Kade's point of view:
The silver Lake pack ground smelled like celebration. There was roasted meat, smoke from pine wood, and a sharp feel of magic in the air....the same kind of magic that always appeared during mating ceremonies.
I stood at the edge of the clearing with Luna's perfectly manicured fingers wrapping around my bicep like she was afraid I would disappear if she let go.
" Look at them," Luna breathed, pressing even closer as another couple stepped forward to complete their bond. "Isn't it beautiful?."
I nodded because that's what boyfriends like me were expected to do. They agreed. They smiled. They pretended their wolves weren't prowling restlessly beneath their skin, searching for something—someone—that was definitely not standing beside them.
The couple before us both looked like alphas from the way thay held themselves. they stood under the ceremonial arch woven from silver birch branches and wolfsbane flowers. Alpha Morgan, our pack leader, raised her hands, and the crowd fell silent.
"By moon and blood, by earth and sky, do you accept this bond?"
"I do," they answered at the same time, and even from twenty feet away, I could see it....the moment their wolves recognized each other completely. The female's eyes flashed gold and her mates did the same. The scent of their bond bloomed through the clearing, sweet and sharp like honey mixed with lightning.
My wolf paced inside me. Not our mate. Not our mate. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
I know, I told him silently. I fucking know.
"This is the third ceremony I've brought you to this year," Luna said, tilting her head against my shoulder. "Do you think... maybe we'll have our ceremony soon?"
The hope in her voice felt like a knife between my ribs.
I looked down at her—Luna Whitemor, daughter of the Alpha of Crescent moon pack, with her cascade of silver–blonde hair and eyes like summer sky. Beautiful. Kind. She is everything a wolf could want in a mate.
Everything except the one thing that mattered.
"Soon, Luna." The lie tasted like ash, soon,"
She smiled brightly upon my words, making me hate myself a little more.
The ceremony continued according to pack law—Alphas first, displaying their bonds for all to witness. Then the betas....wolves like me who formed the backbone of pack leadership and protection. Finally, the Omega's would have their turn, the largest group, all waiting and praying to find their mate.
"Kade," Someone called my name from the left. It was Jack, my Alphas son and my best friend since we were pups. He jerked his chin toward the drinks table. "Need you for a minute."
Luna's fingers tightened. "But the ceremony...."
"We won't miss much," I said quickly, happy to escape. "Beta business. I'll be back in no time."
I extracted myself from her grip and followed Jack through the crowd. He handed me a beer the moment we were out of Luna's sightline.
"You look like you're being tortured," He said flatly.
"It's that obvious?"
"Only to anyone who have known you for for year like I do," Jack said as he took a long pull from his own bottle. "Two years, kade. Maybe it's time to...."
"Don't." I cut him off. "Don't say it."
"Your wolf is going to drive you insane." His voice dropped low enough that only I could hear. "I can see how tense you are. You're always on the edge. Luna's not your mate and she will never be. Everyone knows it except her."
"My wolf growled in agreement, but I shoved him down. "Not everyone gets the fairy tale, Jack. Some of us have to be practical."
"That's not practical," he said. "That's cowardice."
The word hit me like a physical blow, but before I could respond, a shift in the crowd pulled my attention back to the ceremony. The last of the Beta pairings had concluded. Now came the Omegas—the largest group, all of them searching, hoping this gathering would bring them face to face with their destined mate.
Luna suddenly reappeared beside me again like a shadow. "Is everything okay?"
"Fine," I said, drinking half my beer in one go.
She laced her fingers through mine, and my wolf whimpered. Wrong. wrong. Wrong.
The Omega ceremonies were always longer, more chaotic. Wolves who hadn't found their mates walked around, smelling each other, hoping to feel that special connection. Some would find their mates tonight. Others would go home disappointed.
I watched everything with detached interest, my mind already planning my exit strategy from luna. How long before I could say I was tired? How long until I could drop Luna at her place and spend the rest of the night running through the woods, trying to exhaust my wolf into submission?
Then it hit me.
A sudden scent.
Wild jasmine and soft moonlight, mixed with something powerful. It cut through everything else in the clearing like a sharp blade.
My wolf didn't just wake up.
He exploded.
"MATE." The word wasn't a thought. It was a roar that filled every corner of my consciousness, "MATE, HERE, OURS."
My entire body went rigid. The beer bottle nearly shattered in my grip. Every nerve in me lit up. My senses stretched out, searching, hunting.
"Kade?" Luna's voice sounded far away now, like I was hearing her underwater. "Are you okay? You look.... "
I didn't hear the rest. My head snapped around as my eyes scanned the crowd with an intensity that bordered on feral. four hundred wolves filled the clearing. four hundred scents. But only one stand out.
Where? Where are you?
The Jasmine scent grew stronger, then fainter, then stronger again....she was moving. My wolf clawed at my control, demanding I shift, to run, to find her right now and claim her.
"Mate," I whispered, the word falling from my lips unbidden.
"what?" Luna stepped in front of me, blocking my view with a confused expression on her face. "What did you say?"
"I.... nothing." My heart hammered against my ribs. The scent was drifting towards the far end of the clearing. I took a step forward. "I need to...."
"Come on. " Luna tugged at my hand, pulling me in the opposite direction. "The ceremony's over. We should head out before the parking lot gets too crowded."
"No," The word came out harsher than I intended. "I need to—there's someone...."
But Luna was already pulling me through the crowd, chattering something about how beautiful the ceremonies was, and how romantic everything looked. I was too stunned, too overwhelmed to resist properly. We pushed through groups of celebrating wolves, and with each step I took, the Jasmine scent grew fainter.
No. No.
I stretched my neck to look around, desperately scanning faces, but there were too many people, too much movement. My wolf was in agony, howling, raging against my ribs.
"Go back," He snarled, "GO BACK. Our mate. We can't leave. FIND HER."
"I will," I promise him. " I will, I just need...."
But by then we were already in the parking lot. The cool night air hit my face, and with it, the absolute absence of that perfect Jasmine scent fading completely. Luna was fishing for her keys, still taking, and I realized with dawning horror that I'd let her pull me away.
"I'll drive," Luna said. "You seem distracted tonight."
Distracted. If only she knew.
I stood frozen beside the car, my whole body oriented back towards the ceremony grounds. Every instinct screamed at me to run back, to search every face until I found the wolf who smelled like moonlight and Jasmine, the wolf my soul had recognized in a single heartbeat.
My true mate was here. At this ceremony. Somewhere in that crowd of four hundred wolves.
And I had no idea who she was.
"Kade?" Luna touched my arm, and I flinched. "Seriously, what's wrong with you tonight?"
Everything. Nothing. My entire world had just shifted on its axis, and I was standing in a parking lot with a woman my wolf had never wanted or accepted, pretending everything was fine.
"Just tired," I managed. The lie felt heavier than all the others combined. "Long week."
Luna's expression softened, she rose on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss on my lips—the same kiss she'd given me a thousand times before. But tonight it felt like betrayal. To her. To my mate and to my wolf.
"Let's get you home. " She said as she unlocked the car. "you will feel better before tomorrow, you just need some rest."
I slide into the passenger seat like a man in a trance. As Luna pulled out of the parking lot, I turned back one last time, my eyes scanning the ceremony grounds as it disappeared behind us.
Somewhere in that crowd was the wolf I'd been searching for my entire life.
And I'd just let her slip through my fingers.
My wolf's howl of anguish echoed through my mind all the way home, a sound of loss and longing that I knew would haunt me until the moment I found her again.