I Rejected My Mate… and Ended Up His Roommate

Calla's PovThe blood red light made everything look utterly wrong. I stood in the ceremonial circle with forty other wolves my age, all of us waiting for the bond to choose. My hands wouldn't stop shaking and I tucked them behind my back where no one could see."It'll be fine," my best friend Maya whispered beside me. "The Moon goddess knows what she's doing."I wasn't so sure. The witch blood in my veins made me different and it made me wrong. Every wolf here knew it and had bullied me because of it.The priestess raised her arms. "Children of the Moon, bare your wrists."I rolled up my sleeve. My skin looked pale under the red sky, the veins too visible. I held my breath as the priestess began the chant, her words older than any of us could understand.I felt heat on my wrist. Although it wasn’t painful, it still prickled. I watched the mark appear, and the black lines formed a pattern on my wrist. It was the same pattern I’d dreamed about since I was twelve.A mate mark. I close

Calla's PovI burnt my breakfast.I’d not just burnt it. No…i’d also set the entire pan on fire with a burst of magic that I had not meant to summon. My mother grabbed the extinguisher and put the fire out while I just stood there.We stood there in silence, watching white foam drip onto the tile. "That's the third time this week," Mom said finally.I clenched my fists and sparks danced between my fingers. “I’m trying.”"I know." She set the extinguisher down, but she wouldn't look at me. "But trying isn't enough anymore, is it?"The sparks died. My mom had been like that since the rejection. Since I'd torn away the one thing she'd wanted most….being the motherinlaw to the Alpha. I also wanted a pair of tooth grills but she had refused. I guess we can;t all have what we want in life.My mom grabbed a towel and started wiping foam off the counter. "We need to talk."Those four words, nothing good ever followed them. "I don't want to hear it." I headed for the door."Calla Miranda Thorn

Calla's PovI forced my legs to keep going. I stepped inside, ignoring the urge to turn around and run."Not even a little bit," I said. Luca pulled a shirt over his head. Slowly, like he knew I was watching. "Liar.""Go to hell." I shot back, dragging my eyes away from his naked chest and to the ceiling."Already there. You sent me, remember?" He leaned against his doorframe. The black rejection mark crawled up his arm, visible even under the sleeve. "So…we're roommates. This should be interesting.""This is a mistake.""Funny. That's what I said about our bond." His smile did not reach his eyes. "Guess the moon goddess has a sense of humor."Before I could respond, the main door burst open. A guy walked in carrying three bags like they weighed nothing. He was such an eye candy.He was tall with dirty blonde hair that contrasted wonderfully with his glowing dark skin. Behind him, two girls were giggling as they helped him carry more stuff in."Ladies, ladies. You're too kind." He win

Calla's POVThe problem with rejecting your fated mate and then being legally forced to live twelve feet away from him was that my wolf had absolutely zero chill about it.Zero. None. Not even a little bit.She'd been pacing in my chest since I'd turned off the light, circling and whining like a dog who'd spotted a squirrel through a window she couldn't open. Every time Luca shifted in the room next to mine — rolled over, sat up, exhaled too loudly — I felt it. Not the bond, exactly. More like the scar where it used to be, twitching with phantom sensation. A radio stuck between stations, playing static and something almost-beautiful in equal measure.By one-thirty AM I had rearranged my pillow four times, counted the cracks in the ceiling, and mentally rewritten every interaction I'd had that day in unflattering detail. By two AM I decided I either needed tea or a lobotomy, and tea was more accessible.I pulled on my hoodie over my nightdress and shuffled into the kitchen.I wasn't ex

Calla's POV "Okay but hypothetically," Lyra said, dangling upside down off the end of my bed with her cotton-candy hair pooling on the floor, "if you had to kiss one of your roommates, and you legally could not say none of them, who would it be." "I'm not answering that." "It's hypothetical." "It's a trap." "It's a thought experiment." She swung her legs. "Jax is objectively beautiful. Theo has that whole dark and mysterious thing happening. And Luca—" she paused with the dramatic timing of someone who had been practicing this conversation, "—is your rejected mate who almost kissed you in the kitchen three days ago." I threw a pillow at her. She caught it without sitting up, which was annoying. "I hate you," I said. "You literally do not." She righted herself and dropped the pillow back. "Come on. I've been very patient. You'v