Avery’s POV

I had agreed to sleep with my boyfriend Ryan for the first time tonight, on our first Mating Day.

When I flung the door to his room open, I saw him looking all sexy and naked like I imagined.

But with another woman on top of him.

My younger half sister, Zara.

“What the-” I froze in his doorway.

Zara was straddling Ryan, facing me. When she spotted me, she smirked and moaned, dipping her head to nip at Ryan’s neck.

“Oh yes. Just like that!” she said, breathing in his ear. Ryan grunted and lifted her up to roll over on top of her.

My stomach flipped. I felt like I was going to throw up.

Then Ryan noticed me and froze. “Avery,” he breathed.

Guilt flushed across his face, but his hands didn’t leave Zara’s hips. The room was silent for a moment.

“Zara and I just found out we were fated mates,” Ryan’s words hammered into my heart.

Fated Mate.

On Mating Days, werewolves over 19 could smell and recognize their fated mates.

The attraction between fated mates is irresistible. They can trigger each other into heat just from smelling each other at a distance. Once fated mates find each other, they will mate and mark each other, forming a resilient bond of intertwined attraction that lasts their whole lives.

The only way to resist a fated mate was to mark a chosen mate before you met your fated one. That’s what Ryan and I wanted to do tonight on our first Mating Day.

I knew I would never get a fated mate because my wolf seemed dormant. When everyone started to shift into their wolf form and communicate with their wolf, I got nothing.

I could feel my wolf there back in my mind, though. No one believed what I said, so it became a joke amongst my bullies, especially from my sister Zara’s little group.

“Wolfless freak.”

“Pathetic human liar.”

They would say these words to my face, believing that I was too weak to fight back without a wolf within.

And yet, I was with Ryan, the Alpha heir. He did his best to protect me; we both believed we were meant to be together.

So tonight, on Mating Day, Ryan and I planned to mate and mark each other, so he could protect me forever.

He had been the only light in my life.

But now he was taken by Zara.

How could Moon Goddess treat me like this?

“You choose Zara? Knowing she has been my bully for so long?” A sob was lodged in my throat, but I refused to let it out.

I hated that my voice shook as I stared into his eyes. The eyes of the man whom I’d thought was the love of my life. The man I was going to give myself to, tonight. I’d even worn secret lingerie under my coat to mark the special occasion.

Now Ryan looked like he wanted to apologize. A flash of regret crossed his handsome face.

Zara snaked one arm around his neck and yanked him closer to her, smirking at me from the bed.

Ryan clenched his jaw, “Fated mates make each other stronger, Avery.”

“So I was nothing to you?” The sob tore loose.

“Ave–” Ryan’s face softened, and he started to rise away from Zara, reaching one hand towards me.

Zara reached up and intertwined her fingers with his, stopping his gesture. Her eyes gleamed at me from under her dark lashes.

“Ryan, Mating Day is the best time to have the strongest Alpha heir with your fated one…” She arched her naked body up into him.

Ryan swallowed, leaning back down to nuzzle at Zara’s neck.

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