Impossible

MIRA

I woke up in a large bed. The softness beneath me felt strange after everything I had been through. My eyes snapped open and I looked around the unfamiliar room.

The room was huge, decorated in a way that screamed power and wealth. This wasn’t Finn’s pack. Panic started rising in my chest. I thought I had been captured by another predator.

Just when I wanted to sneak out, the door opened and a man strode in. His presence commanded respect, the kind that made you instinctively want to bow. It was the same man from the forest.

That moment I felt my wolf awaken, truly awaken. The wolf I had never felt before suddenly surged to life with a force that took my breath away. One word echoed through my entire being.

Mate.

I felt energized, strong in a way I had never experienced before. This was completely different from the weak girl running through the forest last night.

The man stopped and looked at me. “I’m Alpha Rowan.”

The name struck a chord. My eyes widened. Alpha Rowan? The king of the Royalfang Kingdom? Everyone knew that name, the most powerful Alpha in all the territories.

“You’re my mate,” he said simply, his voice rough and deep.

I stared at him, my mind spinning. “That’s not possible. I’m already married, I can’t….” 

“The mate bond doesn’t lie,” he said quietly.

My wolf surged forward, desperate and wanting, but my logical mind screamed at me to run. This couldn’t be happening.

I tried to step back toward the door but something pulled at me, an invisible thread connecting us that wouldn’t let me leave.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered. “I have to go.”

“You collapsed in the forest,” Rowan said. “I found you and brought you here to safety. You were running from something?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“Why did you help me?”

He was quiet for a moment, his jaw tightening. “Because you’re my mate.”

Something inside me broke. After everything with Finn, after Isla’s betrayal, after nearly being poisoned and running for my life, I had found my true mate. The one person the Moon Goddess chose specifically for me. But why now?

I started crying, unable to hold it back anymore. I couldn’t believe I had met my true mate.

Rowan took a step toward me, then stopped. His hands clenched at his sides like he was fighting himself. “You should rest.”

But I couldn’t stop crying, my body shaking with everything I had been holding in.

He moved closer again, hesitating, then reached out before pulling his hand back. The internal struggle was clear on his face. Finally, he stepped forward but there was tension in every movement, like he didn’t want to be doing this.

Then we started kissing. I don’t know how it happened but it did, and it was clear we both wanted to pull apart but couldn’t. 

The mate bond was too strong, pulling us together even as we fought against it. His hands found my waist and mine went to his shoulders, and neither of us could stop.

My wolf sang inside me, finally whole, finally complete. His voice was rough in my ear and I felt wanted for the first time in years, felt like I actually mattered to someone.

The next morning I woke up alone. The space beside me was empty and cold, like he’d been gone for hours. I sat up slowly, pulling the sheets around me as the memory of last night played on repeat in my head. His hands, his touch, the way he made me feel.

My heart sank, regretting every bit of my action. Why? Why did I choose this? 

I was unable to dwell much on my thoughts when I heard footsteps in the hallway and my heart started pounding. The door opened and Rowan walked in, but everything about him was different now. His expression was cold, his silver gray eyes sparking with something dangerous.

“Good morning,” I tried to stir up a conversation but he just froze, his eyes on me like he was studying the moment of my heart. 

“Did….” 

“Forget about what happened between us last night,” he said, his voice flat like he didn’t give a care in the world. 

“Why….why are you…..I mean…” my voice shook trying to find appropriate words to use, this doesn’t seem like the man who rescued me yesterday, this is a different man entirely. 

“I'm sorry but I will never claim another Alpha’s wife as mine.” His voice was deadly strong now. 

The words hit me like a slap. Just when I thought I had found my true mate, someone who actually wanted me, he was rejecting me too? 

“But I told you yesterday I was married,” I said, my voice shaking with hurt and anger. “You didn’t care then!”

“I didn’t do what I did last night because I wanted to,” Rowan said coldly. “It was the mate bond that forced me. I had no choice.”

Something inside me snapped. After everything I had been through, after finally feeling wanted for one night, he was standing there telling me it meant nothing.

