My Sister's Chosen Mate

Running a hairbrush through my long tangles, I flatten the fabric of my skirt and check my reflection one last time. Aside from the lingering puffiness along my cheekbone, I look passable enough. A quick layer of cheap concealer and foundation masks the worst of the discoloration, and the whole routine takes me barely nine minutes.

Pulling the bedroom door open, I find Beta Dante propped against the corridor wall just outside. His gaze sweeps over me from head to toe before he gives a brief nod.

“Don’t you own a newer dress in black? That one looks... worn out and washed-out.”

Warmth rushes up my neck and into my face. Buying new clothes isn't an option for me. Despite working endlessly around the pack house, my only compensation is a roof over my head. Every thread I wear comes straight out of the donation bins at the charity center because I don’t have a single coin to my name.

“No. I’m sorry.”

Staring down at the floorboards, I hear him let out a heavy breath before he takes my elbow, steering me toward my father’s office just like he said he would.

As soon as my foot hits the bottom step of the staircase, a sudden, sharp pull inside my chest stops me in my tracks. A rich scent threads through the hallway—crisp, masculine, and undeniably alluring.

Beneath my skin, my wolf stirs from her slumber, suddenly alert and restless.

Goddess, please don't let my fated mate be inside this house today of all days.

“What’s the matter?” Beta Dante gives my arm a light tug to keep me moving up the stairs, and with every step we take, the aroma thickens. Heavy notes of cedar and fresh mint wrap around an undeniable current of raw authority.

Reaching the top landing, my father’s Beta raps his knuckles twice against the heavy wood and pushes the office door open without waiting for an answer. A small nudge between my shoulder blades sends me across the threshold, where the overwhelming scent hits me full force, nearly knocking the wind right out of my lungs.

Behind the massive desk, my brother Slade stands flanked next to my father. Over by the crackling hearth, Luna Noreen and my half-sister Fiona occupy the plush sofa, while a tall stranger stands near the tall glass window—the unmistakable source of the scent setting every nerve in my body on edge.

He barely angles his head to spare me a fleeting glance before turning his attention back to the view outside.

“Where have you been, Lyra?” My father’s tone carries a bizarre, rehearsed warmth. “I trust someone already informed you that your grandmother passed away in the night. You have my sympathies.”

Raising a hand, he motions toward the empty armchair positioned across from Noreen and Fiona. Both of them fix me with looks of pure, unfiltered revulsion.

“I walked out to the cemetery early this morning to put flowers on my mother’s grave for the anniversary of her passing. Beta Dante told me what happened as soon as I got back.”

Silence greets my explanation, as though the air simply swallowed my voice. Slowly, my eyes dart from my father’s face to the broad-shouldered figure by the window, and finally over to Fiona.

That man is my fated mate.

And he is here as my sister’s chosen partner.

It almost feels like the Moon Goddess is going out of her way to torment me, even if part of me knows better. Keeping my mouth firmly shut, I sit in the heavy quiet of the room while the firewood snaps and shifts in the grate.

“Allow me to introduce Corbin, Alpha of the Obsidian Moon pack,” my father announces smoothly. “Later this afternoon we will hold the service honoring your grandmother’s memory, and tonight Fiona, my only daughter, will begin the sacred bonding rituals with her chosen mate. Uniting two powerful packs demands strong leadership.”

Hot tears prick the backs of my eyes, and it takes every ounce of willpower I possess to keep them from spilling over onto my lap.

“Who is this she-wolf, and why is she sitting in on private family matters?” Alpha Corbin’s voice cuts through the room like ice, squeezing my chest in a painful vise. There is no doubt in my mind that he feels the pull between us. He has to have caught my scent by now. “A servant has no place in this room, Alpha Garris.”

“Of course. My apologies, Alpha Corbin.” My father turns a blank, detached stare in my direction.

Right in front of me, he claimed Fiona as his sole daughter. Not once did he acknowledge me as his flesh and blood, choosing instead to write me off as just another nameless maid scrubbing his floors.

“Have her removed so we can get back to finalizing the details for our mating ceremony,” Corbin demands, his tone just as frigid as before.

“Lyra is merely an orphan my late Luna’s mother took in out of pity,” my father replies with an effortless, practiced smile, erasing my existence the exact way he always does whenever high-ranking guests visit. “In fact, Lyra, your duties here are officially terminated as of today. Pack your belongings and vacate the pack house immediately.”

Lifting my head from where I’d been staring at my clasped hands, I lock eyes with my father’s cold, dark gaze.

“Where am I supposed to go, Alpha Garris?” The question leaves my lips in a threadbare whisper.

Pushing himself up from his leather chair, he reaches across the desk and gathers a thin stack of documents.

