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“You don’t want me enough to leave the compound with me.”

“Why would I want to leave the compound?” I asked, trying to restrain the exasperation in my voice. “Our families are here. Our pack is here. Our life is here. My duty is here—”

“You’d haveme there,” she hissed, as if it made all the difference.

I didn’t want to imply that she wouldn’t be enough if we were together, homeless and starving in some foreign place. Surrounded by humans who could never understand us. Humans who were enemies. Selena, with her pure heart, struggled to understand just how dangerous humans were.

“Is it not enough to have me here in the compound?” I asked carefully.

Her face fell at that. “The Blue Flower moon is almost here, Orion. And what if the fates don’t bind us to each other? Or if we’re bonded to someone else?”

I frowned. I knew this was the heart of it. My father never let me forget it. “And what if the Blue Flower Moon confirms for the entire pack that we are fated mates?” I asked in a gentle voice.

Her glare softened and she looked more vulnerable than I had seen her in a long time. “True mates are so rare.”

She wasn’t wrong. I reached for her hands and kissed the tops of her knuckles. “We will never know for certain until we do. I’d rather face that knowledge than live with the question always keeping us in its shadow. But of all the things I do know, I know my feelings for you are real. I doubt the Goddess would be so cruel as to spite us on the Blue Flower Moon.”

Finally, she relented to my words, opening the screen door so I could wrap my arms around her and pull her into my chest.

* * *

I walked with Selena,hand in hand, through the forest on our way to the coast. The KUA pack had lived in this ancient forest on the San Francisco peninsula for thousands of moons. It felt good to breathe it in.

The Blue Flower Moon illuminated Kuksu Beach and we could see how many were already gathered for the coupling ceremony. Kuksu was a pocket beach, secluded and difficult for humans to reach, but there was also an enhancement that hid the spot from human eyes. The energy of the group was electric, and the salty breeze was full of promise. This was not just a pack ceremony. Every werewolf of age within the Ohlone Achcho territories would flock to Kuksu Beach to take part.

“Do you recognize anyone on the beach from the OA?” Selena asked distractedly.

I thought I did, and I started pointing out a few people and telling stories about when we’d met, until I realized that she wasn’t really paying attention. She looked apprehensive. But the excitement energized me and my skin prickled with anticipation. The urge to shift was strong, like a tense spring coiled in my belly, ready to release. Ready to surrender to my wolf’s primal urges.

A small squeeze of my hand held me back. Selena looked away, gazing longingly at the forest behind us.

“Hey,” I turned her chin towards me. Her skin was searing against mine. “Have faith in us.”

But Selena, persistent as she was, couldn’t let it go. “We don’t have to do this. Let’s go to the lake, for a midnight swim—”

I shook my head, confident that we could end the night together and go for a midnight swim in the ocean. But not until the ritual was completed. “You know I can’t. My dad…”

I trailed off, knowing how she hated these arguments about my dad. About duty. But she had to know; she had to understand what was most important.

“I am the future alpha. You are the seer’s daughter. Surely this would be a match to please the Goddess.”

Her hand released mine, and she stepped back. “Diana is also the seer’s daughter.”

My entire body tensed at her words. I’d done well to avoid Diana since that night, but when I fell asleep, it was difficult to ignore the dreams, which had started coming more and more. I sealed them away from myself and, of course, from Selena. I could not breathe a word of how my belly tugged me toward the beach, even now, in search of her sister, a balm and relief I imagined every night.

I pushed aside these feelings and focused on the fire before me, the warmth of Selena’s heated gaze. I poked her in the ribs. “Diana didn’t inherit your mother’s magic like you.”

She swatted my hands away.“Yes, mymagic. Shall I go collect river rocks and read your fortune?”

I did not want to hear more of her anger, her protests. I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into my chest. It was the best way to silence her, to catch her off guard. I offered her a final, parting kiss. “This isn’t goodbye,” I promised.

When I pulled back, her frown was telling enough. She didn’t believe me.

When we reached the site on the beach, marked by torches staked in the sand, I put enough distance between us to make it appear as though we’d arrived separately. A silly but necessary show for my father, who waited in the center of the circle of torches. It wasn’t that no one knew of my relationship with Selena; I was just tired of hearing Dad’s protests.

Our seer, Terra, stood next to our alpha. I caught sight of Jesse, Eli, and Daniel at a distance. As the hour drew closer to midnight, the tittering mateless fell silent, tightening the circle around alpha and seer, and Terra began the ritual.

“The Goddess demands loyalty, honor, and obeisance of us all…”