“Fine,” Sarah sighs, her arms crossed. “As your Luna, I feel like I have a duty to look after you, and I still think it’s too early to be trying anything like this, but if you and Layla are going to insist…”

“We do,” Layla says. I meet her eyes and nod. We might have been separated for hundreds of years, but we’re still twins. We share the same determination and focus.

“Okay,” I say. “What do I do?”

Layla leads me into a smaller room off the side of her clinic. She directs me to lie flat on my back on a raised massage bed. I do, taking deep breaths and feeling my ribs press against its firm leather.

Layla lights candles I’ve never seen before, their wax pure and shimmering white, their wicks ebony black even before they start to burn. She uses them to light sticks of incense, and their smoke twists and twirls up toward the ceiling, surrounding us in hazy clouds.

“All you need to do, Ayala, is focus,” Layla says, waving her hands over my prone body in a strange spiraling motion. “Think about what happened to you while you were in the celestial realm. Try to remember what the Moon Rabbit did, and what he said.”

“We need to find his weakness,” Sarah reminds me. “We need to know everything we can about him.”

“You can do this,” Layla tells me, giving me an optimistic and supportive squeeze on the shoulder.

“I can do this,” I agree.

I can do this.

CHAPTER FOUR

I fall into my sister’s spell, losing myself in the aromas of the incense and Layla’s magic. I find myself drifting through memories.

First, it’s the easy ones to access. The ones I’ve made since coming back to earth. I see Sarah, and her daughter Stella, the Crescent Child whose birth heralded the ending of my contract with the Moon Rabbit.

I remember being in the car with them, its engine rumbling beneath us, suddenly back in my true, earthly body, aware of my bare feet, the ends of my long hair.

I remember seeing Layla for the first time, the way she shrieked with joy and pulled me into a sisterly embrace.

¶“Go deeper,” Layla murmurs. She stands over me, waving her hands through the incense smoke, directing its shapes and curls with her magic. “Remember your time before this. Before here.”

I close my eyes. I have to go back. I have to remember what it was like, living in the celestial realm.

“He took me…” I mumble, trying to find the words to tell Layla and Sarah what I’m seeing.

“Sshh, it’s okay,” Sarah whispers. “You don’t have to talk. We can see everything you’re remembering in the smoke.”

I open my eyes, and sure enough, the incense clouds are forming into shapes. I see the strange, vast expanse of the Moon Rabbit’s lair, his tall human form looming over me.

“Just remember,” Layla says. “All you have to do is let yourself remember.”

I close my eyes again. I breathe deep, smelling the incense. I can feel the aura of Layla’s presence beside me, the magic she is weaving over me.

I let myself remember.

I was taken away to be an attendant of the Moon Rabbit. He kept me at his side nearly all the time, silent and meek, a trophy from earth. I walked behind him, my plain white gown and long blonde hair a strange vision to the celestial beings, many of whom don’t have earthly bodies.

I remember being watched, being seen, being on display. I remember seeing other earthly captives come and go, their time shorter than mine, their eyes sad and glazed.

“Go deeper,” Layla calls to me, her magic drawing me down, down, into the depths of my memories.

In my mind, I see the Moon Rabbit and his three forms. One was the white rabbit, its tall ears and beady eyes and powerful hind legs. He would run and leap, showing off his ability to move between the earthly and celestial realm. He would shed his fur in trade, ensnaring other shifters and the occasional human into his dark powers.

One was his human form. Tall, handsome in a cruel and angular way, with pale hair and piercing eyes. He would walk the earth like this, seducing its beings. He would also take this form when we were alone together and he wanted me to act as his mate.

His mate. I never truly was mated to him, but he treated me as if we were. He demanded my loyalty and submission, kneeling at his feet, trailing at his side, bowing low to him.

He forced me to serve him in every way. I hated it, and I hated him, although when we were in the celestial realm, I felt no pain. My body was asleep, waiting for its return to earth.

On earth, I felt my feet, sore and bleeding, as he took me over its rocks and shores. But I was never truly back in my earthly body, and the pain would fade, and soon we would be back in the celestial realm, vast and empty and cold.

I drift a while through those memories, of walking behind Coello - for he was only and ever Coello when he was in his human form - until I hear Layla’s voice again.

“His other form, beloved sister. He has a true form. Did you see it?”

I did. But I don’t want to remember.

“You must,” Layla urges. “Let me see it.”

The Moon Rabbit had a true form, not human or animal, but something terrible and grotesque. I rarely saw it, except in flickers, from the corner of my eye, or at the peak of his rages.

His rages. I remember them.

