Chapter 4

They were staying in the same tent.

I suddenly remembered that I couldn’t reach Kael for three hours before we left.

Was that because he was helping Seraphina pack for the desert?

After the call ended, I replayed everything like a maniac.

When did those two, who supposedly couldn’t stand each other, get this close?

Back in the pack, they were almost hostile.

I was always the one stuck in the middle, smoothing things over.

He was the disciplined future Alpha.

She was the charming social butterfly.

Kael was always glaring at her, complaining that she distracted me and pulled me into pointless social drama.

While he trained me in combat, Seraphina kept distracting me with one novelty after another.

It was like making Kael mad was her favorite hobby.

And then it hit me.

I had been stupid.

That whole “sworn enemies” thing?

It wasn’t hate.

It was attraction with claws out.

That edge between them was never disgust. It was chemistry.

I covered my face as tears streamed through my fingers.

My communicator buzzed again and again.

Some friends who knew about my first-bite plan saw Kael and Seraphina’s photo on HowlNet and immediately messaged me: “What’s going on?”

“Weren’t you and Kael supposed to be at the Sacred Grounds? Didn’t Seraphina say she was coming with you? How did the two of them end up chasing the Blood Moon in the Red Sand Desert instead?”

“Oh my God. How did your first-bite ceremony turn into their little hunting trip? Elara, and you’re just letting this happen?”

What could I do?

I forced myself to reply calmly:

“What else? They’re going to become mates.”

The private channel erupted.

Message after message flooded in, each more incredulous than the last.

After all, how could a fated bond between childhood sweethearts lose to someone who came out of nowhere?

That fairy-tale perfect match burst like foam in the moonlight.

I didn’t know the answer.