Two Mates, One Heart

New Faces, and Voices That Cannot Be Heard*

Gloria pov

They say when your world shatters, you either break with it… or you learn how to walk barefoot over the pieces.

I think I did both.

I didn’t cry on the plane. I couldn’t. I stared out the window, watched the clouds roll by like they were carrying my past away with them. I wanted to believe that this was a new beginning—

but deep down, it felt like the end of everything I knew.

Still, there was something inside me that refused to die.

A whisper. A pull. A strange warmth that stirred in my chest… like I wasn’t truly alone. Not anymore.

The new pack was nothing like the one I left behind.

Arthel’s territory was colder, greener. The trees were ancient, tall and whispering secrets in the wind. When we arrived, I was greeted politely—but not with love. I was a stranger. A broken girl. Another sad story in a world full of them.

But they didn’t know me.

I wasn’t just “the girl without a wolf.”

I was the girl who survived being *rejected by her mate in front of an entire pack*.

Lying there, caught between sleep and silence, I felt it.

Something strange.

It was like my heartbeat shifted… a new rhythm echoing in my chest.

A soft warmth coursed through my veins—not painful, but familiar, like a longing I didn’t know I had.

And my eyes… for a second, I saw a shimmer in the mirror. But when I blinked, it vanished.

I wasn’t dreaming.

But it wasn’t fully real either.

Something deep inside me… was stirring. Stretching. Awakening.

But I knew.

It wasn’t time.

I wasn’t ready.

Not yet.

**Not here.

Not in this pack.

But somewhere out there... where the truth lives.

Where *they* are.

Where *I* am.**

************

I woke to the sound of rain.

It was soft… as if the sky was whispering to me, *“Get ready, today won’t be like yesterday.”*

The house I’d been brought to was old, and every corner told a forgotten story.

Its walls were lined with dark wood, thick carpets muffled every step.

And I liked that.

I didn’t want anyone to hear me.

Not yet.

I walked into the kitchen. There, an elderly woman was making tea. She looked at me without smiling.

"Gloria, right?"

I nodded.

"The Alpha is waiting for you in the main hall."

I looked at her, tempted to ask *why*, but I chose not to appear weak.

*I'm not the girl who breaks easily anymore.*

I entered the hall… and all their eyes turned to me.

New faces everywhere, but the same look in their eyes: assessment, caution, curiosity.

At the far end sat a tall man with gray hair and piercing eyes, radiating a silence that commanded attention.

*Alpha Arthel.*

“Welcome, Gloria. I know you didn’t choose this… but this is your chance to start over.”

I didn’t speak.

Then I felt it…

*That look.*

*"Arnold, you'll give her a tour of the place."*

A new name… but my heart didn’t recognize it as *new*.

It felt familiar...

Strangely familiar.

He stood in front of me… a stranger, but his eyes felt like they knew everything about me.

His gaze… it wasn’t like the others.

It didn’t judge me.

It didn’t ask, *“Where’s your wolf?”*

It simply saw me.

Not who I pretended to be.

Not the girl without a mate.

But… *me*.

I followed him silently, my steps soft, but my heart heavy.

“My name’s Arnold,” he said without looking at me.

His voice was low—yet it reached deeper than sound.

Like his wolf was speaking through him.

“I’m… Gloria.”

I felt foolish saying it. Of course he knew.

“I know.”

He smiled—not out of joy, but like someone who knows pain... and hides it well.

---

🐺 *Arnold*

When I saw her… I wasn’t ready.

I don’t believe in fate, or the bond, or the Moon’s will.

All those things? Just excuses to mask what we crave.

But when she walked into that hall… something pulled at me.

The first thing I noticed?

Not her eyes.

The space around her.

The way she stood—like she was used to being alone.

Not because no one loved her,

But because she was always too strong to need anyone’s weakness.

“I’m Arnold.”

I said it as I walked ahead of her, but my heart…

It stayed behind, watching her every step.

It felt like the earth shifted with each footfall she took behind me.

Yes, I had been through a lot in my life... but for some reason, I can't forget her.

I still saw her in every corner of this place.

Her long black hair, her shining eyes, her silence that spoke louder than anything. *Helene* was everything to me... even when she saw me weak, that day she rejected my offer and refused to be my mate.

Everything in this moment still brings me back to that day.

But now, here I am, with Gloria.

Her steps were behind me, silent, but I felt everything in those steps. Could she save me from the shadows of the past?

Could I let go of the wound of the past and allow myself to live in the present?

In that moment, I felt something unexpected.

I wanted to ask her so many things... but I stopped, too afraid. Could I really forget the past and start anew with someone else? With Gloria, the girl who still didn't have a wolf, but carried in her heart a dream that would never die?

🐾 *Gloria*

Show me the new life, or perhaps I asked for too much.

That first step I took in this place was confusing, but his presence here, beside me, became more complicated than ever.

Arnold... he doesn't seem like an ordinary person.

As we walked together down the long halls of the place, his silence was heavy, but I could feel that everything in his mind was happening too quickly.

His glances were unclear, as if he was thinking of something far away. But with every step, he would suddenly look at me, pause for a brief moment, then turn his gaze forward again, as if what he was thinking had nothing to do with me.

Is this rejection?

But why do I feel so significant to him? There was something strange inside my heart. There was this tension, this curiosity.

He was "the Alpha", he knew how to take control, but in that moment, I felt something undeniable. There was something in his eyes... a pain that he couldn't hide.

The silence filled the space between us, but I knew something was happening between us.

Maybe that was the first real feeling I had in this place.

Despite everything, I felt like I was able to get closer to him. But there was that image in my mind that would never leave me.

I couldn't deny it. There was always pain in his eyes when no one else knew. I could feel something from his heart, but he never spoke about it.

In that moment, I felt like I was part of something bigger, but at the same time, I was in competition with something old. Something that couldn't be surpassed.

---

*He wanted to say something, but he couldn't.*

There were moments of silence between words that were never spoken. In that moment, everything was clear, but he was still afraid.