My Mother Mate is my Mate

ANAYA POV "Luna Anaya, are you still with me?" Elder Magnus's voice cracked across the room, his hand slamming the table. I jerked up, my eyes snapping to his, sweat beading down my face. I hadn't meant to drift off, not with seven elders glaring at me like I was already failing them. "Yes. Of course," I said too fast. "Then tell me what I just said." "f**k," I muttered under my breath. I didn't know how I managed to sleep off under the scrutiny of seven elders right in front of me, glaring at me like they wanted to devour me. "I said you have two months to find your mate," Magnus repeated, cold. "We cannot keep allowing you to rule without an Alpha beside you. It's inevitable." Zuko leaned in before I could answer. "He's right. You're thirty-seven. No mate, no Alpha, no heir. How much longer do you expect us to wait?" I curled my fingers under the table. Not because I lacked an answer, because they always asked as if being unmated made me less of a leader. "Four years you've ruled alone," Kael said. "We allowed it because we believed you'd eventually find your mate. Four years is enough." "And what exactly do you want me to do about it?" "You know what we want." "I don't have to give you everything you expect." Marian rose, walking toward me with something like pity on his face. "You're making this harder than it needs to be. The throne is incomplete without an Alpha. A woman shouldn't have to carry this burden alone. Perhaps the Moon Goddess is reminding you that you need a man beside you." My blood went hot. I stood, the chair screeching against stone. "I fought for this pack before I ever sat on that throne. I bled for it. I killed for it. I won battles most Alphas were too afraid to enter." I let the silence stretch. "The Zukalus Battle." The room went still. They knew what that meant, it was a battle with just you and ten of the pack's strongest, silver chains binding the challenger, a battle most Alphas refused and few survived. I'd walked out of it alone, no mate, no man beside me. "So tell me again," I said quietly, "how exactly am I too weak to rule?" Marian said nothing. Magnus cleared his throat. "This isn't about strength. It's about your mate. The longer you go without one, the more vulnerable this pack looks. Other packs are watching. Even the strongest pack falls when its leader ignores its laws." "You can't force the Moon Goddess to give me a mate," I said flatly. "No," Richard said, rising for the first time all meeting. The room quieted at the sight of him standing, Richard never stood. "But we can force you to face what comes from refusing one. You still have two months. Fail, and you're removed. But first, a battle is coming in a week. You'll fight Akon tomorrow, in front of the pack, to prove you can still lead us into war." My stomach dropped. "Akon?" No one spoke. Akon was the strongest wolves in all of the Werewolf realm, he had never lost. Men avoided him for a reason, he fought like a beast. "Tomorrow morning," Richard said, "the entire pack will watch." I didn't answer. I stood and walked out before my anger could show any more than it already had. ****** The corridor outside was empty, and I was grateful for it. I pressed my back against the wall for a moment, just breathing, letting my pulse settle before I had to be Luna again in front of anyone else. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I almost ignored it. Then I saw the name on the screen and my whole chest tightened. Mom. I stared at it until it rang out. It started again immediately. I answered on the second ring, my voice flatter than I meant it to be. "Hello?" Silence on the other end. Then, quietly, "Hello, Mom," I said again, impatient now. Still nothing. I was about to hang up when her voice finally broke through, thick and uneven. "I'm… so… sorry, Anaya." I said nothing. I let her sit in it. "I know I hurt you, baby," she went on, her voice cracking further. "I know I have no right to ask you for anything after what I did. But I want to make amends. Can I come see you tomorrow?" I closed my eyes. For a second I couldn't find a single word. My mother, asking to see me. After everything. "You left me, Mom," I said finally, low. "You left when Dad died. You begged me to come with you, and when I said no, you left without me anyway." "I was scared," she whispered. "You were scared?" My laugh came out cold, nothing like a laugh at all. "I was scared too. I'd just lost my father. And you wanted me to walk away from everything he built." "I didn't want you to die too." "And I didn't want to run." Neither of us spoke for a moment. I thought about my father, the way he used to look at me like I was already Luna before I'd earned a single scar for it. Other Alphas had told him to set my mother aside, find a woman who'd give him a son to carry his line. He'd always said the same thing back: *I already have my heir.