Chapter 4: My Mates
2563 Words
Selina POV
Three weeks of living in the Tranz house had taught me the delicate art of existing without taking up too much space.
I had learned to eat my meals quietly, to speak only when spoken to during family dinners, to keep my head down and my opinions to myself.
The triplets had not bothered me much since Ashran’s warning on my first night, but I could feel them watching, cataloging every interaction, every moment that I might step out of line.
It was exhausting, this constant performance of being the perfect grateful stepdaughter.
“Selina, sweetheart,” Alpha Rowan said over breakfast one morning, his voice carrying that warm affection that always made my chest tight with guilt.
“Your birthday is coming up next week.”
My eighteenth birthday. I had been trying not to think about it, hoping maybe it would pass quietly without much fuss.
Birthdays in our old life had been small affairs, just Mom and me with a homemade cake and whatever small gift she could afford.
“You do not need to make a big deal of it,” I said quickly.
“Nonsense.” He reached across the table to squeeze Mom’s hand, both of them smiling at me with such genuine warmth it made my stomach hurt.
“Every alpha’s daughter deserves a proper coming-of-age celebration.”
“What do you have in mind?” Mom asked, her eyes bright with excitement.
“A party,” Alpha Rowan said, and I felt my heart sink.
“Nothing too elaborate, just family and close friends from the pack. Maybe some of the neighboring alphas and their families.”
Nothing too elaborate. Just the most important wolves in three different pack territories came to celebrate the birthday of a girl who could not even shift.
“That sounds wonderful,” Mom said, squeezing my hand under the table. “Does it not, Selina?”
“Wonderful,” I echoed weakly, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my voice.
Across the table, the triplets exchanged glances that I pretended not to notice.
Ashran looked mildly amused, like he was already imagining how this party would go.
Alex was smiling that sharp smile that never meant anything good. Aaron just looked thoughtful, his dark eyes unreadable as always.
“We will need to get you a dress,” Mom continued, already planning. “Something special. This is your coming-of-age, after all.”
Coming-of-age. The milestone every werewolf looked forward to, when their wolf fully matured, and they took their official place in the pack hierarchy.
The night when everything was supposed to change, when the future opened up in front of you like a door you had been waiting your whole life to walk through.
Unless you were me. Unless you were the broken girl who had been waiting eighteen years for a wolf that was never coming.
“I would love to help with the planning,” I said, because that was what a grateful stepdaughter would say.
“Actually,” Alpha Rowan said, “I was hoping the boys might help you with some of the details. Show you how these formal pack events work, introduce you to some of the families you will be meeting.”
The boys. I tried not to let my expression change as I nodded. “That would be very helpful.”
“Great,” Ashran said smoothly. “We would be happy to help our sister prepare for her big night.”
The way he said ‘sister’ made it sound like a joke only he was in on.
The week that followed was a whirlwind of party preparations.
Mom threw herself into planning with the kind of enthusiasm she usually reserved for healing emergencies. She was determined to make this the perfect celebration.
She dragged me shopping for a dress, settling on a midnight blue gown that made my eyes look brighter and my skin seem less pale.
She arranged flowers and planned the menu and fussed over every detail until I almost believed this might actually turn out all right.
Alpha Rowan was just as invested, personally approving the guest list and making sure all the important pack families would be represented.
He seemed genuinely excited about introducing me to pack society as his daughter, and his enthusiasm was infectious.
Even the triplets seemed to be behaving themselves.
The night of the party arrived with unseasonably warm weather and a clear sky full of stars that seemed to promise good things ahead.
The estate was transformed with lights and flowers and enough food to feed half the space.
Guests began arriving at sunset, and I watched from my bedroom window as expensive cars filled the circular driveway.
“Ready?” Mom asked from my doorway, looking beautiful in a deep green dress that complemented her eyes.
“As ready as I will ever be,” I said, smoothing the skirt of my midnight blue gown.
“You look absolutely stunning,” she said, kissing my cheek. “Your father would be so proud if he could see you tonight.”
