Chapter 1

Dylan

" F uck that! I'm not doing it," Dylan snarled as she paced inside her Alpha's office. The Alpha, Valko Pierce, sat in his chair and leaned back as he watched her pace. His platinum blond hair styled in a military cut, Valko Pierce leaned back in his chair and observed her pacing with his teal eyes. His chiseled cheekbones and straight nose made him more striking as the power he wielded filled the room. It was to keep Dylan's anger contained, but it wasn't working. Rage rolled off her in waves as she balled her fists at her sides as Valko nonchalantly watched her as if he wasn't the one who just demanded that she do something she vowed she would never do. The Luna of her pack, Loveta, sat on the desk next to her mate. The voluptuous woman watched Dylan as well. Somehow, she kept her curves shielded from onlookers with her clothes. The Luna wore layers of clothes, like a tank top with a blouse, so other males didn't ogle her. With her ruby-red lips, crystal blue eyes, and sandy blonde hair, Luna Loveta was certainly a looker.

That's where I get my good looks from.

"Why won't you calm down? This is a tradition of the packs. It should be an honor to be invited to such a thing. A mate will only strengthen you!" Valko bellowed as if this was a joyous occasion. Dylan didn't feel the same way.

Dylan scoffed, slamming her hands down on the desk. "I told you years ago that I want no part in that shit. I will find my mate naturally. I am not going to that stupid gathering to find a mate. It is lunacy to pack all these unmated males and females together and hope they find their mates. If they don't, we need to give some extra prayers to the Goddess that the males don't lose their shit and kill each other."

Dylan's father emitted a low growl and narrowed his eyes at Dylan. It provoked an eye roll, and Dylan returned to pacing.

"You are the Alpha's daughter. How would it look if you did not show up after you were invited? The best and brightest are always the ones to be invited first. It will show how the Goddess plans to keep the strongest pairs together and find them early so more strong children are born."

Dylan let out a snarl. "You know you sound absolutely idiotic saying it that way. Did you read it right from the invitation?"

Loveta Pierce, her mother, smirked at her. The attitude with which Luna ruled their pack was showing through Dylan right now. She always took pride in Dylan's boldness and her refusal to hold anything back. "It's how Lunas should be. We must make the pack see we are to be respected just as much as the Alpha." Dylan agreed completely.

"They extended the invitation to you because you are of age now. You are supposed to attend this gathering, and hopefully, you will find your mate or mates. That would allow for an alliance, and there is always a good reason to have as many of them as possible."

Those words stopped her in her tracks. He would say that. Since mom only ever found one of her mates, he doesn't have as many alliances as he wants.

"I don't know about you, but I don't really care about alliances. We have survived for a long ass time without one. You have been mated with Mom for a century. You have not gone to war with a single pack during that lifespan. So, tell me again, why I should be concerned with finding my mates."

Loveta chuckled as Valko put his fingers to the bridge of his nose. Discovering your mates is regarded as a tremendous privilege. She raised her hands in surrender and gave him an I'm not getting involved look. "It will make her less edgy and erratic."

Dylan lifted her lip and emitted a growl. Her wolf didn't like what he insinuated either.

We are not erratic.

Her wolf huffed; I agree.

As a Shadowborn, Dylan was prone to having more darkness inside of her than normal werewolves. The ability to have her wolf go astral meant she could walk through walls and even opponents during a fight. Coming from a long line of Shadowborns also meant she had power over darkness and could cloud the surrounding air. The problem was that Dylan had little control over that ability. Without control, she went astral when she didn't want to. It was certainly an issue, especially since she is Alpha-born and will one day lead a pack. If she didn't gain control of this, it could make her wolf lose herself to the darkness that gives them that power.

Having a mate could help with that control. It was best described to her by her mother when she was a kid. Each person had their own soul, but it was just a fragment once they reached the age of twenty-one. That's when their souls were open to accepting a mate bond. Their souls would then need to find mates to balance out the darkness that having a fragment of their souls would create. The mates would fit together like puzzle pieces. Some females would only have one mate, which was the case for her mother. Others would need anywhere between two to four. The reason certain people could have the number of mates they did remained unmentioned in any story or textbook. It was just what the Goddess picked for them.

