Stefan’s POV
“The Alphas of Crimson Star pack and Night Hunters pack request an audience with you tomorrow. From what I gather, they intend to surrender,” Max briefs me.
We are in my briefing room—me, Levi, Andreas, Hanna, and Max. It’s Wednesday evening, right after I had my conversation with Mari.
“Really? Where did their pride go?” Andreas questions, flipping a pocket knife in his hand as he leans back in his chair.
He is right. Alphas don’t give in so easily. Most would rather fight a losing battle than willingly give up their sovereignty.
But then again, I’m not just some invading Alpha who wants to take over their packs. They can keep them. As long as they realise they now have someone to answer to.
“Crimson Star and Night Hunters aren’t exactly the strongest packs around,” Hanna comments. “They are being wise. They know they can’t handle an invasion.”
“I’ll see them,” I tell Max. “Look into them. Just because they surrender doesn’t mean I’ll keep them in charge.”
Hanna is right, they could be surrendering before I invade them because they realise they stand no chance against me. But they could also be doing so expecting to curry favour with me. If that’s so, they can quit dreaming.
I’m ushering in a new age for werewolves, and there’s no place for Alphas who are not dedicated to protecting our species. For decades now, our numbers have been dwindling, our habitat slowly disappearing as greedy Alphas sell hectares of land to humans. The constant wars between packs have only exacerbated the problem. I intend to bring a stop to all that.
Max nods. “Sure, Alpha.”
“This means that we can begin planning for the Allegiance ceremony, right?” Hanna asks. A smile ghosts her lips. “All hail Stefan Lee Klose, King of the Werewolves, Alpha of Alphas.”
Andreas rolls his eyes and kicks her chair. “Just say you’re looking for an excuse to party.”
“Oh, concerning that,” Max says, “when do you intend to have the bonding ceremony?”
All eyes in the room swing to me.
It’s no secret that I’ve not only claimed Mari but also marked her. Any male werewolf who gets anywhere close to her can smell my scent all over her—a warning to stay clear of what’s mine.
All that remains is the official part. If I was just any other werewolf, it wouldn’t matter. As far as nature goes, I’ve taken her as my mate. I’ve served her with my body, marked her with my scent, and my wolf claimed her the moment he sunk his fangs into her flesh.
But I’m not just another werewolf. I’m Alpha, and Mari, as my mate, is my Luna. There must be a public bonding ceremony. After that, everyone will recognise her not just as the Luna of the Crescent River pack, but also as the werewolf Queen of all Southern packs.
“Since you’ve found her before the Allegiance ceremony,” Hanna suggests, “it’s best to have the bonding ceremony first. That way, when the Alphas swear allegiance to you, they can recognise her as Queen.”
She’s right.
If I could, I would have us bonded as soon as possible.
But…
She claims that she’s not the one I was looking for. When she mentioned it first, I thought it was because she didn’t remember me for a reason. But then she claimed that she has an identical twin sister. And that, apparently, they use the same name.
We might have had all that sex, I might have marked her, but if she’s truly not my fated one…
“There’s no rush,” I tell them.
***
Later at night, I stand in front of Mari’s door and knock. It has been a few hours since we last spoke. She has been well fed and had some time to think over the events of the last few days.
Some things need clearing, and I hope we can do that now.
The door opens and she appears. She’s wearing a knitted sweater over her T-shirt, something the housekeeper must have found somewhere. That reminds me, she needs clothes. And all her belongings.
When I took her from the club, we didn’t exactly have the chance to go by her place to pick up her things. That’s something else we need to talk about.
“Stefan?” she asks, folding her arms across her chest.
“We need to talk,” I tell her. “Can I come in?”
She looks behind into her room and then gazes back at me. “Not in here,” she says.
Right. That’s a good idea. Her body might not be craving mine like it did when she woke up, but I don’t need her to be in that state for me to start having ideas. To start remembering everything we did on that bed for most of last evening, throughout the night, and today.
“How about a walk in the back garden?” I ask. “You haven’t been outside since you got here. And the sky is clear tonight.”
