Chapter 2

Arienne’s POV

I know that feeling. I’ve felt it before, and I never thought in a million years that I’d feel it again. I stood there, staring at this girl at the end of the hall, her long waist length brown hair in a tight braid down her back gave me a perfect view of her beauty. A little heart shaped face, and the most gorgeous pair of golden brown eyes stared back at me, wide, and confused. I was confused too, damn the Moon Goddess… What a sick sense of humor she has. Bringing me a second chance mate? Today? This was the last place I expected to meet her. I’m not ready. I don’t know if I can handle this yet. I try my best to keep my emotions at bay and not lose it in front of her. I don’t want her, yet still, I have to know her. I approach her quickly, my feet moving me towards her. Arlo is howling in my head, screaming the same word over and over again, as if I didn’t already know what was going on. 

‘Mate! Mate! Mate!’

Arlo forwards himself and grabs her face, pulling her close. He is right under my skin, taking over my actions. He wants her. 

“Mate!” I say, out loud. Suddenly, the girl’s eyes roll back in her head and I lose my grip. I try my best to catch her before she hits the floor, but I fail. I stand up and look away from her. The anger at not only myself, but the Moon Goddess, is bubbling inside me, and I begin to lose control. I punched the wall several times, putting holes in the antique wallpaper. My mother is going to have my head on a platter for that one, but I don’t care. I just need to get out of here. I turn to Carmen and Samuel, who are now down on the floor with the girl. Carmen is holding her in her lap, repeatedly tapping the cheek of the girl, trying to get her to come to. “Amikat!” she exclaims. “Wake up! Can you hear me?” Everyone is panicking, except for me. A few other pack members have entered the hallway, trying to figure out what the commotion was, Beta Collin being among them. 

“Take her to the hospital wing, Collin” I say. Arlo is repeating the girl’s name over and over in my head and I can’t think straight. He wants to be with our mate. He wants to hold her, make sure she is okay. But I can’t bring myself to do that at the moment. “Make sure she gets the best care.”

“Yes Alpha,” he says. He removes Amikat from Carmen’s arms and carries her off.

“And you two!” I yell. Carmen and Samuel were trying to scurry off back to the kitchen. “Can you tell me who that girl is? Why is she here?” They both remain silent. “I am not asking. I am ordering you to tell me. Now.”

“Uh, yes sir,” stutters Samuel. “ Um, her parents were members of our pack back when she was little. Her father was actually your father’s Beta back in the day, before the war with Blood Moon. Her parents were killed.”

“So why is she here now? Who brought that rogue here?”

“I’m to blame,” Carmen pipes up finally. “I tracked her down. She’s been in the foster care system since her parents died. I wanted to give her a chance to come back, seeing as she was never banished, and she was born here. And she has Beta blood. Oh, and the important thing… we only just now discovered that she doesn’t know she’s a werewolf.”

“Excuse me?”

“She turns eighteen in four days, Ari. I think it’s good we got her here when we did. That could have been bad, seeing as she lives among humans.” This made me angry. How could they not know? And how did they think it was okay to bring her here under my nose? I am their Alpha, and yet they do not respect me. I can’t take this anymore. 

I begin to head up to my room, but Carmen grabs me by the arm. I flick her off and keep walking. “Leave me be for a moment,” I order. “I need time to think.”

“Can she stay for now?” Asks Carmen. I think that over quickly and agree with her that it would be best to at least keep her here until after her eighteenth. Help her understand, and help her through her first shift. After that, I’m not sure what to do with her. But I have four days to decide what to do with her.

Amikat’s POV

I wake up to the sound of beeping. I’m in an all white room, and I look up to my left to see that I’m attached to a monitor. On my right, a woman in a white lab coat looks to be filling out some papers. She looks over at me and her face lights up. “Oh good!” she says. “You’re awake! Can you tell me exactly what happened? Beta Collins wasn’t sure, so I don’t have anything to go off of. And a side note, I have you on some light pain medication because you hit your head, and that might start wearing off soon. Let me know if you feel too much pain, and I can give you some more. You have quite the knot on your head form that fall.”

“Thank you,” I say, “I’ve never passed out like that before. I’m not really sure that happened either.” I try to collect my thoughts, but I’m still a little groggy. “How long was I out?”

