Page 5 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“There. It's all good now. You'll see. It will all be good,” she lifted a shaky hand to smooth out some of the hairs that had escaped my braid. “You are a wonderful young female and you will have a wonderful life. Let's go have breakfast now.”

It was just us females at breakfast. For some reason, it felt like it was the last time we'd all be together like this. I was fighting tears again. What was wrong with me!?

“Are you excited, Penelope?” Evangeline asked me in her sweet voice as she filled her teacup.

“I kind of am. Maybe it's silly, I don't know,” I stopped, suddenly self-conscious.

“Itiskind of silly,” she responded and took a sip. “I mean, it's not his first mating ceremony, so,” she shrugged as she tilted her head to the side with the mean fake pity only a fourteen-year-old female could muster.

“Evangeline Marie,” Eden reproached her sternly.

It was the first time she'd ever spoken to my sister that way.

“I'm sorry, Penelope. Thank God he at least doesn't have any pups,” she shuddered and looked around the table at everyone's horrified expression. “He doesn't, right? Oh, I'm sorry, Eden,” she put her hand on our stepmother's affectionately. “You know I mean nothing by it.”

No one said anything for the rest of the meal. The ugly voice in my head that sometimes complained about things kept whispering at me throughout the day but I was determined not to listen to it.

So what if I'd come into this world sharing a womb with my brother? So what if the one male that was supposed to be mine was a hand-me-down from another female?

???

There was a feast, and there were dances, and Isaiah cheekily presented me with a bouquet of dandelions, which was the first thing to make me smile on my mating day. I hugged him tightly as I thanked him.

I looked at the male next to me and was seized by equal parts of excitement and dread. He seemed stoic, stern, and quieter than I am, which said a lot.

As Father approached us to cut the red ribbon that held our hands together throughout the ceremony and spoke the traditional words about love, mates, loyalty, and honor, he looked at me and only then noticed the dress I was wearing.

His face blanched and his mouth stopped working. Dominic looked between the two of us without understanding anything.As Father cut the ribbon, he let his fingers gently caress the lace sleeve of the dress before he mumbled his congratulations and left. I didn't see him again for the rest of the day.

Dominic and I then both shifted and ran off into the woods, where our wolves marked and mated with each other as the rest of the pack celebrated fate and love.

???

I was to spend the night in the guest housing suite with my mate. I was sitting on the large bed, brushing my hair, already in my nightgown, when he entered with a tray of food.

“What is that?”

“Neither of us ate anything at the feast, so I figured we'd have some dinner.”

“I could have gotten it for us.”

“It's fine,” he waved me off as he set it on the coffee table.

I sat down next to him on the couch and saw that he brought cheese, honey, fruit, and some bread.

I was too distracted by his presence to eat. I felt a soft touch on my arm and saw that he was playing with my hair.

“It's so long,” he whispered absentmindedly.

I swallowed.

“Why aren't you eating?”

“I don't-,” I mumbled, “I'm not hungry. I'm too nervous.”

“What are you nervous about?”

He was still sort of whispering.

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