CHAPTER ONE~Unforeseen Bond
1524 Words
~Isabella ~♡
"You look so beautiful, Isa," my mom's soft lips found my head while her hands continued the gentle strokes on my hair. Her eyes never strayed from my mine, not even a blink as though scared this moment would disappear in the next blink.
Warmth swirled in my chest as I leaned into her.
You'd think it was my wedding day, but today was just my eighteenth birthday. And, predictably, my mother and sister were already dragging me toward the Annual Were-Gathering—a desperate hope flickering in their eyes that I would finally move out of the house.
Well, to find my mate.
This gathering was an annual convergence for unmated wolves from every part of the world, from every pack, to meet to find their destiny. It was the only day such an occurrence was held. The treaty that had been drafted by Alpha Brentford Woods I, the first alpha of the most powerful pack, Steel-Wood Pack, now known as Lockwood Pack, my pack, hundreds of decades ago and has been passed down as tradition. It was a rule that everyone of age must attend the Gathering to find their mates because in order to maintain balance within packs and to widen the gene pool, new people needed to come in and others to leave the pack.
My attendance was mandatory. As long as I was my mother’s daughter and mateless, and of course, because of the law.
So, here I was, getting decked up to participate in a cosmic lottery I didn't believe in.
All the girls at the pack school had always dreamt of turning eighteen, buzzing with anticipation to find their "perfect" mate. Some were fortunate, meeting and dating their destined partner before the bond even snapped into place. Others were less lucky, finding that their star-wished mate was far from perfect.
The thought had my eyes raising to my mom. Strings tugged at my heart as I took her in, I could make out the tension in her shoulders, the weight on her frail body which she wore like a champ, so no one would notice how exhausted she was. How sad she was.
Emotions swelled in my chest, bubbling like lava threatening to overflow, I offered her a half smile when her eyes found mine again in the vanity mirror.
"You know it's not my wedding, right, You dont-"
"Shush!" she cut me short, her voice sharp and brittle. It was as if she believed if I admitted it, anything bad about today, it would jinx everything. Throw it all away. Like her.
Her hazel eyes—so unlike mine—drilled into my soul, I didn't miss the dull ache resting on the wrickled corners of her eyes. She sighed, her face etched with a silent, familiar sorrow.
"We are not having this conversation again, young lady. This is your identity." She smoothed my dress, her touch oddly shaky.
"Just find him, Isa. Find the right one, and your life will be set." She avoided my eyes as she retreated. Leaving in her wake, the silent weight of the words;
The right one.
The new profound pressure weighed me down again. I cursed underneath my breath.
The topic of mates was a raw nerve, sensitive because, unlike Mellissa, I defied the bond. I just couldn't accept a bond dictated by the cosmos. Love should be a choice.
But looking at the silent desperation in her retreat, I knew why I was going, to give her peace.
It can't be that hard. I tried to soothe my nerves. Go, avoid, endure. That’s it.
A fragile smile crept onto my face as I studied my reflection. My gold-brown locs were up, my jaw sharp, my eyes amber-brown. I wore a navy blue chiffon dress. I looked ready for destiny.
"Isa! It’s time!" Mellissa’s voice sliced the illusion.
One last glance, "I am beautiful."
My mother had once been a star. A gifted artist, she could draw, paint, and create cosmetics like makeup with stunning finesse. She was famous years ago, the life of every party. We only knew that through hidden pictures, though.
Now, she was just a quiet shell of that girl, and none of us knew what catastrophe had dimmed her light; she refused to talk about the past.
Now she was solely a mother, devoted to us because Dad had always been at the pack borders. He had been rarely home. He blamed me. They all did, even in their silence. He wouldn't even spare me a glance when he visited. I used to tell myself he was just tired.
He was tired, right?
But even on his deathbed, when he finally lay still surrounded by the pack elders and family, he had called for everyone else.
Everyone but me. And Mom.
"Isa!?" Mellissa's voice, strained with a familiar, aching pity, pulled me violently back from that dark, deep end. She stood a helpless, safe distance away, her eyes softened with concern. I immediately forced a bright, sharp smile onto my face.
"I'm ready," I said, my voice too cheerful.
Today was going to be a good day. It was his death anniversary, yes, but I was going to have a good time.
I had to, for mom.
*~*
The music pulsed, a heavy, sensual beat that thrummed through the soles of my shoes and into the earth. Bodies moved in tandem under the unforgiving gaze of the Moon Goddess, hips grinding, chests digging, a carnal display she had elicited in the name of 'love' and 'mates.'
I felt like a complete outsider, an anthropologist observing a foreign species. My heart hammered against my ribs with violent, staggering palpitations, almost painful enough to touch.
I wondered if they could smell my discomfort and see how misplaced I was among the feverish bodies.
Barely ten minutes in, and I was already sick with the urge to flee. Wishful thinking, since Mother had likely dead-bolted the front door, locking me out until midnight.
Like, what was I, Cinderella?
"No," I hissed, not waiting to hear the slurred proposition from a nearby drunkard.
I realized with resigned certainty that I wouldn't survive the next four hours without a drink.
It was a bummer because I’d been alcohol-celibate for months, courtesy of my sweet mother, who promised me a year-long grounding if I was ever caught drinking underage again.
In my defense, Mellissa's husband was so damn cool, he'd let me join their sprees when I was sixteen. Too bad it spiraled into a secret, necessary habit.
To get through this without getting too drunk, I needed something light.
I waved down a waiter as I claimed the nearest empty seat at the outdoor bar.
"Fruit punch, please, add a little bit of vodka, " I ordered, opting for the only thing within my budget that sounded remotely effective.
My drink arrived in record time, a soft, satisfied hmm washed over me as the first sip hit my tongue, instantly relaxing the tension coiled in my shoulders. I chased the fleeting feeling of peace.
It was very sudden when an unfamiliar body, a hand grazed my bare arm. My world shattered with an echo, everything going bleek, my heart leaped to my throat, and my forgotten drink, a casualty of the sudden intrusion, cascaded down the front of my dress, but I barely registered the mess.
My wolf, Lexie, stirred, snapping instantly awake inside me; when she felt it too.
Reject him! Back away, Isabella! This is a trick!
Lexie snarled, her mental voice a mixture of panic and desperate denial.
Yet, beneath the panic, there was a deep, resonant thrumming, a recognition so fundamental it vibrated through every one of Lexie's carefully constructed walls, pouring onto me with a new strange kind of fear. Fear of what I'd just walked into.
Fear that made me question everything i stood for. What I'd been preaching.
The suddenness of the foreign energy, the powerful surge of current that brazed my bare arm, wasn't the kind of static shock you could brush off. It was electric, instantaneous, a jolt that went straight to my core, making her stutter and violently jump.
The sticky sweetness of the spilled drink was now cooling against my skin, soaking into the bodice of my dress, but the physical discomfort was a dull, distant thing. Nothing mattered except the man in front of me.
He was withdrawing his hand, but the tingling, the searing brand he’d left on my bare forearm, remained, a phantom pain, or maybe a phantom connection, thrumming where his skin had met mine.
I couldn’t look away from his face. His eyes were stunning, the color of rich, molten amber, and they were mirroring the exact, horrified shock that must be plastered across my own features.
This can’t be f*****g happening.
Is he?
The single word echoed, raw and disbelieving, in the suddenly hollow space of my mind. I couldn't accept it. I didn't want to believe destiny could be this cruel, or this powerful
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