There was something about it all that made Dylan not want a mate at all. Males were possessive, controlling, and downright annoying. They believed they knew best for their mate, and sometimes, it impeded their better judgment. Dylan watched her mother for years, practically dancing with wit and attitude around her father's possessive behavior. Even now, Dylan was sure she was feeding him calming words and pushing through their bond to keep him from yelling at her for revolting against wanting to attend this fiasco.

Therefore, I don't want a mate! That sounds like a nightmare. Having to babysit some damn man all the time.

There was word that there was some truth to bloodlines regarding how many mates one would have. For example, if the mother and grandmother had only one mate, then it was possible that the daughter would only have one. Werewolf scientists had traced lineage and the average mates a single line of women had, but they noticed no pattern to anyone's chances. Dylan hoped she only had one mate because her mother and grandmother only had one.

My luck, I'll have four.

Dylan wouldn't worry about it so much if it weren't because the odds were against her. Even though genetics should favor more females than males, this wasn't the case regarding. werewolves. There were more males than females, which created the chances of one female having multiple males for mates. It was rarer for a female to have only one mate than the other. When she didn't want a mate in the first place after seeing males be possessive and annoying, it created fear in her heart to even find one.

"It is a problem that you cannot keep your wolf from going astral. If you are to be a Luna of a pack, you must always control yourself. Do you see me losing control of my wolf?"

Dylan narrowed her eyes at him and lifted her eyebrows. "I am the last person you should ask that question to. You lose your temper on me the most."

She could see it in his face already. His eye was twitching, and the vein in his forehead was bulging. Her father was doing his best not to flip his lid on her about not wanting a mate, but he was holding onto his control—well, holding it together by a thread, anyway.

He scoffed. "You understand you don't have a choice with this, right?"

Ha, and I thought he was holding it together.

"You are so damn sure that I should attend this thing, but meanwhile, you know that all the packs do not accept us."

A growl reverberated through the room. "Do you think I am stupid enough to invite the packs who hate us?"

Dylan rolled her eyes. "They can change their minds. It's not like dominant males like a dominant female at their side. Masochistic assholes think they are better than me and want to control me."

"ENOUGH! You are going to attend this, and if you find your mate, you will go through with the damn ceremony to be bonded to him. That is the end of this discussion. It is an order!"

The Alpha's power rolled over her and settled into her soul. He had declared it an order, and with him being her Alpha, she had no choice but to obey. A growl crept up into her throat, and she curled her lip at him. Instead of saying anything more to him, Dylan turned on her heel, swung open the door, and let it slam against the wall before she charged out of the room.

Fuck this stupid gathering.

Her foot-stomping echoed through the halls of their home as Dylan marched herself out of the room. She needed a place to clear her head, and only one place in the entire compound would give her peace. She made her way through the house and out the back door. There was a courtyard with a statue of wolves howling on a mountain with a full moon over them. Water poured out from the moon and emptied into a pool through spouts at the bottom. The trickling of the water always brought her a sense of calm. If she lost herself in it enough, she could clear her head long enough to tell herself what she needed to do.

Obviously, she needed to attend this event to find her mate or mates. Without them, she could slowly fade into becoming a feral monster who would need to be put down by her alpha. That was the last thing she wanted. She was the only child of her parents who had not found her mate. It had been six months since she turned twenty-one, and her mate was clearly not within her pack. Her many older brothers and sisters found their mates and settled into their own packs. Males went to the female's pack unless all the males were from the same pack. Something about a majority clause within the Pack Laws. Too many males leaving a pack would harm their balance, so, only when that was the case, the females must go to the pack of her mates. Her sister ran into that issue. She had to leave our pack and follow her mates because the pack would never merge with ours, and she would be with the top four wolves from their pack. Now she didn't see her sister more than once a year. It was a small blessing since they butted heads, but there were moments where she could have used her sister's backup.

She sat down on the concrete edge of the fountain, slipped off her shoes and socks, and swung her legs around to dip her toes into the water. It was frigid to the touch, but werewolves ran hot, so it felt relaxing instead of making her want to suck in the air. She breathed in deeply, taking in the chilly mountain air, the scent of pine, and the musk of her pack. She couldn't lower her heart rate to her average speed until her tenth deep breath. The argument with her father brought out more emotion than she'd realized.

