Second Chance

I had just stepped out of my en suite shower, pulled on a workout bra and a set of sweats, and smoothed my damp hair into a ponytail when there was a knock at the front door. I sighed, hoping it wasn’t anything urgent this early in the day. I had recently finished my graveyard shift patrolling the pack border and didn’t want to deal with any more troubles. The rogues were giving me enough as it was.

“Come in,” I shouted from my bedroom. If whoever it was felt brave enough to bother me after the shift I’d had, they could deal with me as I got started on my post-shower routine.

Moments later, my best friend and brother in all but blood, Elijah, walked in. He passed a hand through his black hair, his blue eyes sparkling. They were so recognizable to me. He had the same color eyes as his mother, and I immediately felt myself relax as I stared into their calming blue lake.

“I’ll never understand you. Why shower at the end of your shift when you’re only going to head to the training ground and get all sweaty again?” he asked as he leaned against the doorframe.

He was dressed in ripped jeans and a white tank top, his muscles on full display. There was a glow to him, but that was expected as tonight would be the first night of the Blood Moon, the time when our fertility was at its peak, and our wolves wanted nothing more than to mate.

“You know I need to decompress after patrolling the border,” I replied. “It was either a shower or a bottle of scotch. Since we’re expected at training, I thought a shower was the better choice.”

“Tom filled me in. Said there were more signs of rogues in the area.”

I was purposely ignoring Elijah, but I knew he wouldn’t let me get away with it for long.

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” he continued. “Wanted to see if you wanted to talk about it.”

“You know,” I said with a sigh, “I’m really starting to hate being on the same shift as your mate.”

Elijah opened his mouth to continue, but I stopped him before he could get another word out.

“Yes, there were more signs of rogues crossing the border. You know this. You’ve seen it on your shifts too. That’s why we patrol—to keep track of their crossing points and to intercept as many rogues as we can.”

“But—”

“And that’s why we train. To make sure we’re in peak physical condition, so we can kick their asses when we come across them.”

“I know, but—”

“And,” I shouted over him, “this shift was tough. There was a fresh set of tracks along the southeast border. We must have missed them by minutes. But we’ll find them. Scouts are already out looking for them.”

Elijah opened his mouth again, but I shot him a look. “Unless the next thing out of your mouth is a change of topic, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Fine,” he said with a huff. “What about tonight?”

I clenched my jaw and crossed my arms over my chest. “What about it?”

“I know what you’re planning. It’s the Blood Moon, and I want to make sure you’ve thought this through.”

I moved to the end of my bed to put my shoes on. “I’ve thought of nothing else but this since the last Blood Moon, Elijah. I know what I’m doing.”

I lost my true mate ten years ago, and I was more than ready to move on. And I was determined to move on with the alpha.

Elijah crossed the room and knelt in front of me, making sure he had my full attention. “It’s been five years since Sean lost his true mate. And in that time, he’s actively avoided all females during the Blood Moons. You need to be prepared—he might turn you down too.”

I glared at him, but Elijah just smirked. “You’re still young, only twenty-eight. There will be other chances to choose a new mate. We can even pick him together.”

“Jerk,” I snapped, pushing him away from me. “You’re already assuming I’ll fail.”

“Sweetie…he’s the alpha. Yes, you’re a badass, just the way I like ’em, but…I don’t want to see you get hurt. Mom wouldn’t like it either.”

I could picture her in my mind, her hands on her hips as she told me I was stupid to go for a chosen mate—that I should wait for my second-chance mate.

I loved her, and not just because she was my best friend’s mother. She was the one to raise me after I lost my parents, and I never would have gotten through my teenage years without her. But I just couldn’t stop thinking that I was right to go after the alpha.

“Fine,” I said, both annoyed and resigned to his meddling. “If I fail, you can choose my next mate.”

“What?” he exclaimed, taken aback.

“You know me better than anyone, Elijah. We’ve been best friends since we were kids. I don’t want anyone but Sean, and I plan on succeeding,” I said with a smirk. “But if I do fail, I’ll let you pick my chosen mate.”

“Hun…I can’t do that. Choosing a mate is a lifelong decision, and I want you to be happy. Or are you so cocky that you really think you’ll succeed?” he asked.

