The Alpha's Choice

"Hey there, divine one! You seem pretty excited!" Bianca, my younger sister exclaims, bouncing on her mattress, her ginger hair spreading like an artwork on the blankets. I catch her exuberance in the mirror and respond with a skeptical tone, "Excited about what, exactly?" Bianca gazes at me through the mirror with a look that suggests I'm an alien. "Are you serious? This weekend holds the promise of finding your match! Sweetie, it's a birthday ceremony!" She cheers while I continue to focus on straightening my blond hair, my chocolate-brown eyes fixated on something else. "Come on, it's a big day for you—you will be an adult and at the same time meet your true love!" Bianca implores, her voice brimming with enthusiasm. I shook my head from side to side. Why is she more excited than I am? "But what about love?" I whisper, staring everywhere but her eyes. A deep sigh followed my question as I fiddled with my hairdryer on the vanity. "Will I find true love?" I pose that solemn question, one that's troubled me since I first learned about fated partners and this peculiar tradition. As the Beta's daughter, the pack deems my coming of age a momentous occasion. Turning 21 this Thursday means my coming of age ceremony will occur on Friday evening at dusk. According to what I grew up to know, a female wolf softly calls out to her mate if he's near, and draws him to her under a full moon after her twenty-first birthday. He and his wolf are compelled by her scent, unable to resist the call. They move in a trance-like state of matehood until he stands before her, claiming her as his own. 'What's your point?' Bianca asks, her disappointed voice jerking me out of my reverie. "Have you ever wanted to see someone in the room, fall in love with them, get to know them, and go on dates?" I try again, noting the familiar look on my sister's face that suggests she thinks I'm peculiar. "Discovering what they love, falling in love with them and having them fall head over heels for you?" I question further. "Why are you so jittery? Your mate will definitely love you; you're the other half of his soul," Bianca affirmed. I raise my hands and say, "Yes, I will be a Goddess for him, but no, I won't love him for him; we'd just be two people who, if not for the decree of a mythical being, probably wouldn't even notice each other." 'Isn't it a miss, not having the freedom to find our life partners by ourselves?' I say, turning to look at her this time. Bianca shakes her head, her eyes wide open. "No!" she asserts vehemently, "Our way takes away all the pressure! Don't you think humans who get to do that have boring lives?" She explains, "They never know if the person they are dating is their true love throughout their lives! Why do you think there are so many cases of divorce and separation? Our own world is not made up of those." Well, she has a point there, but it still does nothing to convince me. "But we still have rejections and cheating," I retort. "Even though we're in love, our mates have the power to reject us and go for another she-wolf, subjecting us to unbearable pain in the process." She sighed, staring blankly at me. "The agony of being rejected by your soul mate is something that, at least, humans don't endure! They can build a life with someone who loves them for who they are, and if it ends? They mend their shattered hearts and move forward, but sister, our own rejections can be lethal!" 'But that hardly ever happens, let's be honest, some of these wolves have had to wait years for their fated mate,' Bianca dismissively gestures. "They can't keep their hands off her once they find her because they're so desirous. Poor Jules, who was 32 when Willow turned 18, must light up every time she enters a room, as he buzzes all over. "It's beautiful, two people so in love and perfect for each other," the she-wolf murmurs joyfully. I'm curious, why don't you want that as much as I do? "I do," I confess, because it's true, I do want someone to love. I want it to be natural, not because some Goddess instructed a guy to love me." I groan in frustration, and walk over to my sister. I sit on the bed and wrap an arm around her shoulders. "I want him to hold me in high regard when he sees me, to be intrigued by me, rather than feeding me all those boring routines that have been for years". Bianca envelops me in a hug as soon as I said that. Despite our three-year age gap, our bond is unbreakable. 'Oh no, are you two having some friendly time?' a disgruntled voice calls from the doorway. "Is one of you on your period?" Our sixteen-year-old brother Kendall barges into the room with his hands in his pockets. Bianca instructs him to leave immediately, gesturing towards the door with her hand raised. Another voice chimes in, "What's happening, what did I miss?" as our eldest brother Derek's robust figure appears. Before any of us can respond, Kendall announces, "One of them is on the month again." "No, we're not," Bianca rebuffs with a frustrated growl, grabbing a pillow from her bed and hurling it at our younger brother, who catches it effortlessly. Derek sighs, draping an arm around his brother, and says, "Just because a girl appears moody doesn't mean it's that time of the month." He chuckles as Kendall struggles to free himself from his brother's grasp. "Don't you have someone else to bother?" Bianca glares at them. "Nope, I'm here to eat because my shift ended, and Mom made a pot roast." Derek responds effortlessly, releasing his brother, who rubs his hair in frustration. "I just got back from school," he continues, shooting a sour look at our older brother. "Oh, you must have homework. Go on then, offer it up," he says, grinning widely. With a wicked smirk, Kendall looks at Derek, who raises his hands in surrender. "Hey, I might be the oldest, but Brenda Bear is the boss, and you know it," he blurts out. "Brave," Kendall mutters with a sigh, slouching out of the room and disappearing, leaving us behind. My brothers can be a lot, but at least they have fewer things to worry about. Or so I think.