Stupid, pompous Alphas telling me I need to find my mate. I don't want a damn mate. Not yet. I just want to live my damn life without a stupid possessive mate telling me what I can and cannot do. Is that too much to ask?

A little.

Shut up. I didn't ask you.

You should know by now that you would have to accept a mate. It is the Werewolf way. We need our mates to balance us out.

No one asked you to give me advice on the obvious.

No one told you to behave like a toddler that was told no.

Dylan growled at her wolf. I already deal with enough males. There is a three-to-one ratio in this damn pack. All of them are annoying and trying to 'keep me safe.' I can keep myself safe. I've wiped the floor with all of those assholes more than once in training. How am I still having to prove to them I can handle myself?

It is the Werewolf way.

Stop saying that.

But it is the truth. Males are there to protect females. We are females. They are hard-wired that way and can't help it.

Why are you defending them?!

I see it through your eyes. None of them can help it. All of them try to keep their females and the pack safe. We would not have survived as a species if they weren't this way.

Shouldn't you be on my side?

I am on your side, so I am trying to tell you that your father is only doing what he is hard-wired to do.

Dylan ignored her wolf as she heard footsteps approaching. Her wolf perked up, and Dylan felt her magic slip to just under the surface so she could shift at any moment. The scent of pineapple and coconut wafted by, and she relaxed instantly. Her mother sat next to her and kept her body toward the door leading to the fountain. She placed her hand on Dylan's, and she felt the power of the Luna wash over her before her mother tilted her head to look at Dylan's face.

"You know your father is only hard on you?—"

"Because he loves me and has to look out for me. I know. That doesn't mean he has to be an asshole about it."

Her mother chuckled. "I'm afraid they are all like that. Except for the submissives... but I know you know that."

"Maybe the Goddess will give me nothing but submissives as mates then. Then I wouldn't have to deal with bossy ass men trying to control my life."

"It's not as bad as you think, Dylan. As a mated couple, they will compromise when they can. It's just sometimes their wolves aren't able to stop and think when they are trying to watch out for the ones they love. It's like tunnel vision, if you will. They only see one solution to a problem until it is worked out. That's all they can see."

Dylan lifted an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"

She smiled. "I mean, your father knows you aren't mated, and your wolf can be unpredictable," she said.

"I can control her just fine," Dylan said through her teeth.

"I mean with her astral projection. If she lapses into it when she doesn't mean to, then she doesn't have control like she should. Because of that, she could end up losing in a fight. This means instead of going astral when she needs to, an opponent could get hold of you and take you from us before your time. Or she can go corporal while jumping through a wall and trap you."

"I didn't think about it like that."

Her mother booped her nose. "I know. That's why I brought it up."

"Still doesn't give dad the right to force me to go to that dumbass event. Shouldn't it be up to me?"

"No, honey, it shouldn't. If we left it up to you, you wouldn't go. There is a protocol we have to follow. This event calls for our pack's unmated females and males to attend. You are an unmated woman. Whether or not you like it, it is what we have to abide by."

Dylan groaned, and her mother laughed.

"It will not be as bad as you think."

Dylan laughed. "Oh yeah? Did you have to go to one of these things to find Dad?"

She smiled. "Yes, actually."

"WHAT?!"

"I told you; I met your father at twenty-five. Four years without finding a mate after meeting dozens, if not one hundred, men. I had to attend to this thing every six months until I found a mate. If I did not feel complete with just your father, I would have to continue to go until I did. It is the nature of our laws, love. Nothing more."

"Let me get this straight," Dylan said while holding her hand. "You had to attend one of these to find your mate, and if you felt in your soul that you still weren't complete, even having found one, you would still have to attend them just in case you had more?"

Her mother looked at her. "Yes, Dylan. If anyone bonds with someone that is not their mate, their souls do not feel complete. When that happens, the wolf can go feral. We cannot have wolves running around without the man in the front seat. That would cause bodies to be everywhere. Chosen Mates are not the way. It never has been with our kind."

Told you.

Shut up.

"Fine. I will go. UGH."

Her mother laughed at her and patted her on the shoulder. "Stop fretting. You could be like me and not find your mate right away."

Please, Goddess, let that be true.