“Oh, I will succeed. Just wait and see,” I said, giving him a small smile.

“Fine. I’ll bring tissues and ice cream in the morning. Tom will even come with me.”

Elijah and Tom realized they were mates around the same time Peter and I did. They held off their mating, fearful of how the pack would react to a gay mated couple, but it turned out they didn’t need to worry. The pack, with the alpha’s blessing, accepted them.

When Peter died in a rogue attack shortly after we realized we were fated mates, Elijah offered to forgo bonding with Tom and mate with me instead, but I declined. He had found his happiness, his one true mate, and I couldn’t live with myself if I took that away from him.

Now, ten years later, it was time for me to move forward. That’s why I was offering myself to our alpha on the Blood Moon. My solitude—and Sean’s—had to end, and this was the only way.

After the death of his true mate, our alpha usually kept to himself during a Blood Moon. It was probably the hardest thing to do since our senses were heightened at that time. It was the time when our primal instincts, our wolves, took over. And they wanted only one thing: to find a mate.

The first year after losing Peter, I was too overcome with grief to feel the pull of the Blood Moon. I barely felt my wolf during that year. But in the years since, the urge to mate has gotten stronger. I’d been able to resist my wolf so far, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep her at bay much longer.

And she wanted the alpha.

I knew other females had tried to get his attention during the Blood Moon, but none of them had succeeded. But my wolf knew we were different. Sean didn’t growl at me like he did other females. He even sought out my company at times.

In fact, he was the one who helped me find my wolf again after losing Peter. It was then that I started developing feelings for him. But he already had a mate. Seeing him with his luna had been a punch to the gut, but I’d tried to play it cool, to keep my emotions under wraps.

But that was about to change. It’d been five years since the death of the luna at the hands of the rogues, and my wolf refused to wait any longer.

I was one of his strongest warriors, and that included the males. I was an asset to him and the pack, highly respected among the warriors. He would be a fool to reject me. I knew it, and my wolf knew it.

I needed to know if he had even a smidgen of interest in me. And I wouldn’t stop until he rejected me face-to-face.

“What does your wolf think about it?” Elijah asked.

“She’s all in. It was tough for her to move past Peter’s death, but she genuinely thinks Alpha Sean will be a good match,” I replied.

“That’s good. You two are on the same page then.”

“Absolutely, we are.”

“You really think this’ll help you move on from your grief?”

His question pricked my heart, even after ten years without Peter. Losing your true mate was like tearing your heart out of your chest.

But I was lucky. Peter and I had just recognized each other as mates when he was taken away from me. We never completed the mating bond. The rogues had killed him before we could ever really be a mated couple.

I couldn’t imagine the pain Sean must have gone through when he lost his true mate… That must have felt a hundred times worse.

“Yes,” I answered. “There’s no one better for me. He was such a great help when I needed it the most. I feel like he really understands me, and I want to support him like that as well. I want to repay him for helping me move forward from my grief, and what better way to do that than by loving him?”

“I agree that he seems to at least like you to some extent but…are you sure? Maybe there’s a reason why he didn’t take a chosen mate after Luna died.”

Elijah was right; I knew this. Alphas typically chose a new mate quickly if they ever lost their true mate. And yet, Sean never did. This was peculiar, but I was sure that it had nothing to do with Sean. We both lost our mates because of the rogues; he was so strong for even being able to survive such a loss.

“Nothing you say could make me change my mind,” I told Elijah. “I’m doing this tonight.”

Elijah nodded, knowing I spoke the truth. “I should get going then,” he said, heading for the door. “I’d like to spend some time with my husband before training in an hour.”

“Give Tom my regards,” I said, smiling at him.

“Will do,” he replied.

As I watched my best friend leave my apartment, I thought about what we had just discussed.

I knew Sean might reject me, but my mind was set. I would do anything I could to make him accept me as his chosen mate. My feelings for him were too strong. Until I forced Sean to either accept or reject me, I would never be able to move on.

It was rare among wolves to develop an emotional attachment to someone else after we lost our true mate, but there was something between us; I just knew it.

Fate hadn’t been on my side until now, but I would grab it and get my own happy ending.