Chapter 2

Levi

It was the right thing to do, rejecting Arya. But why does it feel like I made a huge mistake?

I begin to second-guess myself the moment I step out of her room. A part of me wants to go back and apologize more, but a bigger part of me is relieved that the job is done. I’ve been dreading this night since I found out, but I can’t have it hovering above me any longer, so I just walk back to our palace.

“Master Levi,” our maids greet as I enter the doors, and I really wish they didn’t do that because that alerts my dad.

My dad. The great Alpha Mathias.

“Levi,” he calls out to me, appearing at the hallway. He’s also in his suit but his hair looks undone yet. The scar on his left eyebrow is shining under the light. “Where have you been? I was looking for you.”

“What for?” I ask. “I was just out to check how the birthday party is being set.”

He and I always had a strained relationship. He wants a strong heir, and a strong Luna to come with it. That is exactly why I had to break it off with Arya. He would consider me an outcast if he finds out that my mate is a mere human.

I might not even be crowned as the next Alpha.

Alpha Mathias nods and scans me as though trying to detect a lie, but I’m used to this scrutiny so I just stand straight and meet his eyes.

“Well, that is what I wanted to talk to you about, checking the crowd for the occasion,” he says. “Have you found your mate yet? Tonight should be the night. The Beta’s daughter’s birthday should be a good enough occasion to scan the crowd and feel the bond.”

That makes me freeze. Once again my mind flies to the scene where I rejected Arya. The hurt in her eyes seems to be embedded in my mind.

“I don’t know her yet,” I tell Dad.

What a lie. I felt from the beginning that Arya is my mate before we were even teenagers

But as we grew older, I began to have some doubts.

Every training, she always gets injured. She can’t heal herself. She can’t fight. Her strength and her endurance are almost nonexistent. She can’t outrun any of us, and her parents are supposed to be Betas.

Because of that, I was pushed to observe and investigate. When I felt the mate bond from her a year ago, I decided to look deeper and deeper into her past, until I found out that she was not the real daughter of the Clarkes.

I still gave my investigation some doubt. I thought that even though she might not have Beta blood, she would still be a suitable mate. But I was wrong, and it all came crashing down six months ago.

It was a night of camping in the seaside of San Jose. It was she and I, and a couple of our friends. It was supposed to be a fun night filled with laughter and stories around a fire, but then Rogues attacked.

All of us were forced to take on our wolf forms and fight back. We were all supposed to have our wolves then. All of us, except Arya, who stood there in fright and almost got mauled by a Rogue because she just wasn’t able to save herself.

And that event was what prompted me to look more closely at her. I found out that her Beta parents just adopted her after finding her in the woods as a baby.

My father will disown me if he found out that that weak orphan is my mate.

I need a mate like my mom. Strong, ferocious, can defend an entire pack all by herself without relying on her Alpha.

Arya just isn’t that person.

“I will talk to all the young women in the ceremony tonight, don’t worry,” I assure Alpha Mathias, and he smiles tightly at me.

“Well then, if you wish to do that, it would be best to start early,” he tells me, taking my arm and leading me towards the door.

Together, we go out into the courtyard where the ceremony is happening. The moon is already up and bright above us, and my peers are all claiming their mates by asking them for a dance. Still, there are a handful of boys and girls who are standing in the sides, looking confused.

But of course, once we enter, all the girls perk up. They all wave and flash me winks, which I respond to with a polite bow, but my dad shakes his head.

“You can’t expect to find someone in that attitude of yours. Go talk to them.”

With that, he pushes me into a crowd of girls. I force a smile on my face and try to listen as they introduce themselves to me, but I can’t shake off the unsettling feeling in my stomach.

And it doesn’t take me long to find out why I’m feeling like that.

I look up and see Mr. and Mrs. Clarke in the distance, both with desperate looks, searching the courtyard. Our eyes meet, and something tells me that things aren’t right.

“Excuse me, ladies,” I say, then I hurry towards them.

“We can’t find her, Master,” Mrs. Clarke tells me almost pleadingly. “We’ve been searching the whole house and the whole pack, but we haven’t found her.”

I open my mouth to say something, but then I see Alpha Mathias appearing at my side. “What’s wrong?” he asks the couple.

“Our daughter is missing, Alpha.”

My dad nods, and wasting no time, he turns to the crowd and announces, “Has anyone seen Arya Clarke?” When no one responds, he claps his hands together for attention. “Gather in groups. We shall sweep the woods and find out where the young lady is. There have been rumors about Rogues, so be vigilant.”

My skin grows cold. Rogues? Around this pack? Why haven’t I heard about this before?

I want to confront dad about this, but we have no time for that. Instead, I use the trace of Arya’s scent on my suit to follow my own path into the woods.

The others have scattered in groups, and although I know I should be there for her parents, I opt to search alone to avoid any kind of suspicion. I don’t want anyone to find out that Arya is my mate.

But this grows to be more and more irrelevant as the night wears on.

Hours and hours. I spend all my time and sharpen my senses to get even a small trace of her, but the path I’m following is faint, almost gone.

With my heart sinking lower every moment, I continue my search until I find the end of her scent at the cliff.

And there at the very edge, caught in one of the sharp shards of stone, is a sliver of blue fabric.

The fabric of the dress Arya wore tonight.