My father. She had never talked much about the man who had left before I was born, the wolf whose identity remained a mystery even to me.
Sometimes I wondered if my broken genetics came from him, if he had known what I would become and decided he wanted no part of it.
“Come on,” Mom said, taking my hand. “Everyone is waiting."
The party was already in full swing when we made our entrance.
The ballroom was filled with the most powerful wolves in the space, all dressed in their finest clothes and chattering excitedly about everything except the real reason they were here.
They wanted to see the alpha’s mysterious new stepdaughter, to judge whether she was worthy of the position she had been given.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Alpha Rowan’s voice carried across the room as he raised his glass.
“Tonight we celebrate my daughter Selina as she comes of age. Please join me in welcoming her not just to adulthood, but to her rightful place in our pack.”
Right place. The words hung in the air as applause filled the room, and I smiled and nodded like the grateful daughter I was supposed to be.
He turned slightly toward me.
“Today, I welcome Selina—not only into my home but into my heart and into this pack as my daughter. From this day forward, she is part of our family, and the future of our pack shines brighter because of her.”
He lifted his glass higher.
“To Selina. May your journey be strong, your path guided, and your spirit never dim.”
He raised his hand, gesturing for me to come forward.
Heart pounding, I stepped up to him, lifting my glass to join in the toast. But just as I did, my gaze collided with Malissa’s from across the ballroom.
Her eyes were wide with disbelief, her mouth opening and closing like a stunned fish.
At first, I was taken aback, but then again, it made perfect sense. Of course, she was there. She was the daughter of an alpha.
Still, I had never seen her look so completely lost and dumbfounded.
A delicious thrill ran through me at the sight. I lifted my glass even higher in silent defiance and downed the drink in one smooth gulp.
“Noooo!!” her voice pierced through the air, raw with outrage.
Murmurs erupted around the room like wildfire.
“Alpha Rowan, you’re being deceived by this freak,” Malissa spat, her voice sharp with disbelief and outrage.
“I don’t know what she did to manipulate you into this, but she’s not who you think she is. She doesn’t belong here!”
Alpha Rowan turned his head slowly toward Malissa, his expression calm but cold…like a storm waiting just beneath the surface.
The murmurs grew louder as heads turned toward the girl who had just interrupted the alpha’s toast.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked, voice firm, every word laced with authority.
“She’s lying to you!” Malissa shouted, pointing a trembling finger at me. “That girl—Selina—she’s not who you think she is! She’s a nobody! A pathetic omega! Ask anyone from our school…she’s a freak! She doesn’t even have a wolf!”
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
I stood frozen, the wine glass clenched tightly in my hand, my chest rising and falling with panic.
But Alpha Rowan didn’t waver.
He stepped down from the stage slowly, power rolling off him like waves. When he reached Malissa, he looked down at her as if she were something beneath his boot.
“You will not speak of my daughter that way,” he said, his voice quiet but deadly.
“She’s not—” Malissa began again.
“Enough.” His voice boomed across the hall. “You will leave. Now.”
“But—”
“Guards,” he called, turning his back on her.
Two guards emerged from the side of the room, stepping forward without hesitation.
Malissa screamed again, her voice laced with disbelief and rage as they took her by the arms and began to escort her out.
“You’re all blind! She’s faking this! She’s nothing…just wait, you’ll see!”
“Sorry for that, everyone. Please, enjoy the party,” Alpha Rowan said smoothly, his voice calm but commanding enough to silence the room and make the crowd return to their conversations as if nothing had happened.
I walked back to my seat beside my mother, trying to ignore the trembling in my hands and the storm of emotions building in my chest.
I forced a smile, nodded politely when needed, and sat quietly, waiting for it all to be over.
The party dragged on for hours…laughing, dancing, endless toasts…but I felt like I was floating outside my own body the whole time.
The moment I was finally allowed to retire, I slipped away upstairs, careful not to draw attention, and shut myself in my room with a quiet sigh of relief.
