The Grand Hall of Silvercrest had been transformed overnight into something that belonged in a fairytale. Crystal chandeliers caught the afternoon light and scattered it across walls draped in deep forest green and silver, the pack colors that had flown over this territory for three generations. Sera had been up since three in the morning helping with preparations, her hands raw from arranging flowers, polishing surfaces until they gleamed, and now, dressed in the plain black uniform all servers wore, she balanced a tray of champagne flutes while trying to become invisible.
It wasn't hard. She'd had six years of practice.
The annual Autumn Gathering drew wolves from five neighboring packs, over two hundred shifters crowding into the hall with all their power and beauty on full display. The air practically vibrated with supernatural energy, making Sera's teeth ache. She couldn't feel it the way they did, couldn't sense the complex web of dominance and submission that governed every interaction, but she could see it in how they moved. The way lower-ranked wolves instinctively stepped aside for higher ones. The way Alphas commanded space simply by existing.
"More drinks on the west side," Margaret hissed, appearing at Sera's elbow. The older woman's face was flushed from running between the kitchen and the hall. "And for Moon's sake, keep your head down. Your father's been watching you like a hawk."
Sera's stomach clenched. She'd been avoiding Marcus Winters all morning, but she could feel his gaze tracking her movements. Thomas had been right. Something was coming, and her father was orchestrating it with his usual calculating precision.
She wove through the crowd, offering drinks to clusters of wolves who took them without looking at her. Invisible. Forgettable. Safe. A Beta female laughed loudly at something her companion said, the sound bright and carefree in a way Sera couldn't remember ever feeling. What must it be like to fit so seamlessly into your own skin? To know exactly where you belonged?
"Attention, please."
Alpha Thornwood's voice cut through the chatter like a blade. The elder Alpha stood on the raised platform at the hall's far end, his silver hair gleaming under the chandeliers. Even at sixty-three, he radiated authority. This was a man who'd led Silvercrest for forty years, who'd expanded their territory and strengthened their alliances. Everyone respected him. Everyone feared him a little too.
"Thank you all for joining us today," he continued, his deep voice carrying easily across the now-silent hall. "As many of you know, I'll be stepping down as Alpha at the next full moon. It's time for new leadership, new vision. Today, I'm honored to officially introduce my successor."
The crowd shifted, anticipation crackling through them like electricity. Sera found herself pressed against the wall near the main entrance, her tray now empty. She should return to the kitchen, but something kept her rooted in place.
"My son has spent the last five years training with some of the finest packs on the continent. He's fought in territorial disputes, mediated conflicts, and proven himself worthy of leading Silvercrest into the future. Please welcome your new Alpha, Kael Thornwood."
The double doors behind Sera swung open so suddenly she had to jump aside to avoid being hit. Three wolves entered, but she only saw one.
Kael Thornwood stood six foot three, broad-shouldered and moving with the fluid grace that marked all shifters, but amplified. Everything about him screamed predator, from his sharp jawline to the way his dark eyes swept the room, cataloging threats and weaknesses in seconds. He wore all black, simple but perfectly tailored, and his presence seemed to draw all the light in the room toward him.
Power. That's what he was. Pure, undiluted power wrapped in human skin.
Sera couldn't breathe. She'd seen Alphas before, obviously. Lived among them her whole life. But this was different. He was different. There was something magnetic about him, something that made it physically impossible to look away even though every instinct screamed at her to drop her gaze, to show the submission her lack of wolf made mandatory.
Kael strode down the center aisle, pack members parting before him like water. His father met him at the platform, and the two men clasped forearms in the traditional gesture of leadership transfer. The pride on the elder Alpha's face was unmistakable.
"I won't give a long speech," Kael said, his voice a rich baritone that did strange things to Sera's pulse. "Actions matter more than words. I'm here to serve this pack, to protect it, to lead it with strength and fairness. My door is always open. My loyalty is absolute. Together, we'll make Silvercrest stronger than ever."
The hall erupted in applause and howls of approval. Sera watched Kael's expression remain neutral, controlled, giving nothing away. What was it like to command such instant devotion? To know that hundreds of wolves would follow you anywhere without question?
He stepped down from the platform, immediately swarmed by well-wishers and wolves seeking to curry favor. Sera took the opportunity to finally move, heading toward the kitchen with her empty tray.
She'd made it maybe five steps when their eyes met.
The world stopped.
Later, Sera would struggle to describe what happened in that moment. It was like being struck by lightning while simultaneously being submerged in warm water. Like every nerve ending in her body caught fire and went numb at the same time. Her vision tunneled until all she could see was him, those dark eyes widening with something that might have been shock.
The mate bond slammed into her with the force of a freight train.
Every story she'd ever heard about fated mates, every description that had seemed like romantic exaggeration, turned out to be painfully, devastatingly true. Her soul recognized him. Not her wolf, because she didn't have one, but something deeper than that. Something fundamental to her very existence snapped into place, a connection so profound it felt like she'd been incomplete her entire life without knowing it.
Mate. The word echoed through her mind in a voice that wasn't quite hers. Mine. Ours. Forever.
Colors seemed brighter. Sounds sharper. She could smell him from across the room, pine and rain and something uniquely him that made her want to close the distance between them, to touch him, to confirm that this impossible thing was really happening.