She nods. “Sounds good.”
A few minutes later, we are strolling through the back garden. We are walking side by side, but she’s keeping quite the distance from me. As if she’s deliberately avoiding being close to me.
“Tell me about your sister,” I tell her eventually.
She looks at me briefly before glancing away. “I really don’t know much. We were separated at five. My mother took her and left me with Dad. Mari was my mother’s favourite. She said I was more like my father. But then she came back when I was ten. Mari wasn’t with her. She took me away from my father. And since then, I’ve gone by Mari’s name. Nobody knows what happened to my sister.”
“What’s your real name, then?”
“Gwen,” she replies, “Gwen Rose.” She looks at me again, a small smile on her lips. “It’s a long time since I uttered it. It feels like a stranger’s name.”
“Gwen Rose,” I say out loud. “It’s such a beautiful name.”
“Thanks,” she replies, then looks away. “Do you believe me now? I’m not the one you were looking for.”
I can tell she’s not lying.
Is this why I didn’t feel any pull when I saw her at the club? I assumed it didn’t happen because it already did when we were kids.
But…
If she isn’t the one, why would my wolf take over on his own to save her? He wouldn’t be that protective of just any woman. He wouldn’t claim her if she wasn’t my fated one.
All I know right now is that this is the woman I’m destined to be with. Every part of me—my body, my soul, my beast—has accepted her. And I know that if she were to reject me, it would crush me.
Maybe she’s not the one I set out to find, but she’s the one I was meant to find.
Does that make sense?
“I do,” I tell her, “I believe you.”
“Will you let me go, then?”
I swallow hard and slow down to a stop. She notices and stops too.
“Do you want me to?” I ask when she looks back at me.
She holds my gaze for a short while before looking away. A small smile appears on her face as she regards the ground. “It’s crazy.”
“What is?”
“I can’t bear the thought…” she sighs heavily and looks towards the forest. “Why do I feel like this? Is it because you… You bit me? Does it bond me to you in some way? That must be it, right?” Her eyes draw back to me. “And… My body… The way I react to you. I can’t explain any of it.”
I step closer to her. Unlike the other times, she doesn’t step back. “Don’t fight it.”
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Some things just don’t make sense. They don’t need to.”
She swallows, then gasps quietly. “Your eyes.”
“What?”
“They are glowing.”
I pinch my fingers over them, shutting them for a second. “They do that sometimes. In the dark.”
“Is that a werewolf thing?”
Not really. Yes, werewolves’ eyes glow in the dark, but only when they are in their wolf forms. I, on the other hand, get glowing eyes even in my human form.
I nod anyway. “Kind of.”
“They are beautiful,” she whispers.
I get that a lot. Then when those who find them beautiful realise they are useless in my wolf form, their admiration turns into pity.
“Thank you,” I tell her.
She chews on her lower lip, shifting on her feet. “So, my sister… Will you keep looking for her?”
NO!
I startle at the sudden growl in my mind. That didn’t come from me. I didn’t think that. I…
I look down to my hands. They are trembling.
Mari gasps again, and I look back at her. Her face is glowing in blue light as if something is shining on it.
“Your eyes got brighter!” she exclaims.
Fuck.
I turn away from her, squeezing them shut. What the fuck is going on?
I fold my hands into fists, fighting to stop the trembling. Then I feel the tingles all over my body.
My wolf, trying to take over. I fight him as hard as I can.
SHE’S MINE!
The growl comes again.
“Stefan? Are you okay?” Mari asks, stepping closer to me.
I’m breathing heavily at this point, my chest heaving under the effort.
“I won’t,” I find myself telling her, the words leaving my mouth as if they couldn’t do it faster. “I won’t keep looking for her. You’re the one for me.”
The tingling stops almost immediately. And the light in my eyes disappears.
I almost crumble to the ground in relief, but I hold my ground.
That has never happened before.
He has never spoken to me before.
And now, more than ever, the theory I’ve always toyed with, that my wolf is not just a part of me but some pushy beast with an existence of his own, doesn’t seem so silly anymore.