“About twenty minutes. Can you follow my finger with you eyes? I want to make sure you didn’t get a concussion.” I do as she asks, and she turns around to write something on her clipboard. “I don’t see any signs of a concussion. Do you remember anything before you passed out?” I think really hard and some of the events start to come back. The man, the pain I felt, but mostly just the word he said right before I passed out. 

“What does the word ‘mate’ mean?” She looks at me with a confused look on her face.

“Why are you asking about that hun? Don’t you know? You are a werewolf, you should know these things.”

“I was only informed about what I am like, less than an hour ago. What does it mean?”

“I don’t know if I’m the best one to explain that to you, But may I ask again why you’re wanting to know?”

“I met someone, someone… important. I mean I feel like he’s important, you know? I’m not sure why…”

“Did he say that word to you before you fell?”

“Yes.” I say. She purses hew lips. 

“What did he look like?”

“Um… Very handsome, blue eyes, white hair, tall…” She looks at me all wide eyed. She goes over to the other side of the room and hurriedly picks up a phone and starts dialing. 

“Beta Collin? Yes, yes, she’s doing fine. Do you know who she is? Who told you to bring her here. I See… You need to get the Alpha here, now. He needs to be with her. The girl you brought in here, She’s your Luna.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, interrupting her phone conversation. She finishes up and turns back to me.

“Like I said, I am not the best person for this conversation.” Suddenly, her phone rang. She looks at the screen and then answers. “Yes, I understand, Alpha, she says before hastily putting her phone in her pocket. 

“What was that? Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

“Carmen is coming down to show you to your room. You’re all good to be discharged, I’m sure she is better equipped to answer these questions for you. I’m sorry you have to find out like this, hun.”

Carmen comes in and hugs me, asks if I’m okay. The doctor assures her I am, before she takes me by the hand and leads me out of the room.

The house is huge, and I’m sure I would get lost if I tried to go anywhere here by myself. She leads me up to the third floor and shows me a room. It’s huge, probably bigger than my entire apartment. There’s a king size bed up against a wall with huge floor to ceiling windows on either side. I see a walk-in closet and a private bathroom, as well as a sitting area with a tv. There’s also a little kitchenette on the other side of a separator wall. It’s huge, and way too nice for someone like me. “Carmen, this is way too nice, I can’t stay here,” I say.

“Yes you will, it’s yours. No worries, okay?” she grabs my hands. “I was told you might have some questions. Would you like to sit down and talk for a while?”

“I’d like that,” I say. She leads me to the sofa, and we begin to talk.

I start with asking about what it means to be a werewolf. She told me what abilities they have, like being able to turn into a wolf, and about the pack’s mind linking abilities. Like telepathy. It’s crazy, and I’m not sure if I believe all of it. But I guess I have to for now, especially since she’s telling me I’m going to shift for the first time on my eighteenth birthday.

She says we have something called a wolf spirit. Carmen described it as almost like having a second person inside your head. You can have full conversations with them. They are the other half to your soul. Like two souls, living in the same body. I can’t say I’m not intrigued. I’ve always been interested in all this supernatural stuff, so it’s absolutely amazing to think that I could have been something more, this whole time. After that, we start getting down to the hard questions. She told me about who my parents were, and that there’s a few people left in the pack who knew them who would be willing to talk to me about them. She said there was an older werewolf who would probably be willing to answer some more questions about them if I wanted. I definitely want a little more time to process all of this stuff before I learn about that part. I mean, my parents were killed. How did I end up in foster care after that? Someone had to bring me there… I couldn’t have just disappeared. 

Carmen said I could have just wandered into town after that happened, or got picked up on the side of the road. I wasn’t even five yet, so there’s almost no way I would’ve known what was happening at the time.

I also asked Carmen about the mate thing and what it was.

