Nature of Fate

Frustration bubbled over as I walked the edge of the woodland, this mark is going to wreck everything. I gazed at the crescent flickering weakly on my wrist. The words I had wanted to yell at the wedding suddenly poured out in the quiet of the forest.

"Aria, you are chatting to yourself. Not a sign at all favourable.

Startled to discover Kieran sloppily lounging against a tree, his dark eyes observing me with slight amusement, I whirled around. Kieran had always been unlike most of the pack—that is, constantly unassuming. Just someone who seemed to like seeing the turmoil all around him, neither an ally nor an adversary.

Do you have anyplace else you could be? I jerked, putting my wrist behind my back.

"Not when there's a spectacle like this," he remarked, looking toward me. "Word travels fast, you know. Designed mates, the Beta's daughter and the Alpha's son. The bustle of the pack is there.

I grumbled. " Fantastic. Just what I was looking for.

Kieran moved nearer, his smile fading. "For what it's worth, Luca's not taking this any better than you are." Looking if someone had punched him in the belly, he departed the ceremony.

"Good," I said, surprised even by my own wrath. "Maybe he'll stop making my life miserable now."

Kieran arched his eyebrows. " Doubtful." This will, if anything, make matters worse.

I ignored it. I couldn't. We both understood he was right.

Whispering had started by the time I got back to the pack house. Wolves of all stripes stare at me curiously, their chats stopping the instant I passed. In the kitchen, my father was waiting for me with an incomprehensible look.

"Aria," he said, his tone precisely neutral. "We have to talk."

I slumped into a chair, worn out. "Let me guess. This has to do with the mark? \\"

He nodded while his jaw tightened. "This transforms all." The Mate's Mark is a link blessed by the Moon Goddess, not only a sign. Right now, the pack will expect you to assume leadership responsibility.

Looking at him, I was astounded. "A leadership post? Not even on the warrior training schedule am I now. None one listens to me, dad. They hardly seem to notice me.

"They will notice now," he continued, his voice softening. Still, it will not be simple. The pack will closely examine all you do. There will be challenges from some. Others will... He stammered then groaned. Aria, you will have to prove yourself. Again and once more.

His words weighty and oppressive landed on me.

Unable to sleep later that evening, I once more found myself pulled to the woodland. On my wrist, the crescent shone weakly, as though it were beckoning me.

Luca surprised me by showing up leaning against the old tree from where I had initially found the mark.

"This is where you are working? My voice sharper than I had meant, I asked.

Not looking at me, he said, "Could ask you the same thing."

"I have no need of justifying myself to you."

At last he turned, his gray eyes staring right at me. "You assume I wanted this, Aria? I requested some Goddess-blessed link to fasten me to you?''

Though I refused to let him see it, his comments ached. "Trust me, the mutual sentiment."

Silence, laden with unsaid frustration, hung between us momentarily. Luca then moved closer, his face austere.

You do not understand it, then? With a quiet voice, he said. "This mark speaks not only of us. It relates to the pack here. About our expected behaviour for them.

"expected to do? "I retorted. "Since when do you worry about anyone except yourself?''

His jaw closed, and for a split second I thought he might crack. Rather, he turned away and his voice dropped to almost a whisper.

Aria, you know nothing about me.

The pack elders called us to the council chamber early the next morning. Tension permeated the room as Luca and I stood before the half-circle of elderly people like naughty children.

"The Mate's Mark has appeared," one of the seniors said, his voice sad. "This is a blessing but also carries great responsibility."

Luca crossed his arms, obviously not impressed. "I asked for nothing like this."

"It makes no difference what you asked for," another elderly man said. "The bond exists; the pack will look to you both for leadership."

The older turned to face me, his eyes sharp. Also you, Aria. Too long of living in the shadow of this group has passed. You should enter the light at last.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Luca interrupted. "What if our preferences differ? —

The elders felt a wave of criticism pass through them.

"Rejecting the bond is not an option," the first elder insisted. "Doing this could weaken the pack and send the wrath of the Goddess upon all of us."

Luca scowled at them, but for once he said nothing.

My brain whirled by the time the conference adjourned. The seniors expected me to turn out something different from myself. The pack would watch my every action. And Luca.... Well, he had made it abundantly evident where he stood.

He stumbled into step next to me as we left the chamber.

"We are caught with this; are we not? He said, mumbling.

"Look like it."

We walked silently for a minute, the weight of the link between us like an unseen chain. Then Luca looked at me, his face incomprehensible.

You would be better keeping up, Sterling. If we are doing this, I am not dragging you along.

I looked at him, fire raging inside my chest. "Luca, I have no need of you dragging me anyplace. I am able to control myself.

"Good," he murmured, a sloshy smile pulling at his mouth. "We will see how long that lasts.

The crescent mark on Aria's wrist pulsates with warmth as she races out, resolved to prove Luca false, and a weird vision flashes in her mind: wolves circling under the moonlight, their howls resonant with both togetherness and warning.