My Boyfriend Lost Me, but I Found My Fated Mate

On our second anniversary, my boyfriend Blake messaged to say he had lost me to one of his friends in a racing game. Right after that, the video of me collapsing at last year's shifting trial went into his group chat. In it, I lay curled on the ground without so much as a strand of wolf fur appearing. The chat erupted. "That counts as a werewolf? She's a rabbit in a wolf skin." "Whoever won her is out of luck. Imagine having to mate with a broken wolf." Someone opened a book on it soon enough. The wager was how long it would take for me to be discarded. My boyfriend was the first to bet that I would be discarded within a month. "Eric values strength above everything. He has said that only a strong Gamma warrior deserves to be his mate. "Still, a bet is a bet. Eric can make it through one month until the forfeit is over." Serena, who had grown up alongside Blake, tagged me in the group and did not bother hiding the mockery. "Liora, you won't last a week before he's sick of you, will you?" Reading it, I smiled. Nobody knew that after that collapse, my wolf had begun to evolve. And nobody knew that a month ago my father, the Alpha, had issued a decree naming me the pack's next Alpha. I typed a message into the group. "Blake, count me in on this bet." 第1章 The moment it went out, Blake called. I hung up. He switched to voice messages and sent three in a row, each one more impatient than the last. [It's just a joke between friends. Do you have to make it a thing?] [You just mate with Eric first and cancel it in a month. It's a forfeit, that's all.] [Don't embarrass me over this.] Reading them, my chest still tightened. He handed me over like an object and then turned around and complained that I was being difficult. The three tasks of the mating ceremony went up in the group soon after. The first, a kiss. The second, complete the mating mark ceremony and form a bond. The third, announcing it on every social platform. The mockery came quickly. "She cannot even call her wolf. How is she supposed to complete these tasks and form a bond?" "Every werewolf knows a broken wolf can't form a bond. Looks like Eric isn't finishing that one." "Going public with something that useless isn't an announcement. It's public suicide." Every line mocked me as a broken wolf whose wolf had never awakened. And every line expressed pity for Eric. And for all the noise, Eric never appeared. I had heard Blake mention him. He always talked about Eric like a close friend, but his wariness was obvious. Blake added in the group, "Liora is weak and timid. Do not frighten her. Just go through the motions." It sounded considerate. Among werewolves, though, labels like weak and timid were enough to brand me as a disgrace. Last year, when I came of age, I stood in the middle of the moonstone circle with dozens of pairs of eyes on me. All of them waiting for the Alpha's daughter to wake a powerful wolf. I gave it everything I had, but nothing answered in my mind. Instead, tearing pain ripped through my body. My vision went and I went down. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was the jeering crowd, with Blake standing behind them in expressionless profile. I found out later that someone had filmed it. That is the video going around the group now. Just then, my closest friend, Freya, video-called me. "What kind of useless boyfriend loses his girlfriend to his friend in a game? "Why doesn't he bet himself away and become the first werewolf in this pack mated to another man? "Just wait, Liora. I'm going out right now for the strongest werewolf laxative they make, and I'm putting it in his water so he can find out what public humiliation feels like!" Blake's friends never met a spectacle they did not want to make bigger, so it did not surprise me that word had reached Freya. But the weight on my chest lifted at my friend's outrage on my behalf. Watching her still working out ways to get back at them for me, I laughed out loud. "Don't worry, Freya. You don't have to. I'll settle this myself." Freya's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you finally don't have to hide what you are?" [Of course.] My wolf answered before I could. I smiled and went on, "I'm in the bet too. I get a show and I get paid. Why wouldn't I go?" Freya laughed, as though she could already see their faces. "Go! You absolutely have to go! "Let every one of them find out who the strongest wolf actually is! "We aren't just going to beat them, we're going to make them admit it!" The call had barely ended when there was a knock at my door. It was my mother. There was worry on her face. "Liora, I heard something about a mating ceremony. Is it with that boyfriend of yours?" I went quiet. My mother knew how much I had liked Blake. We went to the same high school. He was captain of the football team and a future Gamma warrior. A great many girls liked him, and I was one of them. Although I carried my Alpha father's blood, I had always been far weaker than an ordinary werewolf. Among wolves who worshiped strength, that made me an outcast. I thought that quiet crush would end when we graduated, and then Blake came to me and told me he wanted me. We agreed we would go to the same university and become strong, accomplished wolves together. And after the shifting trial, none of it was the same. After I collapsed, many of my friends vanished from my life. Including Blake. My mother disapproved of Blake, but for the sake of my health she kept it to herself. I woke up in a hospital room, in pain. The doctors said it was a rare case of a wolf purging and rebuilding its vessel. What it would become in the end, nobody could predict. I bit my lip bloody against the pain and survived one shaking night after another by holding on to the promise Blake and I had made. After that I could hear howling from a long way off and pick out the scent of every wolf line. I did not dare tell anyone. My wolf had not finished evolving. If the Council