I was just about to slip off my dress when the door burst open, slamming against the wall with a deafening bang.
I froze, my fingers tightening around the fabric as Ashran stormed into the room like a storm unchained.
“What… what is going on?” I stammered, fear clenched around my heart like a vice.
My voice was barely above a whisper, trembling just as much as I was.
His eyes were wild, fury pouring off him in waves. “Didn’t I warn you?” he growled, his voice low and venomous.
“If anyone at school found out, I said I’d make you eat your own tongue, didn’t I?”
He took a step forward, and then another, closing the distance between us.
“I didn’t know she would be there,” I said quickly, desperation leaking into my tone. “What was I supposed to do? It wasn’t planned!”
“You dare question me?” he hissed.
I closed my eyes, bracing for the pain to hit.
But then, pain exploded through me.
A burning , tearing, shredding pain that struck every fiber of my being.
“Nooo!” I screamed, dropping to my knees as my hands clawed at the ground. “What’s happening?!”
Inside, it felt like my body was being torn apart and remade all at once.
My bones cracked. Muscles stretched. Something ancient surged beneath my skin, like a storm finally breaking free.
But that was not the only change happening to me.
As my wolf stretched and yawned and began to explore the corners of my mind, something else awakened too. Three distinct scents that called to something primal and desperate in my chest.
Pine and winter storms.
Leather and dark spices.
Rain and wild honey.
I looked up from where I had collapsed on the marble floor, my vision sharper than it had ever been, and met three pairs of eyes that were wide with shock and something that looked like horror.
Ashran, Alex, and Aaron Tranz were staring at me like I had just destroyed their entire world.
Because I had. The mate bond that had just snapped into place between us, stronger than steel and impossible to break, had changed everything in the span of a heartbeat.
The three boys who had tormented me, who were now my stepbrothers, who had spent months reminding me that I was nothing…
They were my mates.
All three of them.
And from the look of absolute devastation on their faces, they felt it too.
My tormentors and the owners of my being.
My eyes snapped at the three of them.
Alex took a cautious step toward me.
“Don’t,” I snapped, backing away. “Stay back. Don’t come near me.”
His expression crumpled, pain flashing in his eyes. “You’re my mate—our mate. I don’t know how I didn’t—”
“You didn’t know what, Alex?” I cut him off, my voice sharper than I’d ever heard.
He hesitated, guilt written all over his face.
“Do you think this changes anything?” I continued, chest heaving. “You think some magical bond wipes away everything you did?”
“I didn’t know,” he said quietly, almost pleading. “If I had—”
“But you didn’t,” I said, my voice low and trembling. “You didn’t know, because you never looked at me like I was worth seeing. Not until now.”
Ashran flinched at my words. Aaron said nothing, but his jaw tightened.
Alex took another small step forward. “Please. Let me explain…”
“No,” I said, cutting him off again, fire building in my chest. “You don’t get to ask for forgiveness just because fate says I belong to you.”
My wolf growled from deep inside me, she sounded protective and proud.
Ashran’s face twisted, the awe from earlier gone in an instant. Replaced by something darker, he looked angry.
“You don’t get to tell us what to do,” he snapped, stepping forward, his eyes flickering with the telltale glow of his wolf.
I straightened, heart pounding. “Excuse me?”
“You’re ours,” he growled, voice low, dangerous. “Fated. Chosen by the goddess herself. You don’t have to push us away.”
“Don’t I?” I took a step toward him now, fury rising like a tide.
“Because last I checked, I didn’t ask to be claimed. I didn’t ask to be fated to the same boys who made my life hell.”
Ashran faltered for a breath—but his jaw tightened. “That was before we knew.”
“Oh, so ignorance makes it okay?” I scoffed. “You didn’t know I was your mate, so treating me like garbage was fine?”
“You don’t understand what this bond means,” he said, stepping even closer.
I met his gaze with fire of my own. “No. You don’t understand what it means to earn someone. I may be your mate—but that doesn’t make me yours.”
- Writer
