Chapter Two~ Is that? Yes It is.
1167 Words
~Isabella~♡
My heart was beating a furious, tribal rhythm against my ribs, a sound so loud I was surprised the bass from the annual gathering hadn't drowned it out.
For years, Lexie and I had scoffed at the concept of mates. We were strong, alpha-worthy women; we didn't need a biological lock-and-key to find purpose. We dismissed the Mate Bond as a sentimental relic, a weakness of weaker wolves.
Now, Lexie was a snarling mess inside my head.
LIAR! YOU LIED, YOU TRAITOROUS PIECE OF INSTINCT! NO!
Her denial was so strong it tasted like bile in the back of my throat. But beneath the panic, that undeniable, resonant pull was there. It felt like coming home to a place I never knew I’d left.
I was trapped between the person I was, a rational who wanted to pave her own destiny, choose the script of her life and the creature I inherently was, a wolf who might have just met her missing half. It seemed the moon Goddess was already trying to screw me up. I bet she was smirking, look down on this.
His apology was a distraction, a low rumble that did nothing to soothe the sudden anarchy in my blood. “I… I am so sorry,” he’d said.
I saw the guilt in his eyes over the ruined dress, they stared very intently at me. But beneath that, there was something deeper, something feral and recognizing. I knew it because I felt the same look itched on my face.
It was the look of someone who had stumbled upon the key to their entire existence. That look made me feel utterly exposed, like he could see every part of my soul Lexie and I had worked so hard to keep guarded.
My mouth was dry. I struggled to formulate a witty, dismissive line, something to put a wall between us, but my throat constricted. All that escaped was a pathetic, raspy whisper.
"It's... fine."
It was a blatant lie. Nothing about this was fine. My entire worldview had just been detonated by a single, accidental brush of skin. The air around us felt thick, charged, almost too heavy to breathe. I was completely, involuntarily hypnotized by the deep brown of his irises.
I didn't believe in destiny, but standing here, soaked in punch, with my wolf thrashing in joyous, terrified madness, I felt pinned to the earth by an unshakeable certainty. I was looking at my future, and I didn't even know his name.
I didn't need his name, rushed in a thought of rationality. One that I wish had came early. I didn't even say bye before I turned in the opposite direction away from him. Needing put some distance between us.
This was madness. Palpitations rocked my chest, my breaths came out as pants as I pushed through the mass of people towards the edge of the woods. I didn't need to turn back to feel his gaze, it burnt a hole in my back, it made me trip once or twice.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips when the outdoor restroom burst open and a couple came walked out. The prospect of a space away from him brought an instantaneous smile to my face but that was short-lived. I didn't make it two steps before I felt a hand, his hand close around mine. Now It wasn't like the searing, electric jolt of the first contact, but a firm, possessive heat as his hand closed around mine, palm to palm, fingers locking between my own. It felt like an anchor dropped, instantly arresting my frantic flight.
My entire body snapped to attention, the momentum of my desperate escape abruptly reversing as he turned me with a smooth, decisive motion to face him. The noise of the gathering, the music, the laughter, the low, contented growls of other wolves suddenly vanished.
Everything narrowed down to the close proximity of his chest, the intoxicating scent of him, and the dark, furious intensity in his eyes.
He was close enough now that I could feel the heat radiating off him, close enough that if I tilted my head back even slightly, my forehead would brush his chin.
The smile that had flickered on my face moments earlier, the one born of reckless hope for escape, withered under the weight of his expression. His brow was furrowed, his jaw was clenched, and the corners of his mouth were pulled down in a definite scowl. He looked upset, offended by my attempt to flee.
“Mate!” His eyes, cold and certainly held me on the spot, savoring the discoloration in my face at that declaration.
The word was not a question, nor was it a joyful recognition. It was a cold, hard statement, delivered with the finality of a decree. It was meant to reaffirm the reality he knew I was actively trying to outrun.
The sound vibrated between us, the sound that Lexie, now whimpering and desperate inside me, had both dreaded and yearned for.
Don't deny him! Please, Isabella, don't!
Lexie cried, her earlier bravado crumbling into pure, instinctual need.
“No,” I choked out, shaking my head even though the denial felt like tearing a piece of my own soul away.
My voice was tight, betraying none of the absolute terror that gripped me.
“No, you’re mistaken. That… that was static. A bad reaction to the energy of the crowd. I—I have to go.”
I tried to tug my hand free, but his grip was iron. It wasn't painful, but it was absolutely immovable.
His scowl deepened, turning his eyes to burnished gold.
“Static?” he repeated, the single word laced with disbelief and a hint of dangerous amusement. His lips, enchanting, turned into a smile that made me want to fall on my knees, his eyes racked me from top to bottom, making me feel so small.
He tilted his head, his gaze sweeping over my face, searching, assessing.
“The kind of static that makes a girl leave the safe comforts of her own pack gathering covered in fermented fruit punch, desperate to disappear into the woods?”
He didn’t wait for my sputtering reply. He stepped closer, leaning in until his breath was warm against my ear, and his voice dropped to a low, seductive growl that made my knees threaten to buckle.
“The kind of static, Isabella,” he murmured, letting the sound of my name roll over his tongue like a promise, “that has Lexie whimpering your name inside your head because she recognizes the sound of Jeremy.”
A guttural laugh rolled out of his lips sensually while all the blood drained completely from my face as mine and my wolf's names rolled off so easily from the lips of a stranger we just met.
Jeremy. Our mate.
- Writer
