Alpha's Brother, My Second Chance.

ARIA A week ago, I was standing in the pack hall with three different bouquets in my hands, trying to choose between pale moon roses, lilies, and Adrian’s favorite river-blue blossoms. My mother hovered beside me, fussing over my sleeves and murmuring, “White is tradition, Aria. A Beta Priest’s daughter should honor the customs of her family. It is what is expected of you.” Veronica leaned in from the other side, her fingers tapping against the lilies, her voice insistent. “No, these,” she said, lifting the flowers closer to my face, “make your skin glow. You’ll look radiant, Aria. Adrian will notice. He’ll see you the way you are meant to be seen.” I looked up at Adrian, who stood behind them both, his face had a warm smile that seemed to make everything feel right. “The blue ones,” he said softly, brushing his fingers across a blossom, “Blue never goes wrong. They’re perfect.” I remember feeling warm, grounded, and strangely peaceful, as if everything in my life had finally clicked into place the way it was always meant to. Even Luna Martha, who had been stressing over every detail for days, let out a long breath when she saw him. Alpha Rowan simply nodded once from across the hall, approval in his gaze. The Morgans had ruled Mooncrest for generations, and my father, their Beta and Priest, had stood with them for just as long. I was the daughter of the Beta Priest, raised with purpose, shaped for responsibility, and expected to become Luna someday. Adrian was the future Alpha, admired by everyone who ever met him. Our pairing felt like destiny. I didn't love him in the way stories described great burning passion, but I trusted him, I respected him, and I believed we would grow into something gentle and lasting. But then the earth opened up the canyon ridge, and destiny vanished with a single violent shift of rock and soil. Adrian died saving a child. Everyone said the child survived because Adrian pushed him away at the last second, sacrificing himself without hesitation. It took three full days for the search teams to recover his body. Three days during which the entire Mooncrest Terriftory felt suffocated by grief. Wolves moved in silence, patrols walked slowly, fires burned low, and even the air felt sick. I spent those days helping Luna Martha choose ceremonial clothes, guiding her hands when they trembled so badly she could barely hold a fabric. “Should it be silver trim or blue?” she whispered, her voice brittle. “Blue,” I said softly. “He always loved blue.” Alpha Rowan struggled more than anyone, unable to read aloud the guest list without faltering. “Aria, read it for me,” he rasped one afternoon, voice breaking. “I can’t trust myself to get it right.” I read the list, I arranged the seating, I handled every small detail I could, clinging to the tasks like they were the only thing keeping me upright. Everyone praised how strong, how composed, and how impossible it was to tell I had lost my mate only days ago. But none of them heard what happened to me at night, when the world grew quiet and the tearing, hollow pain of a severed bond crashed into me over and over again, leaving me curled in bed and struggling to breathe. No one saw the truth, that the bond echo was still raw and throbbing inside me like a wound that refused to close. On the morning of the funeral, as the sun pushed through the clouds in gold, I heard someone mention Luca Morgan was finally coming home. The name alone sent a jolt of something complicated through my chest. I hadn't seen Luca in years, not since he stormed out after one of his explosive arguments with his father. I remembered him as the troublemaker, the boy who flirted with everyone, the one who drank too much and fought too often, the one who somehow made rebellion look effortless. And I remembered the night that sealed my opinion of him. I was sixteen, dragged to a party in the woods by Veronica. I had lasted only thirty minutes before trying to escape the noise and crowd, opening a door in search of quiet, and found him with Veronica on a mattress. His shirt was half-off, her hands tangled in his hair, the image shocking enough to make my lungs seize. He jumped instantly when he saw me. “Aria, wait! It’s not what it looks like!” His voice was rough, panicked. I didn’t care about his excuses. I slapped him, hard enough that my palm stung for an hour, and said, “You’re supposed to be with Maeve. Everyone knows it. How could you, how could you do this? You’re a disgusting jerk,” I spat. His face was a mix of shock, hurt, and disbelief, an expression that still flashes through my mind sometimes. Luca left the pack soon after, and life moved forward. Adrian graduated with honors, and I followed the path everyone expected until the moon goddess paired me with the brother who never disappointed anyone. And now that brother was gone. The funeral began at sunset, casting a soft amber glow over the courtyard. Wolves from neighboring territories stood in long, solemn rows. The air smelled of burning cedar and herbs. I stayed beside Luna Martha, holding her up when grief threatened to make her collapse. Alpha Rowan stood like a carved statue, rigid with control, and Veronica remained near, ready to catch me if I faltered, but I didn’t. Every step and every breath was deliberate, as I tried to survive this moment for them, for the pack, for myself. Shortly, I heard a single, slow, familiar step that made my chest seize. I turned and saw that Luca Morgan walked toward the gathering, the years away having changed him. He was no longer the wild boy I had known. His shoulders were broader, his movements controlled, his posture calm and disciplined. Even grief had softened, not dulled, his piercing blue eyes. I prepared myself for tension, resentment, or awkwardness, and yet what I felt instead made the world tilt beneath my feet. A surge of heat traveled through my blood, sparking deep inside my bones. My breath caught violently as I realized what it was—the mate bond. The bond hummed through me with a force I could neither resist nor ignore. And he felt it, too. I saw the smallest widening of his eyes, the subtle tightening of his jaw, the slight curl of his hand at his side. Disbelief flashed across his expression for the briefest instant. The Moon Goddess had paired us one week after Adrian’s death. The timing was cruel, impossible, and wrong. My chest felt as though it had been crushed by a weight I could not lift, yet my wolf stirred with recognition and longing that I had no right to obey. I couldn’t face it, not yet. I didn’t want to. I didn’t even trust him, and yet the bond wrapped around my heart, drawing me closer even as my mind screamed to flee. I turned, walking deliberately through the rows of wolves, each step faster than intended, each breath shallower than the last. My skin prickled, my pulse throbbed painfully against my throat, and the world around me blurred as I tried to outrun the pull of the bond. I didn't stop until I reached the quiet edge of the courtyard, right before the path dipped into the pine grove. My hand trembled violently, I had to curl them into fists. This wasn't real. This wasn't happening. Not today. Not at Adrian's funeral. My wolf trembled inside me, restless and confused, reaching for someone who was the last person I wanted to feel connected to. I pressed my palms hard against my eyes, forcing myself to breathe, trying to smother the bond with sheer will. But it pulsed again, sharp and undeniable. As if fate itself were tugging me forward. "No," I whispered, barely managing to force sound past the tightening in my throat. "Oh gods. Please, no." I felt someone behind me. I felt the shift in the air as a strong, steady, and dangerously magnetic presence approached. I didn't have to turn to know it was Luca. I could feel him now in a way I had never felt anyone before, not even Adrian. The bond recognized him. My wolf recognized him. I couldn't face him or face what this meant. So I fled. I stepped off the path, walked faster than I could think, and disappeared into the trees behind the courtyard, heart pounding, breath shaking, and the echo of a mate bond chasing me like a shadow I couldn't outrun. And as I walked deeper into the quiet, I knew with devastating clarity that my life had just broken open all over again.