CHAPTER FIVE — MATE

CHAPTER FIVE — MATE

SAYA

I had seen those eyes before. I didn’t know when or where but the moment I looked into them something inside me broke loose.

Mate.

The word echoed inside my head and froze me in place as my breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat

My wolf.She had never spoken to me before, not when I was angry or afraid and not even during the countless nights I’d woken from those strange dreams with my heart racing and my skin damp with sweat. She had always been there, silent and distant, a presence I felt more than heard.

Until now. Mate.The word came again, softer this time but no less certain, and I stared at the man standing across the garden. No,not just a man but him. My heart began to pound as the realization settled in. It was him, the man from my dreams.

For one terrifying second, everything around me disappeared. The children, the garden and the voices drifting from the main building all faded away until there was nothing left but him, staring at me like he’d just seen a ghost or perhaps something he’d spent his entire life searching for.

Neither of us moved or looked away until someone called out behind him, making him break the gaze. The moment he turned, panic shot through me and I took to my heels, running out of the garden and out of the pack house. I didn’t know what to make of what I was feeling and I didn’t even understand why I had run. Different emotions surged through me all at once, making me dizzy, but beneath all the confusion I knew one thing with terrifying certainty.

I had just met my mate.

§

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to think about him, but it didn’t work. Not once. Every time I tried to focus on something else, my mind dragged me back to the garden, to his face and his eyes and the way he’d looked at me before that single word echoed through my head. Mate.

I still couldn’t believe my wolf had spoken. I’d spent my entire life wondering what she sounded like and sometimes even wondering if she was there at all, yet the first thing she had ever said to me was the name of a stranger.

By evening, I’d convinced myself I needed some fresh air, so I left my room and headed toward the pack house. I wasn’t looking for him, at least that’s what I told myself. I turned the corner I slammed into something solid. The impact jolted through my entire body and knocked the breath from my lungs as my feet slipped beneath me, making me stumble backward before strong hands caught me by the arms.

The moment his skin touched mine, a shiver tore through my body. My heart lurched and my breath caught as every nerve seemed to come alive at once. I didn’t need to look up. I knew who it was.He stepped back immediately, letting me go almost too quickly as if my skin had burned him.

For a second, neither of us spoke. Up close, he was even more familiar, and my wolf stirred.

Mate.

I swallowed. “I’m sorry.” He looked at me, something flickering in his eyes. I couldn’t tell what it was, recognition or pain, it disappeared as quickly as it came.

“It’s fine.”His voice was colder than I expected, and I frowned as a strange sting settled in my chest. He started to walk past me.

“Wait.” The word came out before I could stop it.He paused, and I looked at him, suddenly unsure of what I wanted to say.

“Have we met before?” I finally let out.

His expression didn’t change. “No.”

The answer came too quickly. It felt as though he was in a hurry to get away from me. “But—” I started to say.

“We haven’t.” He cut me off and walked away before I could finish. I stood there, watching him disappear down the hallway.My chest felt strangely tight and didn’t understand why his rejection bothered me.He was a stranger, I didn’t know him and he didn’t owe me anything.So why did it feel like I’d just been abandoned by someone I’d been waiting for?

I pressed a hand against my chest.My wolf remained silent but somehow, I knew she was still listening and for the first time since she’d spoken, I wished she would say something,anything because I needed to understand why the man who felt like home was looking at me like I was someone he desperately needed to stay away from.

§

I barely made it back to my room before I realized I didn’t want to be alone. The image of him just wouldn’t leave my head, his eyes, his voice and the way he’d looked at me before walking away as though staying another second would cost him something.

I didn’t understand any of it and didn’t want to be alone either, so I went looking for my mother. I found her in her room, sitting near the window with a book open in her lap.

She looked up when I walked in. “You’re quiet.”I hesitated, hating how easily she could read me. She closed the book.“What happened?” She pressed.

I sat across from her and picked at the edge of my sleeve. “My wolf spoke today.”

My mother’s expression changed.Just slightly but I noticed.“What did she say?”

I looked down at my hands. “Mate.”

The book slipped from her fingers.It hit the floor with a soft thud.For a moment, she didn’t move.Then she looked at me.“What did you say?”

“My wolf.” I frowned. “She said mate.” My mother stood so quickly the chair scraped against the floor.“Where did you hear that?”

I stared at her confusion drawn on my face “She said it.”

“No.” Her voice sharpened. “I mean where did you hear it?”

“Mom, what is wrong with you?” I asked not understanding the sudden change in her tone but she ignored the question and asked “Who was he?”

My stomach tightened. “He?”

“The man.”

I went still. “How do you know there was a man?”

Her face had gone pale and I shifted awkwardly in my seat. “I met him at the pack house.”

“What’s his name?” She asked looking at me closely.

“I don’t know.”

She took a step toward me.“Saya.”

“I don’t know, Mum, but I’m certain it’s the guy from my dreams.”

The reaction was immediate.My mother’s face drained of colour.“No.”

I frowned. “What?”

“No.” She shook her head, almost to herself. “No, no, no.”

“Mum?”

She grabbed my shoulders.“Stay away from him.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Stay away from that man,” she said, her fingers tightening around my arms.

“Why?” I asked trying to get out of her tight grip.

“Saya, I’m serious.”

“So am I!” I pulled away from her. “You know something.”

She looked away and that was all the answer I needed. “You know him.”

““No, I just know enough,” she said, looking away.

“Then tell me,” I pressed, watching her carefully.

“I can’t.” Her voice dropped, and she shook her head as though even saying the words was difficult.

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t matter.” She turned towards the window, avoiding my eyes.

“It clearly matters if you’re this terrified.”

She looked back at me, her expression tightening. “You don’t understand.”

“Then explain it to me!” I said, my frustration rising.

She fell silent, and I watched her face, trying to make sense of the fear in her eyes. There was something there, something she wasn’t telling me.

Finally, she whispered, “You just have to stay away from him.”

I shook my head, unable to believe what I was hearing. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I don’t need to,” she said quietly, her gaze dropping to the floor.

“You can’t just tell me to stay away from someone without telling me why.”

“I can if it’s for your own good.” She looked up at me, and there was something almost pleading in her eyes.

“But he’s my mate.” The words came out before I could stop them, and my mother’s face changed. Horror flashed across her features as she took a small step back.

“Then stay away from him even more,” she said firmly.She stepped closer and took my face between her hands, forcing me to meet her eyes. “Promise me, Saya.”

I swallowed, staring at her.

“Promise me you won’t look for him. Don’t go near him. Don’t speak to him. If you see him, walk away.” Her voice trembled on the last few words, betraying the fear she had been trying so hard to hide.

I wanted to ask what she knew. I wanted to demand an explanation, but something in her eyes stopped me so I just nodded. “Okay.”

It was a lie and I think we both knew it.I left her room with a hundred questions swirling through my head, more confused than I’d been when I walked in.

Stay away from him. As if I could.I had spent years dreaming about a man I had never met. today, I finally found him and now my mother wanted me to pretend I hadn’t.

I reached my room and closed the door behind me. For a moment, I stood there in silence.Then my wolf stirred.Mate.

I closed my eyes.“I know.”A pause.Then, softer this time—Can’t. My eyes opened and I stared into the darkness. She was right. Whatever my mother knew, whatever she was afraid of, neither of us was going to stay away from him. Not now that we’d finally found him.