#Chapter 1 Fate and Fidelity

Mira

I saw my Mate’s name on a patient’s pregnancy report.

This goes back to my clinic shift this morning.

“It’s positive,” I told the patient. “Congratulations, you’re pregnant.”

“Oh my god!” Tessa said, her eyes lighting up with joy. “This is the best news ever! I have to call my boyfriend and tell him, he’ll be so excited!”

I watched as her perfectly-manicured hands pulled a cellphone from her luxury bag. The rhinestones on the phone case glittered in the afternoon light, the words “100% That Bitch” emblazoned on that back.

“Baby, you were right— I’m pregnant!” Tessa squawked into the phone. “Oh shut up of course it’s yours!” She looked at me with a playful eye-roll, as if we had some unspoken feminine bond. “Now come down here and pick me up— unless you want me to find some other handsome man to claim this child.”

She giggled at his response, and I turned to hide my expression. I was happy for her, even if I was impatient for motherhood myself.

Ward and I were engaged, and would soon have our Mate ceremony. I’d known Ward most of my life, ever since I was adopted into his pack. He could have spurned me for being wolfless, but instead he offered me friendship, and that had grown into admiration and love.

“That man is obsessed with me— it’s honestly so adorable!” she said casually, checking her reflection in a small compact mirror. “And it’s a good thing too, him being from a Beta family. Daddy wouldn’t tolerate it if he wasn’t so devoted to his precious daughter.”

“Right,” I offered, ignoring this not-so-subtle classicism. “There are a few more tests you’ll need to take so we can design a prenatal plan. We’ll need to know the father’s physical attributes, family background, etc.”

“Of course, I am very familiar of his physical attributes,” she practically winked as she took the clipboard from my hands. Gross.

“Fantastic,” I managed to respond. “Once that’s done you can head out to the front desk and they’ll guide you to the lab. I’m sending over the order for the additional testing now so it should not take too much of your time.”

“Ugh thank you,” Tessa said. “I have so much to do, my father will want to do a formal announcement— I have to call my stylist!”

Tessa gathered her things and went out the door.

I picked up her paperwork and moved towards the computer. Looking over the father’s stats, a tingling started up my spine.

Twenty-six year old Beta male, 5’ 11”, 190lbs, brown hair, hazel eyes, asthmatic…

And then I saw the name: Ward.

My Mate.

I heard the clang of the clipboard hitting the floor before I knew I had dropped it.

I felt my knees buckling and was able to find the rolling stool and sit down. I closed my eyes and tried to center myself, using the breathing exercises I had learned years ago in therapy.

I was just feeling normal again when I heard the door open. And there he was.

Before I could think I picked up the clipboard and threw it at him.

“Mira, please—“

“How could you?” I shrieked. “With her? Pregnant? We are supposed to be married in less than a month!”

“It’s not what you think!” Ward had his hands in front of him, as if preparing for a potential attack. “Just— calm down, Mira! Calm down. Let me explain.”

I was so out of breath that it took me a moment to realize that two nurses in the hallway were pretending not to listen.

“Close the door,” I managed to spit at him.

I sat back down and waited. With his tail between his legs, Ward closed the door and stood against the opposite wall.

“Okay, so,” he hesitated. I waited. “So, Tessa is…she is… she’s an Alpha of the Greys,, Mira. And I-“

“And you thought humping her would raise your social status?”

“What? No!” He finally met my gaze. “I do actually care for her. But, yeah— her Pack is large and powerful. Her stepfather is the Alpha. Her stepbrother, Dominic, is already a hero among them. You and me, we’re nothing. Especially you since—“

“Don’t remind me.”

“Mira, we’ve known each other forever” his tone softened. “I will always love you, it’s just… different, with her. And now, the baby,” he chose his words carefully. “This baby gives me security.”

I kept my face blank, and stood up slowly. He extended his arms, as if he expected me to embrace him.

“Mira, we can still be together, eventually.”