Her hands shook so badly the tray slipped from her grip. It hit the floor with a crash that would have drawn every eye in the room under normal circumstances. But these weren't normal circumstances. Through the chaos of sensations flooding her system, Sera barely registered the broken glass at her feet.
All she could do was stare at Kael Thornwood, her mate, and watch his expression shift from shock to something harder. Colder.
He felt it too. She could see it in the way his posture had gone rigid, in how his jaw clenched. The mate bond wasn't one-sided. That was the whole point. When fate mates met, both felt the pull. Both experienced that world-altering recognition.
But where Sera felt like she was drowning in sensation, overwhelmed by a connection so intense it bordered on painful, Kael's face showed something else entirely.
Disgust.
No, not disgust. That would imply strong emotion. What she saw was worse. Dismissal. Like he'd just been informed of a minor inconvenience he'd have to deal with later.
He held her gaze for exactly three seconds. Three seconds that felt like three years. Then he deliberately turned away, giving his attention to the she-wolf beside him who was chattering about territory boundaries.
The rejection wasn't formal. He hadn't spoken the words that would sever a mate bond. But the message was clear: whatever pull he felt toward her, he had no intention of acknowledging it.
Sera stood frozen as the world came rushing back. The broken glass. The wolves are now staring at her. Her father's furious expression as he pushed through the crowd toward her.
"Clean that up," Marcus Winters snarled, his voice low enough that only she could hear. "And get out of sight before you embarrass this family more than you already have."
She knelt mechanically, her hands shaking as she picked up glass shards. Someone handed her a towel. Margaret, probably. The older woman was saying something, but Sera couldn't process words. All she could feel was the bond, that golden thread connecting her to Kael Thornwood, vibrating with energy from her end while his remained stubbornly, deliberately muted.
He was suppressing it. Actually suppressing the mate bond. Was that even possible?
Apparently it was, because while Sera felt like she might fly apart at the seams, Kael had returned to his conversations as if nothing world-shattering had just occurred. As if he hadn't just met his fated mate. As if the Moon Goddess herself hadn't just tied their souls together.
Unless.
The thought crept in like poison. Unless the bond was weaker for him because she was wolfless. She'd heard theories about it before, whispered conversations between pack members. That a true mate bond required both wolves to be present. That a wolfless wolf couldn't fully bond.
Maybe that's what this was. Maybe he'd felt just the faintest echo of what she was experiencing. A slight tug rather than the all-consuming pull that was currently threatening to drag her across the room toward him.
And that faint pull had been enough to make him recoil.
Sera finished gathering the broken glass and fled to the kitchen, ignoring Margaret's concerned questions. She made it to the small washroom off the pantry before her legs gave out. She sank to the floor, pressing her back against the cool tile wall, and tried to remember how to breathe.
Her mate. The Moon Goddess had given her a mate.
And he wanted nothing to do with her.
The bond pulsed in her chest, a constant reminder of his proximity. She could feel him in the building, could sense his general direction like a compass pointing north. It was invasive and intimate and utterly unwanted based on his reaction.
What was she supposed to do now? The bond wouldn't just go away. This wasn't something she could ignore or suppress, not from her end. Every instinct she had, wolf or not, was screaming at her to go back out there. To approach him. To make him acknowledge what they were to each other.
But she'd seen his face. That cold dismissal. Whatever Kael Thornwood had felt when their eyes met, it hadn't been joy or recognition or any of the things the stories promised. It had been resentment.
Sera pulled her knees to her chest, making herself as small as possible in the tiny washroom. Through the walls, she could hear the party continuing. Laughter and music and celebration. Out there, wolves were finding their mates, forming connections, building futures.
And she was in here, crumbling under the weight of a bond that only seemed to exist in one direction.
The cruelest irony was that she'd spent six years believing she'd never have this. That being wolfless meant being denied the mate bond entirely. She'd mourned that loss along with everything else her condition had stolen.
Turned out fate had one more knife to twist. She got the bond after all. She got to experience that soul-deep recognition, that certainty of connection.
She just didn't get a mate who wanted her back.
The door opened and Margaret peeked in, her weathered face creased with worry. "Sera, honey. Your father wants you back out there."
"I can't." Her voice came out broken, barely a whisper.
"I know, sweetheart. I know. But you have to."
Because that was the reality of her life. It didn't matter what she felt or needed or was currently being destroyed by. She was a servant. Her father's tool. A wolfless embarrassment who existed to follow orders and stay out of sight.
Even finding her fated mate couldn't change that.
Sera forced herself to stand, to splash cold water on her face, to smooth down her uniform. In the cracked mirror above the sink, she looked pale and shaken, but that would have to do.
She followed Margaret back into the kitchen, then out to the hall. The party was in full swing now, wolves dancing and talking and celebrating. And there, in the center of it all, stood Kael Thornwood.
He was laughing at something an older Beta male said, his expression warm in a way it hadn't been when he'd looked at her. The bond tugged insistently, begging her to go to him. To make him see her, really see her.
Instead, Sera picked up another tray of drinks and returned to her post along the wall. Invisible. Forgotten. Exactly where a wolfless wolf belonged.
Even if that wolfless wolf had just found her fated mate.
Especially then.