“It’s like a soulmate, to put it into human terms,” she starts. “But it goes a little deeper than that. We have a Moon Goddess, and she’s the one who pairs people together. Perfect matches for each other. You instantly know when you meet them. The world takes on so much more color when they are present, and you can feel their emotions, and you know them like nobody else. Then there’s also the physical attraction. It’s so much stronger between mates than with anyone else. Yeah, sex feels good, but with your true mate, everything else you could possibly experience pales in comparison. You need to see each other, to be with eachother, to survive. Being away from them for too long is painful, and losing them, or them being with someone else is painful enough to cause death in some scenarios. True mates are a serious thing. After you lose your mate, there’s only the smallest chance in the world that you might find a second chance mate. It’s rare to find your true mate in general, let alone a second chance mate.”

“The man in the hallway… he…”

“Arienne? What about him?” I know for sure he said that word to me. I know for sure that what I was feeling was what she was describing. I knew it for sure.

“He said that word to me. Right before I blacked out.”

“He what?” Carmen’s eyes go wide. She runs her fingers through her hair, and zones off for a moment, her eyes completely glazing over. “Why, that asshole! I’ll be right back, Amikat. Stay here.”

“Just call me Kat, please,” I ask.

“You got it,” she gives me a thumbs up before leaving the room in a hurry. I just try to comb through everything she’s told me and make sense of it. This Arienne guy. He’s my mate? My soulmate? What does that mean? And if this bond is as strong as Carmen is describing, why did he leave me after I fainted? Wouldn’t he want to at least make sure I was okay? Nothing is making sense.

Suddenly, a sharp pain, like a head splitting migraine shoots through my head. I fall to my knees and press my hands to either side of my head. All of a sudden, a voice, is yelling. A loud voice. Who is yelling? I look around the room, trying to figure out what’s going on. I scream out for them to shut up. My head hurts so bad, and I’m seeing nothing but red. All I hear is yelling and howling, and someone shouting things about Arienne. About how we were rejected. Mate doesn’t want us. Just yelling. I keep shouting out for them to shut up, for them to stop, but they just keep yelling. I can’t take this.

I begin to punch myself in the head. Am I going crazy? I hear the door open, but I can’t focus on anything or see what’s happening. I see a few figures enter the room, and the voice still won’t stop. I think someone picks me up and brings me to the bed. I feel tingles in my arms. It’s a really nice sensation. Whoever is yelling finally starts to calm down, and when my vision finally comes back, I see Arienne standing over me, stroking my arms. There’s concern in his eyes. My head still hurts. All I can think about with him standing here is how bad I want to reach out and pull him toward me. Before I have a chance to act, he lifts me up and pulls me into a hug. My head feels heavy, but somehow I’m starting to feel better in his arms. The voice is repeating the word ‘mate’ over and over again in my head, this time much softer and gentle. It’s a female voice. “Was someone yelling?” I ask, my question muffled in Arienne’s grasp. He pulls me away from his body and sweeps the flyaway hairs from my face. “I think it’s your wolf,” he whispers. “She’s here early. You were just startled is all. It’s going to be okay.” 

“Oh. Carmen told me about our wolves. But I didn’t think it would be like that.”

“I know, it’s going to be okay,” he says. He’s looking deep into my eyes, and his gaze occasionally wanders down to my lips. I watch him intently, soaking up the electric feeling spreading between the two of us. His eyes suddenly shift to a much darker blue, and he grabs onto my tighter. I notice Samuel walking towards the bed, and Arienne whips me around so that he is between Samuel and I. “Mine,” he says gruffly against my ear. My breath hitches as his tone sends shivers through my body. 

“I know, Arienne, or Arlo it seems,” whispers Samuel. 

“Who’s Arlo?” I ask. Arienne turns to me, his eyes black. Something about the coldness in his gaze scares me a little bit. He grips me tighter. 

“It’s his wolf. He’s rather territorial.”

“I’m not a piece of property, I’m a person,” I say. His grip on me is starting to hurt. I’m beginning to think this is all too weird, and all too much. I don’t know if I can stay here. Whoever Arlo is, or Arienne, they’re starting to scare me.

‘Do not be afraid of our mate,’ the voice in my head says. ‘He wants us. He only means well.’ The voice speaks in weird, broken english.

‘He’s scaring me right now’ I tell her, in my head. I grip his arms and throw them off of me. I back off the bed and run towards the door. 

“Arienne might not want you, but I DO!” screams who I presume is Arlo through Arienne. I struggle to open the door, and by the time I have it, Arienne is crossing the room to get to me. I want to run, so I do.

