The Wax Seal
"I'm sorry, but we don't serve decaf oat milk lattes with three pumps of sugar-free vanilla," I said, keeping my voice level.
The guy in the expensive suit stared at me like I'd just insulted his mother. He tapped his platinum credit card against the counter. "I literally just ordered it. Are you telling me you don't know how to make a simple coffee?"
"I'm telling you our espresso machine doesn't have a decaf button, and we ran out of oat milk twenty minutes ago," I replied, pointing to the empty metal pitcher. "I can make you a regular drip coffee, or you can go to the place down the street."
He scoffed, snatching his card back. "Unbelievable. I'm leaving a one-star review."
"Make sure you mention my name. It's Aria," I said, offering him a tight, completely fake smile. "Have a great day."
He stormed out, the little bell above the glass door jingling aggressively in his wake. I let out a slow breath and grabbed a damp rag to wipe down the counter.
My shoulders ached from standing on the concrete floor for eight hours. My feet were throbbing in my cheap sneakers, and the smell of burnt espresso was stuck in my hair.
"You handled that really well," my coworker, Leo, said from the other side of the espresso machine. He was wiping down the steam wand, looking entirely too amused. "I was about to throw a muffin at his head."
"Please don't," I laughed, tossing the rag into the sink. "We need the tips, and management docks our pay for throwing baked goods."
Leo rolled his eyes. "You work too hard, Aria. You're a college student. You're supposed to be stressing over midterms, not picking up closing shifts to deal with entitled guys in suits."
"If my stepmother was still paying my tuition, I'd be stressing over midterms," I said, untying my apron and tossing it into the bin. "But since she decided I need to learn the value of a dollar, I'm learning the value of a minimum wage paycheck."
Leo sighed, leaning against the counter. "Your stepmom sounds like a nightmare. Honestly, if I had a family like yours, I'd just move out and change my name."
I forced a smile, but my stomach tightened. "If only she knew," I thought. "If I moved out and changed my name, the pack would just send a retrieval team to drag me back."
Leo was human. He had no idea that his favorite coworker could probably hear his heartbeat from three rooms away. To Leo, I was just a quiet, slightly awkward girl with weird silver eyes who worked way too much.
I preferred it that way.
"Alright, I'm clocking out," I told him, grabbing my backpack. "See you tomorrow."
I walked out into the cool night air, pulling my grey hoodie up over my head. The city was loud, crowded, and completely oblivious to the fact that a predator was walking down the sidewalk.
I loved walking at this time of day. It was the only time I felt normal. I didn't have to worry about pack politics or the elders. I was just a girl getting off work and walking home.
As I crossed the street, my ears picked up sharp, jagged breathing from an alleyway to my left.
Two guys arguing. I could hear the rapid thump of their pulses, smell the metallic tang of adrenaline in the cold air. I didn't look over. I just adjusted my pace and kept my head down until I was three blocks away.
I made it back to my apartment and kicked off my sneakers the second I locked the deadbolt. It was a tiny studio on the edge of town, miles from the gated estates where the rest of my pack lived.
I dropped my bag and went straight to the bathroom mirror. The harsh fluorescent light buzzed overhead as I stared at my reflection.
Silver eyes.
My mother had them too. The elders called it a genetic defect, a mark of a broken bloodline.
They branded her a traitor when she got pregnant, and the shame of it drove her to take her own life before I was even a month old. My dad raised me alone until the car crash three years ago. Then Vivian took over.
Vivian is my stepmother and the Beta's wife. She isn't cruel for the sake of it.
She genuinely believes that keeping me hidden in the human world protects the pack from scandal. When my dad died, she froze my trust fund and told me this tiny apartment was where I belonged. Not out of hatred. Out of efficiency. In the Northern Pack, a wolf who can't shift is a liability, and Vivian doesn't tolerate liabilities.
I closed my eyes and reached inward. Past the exhaustion, past the ache in my shoulders, searching for that familiar presence every other werewolf takes for granted.
Nothing.
Just silence.
I'm twenty-one. Still no wolf.
I have the strength and the speed, but I can't shift. I can't hear a wolf's voice in my head, I'm an outcast who has to bow her head when an Alpha walks into a room and obey commands she hates.
I opened my eyes, splashed cold water on my face, and walked out to the kitchen.
That's when I saw it.
A thick, cream-colored envelope sitting next to my keys.
I frowned. It was heavy, made of expensive cardstock, and sealed with a dark blue wax stamp bearing the crest of the Northern Pack. My stomach dropped. I hadn't received physical mail from the pack in three years. Vivian handled everything through lawyers or cold, two-sentence text messages.
I broke the wax seal and pulled out the paper.
"You are cordially invited to the Solstice Mating Ceremony," the elegant script read.
"Hosted by Alpha King Kael Draven at the Northern Pack Manor. Attendance is mandatory for all unmated pack members."
I stared at the words. The Mating Ceremony. The one night a year the Moon Goddess was supposed to reveal fated mates.
Vivian had kept me away from every pack gathering since I was a child, making sure I was always "busy" or "sick" so I wouldn't embarrass her in front of the other families.
But that wasn't what made my hands start to shake.
It was the signature at the bottom.
Not printed. Not signed by the pack secretary or the Alpha's assistant. Signed in sharp, aggressive black ink by Vivian herself.
I traced the letters with my thumb, a cold knot of dread forming in my chest. Vivian hadn't signed a document for me since the day she cut off my trust fund.
She didn't want me anywhere near the pack, and she certainly didn't want me anywhere near the Alpha King.
So why was she inviting me now? And what was she planning to do with me once I got there?
