ONE

ISABELLA’S POV

I never, ever thought I was going to find my mate.

All thanks to my mother, I grew up believing finding one’s mate was a luxury. It wasn’t a privilege everyone got to have and quickly accepting the fact that I was far from privilege, it was a reality I quickly allowed to dawn on me- I wasn’t going to find my mate. I was simply going to grow up, find a decent person who liked me and if I was lucky, I liked back, settle down and spend the rest of my life living a happily ever after as far away from my mother as possible.

My plans were one thing. And evidently, the moon goddess’ was another one entirely. One that in no way was I prepared for.

Surprises was something I’d gotten extremely used to so it was safe to say I was rarely taken aback by whatever life threw at me. From my mum divorcing my dad when I was twelve to getting married all over when I was thirteen only to have him die few years later, leaving me with a stepbrother the same age as me and an even more emotionally unavailable mother- it all happened so quickly I became immune to my life taking a dramatic turn.

So immune to it, my mother’s sudden announcement of a new boyfriend and a wedding to him in a week’s time didn’t even faze me.

But apparently, not immune enough to not be surprised the second I laid my eyes on my new stepbrother to be and immediately realize he was the man mated to me.

He was standing a couple of meters away from me in our living room, hands shoved in his pocket, eyes everywhere but on me. He was tall, God, he was really tall with every inch of his body perfectly built to distract even the strongest woman for a couple of seconds. His hair was a tousled mess of dark, thick waves, someplace between curls and chaos like he’d just gotten out of bed and ran his hands through it instead of bothering with a mirror and some hair gel. It fell over his dark eyes effortless, having me ball my fists to control the ridiculous urge to send my fingers into it to get a good feel of the hair and a better view of his place.

I swallowed, my gaze falling to his lips. And then his Adam’s apple that bobbled as he took in the features of the house. And then his neck. And then his collarbone. And then the buttons of the loose vintage shirt he had one, my lips twitching as I mentally marveled at how good it looked paired on him with dark pants.

“Isabella?”

I hiccuped and immediately looked away, the harsh shove back to reality hitting me in a way I hated. I bit my lip then turned around to meet my mother and her boyfriend she introduced to me barely ten minutes ago, immediately remembering I had more company than I thought.

“That’s Grayson,” she picked up the introductions from where she stopped, putting her arms around me as she led me further into the living room. I shuddered and though I was unable to tell it was from the unusual skinship coming from her or from the simple fact that I was getting closer to her boyfriend’s son, I forced a smile, doing my best to keep my emotions under control. “Adam’s son.”

My gaze was on the floor, my lips firmly pressed together as I gave myself a quick recap of everything that was happening rather quickly- my mum was introducing her new boyfriend- Adam- to me. And he had a son, who just happened to be my mate.

“Hey,” without meeting his gaze, I could see his hand stretched towards me. “Nice to meet you. Isabella, right?”

The room felt silent and I could swear, all it was going to take to break the silent was the sound of my heart beating. I pressed my lips against each other even tighter, trying to stop myself from breathing in desperate hopes of it silencing my loud heartbeat. But it was no use so I quickly gave in to the more feasible option and took his hand. And then shook it.

I was never one to fantasize what it was going to feel like if I ever found my mate. But right from high school and up to my second year in college, it seemed like it was every girl around me’s favorite thing to talk about. They’d always talk about the tingling sensation they felt, the way their heartbeat doubled, the way their pupils dilated and the way they felt all sorts of emotions having them know they had really found their mate.

I did feel a quarter of those emotions the second I laid my eyes on him having me know he was indeed mated to me. But the second I took a step further and allowed my skin get in contact with his, I felt more than a quarter. I felt double. Triple. Maybe even before.

My insides felt like they were going to explode and right at that moment, I knew the sound of my heartbeat was going to be no match for the sound I was going to make if I allowed my skin linger on his for a second longer. My whole body felt electric and alive, in a way I’d never felt before. My hormones felt pumped and finally, I understood why it was all those girl’s favorite thing to talk about.

“Yes, Isabella,” luckily, I was still able to come up with words, quickly pulling away from him to return my gaze to the floor. My hair fell to my face, posing as an umbrella to my flushed face and for the first time, I was glad I didn’t tie my hair up in my signature ponytail.

“So,” my mother saved the day and spoke up, putting a bearable distance between him and i. “Grayson, I’m sorry, my other kid isn’t around yet. He told me something urgent came up but don’t worry, he’ll be back soon. You’ll get to meet him today.”

“Well, I hope so,” his voice was just as mesmerizing. “I mean, I really want to meet him before the wedding.”

“Oh, come on there’s an entire week left,” my mum laughed and her boyfriend joined her on the laughter. “Of course, you’ll see him before the wedding.”

And that was when it hit me all over again. The wedding. My mum was getting married to her boyfriend in one week. In exactly one week, my mate, Grayson, the son of her boyfriend, was going to be my stepbrother.

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut, my knees immediately wobbly. I clutched the fabric of my jeans for support, sudden dizziness taking over. I shut my eyes, hoping, fervently hoping this really wasn’t happening.

“Um, mum,” I breathed out softly but loud enough for it to catch her attention. “Um, I- um- I need to get something in my room. Please excuse me.”

I didn’t wait for her response before I spun around and made my way to room, my legs hitting the stairs as quickly as I could. My breath was heavy as I shut the door behind me, slumping onto my bed to process everything that had just happened.

Something was wrong somewhere. I wasn’t supposed to find my mate. And even if I was lucky enough to find him, he definitely wasn’t supposed to be my stepbrother.

I couldn’t tell my mum about it. We already barely uttered more than five sentences to each other and there was no room for more. Especially when the more was a piece of information that was going to break and shatter the last bit of relationship we shared.

“You dropped this.”

My eyes snapped open, the sudden, familiar and unexpected voice coming from right behind me pulling me out of my thoughts. Brushing my hand against the bed, I quickly rose to my feet and turned around, my eyes that once snapped open suddenly blinking in disbelief.

“Here, you dropped this.”

Stretched towards me, was my familiar bubble gum chapstick. But that was far from being the reason for my surprise.

Grayson, my mate and stepbrother to be was in my room, standing barely five inches away from his arms stretched towards me, his fingers wrapped around my favorite chapstick.