I walked over to him, looking deeply into his hazel eyes, and I slapped him hard across the face. I felt the tears welling in my eyes and will them not to fall down my cheeks.

It was that moment that Tessa returned.

“What the hell is going on in here?” She screeched, running to Ward and cupping his swollen face.“Is this how you practice medicine, by assaulting patients behind closed doors?”

“Tessa, Ward and I—“

“We know each other, yes,” Ward cut me off. “We grew up together, and yeah, we used to date. It wasn’t serious or anything.”

“It wasn’t serious?” I couldn’t believe this shit. “Ward we were betrothed!”

“Excuse me?” Tessa turned back to him, outraged.

“We were not, never—“ Ward was starting to sweat. “She’s making that up! She just imagined that we were soulmates, but I ended it a long time ago. She clearly just can’t let it go.”

“Are you serious?!” I felt hot tears sliding down my cheeks.

“This is ridiculous!” Tessa stepped to the center of the room, pulling out her phone. “I can’t have this kind of stress and drama in my life, especially not now with the baby.”

“Tessa please, he’s lying to you!” I tried to get her to listen, but she refused to look at me.

“And why would I believe you? Some random woman that I’ve known for twenty minutes, instead of the father of my own child?!”

Tessa furiously typed into her phone, texting someone rapidly.

“She’ll be here any minute.”

I had only one guess of who she was texting, and I felt the blood leave my face.

Within minutes the Luna of our Pack stormed into the room, ready for a reckoning. In spite of her authority, she had also seemed fair and led with kindness. Today she looked furious. .

“What is going on here?” the Luna’s voice was low and cut to the point.

“Yes, this slut is trying to steal my boyfriend!” Tessa sounded more like a child than ever.

“Miss, please, there is no need to use that language in a hospital,” Luna quieted her. “Ward, take her outside. Now.”

Tessa scoffed and exited, with Ward close at her heels.

“Luna, please, Ward and I—“

“We broke up,” Ward cut from the doorway in, “and now I’m with Tessa, and Mira threw a clipboard at me.”

“Ward, out,” she turned her steely gaze on me. “Mira is this true?”

“No, he’s lying, and she’s–”

“She is the daughter of a very important Pack,” the Luna was making an example of me. “My hands are tied. I am suspending you from the hospital, effective immediately.”

“What? But you need me here!”

“Not anymore,” Luna’s voice was controlled. “The truth is irrelevant here, I can’t have a scandal, and Tessa will definitely make this a scandal.”

I nodded slowly as this reality sank in.

“Is it true then, that Ward is no longer your Mate?”

“I guess.”

“Being that you are over 25 and now wolfless,” she said with sadness in her voice,  “it is my duty to send you out into the field to join the mobile medical team.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Luna responded. “Any way you serve the pack is noble and honorable. And unless you can find a mate in the next 48 hours, you’ll be on the road for the foreseeable future. That is all.”

Before I could say anything more, she was gone. This time I didn’t have time to find a chair, and I sank to the floor.

When I woke up today, I had a Mate and a future. Now, I was wolfless and being sent into a warzone.

The mobile medical team had been attacked many times recently,and for a wolfless like me, being sent there was like a death sentence.

I had to find a new Mate right away, but how was that even possible?

After a moment of pitying myself, I knew I needed to come up with a plan. I decided to go out for a run– my own form of therapy.

Luckily I always kept my gear with me, so I quickly changed and left the medical budding, heading towards the woods. The trees, the air, the silence: I could escape the noise of the afternoon and find some peace.

The sun was setting and I was about to turn and complete my circuit when I heard an unfamiliar noise: a voice, moaning. I stopped, and a metallic scent reached my nostrils. Blood.

“Hello?” I said cautiously into the air. “I am a doctor, if you’re hurt I can help you.”

Silence.

“Over here.”

I turned towards the voice, and I saw him.

Bathed in the first glint of moonlight was a werewolf, and he was injured. And he was gorgeous.

As I took the final steps toward him, he finally lifted his head to look at me, his savior.

And when our eyes met, my heart skipped a beat.