I have no idea where I’m going as I rip down the halls, but eventually I find an elevator and get inside. I panic and repeatedly press the close button as I watch Arienne stalk after me. The doors close right as he reaches me, and I can hear him beating on the outside, yelling something I can’t quite make out. Adrenaline is racing through me and all I can do is wait for the doors to open again before I can do anything. I take a few deep breaths. When the door opens, Arienne is already there. I try to close the door again, but he catches it and enters the elevator with me, closing the door behind him. He just towers above me, breathing heavily. His eyes are pitch black. He throws his head back and takes a deep breath, and when his face is forward again, I am met with a pair of crisp, blue eyes. Arienne is back.

“I’m sorry,” he says coldly. “I don’t know what came over me. I apologize if I scared you.” Scared me? He just chased me through the house like a wild animal! 

“It’s whatever,” I say shortly. “Just let me leave.”

“It will be easier for you to learn about yourself if you stay here, at least until your birthday. Again I am sorry for my behavior.” He is so cold. Any warmth in his tone that was there in the bedroom is now gone. “Let me make one thing clear. I am not looking for a mate. Arlo might think we need you. But we don’t. I don’t need you, so don’t get too comfortable.” A pain shoots through my chest. Why do I feel like this? Why is he rejecting me if I am his so-called true mate? The door opens, and Arienne leaves without another word. The door closes behind him, and I am left in the elevator by myself. 

I collapse onto the floor in tears. I don’t know why I feel this way over a man I just met. Oh, Arienne, why is this happening?

Arienne’s POV

Only four hours left until the Solstice Celebration. I feel a guilty pain in my chest from how I treated Amikat. 

Amikat. What a beautiful name. 

No. Stop that. We can’t be thinking like that. How could the Moon Goddess disgrace Layla’s memory like this? Couldn’t she just let me grieve in peace? She had to give me another. What if I come to love her? What if she leaves me too? I am supposed to be strong. How would I be able to face myself if something happened to her?

Then again, why didn’t I just reject her in the elevator? My mind runs a million miles as I make my way outside, where the Celebration will be held. Carmen has done an excellent job with the decorations, the baking, and everything. I am glad for her help today, even if she forced me into allowing her. I speak to the entertainment we’ve arranged and make sure they have everything they need. I see Carmen making her way out the back door on a warpath leading directly towards me. “Where is she?” she demands.

“Don’t speak to me like that,” I brush her off.

“Oh whatever. Hurting her doesn't make you tough. I can't find her. You must have said or did something. And chasing her through the house like a fucking animal? What the hell was that? If she isn’t confused and scared already, she sure as hell is now!” I let Carmen rant and say nothing in return. She doesn’t deserve a response or a rationale for why I did what I did. She knows what happened two years ago. She knows I’m not ready for something like that yet. “I don’t care how you feel, Ari, you are entitled to your own feelings. But you don’t have to hurt her in the process. Did you reject her? Is that what you did?”

“What? No! Give me a break.”

“So, what? Are you just going to string her along then?”

“What do you want me to do here?” She is making me angry now. Making a scene in front of everybody out here. I can’t allow her to talk to me this way in front of my pack. “Carmen, you will go back inside, and you will not say another thing about this. It’s my problem, not yours, so stop putting yourself in other people’s issues.”

“It's her problem too if you’re going to reject her. She hardly even knows what a mate is. She is not well equipped to deal with something like that. Remember how you felt when you lost-”

“Don’t you dare speak her fucking name right now. Get out of my sight.” I used my Alpha tone on her, something I rarely do to my family. But she needs to stop. Right now. She heads back inside with her tail between her legs. Everyone is staring. “What is everyone looking at?” They jump and continue doing whatever they were working on before. I storm back inside the house and close myself in my office. 

There are so many emotions running through my head right now. I’m not quite sure what to feel.

Second chance mate. Do I want this? No. Of course not.

I run my hands through my hair and take a few deep breaths. I feel this ping in my chest. I know it’s my mate. I know she’s hurting, and I’m the one who hurt her. Why couldn’t I just officially reject her? Carmen is right. if I don’t intend on keeping her, then I shouldn’t string her along. But then there’s also the fact that second chance mates are extremely rare. 

