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ESMERALDA’S POV.

Today is a very special day for me. I am finally turning nineteen and it is all I have longed for all these years. Why? Because all the women in the pack meet their mates on tier 19th birthday, meaning I will finally meet my mate today as well.

My two friends, Kate and Hannah have both met their mates already as they are older than I am, Kate by two years and Hannah by one. They were lucky enough to be one of those people that meet their mates on their 19th birthday. Kate was mated to my brother, Cole, the future Beta being our father’s eldest and only male child, while Hannah was mated to a warrior, Orion. They both happen to have one of those cute relationships that will make you envy them and yearn for your own relationship with your mate.

I have just one wish for my mate though, for it to be Anthony—my fiancée, and future Alpha of our Pack, the BloodMoon Pack. We have been engaged for nearly two years now, due to my parent’s wish for me to marry him but I never minded because I have always admired him.

He is around the same age as Cole, my older brother, and his best friend—making him two years older than I am. He did not find his mate so far, and I could only hope that means we are meant to be mated. Anyways, we will find out today and I am a bundle of nerves waiting for that to happen.

“Anthony is finally coming back,” My wolf, Rae, said in my mind excitedly as she wiggled her tail.

Alpha Anthony, my fiancée is the unofficial Alpha of the pack, though the official ceremony is set to take place alongside our wedding set to take place in two weeks. He has been away for two months though for a war at a pack down south, and after reigning victory, he will be back at the pack house today.

My lips curled upwards into a grin due to her words, my own excitement impossible to miss. “I have missed him so much, I cannot wait to see him,” I answered back, as I trudged my way back to the pack house, after an intense training session. On my way back, the young wolves scattered around gave me nods of acknowledgement, given I am their training instruction alongside being the Beta’s daughter and the future Alpha’s fiancée.

I love the fact that I get to be my own person regardless of my background though. I love being a warrior, and I am pretty good at it if I say so myself.

The air in the pack house is just as lively, with everyone looking forward to the return of their Alpha. I made a beeline to my room to shower and get ready, for they will be here soon.

As I scrubbed my body under the shower, I realized my excitement was mixed with a bundle of nerves though. For as I stared at the mirror on the opposite wall in the bathroom, despite the fog in the air, my hand made its way to my belly, where I stared at it with a soft smile on my face.

Another reason I cannot wait to see Anthony is to tell him that I am pregnant. I found out a few days ago after going to the doctor, whom happens to be a close friend of mine, Davis, because I had an upset stomach recently. After taking a blood test, I found out I am almost ten weeks along.

To say I was scared would be an understatement. Being pregnant without being married is a crime in my pack, and I was scared and in denial as such for I can recall every time we did the deed, he always uses a condom. There’s no possibility of the father being someone else for I had only ever been with him, he is my first and only.

Then I remembered a time about two months ago, he drove me home after a cocktail party for Kate’s birthday, and we did it in the car. It is the only time he did not use it but I did not give much thought to it because it is just one time. Besides, he said it was okay because we are getting married later anyways and I believed him, refusing to think deeply into it.

But one time is all it takes to have a child it appears.

Still, I hung onto his words. We will be married soon. I just need to tell him and it will all be alright. So, upon stepping out of the bathroom, I put on my best dress, a pretty white floral dress that Anthony got me before he left for the war and headed downstairs to welcome them, because noises suddenly came as I descended the stairs, which could only mean one thing. They have returned.

I hastened my steps, my slanting upwards into a wide grin. The sound of footsteps reached my ears, just as I reached the bottom of the stairs where familiar faces of my family and the Alpha’s family, along with a handful of pack members there welcomed me. I could not focus on them though, rather on the figure standing in the middle of the room. My grin widened. Anthony.

Just as I made a move to step further and go to him, he suddenly shifted, and that was when I noticed it—the woman he is holding in his arms!