Raina's POV
My left eye started to twitch behind my glasses,the moment I stepped into the council chamber. The chair inside was carved for elders, not for me,low, hard, the kind that taught you patience by bruising your knees.
They called me in. Me. Raina Winslow. The girl whose wolf form once tripped over a tree root during training and face-planted into a mud puddle in front of half the pack. The girl who still has braces marks on her teeth because she smiled too much during high school. I didn't know why I they would call me.I had not skipped patrols. I had not broken laws. I had done nothing, and still my pulse went traitor-fast.
I walked into the chamber with my heart climbing higher than it should've been able to. The air was thick: burning sage, old wood, and something colder underneath it. Zayden Thorn was there. That was the first thing I saw. Or maybe the only thing.
My stomach twisted as I said, "You wanted to see me?"
Elder Mora gave a small nod. "Yes, Raina Winslow. Please, sit."
I was already sitting, but I nodded anyway, though the chair was hard and the air felt heavier the longer I stayed in it. Zayden didn't look at me, but I couldn't stop looking at him. His presence filled the quiet without saying a thing. The others deferred to him even when he didn't move. Power had a sound, I realized. It was silence that made your pulse stutter.
"We met under the full moon," Elder Mora said, palms folded like she was holding a small, angry bird. "The moon gave a sign. The sign named you." Her voice made the last word hollow.
My stomach dipped. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No," she said slowly. "Something has been decided for you."
My throat went dry. I couldn't think of anything worse than those words.
Elder Mora looked toward Zayden, and for the first time he turned. His eyes found me, pale grey, expression unreadable. The kind of look that stripped everything else away.
I forgot to breathe.
"The moon has chosen," the elder continued. "Zayden Thorn has accepted the bond."
The words didn't make sense at first. They couldn't. My brain fired off a million thoughts at once: Wait, mate as in permanent? Life-bond? Soul-tethered forever and ever amen? Why me?
Is this a prank? Did I accidentally win some kind of supernatural lottery?
"What bond?" I asked, though part of me already knew.
Elder Mora didn't soften it. "You've been chosen as the Alpha's mate."
For a heartbeat, everything went silent,then the world tilted. My fingers curled hard against my knees.
"That can't be right," I said quietly. "There must be a mistake."
"The moon doesn't make mistakes," another elder murmured.
I glanced at Zayden. He didn't deny it. Didn't confirm it, either. Just stood there, calm, unmoved.
"Alpha," Elder Mora said, turning to him, "do you acknowledge the claim?"
His gaze didn't leave me when he spoke. "I do."
His voice was quiet but it filled the space like it had weight.
I couldn't think. I wanted to ask why me, but the question seemed too small, too human for the moment.
He gave nothing away. Not anger. Not interest. Not even pity. Just composure, carved in stone.
Elder Mora went on as though I hadn't fallen apart inside. "The binding ceremony will take place tomorrow night at moonrise. You will prepare."
I stared down at my hands, at the faint tremor I couldn't control. "Tomorrow," I repeated, almost to myself.
"Yes," she said. "The Alpha has accepted the moon's choice. You will too."
Zayden's father would have presided once, but he was long gone, leaving Zayden to lead, and now to choose. Except he hadn't chosen. Not really. Fate had.
When the meeting ended, I stood because everyone else did. I bowed to the council because it was expected. I left because I couldn't stay without breaking.
Outside, the evening air was cooler, but it didn't help. The sky was bruised with cloud and moonlight, and the sound of the forest carried farther than usual.
I walked until I was far enough that no one could see me stop. Then I leaned against the stone railing and tried to breathe the shaking out of my lungs.
The Alpha's mate. Me.
Nyra should have been chosen. She was elegant, beautiful, had curves at all the right angles, all the sort of elegance that made strangers remember her name. Everyone would expect her. Even i expected that too.
The wind shifted. I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady the rush beneath my ribs. My heart wouldn't listen. Neither would my thoughts.
I pressed my palm against my chest, trying to calm the restless energy clawing beneath my skin. My wolf was awake, pacing inside me, whispering things I didn't want to hear.
What if it's real? What if this is fate?
I didn't believe in fate. I believed in logic, in ranking, in things that made sense. This didn't. I wasn't strong or graceful or beautiful. I was the kind of wolf who tripped during training and apologized to trees.
I stood there until the my thoughts quiet down, until the silence returned, until I could pretend the tremor in my hands was just from the cold.
Tomorrow, I was to be marked by the Alpha.
And no matter how much I told myself this wasn't real, the bond under my skin had already started to breathe.