Once Rejected, Twice Desired

Alaia POV

I had a dream about him again.

I didn't know who he was — I never did. Just the impression of someone impossibly tall, smelling of something warm and yeasty, like bread straight from the oven. And eyes. Crystal-clear, like looking through ice into deep water. In the dream, he reached for me, and I actually let him. That was the part that scared me awake.

I lay in the dark, heart racing, and told myself it meant nothing.

In four days, I'd be eighteen. My wolf would wake up. And with her, the mate bond — that invisible, inescapable thread the Moon Goddess ties between two people before they're even born. Everyone around me was losing their minds with excitement about it. My brother Aaron practically vibrated out of his skin at the mention of it. My mother had been planning a party for weeks.

I was the only one in this packhouse who was quietly, secretly terrified.

“What if he doesn't want me?”

The thought sat in my chest like a stone I couldn't dislodge. I pushed it down, the way I always did, and reached for my phone. The alarm hadn't gone off yet. Of course, it hadn't — I'd already hit snooze three times.

"Alaia, get out of bed now! Don't make me come up there!"

Mom's voice cut through the ceiling like she had a direct line to my skull. I shot out of bed and into the bathroom, cursing when the shower ran ice-cold before I'd even braced for it. It did the job. The dream dissolved. The stone in my chest remained.

I caught my reflection in the mirror while the water warmed — golden, honey-colored eyes staring back at me, the same ones my mother had, in the same smooth caramel face. My long dark curls were a disaster, wild from sleep, and I yanked them into a messy bun before they could make me late. Mascara. Lip gloss. Yellow maxi dress with a knot tied at the front, because at 5'2, the hem dragged unless I improvised.

The girl in the mirror looked fine. Looked normal. Didn't look like someone quietly falling apart over a mate she hadn't even met yet.

“Get it together, Alaia.”

I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.

The packhouse kitchen was already alive when I got there — the low rumble of pack members eating, laughing, moving through their morning. The smell of coffee and something savory pulled me straight to the fridge. I stuck my head in and started my unconscious scan of the shelves, already doing what Jordyn called my "happy food dance."

"Oh, what deliciousness do you hold dear, fridge?"

I never got my answer.

Aaron crept up behind me and let out a shriek so sharp I banged my head on the fridge shelf, yelped loud enough to stop every conversation in the kitchen, and nearly swallowed my own heart.

I spun around and landed a right hook directly into his ribs before he could even finish laughing.

"Alaia, what the—"

"Don't." I pointed at him. "Don't you dare. My eyes are still crossed."

He doubled over, holding his side, grinning through the pain. Around us, twenty pack members were doing a terrible job of pretending not to be entertained.

"That right hook's gotten better," he wheezed. "Six months of training and she finally shows up."

"I've always shown up. You've just finally started feeling it."

He straightened up and ruffled my hair like I was a golden retriever, and I slapped his hand away before he could do it twice.

"Sixteen minutes," I reminded him. "You are sixteen minutes older than me. That's it. That's the entire foundation of your superiority complex."

"And what a glorious sixteen minutes they were."

I wanted to hit him again, but he was smiling that stupid, warm smile of his that made it impossible to stay annoyed — the one that had the entire school wrapped around his finger, future alpha status or not. I loved him more than I could ever say, which was exactly why I'd never say it out loud.

Mom swept into the kitchen before I could get back to the fridge, practically bouncing on her toes. I knew that look. That was her I have news, and I've been waiting all morning to deliver it look.

I braced myself.

"Are you ready, my babies?"

Aaron and I exchanged a glance.

"...For what?" we said together.

She threw her hands up. "Your birthday! This Saturday! I've got the whole pack preparing, and your dad has invited four alphas from neighboring packs — Alpha Black, Alpha Roland, Alpha Grey, and Alpha Beck. It's going to be the most beautiful night—"

"Wait." I held up a hand. "Four alphas?"

She beamed. "All unmated. Isn't it wonderful?"

It was not wonderful. It was the specific flavor of terrifying I'd been swallowing down since I woke up.

Aaron, the traitor, looked thrilled. I quickly opened our private mindlink before my face gave me away.

Four packs, Aaron. That's four times the chances of finding my mate. Four times the chances of him taking one look at me and deciding I'm not enough.

Or four times the chances that he's the one, and everything changes. His mental voice was annoyingly gentle. Isn't that worth the risk?

I didn't answer. I cut the link.

"Holy—" I caught myself just in time. Mom's eyes had already sharpened. "Sorry. I'm just... surprised."

She studied me for a beat too long — that knowing, Luna look that always made me feel transparent — and then she was off again, chattering about flower arrangements and guest lists and the dress she'd already commissioned without asking me.

I stood there and let her words wash over me, one thought looping quietly underneath all of it:

In four days, everything changes. And I'm the only one in this house who's afraid of what that means.

I didn't know, then, just how right I was.

She pushed us out the door before I'd eaten a single thing. My stomach growled in protest the whole walk to Aaron's car. He heard it, because of course he did, and smirked.

"That will teach you to hit snooze three times."

"I will end you."

He laughed and unlocked the car, and I dropped into the passenger seat, cheek against the cold window, watching the packhouse shrink behind us.

Four days.

Somewhere out there, there was a man the Moon Goddess had chosen specifically for me. Somewhere out there, he was going about his morning with no idea I existed. And in four days, the moment we were in the same room, we'd both know.

I kept telling myself that it was a beautiful thing.

I almost believed it.