The Alpha's Doomed Mate

Chapter 18: Second Chances

POV: Asha

“A second chance mate,”

“What?”

I had spent most of breakfast trying to explain to Hera why none of it made sense. My mind kept shifting from Cole to Zade to Rylie’s certainty.

Hera finally stopped chewing.

“Think about it.” Hera turned to face me as we both sat on my bed. “This Cole, your very foolish and stupid former Alpha’s son, rejected you, and then you got a second-chance mate as a make-up from the Moon Goddess, which unfortunately happened to be my brother. I’ve heard of such things happening.”

I sank deeper into thought.

However, despite trying to make sense of the bond between Zade and me, my thoughts kept drifting back to last night. The feel of Zade’s arms around me, his muscles pressing against my back.

I shut my eyes fast and shook my head vigorously. My thoughts were moving too fast.

Focus.

“That’s rare, though. Right? A second chance.”

"Very. I've never personally known anyone that it happened to directly. But the elders talk about it like it's real."

"How could Zade have existed as my mate before Cole even rejected me? The timeline doesn't make sense."

Hera shrugged. "I don't know the rules well enough to answer that. Honestly, your whole situation's already strange. Rylie only just woke up, and you still can't shift. Maybe none of the usual rules apply cleanly to you."

That didn't feel like an answer.

I let it go, mostly because I wasn't ready to examine it further.

Hera's grin widened. "By the way, it seems like Hestia's treatment was really effective yesterday."

Heat climbed into my face. "Rylie feels better."

"That wasn't what I asked."

"It's the answer you're getting."

She laughed but let it go, which somehow made it worse. If she'd pushed, I could have deflected properly. Instead, the silence just sat there, giving me too much room to think.

And thinking, apparently, meant thinking about him.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"You always can."

I picked at the edge of my sleeve. "What actually happens. When mates mark each other."

Hera went very still, then very smug, all in the span of a second.

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious."

"You're never casually curious."

"Can you just answer the question?"

She studied me a beat longer before relenting. "It's not just a bite. It deepens the bond. Strengthens the wolf-to-wolf connection, the emotional and spiritual pull between them. Mates can sense each other more clearly after distance, distress, all of it. And once it's done, it's brutal to sever. Some say impossible."

Deepens. The word settled somewhere low in my chest.

I thought of those crimson eyes, of his gaze dropping to my neck, the way his whole body had locked, trembling, right before he tore himself away.

For some reason, the look in his eyes wasn’t of disgust, but of terror. I frowned as I let it replay in my head again. I hadn't let myself think it plainly until now.

"You okay?" Hera asked.

"Fine." I wasn't. "Just thinking."

About your brother's mouth near my throat. Casual thoughts. Very normal.

Rylie, quiet since we'd started talking, stirred faintly at the memory, smug in that particular way she'd perfected lately.

Don't you dare.

She remained silent and didn't apologize either.

"You're doing it again," Hera said.

"Doing what?"

"Staring at nothing with that face."

"There is no face."

"There's absolutely a face."

I threw a piece of bread at her from the tray beside me. She caught it out of the air and ate it, entirely unbothered.

"Can I ask you something else? Something that isn't about marking."

Hera's teasing eased slightly. "Go on."

"It looks like he doesn’t want to acknowledge the mate bond, and it’s like he’s fighting it, the bond. It feels like there's more to it than just the pregnancy with another wolf or me being an omega."

Something shifted in Hera's expression, the humor draining out of it by degrees.

"Zade's known since he was a kid that something's supposed to go wrong if he ever claims his mate." She chose her words carefully. "I don't know the whole thing. He doesn't talk about it. But Blackhollow's whispered about the prophecy for years."

My stomach dropped.

"Marrok mentioned a prophecy," I said slowly. "In the dungeon. Zade reacted like he already knew exactly what he meant. Was that it? The something going wrong?"

Hera's amusement disappeared entirely.

"What?"

Hera went completely still. The change was so immediate that my stomach dropped.

"What?"

"You should ask Zade."

"I'm asking you."

Silence stretched long enough that I thought she might actually leave it there.

"There’s a lot circling the prophecy, a whole lot," she said finally. "And Zade seems to take it more seriously than anyone should have to."

"What does it say?"

"I don't know the whole thing or the exact wording," she said again, quieter now. "He doesn't talk about it."

"But you know what it's about."

Hera hesitated, and for the first time since I'd met her, she looked genuinely unsure whether to say more.

"His mate," she said. “Let’s just say I know enough to understand why my brother decided, a long time ago, that he'd never claim a mate. Whoever she turned out to be."

I sat with that, turning it over.

Maybe this wasn't about me being weak. Maybe it wasn't the pregnancy, or Cole, or anything I'd done or failed to do.

Something in my chest loosened at that thought, even as something else tightened.

"What does the prophecy say?" I pressed. "About his mate?"

Hera looked away first.

"That's his to tell you," she said. "Not mine."

“Hera…” I bit my lip.

She sighed and looked at me with a certain look I didn’t like one bit.

"My brother decided a long time ago he would never claim a mate at all," she said quietly.