He would order me to shift into my wolf form. He wanted it for himself, wanted to use it, wanted to claim ownership of a wolf. But I couldn’t shift.

Coello would threaten me, and I would try, pushing the limits of my own power. Still, I could never give it to him. I could never find my inner wolf.

He tried on earth, and he tried in the celestial realm. He tried subjecting me to magical spells, cruel and evil ones, false and dangerous ones. He tried hurting me, punishing me, sending me to horrible places, forcing me to do horrible things.

And yet my wolf would never emerge. Every time, when he realized that he had lost, again, that his captive would only ever be me, he would throw his head back and shriek in rage. It was high pitched and chattering, a sound that set my teeth on edge.

In those moments, I would see him for what he truly was. A creature of greed, and lust, and hatred. Neither beast nor man, but something made up of twisted magic and held together by evil.

I don’t really remember specific moments of him taking his true form. My memories are a tangled mess of fear and pain and confusion, with flickering images of something almost too awful to process.

The smoke must be doing a good enough job at capturing this, though, because I hear a strange nervous squeak from Sarah, and Layla has gone completely silent. I can feel her magic, though, pressing closer into me. It brings protection, and grief, and loyalty, and sorrow, and rage, and love.

I would know my sister’s magic anywhere. It is, after all, what created me. And during the short time I spent with her, we would cast it together, trying to find our wolves, trying to expand our powers.

Now, she’s using it to tell me how much she missed me when I was gone, how sorry she feels about the deal that gave her hundreds of years of freedom and power in exchange for my captivity, how overjoyed she is to be reunited, and how aggressively she will pursue my safety.

CHAPTER FIVE

Layla lets the incense burn out, and the spell winds down. I open my eyes and go to sit up, but there’s a bone deep weariness in me that I wasn’t prepared for. I exhale and lay back down.

“You’ve got to be exhausted,” Sarah says gently. “After all that.”

“Why don’t you two go have a soak,” Layla suggests. “I want to make some notes about what we’ve just seen.”

“Sure thing.” Sarah reaches for my hand, letting me lean heavily on her as she lifts me off the massage table. We stumble toward one of the spa’s hot tubs, and Sarah helps me take off my dress and lower my worn out body into the hot water.

It feels so good. I can’t help but lean my head back and smile.

Sarah clambers in after me, splashing a bit as she settles in to the water. Layla tosses her a sachet of fragrant herbs, floral and light, completely different from the scent of the incense. Sarah lets the sachet float in the water, and soon all I can smell is lavender and jasmine. The experience of the incense and the memory spell seems to fade, and I start to feel like myself again.

Sarah and I soak for a while, chattering a bit about simple, easy things. She tells me that Stella has started to learn a few words, babbling them in her adorable baby way. We talk about Nash, her mate and the Alpha of the San Diego pack.

“He’s been fixing up his motorcycle,” Sarah tells me. “Ever since we had the baby, we mostly use the car, because it’s not safe to have her on the bike, but he wants to be able to take her riding as soon as she’s old enough.”

“Sounds fun,” I say. Nash keeps offering to take me out for a ride, too, but cars are quite enough for me for now.

We talk about the things going on with the pack, how the Beta, Greyson, has been working overtime to ensure that everyone stays safe, and how everyone is coping with the losses of beloved pack members after the battle down in Mexico.

“As awful as that battle was,” Sarah muses, “if it had never happened, we wouldn’t have found you.”

I smile, marveling at the way that everything for us shifters seems to be woven in together. Our fates, our destinies - they all interleave. My Star Twin became the matriarch of a great pack, because of the Moon Rabbit pelt we traded my freedom for. Sarah then became the Luna of this pack after losing her own family and inheriting a powerful amulet.

It all comes together. We need each other. Our magic is interconnected. Our stories are all part of one another’s journeys.

I don’t yet know what my place is in all of this, though. I just need to find my mate, and hopefully that will help things make more sense.

“Okay,” Sarah says after a while, “I should probably get back to the pack house. Stella will be driving Nash absolutely bonkers by now.”

From what I’ve seen, Nash is an excellent father, and he can handle the baby for as long as he needs to. It’s much more likely that Sarah is just missing her daughter and wants to head back, not to relieve Nash, but to relieve her own desires to cuddle the child.

¶I don’t say anything, though. I know what it’s like to be away from your family. We dry off, and I pull on some clean clothes from the bags Sarah carried home from the mall. I shout a goodbye to Layla, who waves at us without looking up from her notebook, and we make our way outside.

It’s only a short walk between Layla’s place and the pack house. The roads are covered in black tar, with drifts of sand from the nearby beaches piling up at the curb. After the cold expanses of the celestial realm, I can’t get enough of this San Diego sun.