“You had no choice?” I stood up, clutching the sheet around me. “Then I wish the mate bond would force you to get the hell away from me!”

His jaw tightened but he said nothing.

“You’re no different from Finn,” I spat out. “You’re just another Alpha who uses people and throws them away.”

I pushed past him and grabbed my clothes from the floor. My hands shook as I got dressed but I refused to let him see me cry again. I had cried enough over men who didn’t want me.

“Leave,” he said quietly.

“I was already planning to,” I shot back.

I walked out of that room, out of his pack house, and I didn’t look back. My wolf whimpered inside me, hurt and confused, but I pushed her down. I couldn’t deal with her pain on top of my own.

I didn’t really know where to go, just walking around with no destination in mind. My feet carried me forward while my mind stayed blank, too overwhelmed to think about what came next.

Not long after, a car pulled up beside me. Before I could react, hands grabbed me and dragged me inside. I tried to scream but someone pressed something over my nose and mouth. I smelled something strange and sweet and then everything went black.

———

I woke up inside a room, well guarded. My head pounded and my vision swam as I tried to sit up. When my eyes finally focused, I realized where I was. Finn’s pack? 

My world crumble and I don’t know when tears slide down my face. But I didn’t try to hold it back. I thought I had escaped but no, I was right back where the nightmare began.

“Help!” I screamed, pounding on the door. “Someone please help me!”

But no one came. No one answered.

Three days passed and I was still locked in that room. They only gave me food once a day, sliding a tray under the door at dawn. I hadn’t seen moonlight or felt fresh air. The walls felt like they were closing in on me.

But suddenly, today,  the door opened and Finn entered and I scrambled backward on the bed.

“Please,” I begged the moment he walked in, my voice breaking. “Please just let me go. I won’t come back, I won’t tell anyone anything, just please let me leave.”

Three days locked in this room had broken something inside me. I just wanted to be free, to never see his face again.

He laughed, cold and cruel, and the sound made my stomach turn. But then he suddenly froze. His nose lifted slightly like he was scenting the air, his expression changing from amusement to something else entirely.

“Did you get your scent back?” He moved closer and I pressed myself against the headboard, trying to get away from him. He leaned in, sniffing near my neck. His eyes narrowed in confusion. “Wait. I can smell two different scents on you.”

My heart started pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest. No. He couldn’t know. There was no way he could know.

“Are you pregnant?” he asked, his eyes locking onto mine.

The question hit me like a physical blow. “What? No!” I shook my head frantically. “I’m not pregnant, I can’t be.”

But even as the words left my mouth, doubt crept in. Rowan, that one night. No, it was too soon, it was impossible.

“Guards!” Finn’s voice boomed. “Bring the pack doctor here now!”

“I’m telling you I’m not pregnant,” I said desperately, my hands gripping the sheets. “There’s no need for a doctor. Please, Finn, just listen to me for once.”

But he wasn’t listening. He never listened to me. Within minutes the pack doctor arrived, a middle-aged woman with kind eyes who looked at me with pity. That look made everything worse because it meant she believed I was trapped here too.

“I don’t want to be tested,” I said, my voice shaking as I tried to move away from her. “I’m not pregnant. This is ridiculous.”

“It will only take a moment, Luna,” the doctor said gently, her voice soft like she was talking to a frightened child.

Finn stood there watching, his arms crossed, his eyes never leaving me. I felt exposed, vulnerable, like a specimen under examination. I sat on the bed with my arms wrapped around myself, praying this would be over soon, praying the test would be negative so I could prove him wrong.

The doctor worked quietly, taking samples, running tests. Each second felt like an eternity. My mind raced with possibilities I didn’t want to consider. What if I were pregnant? What would that mean? Whose baby would Finn think it was?

After what felt like forever, the doctor straightened up and turned to Finn. Her expression was carefully neutral but I saw something flicker in her eyes.

“She’s pregnant,” she confirmed.

What?  I stared at her, my mouth falling open, my mind refusing to process what she’d just said.

“That’s not possible,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “I can’t be pregnant.”