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Prologue
Bellarose
“But why do I have to go, Mom? I don’t want to meet my mate yet,” I grumbled.
“That’s fine Bells, but you know how important finding his mate is to your brother,” Mom countered.
“Yes, but why does that mean I have to go?”
“Because he’s your brother and you love him.”
“I hate when you use that line,” I whined. She kissed my forehead and laughed on her way out of my room.
I put my headphones on and blasted music, trying to ignore the fact that I could already hear people arriving for the big party tonight. I eyed the midnight blue dress my mother gave me for tonight. I knew it would look great on me, but I didn’t want to go.
Our mate might be here, Coyo, my wolf, tempted me, but that was precisely what I didn’t want. I don’t understand why you’re so against our mate.
I am not against a mate. I just don’t want to find them so soon, I answered her, my lips trembling. She didn’t understand. Her entire existence was geared toward finding her mate. She didn’t understand what that would cost us.
I do understand, but this is the natural course of life. We are born and nurtured so we can walk alone and find our own family, she replied a little softer. Leaving doesn’t stop them from being a part of us or less family. It just means we’re destined for something that is our own.
I sighed. I wasn’t going to get her to understand. A few moments later, I felt Cory enter my room. I removed my headphones and sighed again when he came over to sit by my bed.
“Mom guilt trip ya?”
“You know how she is,” I grumbled. Cory chuckled, then grabbed my hand.
“What’s wrong, Bells? Talk to me.” My lip quivered. I could hide things from my parents and my other siblings, but Cory was my twin. He could feel my emotions when we were close, almost as if we shared a weaker version of the mate bond. We could link to each other no matter the distance, and I couldn’t keep secrets from him.
“I don’t want to leave home,” I finally confessed.
“What makes you think going to the-Oh, because there’s going to be people from all over, and one might be your mate?” he asked. I nodded, the tears gathering in my eyes despite hating showing weakness.
“You don’t know that they won’t be from our pack, or someone from a nearby pack,” he tried to soothe my worries.
“And if they aren’t?”
“Then we make them move to our pack.” It was easy for him to say. He didn’t have to worry. As the future alpha of Crescent Moon, his mate would have to move here if she wasn’t already a member. It was not the same for me.
“Cory, if my mate is a ranked member, I won’t have a choice. Mom is the daughter of alphas, and Dad is an alpha. I don’t care who my mate is, but the chances are high that my mate will be ranked.”
“Bells.” Cory sighed, pulling me into a hug. “It doesn’t matter where you end up. This will always be home. I will always go look for you. You’re my twin. You’ll always be my smelly Belly. Do you think I’d let you go off without being able to go see you? No matter where you go, I’ll make sure to visit, and our mind-link still works no matter where you are. I’ll bug you so much that you’ll have to block me so you can go do naughty things with your mate.”
“Why are you being gross?” I laughed.
“I’m a guy. It’s part of my DNA. Come on. There’s a lot of people here today,” he said, handing me the dress Mom had picked out for me. It really was a gorgeous dress.
“Fine, but wait for me,” I grumbled. Cory was already dressed, and I knew he couldn’t wait to go see if he could find his mate tonight. He was waiting for her. Not dating, not going out. He never even bothered to have a girlfriend.
I went into the bathroom and changed, tried to do something with my curls and put on a bit of mascara and lip gloss. Cory smiled at me when I came back out.
“You look awesome.”
“Yeah, well, you have to say that,” I argued, grabbing onto his arm as we walked out toward the stairs. We stopped on the third floor and looked down at the crowd. The front hall was packed already, and I could hear just as many people in the dining room. This was going to be a disaster.
“There are so many people,” Cory muttered under his breath, half excited, half nervous, fiddling with the old mal de ojo (evil eye) charm Uncle Helios gave us a long time ago. Mine was somewhere in my jewelry box.
“Yeah, there are so many bitches wanting to see if they can be Luna.” I rolled my eyes.
