Page 30 of The Alpha’s Chosen Mate

Chapter Sixteen

EMILY

20 years old, July 10th 1993

Today is a big day. An important day. Not only is it my first day back in Crescent Lake after being away for six months, but it’s also Harrison’s birthday.

His twenty-first birthday.

Today, he’s old enough to find his mate. His future luna. Once he finds her, once they’re mated and marked, he can take over as the alpha.

As excited as I am for him to take his rightful place as our leader, I’m hoping he doesn’t find his mate today. Or any day between now and December twenty-seventh.

Is that terrible of me to say?

The odds are slim that he’ll find her today. It’s rare for a male shifter to find their mate immediately on their twenty-first birthday. Usually, their mates are younger, and since both partners must be twenty-one for the bond to snap into place, they don’t find their mates on their birthday.

But who knows? Fate is unpredictable. It’s out of our hands and in Selene’s.

I’m still crossing my fingers that in six months, it’s me.

I make my way around the packhouse, clutching a birthday gift in one hand and smoothing the subtle wrinkles from my pink silk slip dress with the other. My steps are slow as I take it all in, as if I’m arriving here for the first time instead of after an extended absence. As I reacquaint myself and my wolf with the lands, a pair of blue eyes meets mine from near the garden entrance.

“Emily!” Stephanie smiles, then races across the grounds and wraps me in a hug. “I had no idea you were coming back today!”

“I didn’t tell anyone.”

Her eyes widen. “Anyone?”

“Only Alpha Michael, so he could make sure my room was ready and I’d have a ride back to the pack from the airport. But no one else.”

She smiles like a Cheshire cat. “Well, let’s go surprise everyone with the good news then!”

We link our arms together, and she leads me around the packhouse. She says surprise everyone, but I know she means one person specifically.

Harrison.

My departure from Crescent Lake was hasty and, if I’m honest, dramatic. The complete embarrassment I felt after kissing him overwhelmed me. I couldn’t bring myself to face him, not even to say goodbye. Before my first shift, I’d already been accepted to a prestigious culinary program overseas, and after throwing myself at Harrison like that, the fear of seeing him again pushed me to accept the offer. Which is why, less than a week after my birthday, while Harrison was being a gentleman and giving me space, I boarded a plane to France. I spent three months there and then three months in Italy learning everything I could.

I did a lot of soul-searching while overseas. A lot of reflecting. And I realized that no matter what I do or how hard I try, I can’t stop thinking about Harrison and how much my wolf and I want him. Distance didn’t staunch it. Time didn’t diminish it. The yearning stayed with me, and I spent more moments than I care to admit replaying that damn kiss.

Did he miss me as much as I missed him? Did that kiss plague his thoughts as much as it plagued mine?

As we pass between the packhouse and the garden, a warm breeze twirls around us, blowing Stephanie’s blonde strands towards my face. I inhale, breathing in the comforting aromas of home and my friend’s familiar scent, then frown.

“Stephanie. Brad’s scent is all over you.”

Her cheeks turn pinker than the peonies she tends every year. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

I arch a brow. She studiously avoids eye contact, and that’s all the confirmation I need.

She couldn’t stay away from Brad. Just like I can’t stay away from Harrison.

I smile. “I want to know everything.”

She dips her chin, and now her blush is as red as a stop sign. But she’s saved from answering by a looming shadow crossing our path.

“Emily?”