He opened his mouth, but his phone buzzed.
Emma's name lit up the screen, accompanied by a picture of her pouting.
"Hey, baby, come build a snowman with me!" her voice trilled the speaker.
Peter's shoulders relaxed at the sound, and something in my chest snapped.
"Let me out here," I said, reaching for the door.
"Alexa-"
But I was already gone, dragging my box through the snow.
The cold didn't bother me anymore; my wolf blood kept me warm.
That's when the electromobile hit me, sending me sprawling.
Pain exploded in my calf, but when I looked down, the wound was already knitting together.
I limped the rest of the way to my dingy apartment, the moon high in the sky.
As I bandaged the last of the scrape-now just a pink line-I found Peter's business card in my pocket.
I held it over a candle, watching the edges curl and blacken.
My phone pinged.
It was a text from Peter
:?"Don't be a fool. Find a normal man, not a beast like me."
I deleted the message, then opened the window.
The full moon bathed my face, and for the first time, I let out a low howl.
I smiled, tilting my head back to the stars.
Peter Riegert, may your moon always be full-but know that mine has risen, and I walk in its light alone.
The scent ofsomething sickly sweet hit me before I even reached Peter's office.
Through the cracked door, Emma Brown straddled his lap, her nails raking through his hair.
"You waited hours for these?" she purred, pressing a macaron to his lips.
Peter's laugh rumbled, a sound I'd only ever heard when he was truly amused.
"For you, I'd wait moons." His nose nuzzled her wrist, and I caught a flash of gold in his eyes as he inhaled her scent.
Five years I'd spent suppressing this-since the night his bite awoke the wolf in me.
Now, watching him nuzzle another she-wolf, the beast inside thrashing against my ribcage.
The clock ticked.
Ten minutes to the pack meeting. I rapped on the door, my knuckles white. "Alpha Peter Riegert, the pack meeting-"
Emma pouted, her fingers sinking into Peter's shirt. "Don't go, alpha."
Peter's gaze flicked to me, cold as winter snow. "Postpone it."
"But the elders-"
"Do I need to repeat myself, Alexa?"
His voice dropped, the growl in it making my wolf cower.
"Nothing is more important than my mate."
Mate.
The word sliced through me.
So that's what she was now-his fated mate, the one his wolf had howled for.
Not me, the half-blood secretary he'd kept in the shadows.
In the pack meeting room, the air was thick with rage.
"A she-wolf distraction?"
one elder snarled, his eyes glowing amber.
"Tell your alpha he owes us an apology."
I stood there, letting their snarls wash over me.
My calf scar throbbed, a reminder of the night I'd limped through the snow.
When Peter finally arrived three hours later, his scent reeked of Emma's perfume, and his eyes still held the haze of post-mating contentment.
Emma found me in the break room, her smirk razor-sharp.
"Five hundred coffees, Alexa. Mine? Ice, no sugar."
The hummed, steam fogging my vision.
By the time I carried the last tray, my hands shook.
Emma took one sip, then hurled the mug at my head.
Ceramic cracked against my skull, blood pouring into my eye.
More mugs rained down, shards slicing my arms, my neck.
Coffee mixed with blood, staining the floor like a pack's kill.
"Alpha!" Emma wailed, falling into Peter's arms.
"She knew I'm in heat-she tried to poison me!"