* He believed in me before I believed in myself. That was his dream. I couldn't let it die with him. So I stayed. I became Luna. And she left. And now, after all of that, she wanted back in. "I know I can't undo what happened," she said softly. "If I could go back, I'd do it differently." "You can't go back." "I know." "Then why call now?" A long pause. "Because I miss my daughter." My chest tightened. I hated that those four words still had the power to reach in and grab something. "I don't expect forgiveness," she said. "I just want the chance to see you. Even if you still hate me. Let me see you." I looked down at the floor, at nothing. Part of me wanted to tell her she had made her choice years ago and didn't get to walk it back now, on her own timeline, because it was convenient. But another part of me, smaller, younger, the girl who used to sit by the window waiting for a car that never came, still wanted her mother. "Fine," I said at last. "Really?" she said happily. "Yes." A small, unwilling smile touched my mouth. "You can come." "Thank you, Anaya." I let out a breath. "When are you coming?" "Today." "Today?" I straightened off the wall. "Infact, I'm already on my way." I rubbed at my temple, feeling the day catch up to me all at once, the council, Akon, and now this. "Fine." "Thank you, baby." Her voice caught on the old nickname, one I hadn't heard in years, and something in me ached at hearing it again despite myself. Then she went quiet in a different way. Careful. "There's something else I need to tell you." I frowned. "What?" "I won't be coming alone. My husband is coming with me." I said nothing. Her husband. The man who had taken the place my father used to hold, who had built a life with her after mine had fallen apart. "I want you to meet him," she said. "He's wanted to meet you for a long time, and my son. I went still. "Your what?" "My son," she repeated, softer. "Your little brother." My heart skipped a bit, my anger resurfacing. "He's five," she said, when I didn't respond. "I know this is a lot," she rushed to add. "But I really want you to meet them, Anaya." Every instinct in me scream tto decline, but I'd already given my word, and I wasn't in the habit of taking it back. "Okay," I said. "Bring them." Her breath came out shaky with relief. "Thank you, Anaya." "Don't thank me yet." The call ended. I stood there a moment longer, phone still in my hand, staring at nothing. A Few Hours Later. By the time the knock came by afternoon, my whole body was already strung tight, my nerves stretched thin between the fight ahead of me and whatever this was about to be. "Come in." The servant bowed low. "Luna Anaya, your mother is here. With a man and a boy." "Bring them in." I splashed water on my face at the basin, straightened my collar without really seeing myself in the mirror, and walked into my office already braced for it. I wasn't braced enough. My mother stood just inside the door, older than I remembered her, softer somehow. Beside her, a boy of five sat swinging his legs in my chair, staring up at me with the same green eyes she had. And beside them both stood a man. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Somewhere in his forties, though he wore it like a man half that. The moment my eyes landed on him, my heart slammed, hard, against my ribs for no reason, it felt like a current running straight through me like my body recognized something my mind hadn't caught up to yet. I froze in the doorway a beat too long. The boy's face split into a grin, breaking the silence. "Hi, big sis. You look mean. I like it already." I barely heard him. My mother stepped forward, arms already lifting to hug me. I raised a hand between us instead. "One step at a time." I crossed to the boy instead, and he scrambled down off my chair and back to her side, quick as anything. "Mom, she doesn't even smile," he stage-whispered, not quiet enough. I almost let out a small smile. "Please, sit," I said, to no one in particular, and took my own seat, aware the entire time of the man's eyes still on me. He eyes running over me. "Let me introduce everyone," my mother said, turning first to the boy. "This is Dylan. Your little brother." Her whole face warmed at his name in a way I hadn't seen directed at me since I was small. Then she turned to the man. "And this is Rico. My mate. He's forty-seven, ten years younger than me. He's wanted to meet you for a long time now." Rico inclined his head. When he finally spoke, his voice came out low, rough at the edges, deep enough that I felt it in my chest before I had fully processed the words. "It's good to finally meet you, Anaya." I frowned. There was something strange about him, I couldn't explain it. I clenched my fist, trying to suppress whatever this was. My wolf, silent through thirty-seven years of failed introductions the elders had arranged and discarded, suddenly stirred like she had been shaken awake from a decade-long sleep. No. I looked away first, pulse loud in my own ears. No this... this can't be. I thought, my heart slamming hard it had to be my imagination. Moon Goddess, what the hell is wrong with me? I made myself look back anyway. Rico was still watching me, and for a moment his expression wasn't steady anymore either. He looked as unsettled as I felt, like he was quietly asking his own body the same question I was asking mine, and getting the same unwelcome answer. I stood before either of us had to find one. "You're welcome to stay. I have a fight to prepare for." I didn't wait for a reply. I walked out, shut the door behind me, and let my back hit the corridor wall, breathing like I had just run a marathon. My wolf hadn't reacted to a single man in thirty-seven years. She was reacting now. To my mother's mate. I closed my eyes. "Moon Goddess. What the hell have you done."