FATE'S RELUCTANT BRIDE

CHAPTER 001

Twenty-three hours. Selene had been awake that long. Nearly twenty-four hours of no rest, breathing in and out, crying, and the delicate beat of new life.

She had been standing next to Doctor Riddhi in the little birthing room, her hands steady, her mind sharp, leading a frightened mother through the most difficult part of her life. And when the twins at last came into the world, slippery, red-faced, screaming with lungs that testified they were healthy,

Selene felt that same spark she always did. Relief. Awe. Gratitude. The birth went well. No emergencies. No tragic surprises. The long push and the doubled effort of getting two little wolves into their first breaths. She was aware that she ought to have felt like falling where she was. She was aware that her bones ought to ache, and her eyelids ought to slam shut. But rather she was restless. Alive. Something inside her skin was buzzing like it was not quite finished with her.

Her wolf Eliza would not cease to move in her mind. Pacing. Humming. Nearly shaking her tail with excessive vigor. “Why are you acting like this?” Selene talked to herself as she went out into the cold night.

She crossed her arms over her chest as the moon shone silver over the road. You like the smell of new pups, I know. But you have been awake as long as I. And are you not tired as well?

“I do not know how to explain it,” Eliza hummed, and her voice was warm in the back of Selene’s mind. But something will happen to-day. Something good. I feel it. Selene shook her head and laughed. “More exciting than twins?

I do not believe my nerves could take anything more to-day. “Meeting our mate. Having pups of our own. That would be more exciting.” “Do not start that again.” Selene kicked a little rock over the road. I am too weary of this debate. It need not be an argument, Eliza said to herself.

Yet the words remained like sparks in waiting. Selene strolled slowly and liked the silent streets. The town was asleep, and most of the windows were black. She was aware that she was supposed to go to her bed. But impatience in her impelled her to go on, as though her body needed more movement, more air, more something she could not yet name.

This was not the first time she and Eliza had wound round this same fight. The wolf never ceased to desire their destined mate. Could not stop dreaming of a bond and the pups that could come with it. Eliza would not give up that hope, however many times Selene reminded her of the pain they had already experienced.

Selene could not share it. She had seen too much. She had too vividly recalled the acute contours of loss. The weight of betrayal.

The empty pain of having been betrayed of a promise of forever. The thought of a mate was a blessing of the Goddess to Eliza. It was a loaded trap for Selene, too frail to trust. Yes, the majority of couples got married forever.

Yes, the majority of fated wolves were faithful, protective, and tied up so tight that they could hardly breathe without the other. But not all. Not always. Some broke. Some betrayed. Others ripped their mates inside.

Selene closed her fists. She had lived through that. She would not allow it again. She would never place herself in the position of being ruined by love. Eliza was obstinate, and Selene knew she was. Time would prove her right. Time would inform Eliza that not all wounds healed.

Her wolf sighed in her mind but said no more at the moment. Selene walked home a long way; the paving stones chilled her sandaled feet. She thought of her parents, as that was where she always started to be afraid. Her mother had died when she was sixteen. One day alive. The next one is gone. No explanation. No reason. No answers that made sense.

An autopsy was conducted by Doctor Riddhi. He sliced open the chest of her mother and examined every part of her body but could not find anything. No disease. No poison. No organ failure. He grumbled of rare conditions, of queer genetics, of a one-in-a-million weakness that no wolf could scent. But wolves did not perish like men. Wolves did not languish in disease.

They healed. They lived longer. They were tough in their blood. And yet, her mother had died. That was five years ago. Selene mourned her daily. But the burden that lived in her heart was less than the burden her father bore. His sorrow had nearly killed him as well.

She had heard the stories. In some cases, one mate would die and the other would die within days. The attachment was too great; the suffering was too great to bear. Selene had nearly been one of those.

She remembered how she had discovered him sitting in her mother’s favorite chair, looking at a photograph as though he could call her spirit back through the picture. She remembered how she would walk past his room at night and hear sobs. She remembered how his heart had broken more than his voice.

He had not wanted to stay. That much was clear. But he stayed anyway. For Selene. Only for her. With time, he was able to learn how to move. He went back to his work. He appeared at pack meetings. He appeared to be steady, strong, and a leader who continued, to anyone else. But Selene knew. She was aware that his heart would never be whole again. She was aware that the relationship had broken him in a manner that could not be mended. She had decided then. She would not entrust anybody with that kind of power.

But Eliza never surrendered the struggle. I lost her, too," Eliza thought in her head now, and the silence was broken as Selene passed the bakery. I have those memories, but I was not even born to you. I shared our father’s grief. But that it happened to them does not imply that it will happen to us.

Selene gritted her teeth. “That is not the only reason. You know it.”Blame not me because I reminded you. He was not meant for us. Before he hurt us, you ought to have left him.

“That is not fair.” The voice of Selene was heard in the night. Neither is depriving me of the opportunity to locate our mate.

“Eliza, stop. ”Her wolf whimpered, her voice pulling like a child that wants to be heard. “You are shutting me out again. You always do. Why cannot you believe it will be different this time?" I cannot live through it," Selene said and laid her palm against her heart. “I will not. The wolf whined once more, but Selene drove her off.

Threw her back into the silent recesses of her mind and banged the door. Selene walked more quickly now, her chest heaving, and she had to get out of her own thoughts. She repeated it all in her head over and over.

The evening her mother had fallen. The days that followed when her father had fallen. The single error of entrusting her heart to another and finding herself bleeding after the tie was cut. The fact she could not even confess to herself: she desired love, but she was afraid of it. She came close to her house, and her breath caught.

Something shifted in the air. Her hands trembled, and she dropped the door handle. “Do you feel that?” Selene froze. It was a silent night, and her wolf was correct. The air was heavier. The hairs at the back of her neck were on end. She slowly turned her head, her eyes seeking the shadows.

"Somebody is spying on us," Eliza said. The heart of Selene beat faster. Her eyes flicked out to the tree line at the village boundary. The moonlight caught on something there. A pair of eyes. No. Two pairs. Golden-brown. Glowing. Unblinking. Her body locked. “Eliza,” she breathed.

The voice of the wolf shook her chest with excitement. “Do you know what this means?” Selene could not answer. She could not move. The two figures came out of the trees, slow and sure, as predators who had already taken possession of their prey. Her heartbeat was wild; her legs would not listen to her.

One of them grumbled in his throat, and the voice was like thunder in the silent street. Selene fell back, her breath held in fear and something she did not wish to call it. The voice of the other man came, deep and steady. “Ours.” Her heart lurched.

Eliza yipped in her with uncontained delight. Selene shook her head, no, no, no. This was not happening. Not now. Not ever.

She turned on her heel, her hair flying across her face, in her attempt to flee. But her legs were too heavy, as though the very connection was dragging her back. Their footsteps came nearer. She attempted to stuff Eliza out once more, but her wolf was scratching at the walls, screaming with laughter and excitement.

Selene gasped in her lungs as she stepped to her front door. Her hands shook, and she dropped the door handle. The growl was repeated behind her. Closer. Stronger. Her fingers slipped once, twice, and the door creaked open. She ran in, banged it closed, and leant her back against the wood. Her chest was up and down in sharp waves.

The house was silent. Too silent. Eliza had a sharp, breathless, desperate voice. “They found us.” Selene’s knees shook. She held the doorknob till her knuckles were white. Her whisper broke in the quiet.

“What if they never let us go?”