Semua Bab Fate Or Mates: Bab 11 - Bab 20

KIMBERLY’S POVHis footsteps had barely faded from the balcony when a hot, ugly anger crawled up my spine. My fingers curled into fists at my sides. I stood there like some extra in someone else’s life, hearing the echo of his voice over and over: “Don’t come near me again.”Second best. That was my title, my whole life. No matter how hard I tried, how sweet I pretended to be, how loyal I stayed, I always ended up as the afterthought. The one kept around out of pity. Angela’s charity case.The poor little omega nobody wanted. Even the man who planted the idea of me in my mother’s head did not want me, apparently. Still, here I was. Still whispered about behind closed doors, still the girl the Alphas slept with in secret and ignored in daylight.I never minded most of it. I learned to swallow. But Julius was different. He felt different. He made me feel wanted, like I mattered for a little while. So what if I knew it was not love? So what if he would never bring me home to his mother a

ANGELA’S POVThe clinking of cutlery against china filled the silence at the dinner table that evening. My mother had just served roasted chicken with garlic potatoes and steamed cabbage, my absolute favorite.Usually, I would have savored every single bite on my plate already, but tonight I had more pressing things on my mind. Things like how to convince my parents to let me travel to Shadow Moon Pack for their mating ceremony.I dabbed my lips with the napkin, then set it down beside my plate. “I wanted to let you both know,” I began, glancing between them, “I’ll be heading over to Shadow Moon Pack for a few days. Just to visit cousin Rainey. She invited me for the full moon annual ceremony.”My mother’s eyes lit up instantly. “Oh, how lovely! It’s been ages since you saw Rainey. Shadow Moon Pack has such a beautiful lake, doesn’t it?” she said, already imagining me in sundresses by the water.The first time we went to visit her family, I was just seven years old. Now I’m almost eig

JULIUS’S POV“She what?” I growled, my voice bouncing off the training yard walls. I’d been sparring with Kellan a few minutes earlier, and now the news landed like a punch I didn’t see coming.Kellan let his guard drop, eyes careful. “She left. Last night. Went to see her cousins on her mother’s side. Your father knows. Beta Hunter gave his blessing.”No. My hands curled into fists at my sides. “He let her go?”Kellan shrugged, small and guarded. “On one condition. If she doesn’t find a mate before her eighteenth birthday, she comes back and mates with you.”Only the last part registered at first, like a dull echo. The rest blurred into a single picture: Angela walking into another pack looking for a mate, her scent threading through a place that didn’t smell like home. Unmated, fierce, stubborn. Beautiful in a way that made me want to crush something and protect something at the same time.Why did it matter so much? I asked myself as I walked out, people sliding aside like I was a t

JULIUS’S POVWe drove across the countryside like the road itself was pulling us somewhere we couldn’t ignore. Kellan had the wheel, windows down, no music. Just wind whipping in, carrying wet grass, dust and a hundred smells I couldn’t name. Honestly, every mile we left behind felt like it added more weight to my skull, pressing down hard.By the time we hit Shadow Moon’s border the sky had gone that deep bruised purple it gets right before night. Lanterns flickered on, little dots of light scattered through the trees. The place was way more alive than I expected. Wolves were everywhere. Tents were going up, fires catching, voices humming low like a song under the night air.The smell here was nothing like home: smoke, lake water, sharp herbs that bit at the nose. I should’ve felt like an outsider, but watching the way the pack moved, the way they set up their rituals… yeah, something tightened in my chest. Fear maybe. Or maybe it was anger, like a fist clenching around my ribs.Kell

ANGELA’S POVThe next day arrived in a rush of fashion, frayed nerves, and hopeful hearts. Rainey helped pick out the dress. Mine was a soft cream halter gown, clinging to my curves then loosening around the legs like water taking shape. Rainey’s dress was forest green, the color playing up her auburn curls until they looked almost like flames in the morning light. We wore matching floral bracelets. Hers was a daisy chain; mine had small white lavender and blue fern buds, a tiny sign of new beginnings for those in search of a mate.“You ready?” she asked while tucking a stray hair behind my ear.I gave a tight smile. “I think so.”She grinned, more fierce than gentle. “If he’s out there, tonight will tell.”Then we headed toward the ceremony ground. The path wound through lantern lit trees, the glow spilling over the packed earth like fallen stars. Wolves of every rank moved around us, laughter and whispers filling the air, though underneath it all there was a thrum of expectation so