of Elders found out, there was no telling whether they would treat me as an heir or as something aberrant that needed controlling. My mother had seen me through those nights and she knew what I felt for Blake. She sighed and touched my hair. "Whatever you decide, I am behind you." When the door closed, my nose stung. I had loved the wrong person. But I still had family and a friend who had stayed quietly beside me through it all. Then the group chat chimed again. Eric had appeared. He ignored everyone who was egging it on and replied only to me. "If you don't want to come tomorrow, you don't have to. "A mating ceremony requires both sides to be willing. I lost the game, and no one gets to decide for you." Blake was there immediately. "Eric, it's only a game. Liora isn't that bad a sport." Eric did not answer him. I stared at the black-wolf avatar, struck by a sudden sense of familiarity. My wolf roared, as though confirming the thought. Then a friend request came up. The same black wolf's head. 第2章 When we first started dating, Blake had truly treated me well. My body was weak and I always came last in the fitness trials. Some older wolves put a foot out to trip me and ground dirt into my clothes in front of everyone. Blake charged them with red eyes and beat them bloody on the spot. He put me behind him and wiped the tears off my face. He declared in front of everyone, "Liora is mine. The next person who calls her weak will have their throat torn out!" Back then, he was the brightest boy in school, captain of the football team and a gifted future Gamma warrior. He held me tight and said in an unbearably gentle voice, "Whatever you turn out to be, I will keep you safe for the rest of my life." I believed him. I thought I had found the person who would always save me. And all of it broke after the shifting ceremony last year. At that ceremony, I gave everything I had, failed to call my wolf, and collapsed inside the circle. By the time I woke in the hospital, Blake had changed completely. He froze me out. He stopped coming to me, and my messages went nowhere. Even when we passed in a corridor, he avoided my eyes as though I carried the plague. I did not know what I had done wrong. I thought I was useless and had embarrassed him. I made a salve for his injuries and took it to him, hoping to apologize and beg him not to shut me out. And before I reached the door of his lounge, I heard him and his friends laughing. "What rotten luck. I thought she was the Alpha's own daughter, carrying the purest Alpha blood. Mating with her was supposed to secure my future." Blake's voice was cold enough to cut, with nothing warm left in it. "And it turns out she's completely useless and can't wake a wolf at all! "What use is blood on its own? She cannot even shift. I am ashamed to be seen with her!" Outside the door, my world turned to ice. There had never been love at first sight or any tenderness at all. From the beginning, he had approached and protected me only to use my father's influence and my Alpha blood to climb higher. The moment I became a broken wolf who could offer him nothing, I was trash he could not wait to discard. He even posted anonymously on the pack forum from a second account. "What do you do if your mate can't shift?" The replies were all agreement and mockery. "Throw her out. A broken wolf is worth less than the lowest servant." "Get yourself a pretty Omega instead." At the very bottom of the thread was a single reply. "You do not deserve her." The avatar beside it was that familiar black wolf's head. A month ago my father, Aldric, called me into the Council's private chamber. Moonlight came down through the skylight, and I had never seen him look as serious as he did then. "Liora, there are things you should know now." He put a hand on my shoulder and a warm strength came through with it. "Your wolf is not dormant. She is going through a very rare evolution. "When the evolution is complete, you will carry not only Alpha blood but the precious white-wolf line. "Then this entire pack will become your responsibility." He looked at me, his voice low. "In a month I will announce it myself." I did not yet know what becoming the next Alpha would mean. But I remembered what was in my father's eyes. And tomorrow was the day he would announce it. I deleted the photographs of Blake and me. My wolf roared again, as though trying to comfort me. Blake's call came again. I ended it and blocked him. The screen had barely gone dark before it lit again. The black-wolf avatar I had just accepted was flashing on the screen. Eric. [Seven tomorrow evening. Silver Moon Lodge.] And one more line. [I'll be waiting.] Reading those words, my heartbeat quickened and my wolf seemed to tremble. But she seemed to be... smiling. 第3章 By that afternoon, before I had even started getting ready, the messages were coming one after another. Some of them had reached the venue and started setting up. I frowned and opened the photographs they had posted. They were discussing the seating for the evening. Someone posted a picture of a booster seat. It was raised and fitted with straps. It was unmistakably an infant booster seat. [Save this one for Liora. A weak little broken wolf with no wolf at all. What if she gets emotional and faints and can't even stay in a chair?] [This chair is exactly right for her kind. Weak little babies, weak little rabbits, weak little Liora.] A dozen laughing messages appeared beneath it almost at once. They made no attempt to hide their contempt for me. For once Blake was not joining in. What he said instead was this. [Leave it. She isn't coming.] Then Serena posted. [That's right, everyone. Stop setting it up.] [What if Liora does come? It isn't her fault her wolf never woke. Imagine how upset she would be to see this.] It would have been better if she had said nothing. After that they were all the more eager to see me upset. I closed the chat and leaned back against the head of the bed. Three months ago, on a full