Amikat’s POV

I haven’t been able to move myself from the elevator. I pulled the emergency stop, and no one has been able to get to me. I just need time. Time to collect myself so I can go to this stupid party. Why did I even come here? What am I getting out of this but a complete heartbreak? And over a man I’ve only just met! We know nothing about each other, yet he has the power to break my heart with so little emotion and few words. Even after everything, I still want to run to him and jump into his arms. I want him and no one else, to tell me everything is going to be alright. 

‘Don’t lose hope yet,’ says the wolf in my head. ‘I can tell he wants us. He is just going through big emotions. He is a broken mate.’

‘What do you mean?’ I ask. 

‘His wolf wants us. He wants us too, or his wolf wouldn’t want anything to do with us. He is our mate, we just need to give him time. He has not rejected us yet so there is still hope.’

‘Do you have a name?’ I ask her. She does seem nice. It’s hard to feel lonely when I can talk to her any time.

‘Amira. I have been with you forever but I was trapped. I am out now and I am here to help you. I am here always forever.’

‘That sounds nice,’ I giggle. She seems sweet when she’s not yelling.

‘I was just happy. excited to be out. Excited to meet our mate. In four days we will be even closer.’

‘My birthday. That’s when we can shift for the first time, right?’

‘Yes! We will become one. We will run and I can be free. I’ve been in here so long I need to run.’

‘We will most definitely do that.’ I say. 

After I’ve calmed down and talked to Amira a little longer, I decide I need to head up to my room to get ready for the Solstice Party. I brought my favorite sundress to wear. I open the elevator doors and relief washes over me to find nobody waiting outside in the hall. It takes me some time to remember my way back to my room, but eventually I’m standing in the middle of the large space, taking it in again. The view outside the windows is amazing. I can see them setting up for the party outside, so I draw the curtains to give me a little more privacy and begin to go through my suitcase for the dress. 

It’s a short sundress with a light pink floral patchwork design. It has a deep v-neck and open back. The sleeves are a three-quarter length, and the skirt is short and a little poofy from the extra layers of fabric underneath. I haven’t really had a good opportunity to wear it yet, so I thought this would be a good time. I take a quick shower in the giant bathroom before styling my hair in a braided half up half down style. I decide to curl it as well since I’m a little ahead of where I thought I’d be on time. After applying some light makeup and fastening my mother's necklace around my neck, I still had an hour to go before the party. I decided to go look for Carmen. I peek out my curtains and see her in the yard talking with two other girls. I close the curtains and head out into the hall. And of course, there he is standing at the other side, gawking at me. 

I’ll admit he looks good. ‘Oh, all the things I’d like him to do to me…’ Amira was purring in my head. I told her to shut it.

He’s wearing a pair of gray pants and a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His perfectly messy hair was parted on the side and styled into one of those ‘I don’t care’ looks that probably take more time to style than my whole morning routine. I just walk right past him without saying anything. He opens his mouth like he’s about to say something but shuts it abruptly and walks the other direction. After a few steps, I look back in his direction to find him looking back as well. I feel my cheeks blush. He shoves his hands in his pockets and puts his head down before swiveling on his heels and stalking off. Whatever. 

After making my way to the back yard, I beeline over to Carmen and the other two girls. They’re sitting on a short brick wall underneath a tree filled with fairy lights. It is absolutely gorgeous out here. It’s slowly starting to get dark and the little lights in all of the trees and the back of the house are something out of a fairy tale. I guess in a way, I am in a fairy tale now. I am a werewolf.

“Hey,” I say. “May I sit?” I ask meekly.

“Sure!” says Carmen. She motions to the bricks beside her. She’s wearing a short blue dress with a sweetheart neckline and a pair of silver strappy heels. Her neck is adorned in long chains and a diamond pendant. Her short white bob is styled in a curly, flicked out fashion, similar to Alice’s from Twilight, funny enough. “This is Leona and Delila.” She motions to the two girls sitting next to her. 

“I’m Delila,” Greets the redhead. Her hair is long and curly. She has a small face littered in cute freckles. Her big, green eyes pop with her choice to wear a silky emerald gown. 

