Mate

“Why is the useless human still breathing?”

The words cut through the kitchen like a thrown blade. Sienna froze mid-pour, the heavy crystal pitcher of spiced wine trembling in her hands. The voice belonged to one of the visiting warriors. He was broad-shouldered, scarred, reeking of fresh blood and arrogance. He leaned against the doorway with two others, arms crossed and smirks sharp enough to draw blood.

She didn’t look up. She never did when they started. Instead she focused on the deep red liquid swirling into the decanter, willing her fingers not to shake. 

Ella’s old dress clung to her like a borrowed skin. The soft emerald velvet, slightly too tight across the chest, hem brushed just above her ankles because Ella was taller. The fabric should have looked ridiculous on her, a servant playing dress-up.

It didn’t.

Even the warriors’ mocking faltered for half a second when their eyes slid over her. Long silver hair spilled in loose waves down her back, catching the kitchen firelight like molten moonlight. 

Her green eyes lifted just enough to meet theirs before dropping again. Pale skin flushed from the heat of the ovens. Full lips pressed into a thin line of restraint. She looked like something fragile and forbidden dropped into a den of wolves. Stunning. Wrongly stunning.

One of them snorted to cover the hitch in his breath. “Look at her. Dressed like she belongs at the table instead of under it.”

Another laughed, low and cruel. “The mistake thinks she’s pretty tonight.”

Sienna’s grip tightened until her knuckles blanched. She set the pitcher down carefully and reached for the tray of crystal goblets. Her movements were practiced, mechanical which was years of surviving by becoming invisible.

Pico zipped past her ear in a blur of dark blue fur and glittering wings, landing on the edge of the counter with an indignant huff. Only she could see him. Only she could hear the tiny voice that chirped too cheerfully for the moment.

“Beta Kael’s been staring toward the kitchen doors for the last ten minutes,” Pico whispered, ears twitching. “He’s pretending to listen to Alpha Elliot, but his nose keeps flaring. Bet he can smell your lavender soap from here. Ooooh, Siennaaaa, he wants to- ”

“Stop it,” she hissed under her breath and her cheeks burned immediately.

Pico tumbled backward in silent laughter and her wings fluttered. “You want to see him too. Don’t lie. Your heart’s doing that stupid fluttery thing again.”

She hated that he was right.

Kael had arrived with the others hours ago. Tall, dark-haired, shoulders like carved stone, eyes that never quite softened. She’d caught only glimpses through the doorway. Him standing silent behind Alpha Asher with his jaw clenched and gaze sweeping the hall like he was searching for something he refused to name. 

Every time she thought about stepping out there, her stomach twisted with equal parts terror and something hotter.

She hadn’t seen him up close since they returned. And some stupid, starved part of her wanted to. Just once. Just to know if those eyes would slide past her like everyone else’s… or linger.

A rough hand shoved her shoulder. The tray rattled. Two goblets tipped and shattered on the stone floor.

“Clumsy bitch,” the first warrior growled. He stepped closer, boots crunching glass. “Clean it. With your hands. No rag.” Sienna knelt without a word. Shards bit into her palms as she gathered them. Blood welled in thin red lines but she didn’t flinch. Behind her, the kitchen door banged open.

“Enough.”

A pack enforcer’s voice echoed bored. “Alpha wants the wine served. Now. And bring the girl with you.” The warriors laughed again. “Time to parade the mistake.”

They grabbed her arms and yanked her up. The tray was shoved into her bleeding hands. She winced in pain and struggled to get free from their harsh grip but failed. 

She was dragged through the swinging doors, out of the safety of steam and shadows, into the great hall. Hundreds of eyes turned. The long table stretched beneath flickering chandeliers. 

Alphas and betas sat shoulder to shoulder. Asher sat at the head, his father beside him, visiting Alpha Elliot lounging with predatory ease. Luna Marie’s lips curled in distaste while Ella smirked behind her wineglass.

Silence fell like a blade.

Sienna stood in the center of it all, holding the trembling tray with blood dripping slowly onto the polished floor. The emerald dress shimmered under the light. Her silver hair framed a face that should have been bowed in shame… but somehow wasn’t.

Alpha Elliot’s gaze raked over her slowly. Hungry. Calculating which instantly made her shift in uneasiness.  “You should be grateful we let humans live here at all,” he drawled, voice carrying to every corner.

He reached out and closed his fingers around her wrist, hard. The tray wobbled as his thumb pressed deliberately over the fresh cuts, smearing her blood across his skin. Sienna sucked in a breath but didn’t pull away. She couldn’t. Not here. Not with every eye watching because she knew if she did, she was going to face everyone’s wrath which she could not bear. 

Asher leaned forward, elbows on the table, expression unreadable. “Bring the girl closer.” The enforcers shoved her forward. She stumbled and wine sloshed over the rim of the goblets. A few drops splashed onto Alpha Elliot’s boots. His grip tightened until she felt bone grind.

Ella laughed a bright, cruel mock. From the shadows near the wall, Kael watched.

His hands were fisted at his sides. Veins stood out along his forearms and his chest rose and fell too fast. 

He clearly did not look pleased but he could not step in either. Alpha Elliot yanked Sienna’s wrist higher, forcing her to lean over the table to pour his wine first. Her hair fell forward like a silver curtain. Her scent, clean, wild and sweet flooded the air.

Instantly, Kael’s nostrils flared. Something inside him snapped. It was not anger. Not jealousy but …… Feral. Mine. The word roared through his skull like thunder. His wolf lunged against his ribs so hard he tasted blood.

Mate.

Mate.

MATE.

His vision tunneled and The room narrowed to her. The silver hair and bleeding wrist, wide green eyes trying so hard not to show fear. Alpha Elliot’s fingers were still wrapped around what belonged to him.

Kael took one step forward. Then another and The hall went deathly quiet. Because everyone could feel it- the shift in the air, the sudden, the violent press of power rolling off the beta like a storm breaking.

And in that frozen heartbeat, Sienna finally lifted her gaze. Straight to him and their eyes locked. And the world tilted.. 

Sienna’s breath caught somewhere between her lungs and her throat. The goblet in her hand tilted; a single crimson drop of wine slid down the crystal rim and fell, slow, impossibly slow- onto the white tablecloth. It bloomed like blood.

She couldn’t look away from him.

Kael stood frozen three paces from the table’s edge, chest heaving, eyes no longer the calm, guarded brown she remembered. They burned. Gold flecks ignited in the irises, spreading like wildfire until the brown was swallowed whole. 

His pupils had blown wide, black swallowing the gold, and something primal- something ancient- stared back at her through them. Mate. The word hadn’t been spoken aloud. It didn’t need to be.

It slammed into her chest like a fist. Her heart stuttered once, twice- then pounded so hard she thought the whole room must hear it. Heat exploded behind her ribs, racing down her arms, pooling low in her belly. 

Her skin prickled as if every hair on her body had suddenly remembered it was alive. A scent she hadn’t noticed before crashed over her and underneath it all… something raw and male and hers.

Her knees buckled.

No one moved to stop it. No one breathed. Sienna’s wide green eyes stayed locked on Kael. Tears welled, not from fear or humiliation, but from the sheer, brutal force of recognition.

He really was. Her mate. The beta of her cousin’s pack. The man who had never once spoken to her. The man who had watched her from shadows for years like she was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. The man who had fucked other women while her face haunted him.

And he was hers.

Impossible.