moon, I went alone to the top of the hill on pack land. After eighteen years, my body finally answered. That night every werewolf for miles around felt something strange and powerful. The northern guards sounded the alarm, and the Council immediately sent people to locate the source. And nobody knew it was me. From then on, I had to keep my power tightly leashed at every moment. At the academy I walked with my head down, met nobody's eyes, and kept up the disguise of the silent broken wolf. Carrying enough power to change everything and having to act as though I had none is harder than actually having none. At five that afternoon, someone posted a video from the ceremony site. The long table before the stage was draped in silver-gray cloth and crowded with tall white candles. It looked less like a mating ceremony than a funeral. Harsh laughter rang around the room as Kael said to the camera, "For Eric, mating with a broken wolf like Liora is no different from holding a funeral. "So the decor fits perfectly. Wouldn't you say, Blake?" The camera turned to Blake on the sofa opposite. He was smoking, and the haze concealed his true expression. "A broken wolf turning up would only be embarrassing. She won't dare." Serena sat down beside him, smiling. "All right, all right. It's nearly seven. We'll find out soon enough." I closed the video and headed out. But the moment I opened the door, I found a tall figure waiting outside. I did not know him, and something in me said this was Eric. He came toward me. "I've come to take you. Don't worry. This forfeit was never anything to do with you. "Whatever you do, I'll follow your lead." His body tensed slightly, as though he were holding something back. I could feel the black wolf inside him trembling and had no idea what it meant. Something strange rose in me at the same time, and my white wolf began to stir. I forced her down and nodded to him. A month ago, my father had told me, "Liora, the day you make yourself known is the day you step forward. "Don't be afraid. The Moon Goddess is with you." I touched the faint mark on the inside of my wrist. It was time. About half an hour later Eric's car stopped at the doors of the Silver Moon Lodge. We got out together. 第4章 When we opened the private-room door, every eye turned toward us. Kael recovered first. "Well. If it isn't Liora. The broken wolf actually came? I thought you'd be hiding at home, afraid to step outside." I paid him no attention and walked in beside Eric. Rook drawled from where he lounged in a chair, "So she came. "What kind of mating ceremony can a broken wolf have? She doesn't even deserve to be called a werewolf." Someone eagerly showed Eric the decorations. Then he launched into their entire explanation. "What is the difference between holding a mating ceremony with Liora and holding a funeral?" Everyone around them laughed. Several people held up their phones. They were ready to record my humiliation. But Eric and I behaved as though we had heard nothing. We had already agreed in the car. At the venue, I would take the lead and Eric only needed to stay back. Blake sat up in the center of the sofa. He studied me for a few seconds and curled his lip. "You actually came? I thought you would have some shame and spare yourself the embarrassment. "What is a broken wolf with no wolf even doing here? Giving everyone a show?" Serena rose from beside him with a very gentle smile. "Liora, you really came. Sit down. "Everyone is only joking. Don't take it to heart. Not being able to wake a wolf was never up to you." I walked over to the baby's chair. They all waited for me to make a fool of myself. Kael jeered, "Say something, broken wolf! Frightened out of your wits? "Right. You came all this way. You can't wake a wolf, but surely you can speak?" I raised my head slowly and moved my eyes from one face to the next. My voice was perfectly clear. "Isn't there a forfeit to complete?" I paused. "Let's begin." The room went quiet. A supposed broken wolf whose wolf had never awakened had just demanded the mating mark ceremony herself. Blake frowned. "Liora, have you made enough of a scene? Do you want to humiliate yourself in front of everyone?" Serena gave his hand a performative tug. "Don't talk to Liora like that..." But the satisfaction in her eyes was impossible to hide. Then Eric spoke. "Let's begin." Ignoring everyone else, he walked straight to me and stopped. Once he said it, nobody dared object. Every eye in the room went to him. The future Beta heir, the celebrated prodigy of the pack. They expected the same contempt Blake had shown, or at least a token effort. He gave them neither. We met each other's eyes calmly, then kissed under the gaze of everyone in the room. The instant our lips touched, my wolf roared. But this was unlike anything I had felt before. She cried out in excitement, [It's him! It's him! He's your fated mate!] My eyes widened. No wonder I felt such a strange pull toward Eric. Eric, by contrast, looked perfectly calm. He smiled at me. "Shouldn't we move to the next step? "Let's complete the mating ceremony." The room fell silent. Kael's jaw dropped, disbelief written across his face. Blake sprang off the sofa. "Eric, have you lost your mind? You're really going to mate with a broken wolf like Liora?" The smile froze on Serena's face. I looked at Eric, and the black wolf inside him seemed to be calling to me without a sound. Drawn in by that force, I exposed my neck without thinking. Eric lowered his head and pressed his mouth to my neck. In the next second, strange golden light burst out and closed around us. Blake seemed to realize what was happening. He rushed toward us to stop it. But before he could reach us, power erupted from the bond. A crushing wave of Alpha pressure blasted outward. Everyone except Eric was thrown off their feet. My white wolf had completed her evolution. Staring at me in white-wolf form, Blake looked stunned. "Liora, you... you actually awakened the white-wolf bloodline?"