In a fleeting moment, Celeste was back to Jeremy's first full-moon shift. Things were not so different from now. Jeremy had paced the room restlessly, just as he was doing now. The door had been firmly shut, and both of them had been so close.　　Back then, Jeremy had been suppressing his wolf for days, and Celeste had been teasing his nerves at the door. So the wolf lost control. This time, they were both ready for what was to come. Maybe it would be different.　　She hoped so.　　She lay in bed and closed her eyes. She could hear the wind outside and feel the moon slowly climbing into the sky and casting its magic. Yet, it wasn't enough to coax her wolf out of hiding.　　Before she knew it, her thoughts drifted from the window to the door, trying to picture what Jeremy was up to on the other side.　　Celeste opened her eyes immediately, shaking her head to snap out of her imagination. She grabbed her phone and started scrolling, hoping to distract herself. Bu

　　As Jeremy's wolf drew dangerously close to Celeste, its powerful muscles coiled like springs before launching him straight toward her.　　Celeste was caught off guard. As the wolf's sharp claws grazed against her skin, Celeste's mind raced with doubt. Had she been too naive, too trusting of Jeremy? She guessed she could only blame herself for getting under the wolf's skin.　　Her body went backward. She braced herself for the impact of a fall. She expected the air to get knocked out of her lungs. But the impact or the pain never came. As she hit the ground, she was met with an unexpected softness that cushioned her. The wolf's supple tail had swooped in at the last moment to break her fall.　　Unlike that night, the wolf had exercised great restraint and didn't land his entire weight on Celeste's body. Instead, with remarkable finesse, the wolf landed beside her, his powerful tail sandwiched between Celeste and the unforgiving ground.　　Celeste slowly opened her e

　　Celeste was ready to talk about her mate bond with Jeremy.　　Her heart sped up a little. She didn't know what was driving her to say that out loud. Was it the pull of the moon or the unbridled comfort of their closeness that loosened her tongue?　　Or perhaps it was a sense of reverence that filled her being as she realized the lengths Jeremy went to control his beastly urges for her?　　She couldn't quite put a finger on it.　　The thought surfaced in her mind and freed itself from her lips without a moment of delay, like a bird from a cage. But the sudden burst of words didn't leave her with any regret or remorse.　　Jeremy's wolf stirred in her arms, eyes blinking several times as if he was trying to make sense of what Celeste had just said. Then, in a sudden outburst of excitement, he gazed at Celeste, tail swishing back and forth.　　Though the wolf's face didn't change, Celeste swore that he was smiling. She couldn't help with the smile on her face,

　　Rejection…　　The word carries its own weight.　　Celeste felt like her tongue was seared by the word. It was as if the word was a hot coal that she had to spit out, or it would consume her. She could feel the lump in her throat, threatening to choke her, but somehow she managed to say it out loud without a pause.　　Jeremy's body tensed, but he nodded slightly and didn't seem to be surprised. It was as if he had been expecting this, but that didn't make it any less painful. He looked up at her. She caught a fleeting glimpse of sadness in his eyes before he turned away.　　In truth, they both knew that rejection was the only option.　　Fate was playing a joke on them. How could she and he be both siblings and mates? They could only choose one.　　It should not be a difficult decision, and both of them knew very well what they were going to choose eventually.　　But when they had to choose, it was difficult.　　And it was somehow painful. But

　　Ever since Celeste and Jeremy returned from Byron's place, a strange tension had hung in the air between them. It was like they were back to their previous lives.　　Not that they didn't speak to each other at all, but the conversations were often stilted. They started to avoid each other again, tiptoeing around another invisible elephant in the room.　　With Celeste's wolf now mostly healed, Jeremy didn't need to be by her side constantly anymore. Yet, this newfound freedom has only served to exacerbate the tension between them. Both wolves were acutely aware of each other's presence as if they were magnetically drawn together, yet also repelled by their humans' reasons.　　Jeremy now spent most of his days outside, leaving Celeste alone in the house. Celeste understood their need for space, but that didn't dissipate the tension between them, lurking beneath the surface like a dormant volcano.　　Celeste couldn't help but wonder which of them would lose control first and shatter the de