Fated

Chapter II: A fantasy

For a long moment, all three of them silently processed their shock. 

Lightning flashed in the sky breaking the moment with loud thunder. The blonde cleared his throat, snapping his companion from his trance.

Adira saw the haze dissipate from his - her? - eyes as he regained composure. Before he could ask, she opened the door wider to let them in and found them a cloth to dry themselves with. 

The way she saw it, there were two possibilities. Either she was hallucinating and severely ill, in which case she hoped that having company would ensure that she got to the hospital. Or, there was a reasonable explanation and they were currently the only ones who could provide it.

"Adira," she said pointing to herself in a tone that clearly expected a response. 

Both men smirked in amusement but introduced themselves all the same. She connected them to their nicknames in her head, noting that the golden-boy-who-gapes-a-lot was Sebastian and the eyes-stealer-greek-god was Adrian. 

Once dry (they'd already ruined her porch so she definitely wasn't letting them ruin the house), she invited them deeper into her cottage. 

"Would you like some water?" she asked, her ingrained manners flaring to life. As she turned to them for a response, Adira was struck speechless and terrified for the second time that day. 

The beaded mirror next to the door behind Adrian showed her bed-hair and dried drool. Her face was flushed an unflattering red. She wore a ratty old t-shirt and long loose pants, definitely not suitable for meeting hot boys. But, embarrassing as all of that was, there was something else that caught her attention.

 Her reflection no longer displayed her prominent dark onyx eyes. She had blue ones now, turbulent like the ocean. 

There could be no doubt now. Werewolves were real and so were the tales. She had a mate. 

Of course, she had a god-damn mate. 

She was going to hurl. 

She collapsed on a chair. 

---

Adrian

Adrian stared in worry as Adira failed to respond to his questioning stare. His mate appeared to be deep in thought. 

He couldn't believe this turn of events, and through the mind link, which allowed his pack members to send messages to each other telepathically, he agreed with Seb's confusion. 

Fated mates had not occurred in centuries. He couldn't recall the last time these gifts from the moon had even been a serious topic of discussion. 

By the moon! He had thought through many versions of today's mating ceremony but none of them included finding his actual soulmate. Soulmate. Fuck. Could he really afford one of them right now? A human one at that? Would the pack even accept her?

His choice mate had been his long term friend Cassie, who was probably waiting at the packhouse as of right now. The pack loved and accepted her. She already took on more responsibility than was required for her role as the head of his warriors. 

It would be a short ceremony, intended only for his pack. There was no love, well, none from his end. Rogue attacks had worried the pack, and there was a need for a  strong female alpha to boost their confidence. After all, a pack is only as strong as its leaders. And now, he had a frail human mate. 

She was beautiful, Adrian had never seen such beauty before. Messy brown hair framed her heart-shaped face. She looked like she had just gotten out of bed and her loose t-shirt offered him a hint of her cleavage. He wanted to follow that south. She was petite and curvy and made Adrian want to pick her up and fuck her against the wall. He longed to see what hid behind the attitude.