Could Alpha Glacier Really Be My Mate?

Corinne POV

I wanted to go to the Alpha and tell him what Seraphine was doing, but I stopped myself. I wouldn’t ask for his help, not even if I were at death’s door.

There was no peace that morning.

The corridors were alive with movement, with back-to-back orders, and the sound of equipment being carried from one corner to another, as if the whole village itself was shifting on the ground.

Everything in the Silver Stone pack signaled that something extraordinary was about to happen in the central exhibition square. Wings were being set up, screens installed, façades decorated with precision.

The work wasn’t festive. It was meticulous, strict, as if they were preparing for battle, not a ceremony.

I was one of dozens carrying out orders without pause.

I leaned over a glass display table, adjusting the axes of a 3D display device that showed the flowing energy layers in wolves’ bodies.

My fingers knew the path, my movements smooth… but I didn’t feel what I was doing.

My face was still, my eyes dim.

“This angle doesn’t show the energy balance accurately. It needs to be readjusted.”

Yossi’s voice, quiet but commanding, slipped into my ears.

She pointed to one corner, then moved lightly to the next wing, where she coordinated the exhibition schedule with several assistants.

I made the adjustment without comment.

This device, like most of the displays, was my idea… but its name carried no trace of me.

And I wasn’t surprised.

Across the hall, small whispers rose between two young wolves:

“I heard the Black Frost Alpha is coming tomorrow…”

“Aren’t they from the North? They only come searching for mates!”

Short laughs, excited eyes following the words.

The whispers brushed past me like a cold breeze that didn’t touch my skin.

I wasn’t waiting for fate, nor did I believe a mate would fall from the sky.

I worked. That was all.

The whole mate thing was a lie and a falsehood, just like Glacier!

Yossi moved like a bright storm: giving orders, correcting, reassuring, laughing sometimes, running everything with unshakable confidence.

And from time to time, she passed by me, patting my shoulder with genuine care, without any hidden motive.

I smiled faintly, a smile that didn’t reach my eyes, then returned to my work in silence.

The exhibition would open tomorrow.

Delegations would arrive, one after another, carrying hopes of trade, alliances, and maybe… destiny.

And I would be there… a shadow unnoticed, yet seeing everything.

As fog crept through the tall branches and dim lights whispered across the square’s roofs, I withdrew quietly, my steps heavy as if dragging exhaustion behind me.

I climbed to the workers’ residential quarters and opened the door to my small, familiar… safe room.

I took off my coat, tossed my toolkit aside, then sat on the edge of my bed without a word.

The room was familiar… my round mirror, the reading table, and a few devices I had developed myself… or what was left of them.

On the opposite wall hung a group photo of the development facility staff.

I couldn’t look at it for long.

Among them was someone who constantly claimed credit for my achievements, building his rise on my silence.

Today I almost told Yossi.

I almost told her everything… but the thought of burdening her with this betrayal made the words catch in my throat.

Yossi wasn’t just a leader. She was my soul sister.

I wouldn’t allow myself to look weak in front of her, or to be a weight on her already exhausted shoulders.

“Corinne?”

The familiar tone, high and cheerful as always, rose.

Yossi entered without asking, her brown-gold hair tied back carelessly, eyes sparkling with undying glow.

“Oh, I knew you’d be hiding here! I’ve been looking for you for ten minutes!”

I smiled faintly, as if trying to draw feelings I no longer felt.

“I didn’t hide… I just wanted to sit for a while.”

“Yes, yes, contemplative Corinne sitting as usual!”

Yossi sat next to me on the bed and started talking nonstop, about the exhibition, the decorations she didn’t like, the layout of the wings, and some wolves acting like they were at a wedding festival, not a tech expo.

Then she whispered:

“You know?”

“Many are saying this event will be our real chance to find our mates.”

I blinked slowly and replied quietly:

“I think people are just using any chance to chase that… promised destiny.”

Yossi chuckled:

“Why not? We deserve it! Imagine someone coming from a remote pack… then seeing a girl from here and knowing she’s the one! Would you mind if he’s handsome?”

Glacier told me he was my mate, and no one knew this secret yet, but I didn’t feel anything, maybe because my wolf hadn’t awakened yet.

I shook my head, laughing softly:

“I barely can stand, let alone fall in love.”

Yossi rested her head on my shoulder, sighing:

“Today and tomorrow are for preparations, and the day after, the delegations will start arriving. Then… the grand exhibition day!”

“It will be amazing, I promise.”

I didn’t answer, but tilted my head slightly toward her, just to feel closeness that needed no explanation.

Sometimes, silence between friends is richer than any words.

“Sometimes I feel like I work and work… and no one sees.”

Yossi looked at me quickly, with concern in her eyes, but she said nothing.

I adjusted my tone quickly:

“Nothing… just tired.”

I didn’t tell her that my ideas were stolen every day, without thanks, without a name, without right.

I didn’t tell her someone in the pack was climbing over my back.

I didn’t want to burden Yossi’s heart… already full of tasks and conflicts.

Yossi stayed silent for a moment, then smiled to break the weight:

“Imagine… three packs will attend the exhibition, and I heard a crazy rumor that the Darknox pack might send one of their leaders personally!”

“Ah, eyes will burn from staring, I promise that!”

I laughed softly, then teased:

“And you? Will you wear a special perfume for the big day?”

“Yes, my best one!”

Then she added in a softer tone:

“Who knows… maybe someone there will recognize me. Recognize us.”

I blinked slowly, as if my friend’s words had awakened a longing I wouldn’t admit.

But I didn’t respond.

“Today and tomorrow we finish preparing everything…”

Yossi said, standing with a long sigh.

“And the day after, delegations arrive, then… the exhibition begins. Can you believe it? We’ve waited for this so long.”

I nodded in silence, then stood as well.

My steps were heavier than yesterday, but Yossi’s faint smile in the dark… eased more than I admitted.

The night was cold, not just in weather, but in feeling.

I leaned against a stone wall at the western edge of the square, where the wooden edge met the majestic Silva forest trees, and the light from the horizon wasn’t enough to see the path… but enough to confess.

I closed my eyes, not saying a name, only feeling:

“I am here.”

The voice came in my mind, clear, inside, as if pulled from my core, not from around me.

My wolf’s voice. Had she really awakened before the coming-of-age ritual?

A being not separate from me, but a hidden extension of my truest self.

“Speak. You don’t have to break alone every night.”

I didn’t answer immediately.

The reply wasn’t painful… but revealing.

Then I whispered, in a softer inner voice:

“I am not afraid of losing something… but I fear something will be taken from Yossi because of me.”

I paused a moment, then continued very slowly:

“Could Alpha Glacier really be my mate? Tell me, Einar, my wolf!”