CHAPTER 5

SEBASTIAN

As soon as I stepped into the house, the familiar scent of home wrapped around me, but it did little to ease the tension gripping my chest. My mother was the first to greet me, standing in the dimly lit hallway with a worried look on her face. It was already past 10 PM, and I hadn’t mentioned to her this morning that I would be coming home late.

“You missed dinner,” she said, her soft voice laced with concern. Her delicate brow furrowed as she reached out, brushing my hair from my face like I was still her little boy. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Mom, I’m fine,” I lied, forcing a small smile to reassure her. But the truth was, I wasn’t fine. I hadn’t been fine for days. The weight of my father’s expectations hung over me like a storm cloud, threatening to break at any moment.

My little sister, Kiara, bounded into the hallway, her face lighting up when she saw me. “Seb! You missed out! Mom made your favorite.”

“Sorry, squirt. Got held up,” I said, ruffling her blonde hair, though the excuse felt hollow. I wasn’t just missing dinner—I was missing out on everything that was supposed to matter to my family.

“Your father has asked for you… He's in his office,” my mom continued quietly, her eyes shifting toward the closed door at the end of the hall. The weight of her words settled between us, heavy and unspoken.

I knew what that meant. Alpha Maximus Kings—my father, the strongest and most powerful Alpha the MoonRise Pack had ever known—was displeased. His silent disapproval was always worse than any lecture.

I glanced at the closed door, feeling the tension radiating from the other side. My father had built this pack into something formidable. The MoonRise Pack was known for its power and authority. No Alpha before him had ever led with such strength, and he intended to make sure that legacy continued through me.

But not if I kept wasting time on hockey.

I could almost hear his voice echoing in my head, the conversation from earlier this morning at the breakfast table ringing louder and louder. His cold eyes had drilled into me with anger and disappointment. It was worse. So much worse.

“If you’d focused on your Alpha training like you’re supposed to, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he’d said. “You wouldn’t be splitting your time, and I wouldn’t be asking you to give up this childish obsession.”

Childish. That’s what he called my dream. Hockey wasn’t just a sport to me—it was a part of who I was. And the upcoming game next month? It wasn’t just any game. It was the game. The one I’d been waiting years to play in. A chance to break the world record, to be part of history. And now I had to give it all up unless I found my fated mate in two weeks.

The silence between me and my mom stretched for a few seconds until my father emerged from his office. His broad shoulders filled the doorway, his face as stern as ever.

He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. The look in his eyes said it all: I was on borrowed time. He stared at me for a long moment before turning and heading upstairs, his footsteps echoing in the quiet house.

Once he was gone, my mom sighed, the tension easing slightly. “Sebastian, don’t worry,” she said softly, her hand resting on my arm. “We’ll find your fated mate.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wouldn’t matter. I couldn’t sense my mate, and no amount of searching was going to change that. But she believed in me—believed in my future as the next Alpha—and I couldn’t bear to shatter that hope.

“Kiara, sweetie, go grab the invitation from the table,” Mom called to my sister.

Kiara ran off and quickly returned, holding a shiny gold card in her hand. “Here, Seb! It’s for the mating ball tomorrow.”

My mother smiled, handing it to me. “One of my friends managed to get us an entry for you. It’s a sure thing, Sebastian. No one ever leaves the mating ball without finding their mate.”

I forced a smile, taking the card from her hand. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, knowing that she wanted this as much as I did—probably even more. But the truth gnawed at me. I knew what no one else did. My wolf was blocked. He couldn’t sense my mate.

But I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. So instead, I nodded, pretending that I believed what she did. “I’ll go,” I said, forcing another smile. “We’ll see what happens.”

Her face lit up with relief, and she kissed my cheek. “That’s my boy. You’ll see, everything will work out. It always does.”

I pocketed the card and headed upstairs to my room. The weight of the day hung on me like lead, and by the time I collapsed onto my bed, my mind was spinning. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about what I’d told Ruby earlier today. She was my last hope—my only hope.

'Pretend to be my mate,' I’d asked her. It was insane, desperate even. But I had no other choice. If she agreed, it would buy me the time I needed to figure out what was wrong with my wolf, and maybe—just maybe—I’d be able to find the real solution before it was too late.

I glanced at my phone, wondering if she had responded. But then I shook my head. It was probably one of the guys asking about practice or some girl trying to get my attention. I was in no mood for either.

Still, I reluctantly grabbed my phone, scrolling through the notifications. And there it was—a message from Ruby. My heart kicked up, and I opened it, my eyes quickly scanning her reply.

Ruby: I’ll do it. I’ll pretend to be your fated mate.*

Relief washed over me, mingled with a strange sense of satisfaction. She was in. This crazy plan might actually work.

I couldn’t help but smile as I stared at her message. Ruby, with her fiery spirit and the weight of her own struggles, had agreed to help me. She needed this just as much as I did.

I typed a quick response:

Me: Great. We’ll figure out the details tomorrow.

As I hit send, I felt a sense of control that I hadn’t felt in days. For the first time in a long while, it felt like maybe—just maybe—I wasn’t about to lose everything.

But even as I lay there, staring at my phone, I knew that this was just the beginning. There were so many things that could go wrong. My father’s expectations. The pack. And most of all, the truth about my wolf.

But for now, I had a plan. And that was more than I’d had before.