Chapter 5

Lisa

The man took a step forward, the bond sending the electric sparks Lacey talked about without him even touching me. The power of it spread through me, begging me to take another step forward.

“What’s your name, little wolf?” His voice rumbled through me, making me clench my thighs, and a small smirk spread over his perfectly plump lips, letting me know he seen that motion.

Heat spread through my body and I rolled my eyes. Why was he acting like this was no big deal? It was the biggest fucking deal. It was catastrophic to my way of life and his, and it would cause more shit than I am willing to deal with.

The coven, the pack, the council, none of them would appreciate this. If they even believed it, they would probably accuse me of making it up and trying to bear hybrid children to execute my dark intentions that the pack thought I had.

I gritted my teeth and Lucille growled in my head. “Lisa, you had better fucking not. Do not fuck this up for us. He’s our fated. The goddess designed it so he is the perfect match for us, the truest love we will ever know. She is never wrong.”

Lucille, how did the goddess design this match? He isn’t even a wolf. She grumbled in my mind, acting as if my thoughts held no sense and only frustrating me more. “The fact that he’s not a wolf doesn’t matter. Maybe she worked with the witch ancestors, because she realized your perfect match couldn’t be found in a wolf. You have to trust her, Lisa.”

Her words sat heavy in my mind. Just trust her. She is the goddess, and only she knows the reason she does things the way that she does. But I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t sit on the council and do things they wouldn’t approve of. Truth is, Lacey, Sydney, and I didn’t admit it, but we were just the picture of the council. The elders made the laws, we enforced them. It didn’t start that way, but it is what it evolved to, and they wouldn’t agree with this.

The man cleared his throat. “Your name?” he asked again, his voice a little firmer. The tone change did things to my body I would never admit, and Lucille was practically purring in my mind.

“It doesn’t matter, because this,” I exclaimed, my finger flailing between the two of us, “would never work. You have to know as well as I do this would not be accepted by the pack, the council, or the coven!”

My voice lifted as the words rushed out, making the man lift an eyebrow. “I said what’s your name, not accept me as your mate!” the man said, his voice dry. Embarrassment filled my body. I had only assumed he was fighting the same thoughts as me, that he wanted to accept the bond.

I paused my speech, nodding my head once slowly. Maybe he wanted my name so he could reject the bond immediately. Even though I knew that would be the best thing for us, my heart clenched, pain spreading through my chest until tears pricked my eyes, and Lucille wailed in my mind.

My voice left me as my mouth opened, preparing to answer him. I took a deep breath. “My name is Lisa,” I answered, my voice barely audible over the music and the wind and the joyful laughter and chatter of the packs and coven surrounding the garden.

He nodded and didn’t speak immediately, but his eyes softened slightly, like he could hear my inner turmoil escape in four simple words.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lisa. My name is—”

“Rowan!” Sydney shouted as she suddenly appeared, wrapping her arms around him. Lucille growled, but I shoved her back, though my breath became trapped in my lungs and a lump lodged itself in my throat.

Sydney did say old friends were coming today, and that she intended to have some fun, and my mind spun. What if this is one of the old friends she was speaking about earlier?

I quickly wiped a tear that leaked free from my eye, pushing my feet to move, to get me out of this situation instead of standing and staring. Lucille growled as I took a step back just as Sydney stepped away from him.

I watched as he ruffled the top of her hair. “Hey, Syd.” The motion didn’t seem sexual, more familial affection, but my fangs still grew in my mouth against my will. “Lucille, get it together. Sydney is one of our best friends. Clearly she knows him and they are friends. She doesn’t know anything about an impossible fucking mate bond.”

Lucille whined, but I felt the fangs recede from my mouth before I felt the barrier that was so rarely closed in my mind slam shut, silencing Lucille completely and cutting me off from the devastation she was feeling.

But that only made me realize that just as much of it was my own. No matter how much I pretended I was fine with the way everything turned out and that my career was all I would ever need, I still dreamed of finding my mate. Of course I did, since I was a little girl, just like every other werewolf girl, the love that is unable to be matched, your perfect other half, the person who completes you and gives you things you never even knew you were missing.

More tears leaked free as I vaguely heard Sydney over the madness loose in my mind. “I can’t believe they talked you into coming. You’re never even with the coven.” I seen Rowan shrug, his mouth moving, but I didn’t register his words because the sound of his voice only increased the devastation already gripping me.

A small sob escaped me as I turned quickly, running toward the palace. “Lisa?” Sydney shouted. I could hear her footsteps beginning to follow me, but I ran faster.