“My late mother-in-law left a legal will naming you the sole inheritor of her old cabin out in the woods.” Stepping around the desk, he thrusts the papers at me as I get to my feet on unsteady legs. “However, none of her monetary estate will be transferred to you. All financial assets rightfully go to her only blood grandson, Slade.”

Tears finally spill over my lashes, tracking down my cheeks as my shaking fingers struggle to keep a grip on the pages.

“Thank you, Alpha,” I manage to choke out, fighting to keep my voice from cracking completely. “With your permission, I will excuse myself now.”

Near the entrance, Beta Dante pulls the heavy door open, and I pivot to leave the room.

“Hold on.”

The sharp command stops me as Corbin steps away from the window, walking toward me before casting a pointed look back at my family.

“How can I help you, Alpha Corbin?”

Keeping my chin tucked down, I stare hard at the carpet. Looking directly at him feels impossible while the crushing weight of his hostility presses down on my shoulders, threatening to drive me to the floor.

“Are you really sending this servant away without a single coin of severance for all the years she worked here?”

Before my father can answer, Fiona’s syrupy, melodic voice chimes in from the sofa.

“Corbin, darling, Lyra only did chores around the house to pay for her room and board. There’s no reason to pay her anything. She has survived entirely off our family's generosity and kindness for years. Just let her go quietly so we can finish planning our ceremony.”

Because every twisted word out of her mouth is technically the truth, I keep my lips pressed together and offer no defense.

Giving a curt nod, the Alpha still continues toward the doorway.

“I’ll return shortly. I have a phone call to make.”

Barely seconds after his footsteps fade down the corridor, Slade lets out a nasty, mocking laugh behind my back.

“What are you still standing around for? You’ve got a lot of scrubbing ahead of you if you want that rotting shack livable.”

“Goodbye, Father, brothers, Luna,” I say evenly, stepping toward the threshold where Beta Dante waits by the open door. “Thank you for everything.”

What I actually mean is thank you for nothing, yet I keep my tone civil and composed. Both wolves and humans prefer their cruelty dressed up in polite manners; it spares them from having to look in the mirror and see the monsters staring back.

“Just get out of here already!” Fiona shrieks.

Without sparing me a backward glance, my father walks over from his desk and takes a seat on the sofa beside his wife and daughter.

Folding the deed to the cabin, I clutches the paper tightly against my sternum. At the very least, Grandma didn't forget about me. She made sure I wouldn't be left out in the cold with nowhere to lay my head once she was gone.

Heading down the main staircase, I turn into the narrow hallway leading to the servants’ quarters, only to realize the sharp scent of cedar and mint is growing heavier the closer I get to my own door.

Pushing it open, I freeze on the threshold.

Alpha Corbin is perched on the edge of my narrow mattress, his gaze sweeping over the bare room before he rises to his full height at my entrance.

“I’m sorry,” he begins, his voice completely flat, and I immediately drop my gaze to my shoes, bracing myself for the inevitable blow. “You cannot be my mate. I, Alpha Corbin Ashcroft of the Obsidian Moon pack, reject you, Lyra Mercer, as my fated mate and Luna of my pack.”

Agony rips straight through the center of my chest like a white-hot iron searing into my flesh, stealing every breath from my lungs. My legs buckle under the sudden, blinding torment, dropping me hard onto the splintered floorboards.

A heavy leather pouch hits the wood right beside my knees with a dull clink of metal.

“That ought to be enough to keep you fed until you get on your feet. Now do us both a favor... and accept the rejection.”

To his credit, he doesn't bark at me to hurry up—remarkably polite for someone casually tearing a girl’s soul in half before noon. Once a few agonizing minutes pass, he reaches down, gripping my arm to haul me upright.

“I... I,” I gasp, fighting past the suffocating tightness in my throat. “Lyra Mercer, daughter of Alpha Garris of the Crimson Moon pack, accept your rejection, Corbin Ashcroft.”

A ragged sob breaks from my chest just as Corbin dips down slightly, catching my chin with his fingers to tilt my face up.

Staring into his striking sapphire eyes, I watch raw confusion fracture his stoic expression.

“Garris’s daughter?”

Giving a slow nod, I pull back slightly and force my shaking spine straight.

By blood, I am the Alpha’s legitimate child. Because my mother bled out bringing me into this world, my father let the entire pack believe I died right along with her. To everyone walking these halls, I am nothing more than a ghost scrubbing floors in the background.

“Please leave my room, Alpha Corbin.”

Spinning on my heel, I drop down to pull a worn canvas bag out from under the bedframe and shove my few pathetic garments inside. The whole process takes less than sixty seconds before I swing the strap over my shoulder and walk toward the exit, keeping my back turned to him.

“Is that really everything you own?”

“It’s everything the Mercer family’s generosity and kindness has bought me in twenty-two years,” I reply quietly, echoing the exact poisoned words Fiona fed him upstairs. “Goodbye, Alpha.”