“I’m Leona, but I just go by Leo,” says the other. She’s a tall and skinny brunette. She’s wearing a baby pink strapless dress with a high waistline and short tulle skirt. Her legs look stunning in that dress. I start to feel a little self conscious with my choice to wear a simple sundress. I didn’t know it was going to be this type of event. As other people start showing up, I feel even more underdressed.

I still haven’t seen Arienne. 

I make conversation with the girls, and I find that I like them quite a bit. Leo is pretty quiet, but she always has something funny to say when she gets a word in between Carmen and Delila. Delila is really bubbly, with a soft and gentle personality. She explains that she’s Beta Collin’s mate. She goes on and on about how great he is. All of this mate talk is starting to make me think about Arienne. Is what Delila and Collin have what me and Arienne are supposed to be like? Why are we not? Is there something wrong with me?

“Hey, you’re getting all quiet, is everything okay?” asks Delila. 

“Yeah. I’ve just had a lot happen today. I didn’t even know I was a werewolf before today, and suddenly I’m supposed to be okay with having some guy I’ve never met be with me for the rest of my life, and he doesn’t even seem to want me.” I kind of let it out in a burst. They’re all silent for a moment.

“So you met your mate? Who is it?” asks Leo. “If you’re comfortable talking about it, I mean. It sounds like you’ve had a rough go today.” I look over to Carmen. I can tell she’s getting uncomfortable with this conversation.

“I don’t think you know, but he’s my brother, Kat, and I’m really sorry for how he’s been treating you. I tried talking some sense into him earlier but he got really angry,” she says.

“Her mate is Arienne?” exclaims Delila. 

“Yup. And he wants nothing to do with me. It’s okay though, I only found out about all of the mate crap like a few hours ago. I’ve lived my whole life without him so I can deal.”

“it’s not that simple, Kat,” says Leo. “Nothing will be the same with other people after you meet your mate. The thought of meeting someone else will hurt you. And they will feel it if you are with someone else. It will hurt.”

“Unless he rejects her,” says Delila. That statement sent pain through my chest. Is she right though? I can’t be with anyone else but him? That seems a little weird.

“What does being rejected mean?” I ask.

“There’s a certain thing you have to say that will pretty much sever your bond indefinitely. One says it to the other, and then the other has to accept the rejection for it to take full effect. But it still hurts like absolute hell even if you don’t accept the rejection.”

“So If he doesn’t want me, why hasn’t he just-” I can’t even say it.

“I really couldn’t tell you. There’s some things that happened in his past that might be stopping him from fully pursuing you, but I don’t know if it’s my place to really tell you.”

“I don’t think he’s going to tell me, if that’s what you mean.”

“He’s been going through a rough patch. Honestly, I think if you just stick around and give him some time, he might be more willing to get to know you. You can only resist the pulls from the mate bonds for so long.”

The music suddenly stops, and I see Arienne making his way up to the stage. Everyone turns their eyes to him and falls silent. “Thank you, everyone for joining us this evening. I wish you all an exciting evening as we celebrate Summer Solstice this year. I’d like to thank everyone who helped out today and made this happen, especially, my sister Carmen. She’s been a big help recently and I owe her a lot. So please give carmen a round of applause.” Arienne stops to allow for Carmen’s applause. 

“Well that’s awfully sweet of him,” giggles Delila. Carmen awkwardly waves to all the eyes on here. 

“I also have a special announcement to make that many of you will be excited to hear.” Arienne pauses for a moment before continuing. “The Moon Goddess has decided to bless me with a second chance mate.” Murmurs spread through the crowd. My breath hitched in my lungs. I pick at my cuticles, waiting for his next words. “Please welcome Amikat Sequora, your new Luna to the pack! Amikat, come up here, please.” 

I freeze in place. Everything is happening so fast. Moments ago, he wanted nothing to do with me, and now he’s announcing me to the pack? And what's Luna? Delila nudges me up from my seat and I snap out of it. Slowly, with all eyes on me, I make my way up to the stage. Arienne holds out a hand to help me up and I take it, sending little zaps of electricity through my whole body. His eyes seem warm, and he looks genuinely happy to have me in this moment.