-Rowan's POV-

Serena casts me a playful glare as we all shift back into our human forms at the back door of the house. I shrug and sling my arm around Luis's waist, telling her plainly that I can't be held responsible for my actions with such an attractive mate.

"I'm going to go change," Luis murmurs, leaving us so he can sneak in through the side door and avoid parading around the party in his pajamas. "Be down in a moment."

Serena's parents are wastes of human and wolf flesh, so we've taken it upon ourselves to populate her party with cool people. Friendly members of our pack, as well as a few sensible people from the Northwest Collective, wave and smile at Serena as she walks in. Many walk up to give her hugs. Luis suggested I invite my own parents. With werewolf parties, the more the merrier.

I spot my three parents hanging awkwardly in the foyer near the kitchen, clustered together, probably nervous about accidentally trespassing. Even my mom, who has known about this world for years, looks a bit trepidatious. Joanna catches my eye and I wave to her as I walk over. She looks like she's trying very hard to hide her relief.

"Hi!" I say, hugging them. "Find your way here okay?"

"Only because your mom was driving," Joanna says, elbowing my dad. My dad does his best to give her an eye-roll, but he's plainly too overwhelmed by being in the packhouse.

"Everyone here is a- a werewolf?" he whispers, unable to conceal his alarm.

I shift. Joanna starts and jumps back, but my dad is frozen in place as I sit down and look up at him calmly. My dad and Joanna have never seen my wolf form. My dad saw Maria's and Luis's when they flew out to the Lunar Campus and my dad demanded proof of our stories. I showed my mom my wolf as soon as I was able, but I didn't want to overwhelm my dad and stepmom.

My mom strokes my head lovingly and says something. I catch exactly one word. Beautiful.

Joanna is the first to unfreeze. She kneels down next to me and hugs me as though I'm still in my human form. I nuzzle against the side of her neck before I look expectantly up at my dad.

Surprisingly, he's grinning. He crouches in front of me and gently rests his hand on the side of my snout. I push against his touch, asking for more. He scratches my ears before standing back up.

I shift back and give them a smile. "Cool, right?"

"I've always wanted a dog," my dad decides pleasantly.

Irritation flickers through me. "I'm not a dog," I warn him, pointing a finger at him. "Let's get that straight."

"Rowan, where can we set the presents? And I want to meet the birthday girl!" Joanna exclaims, lifting up the two different gift bags she's holding. One is a light, pastel pink and the other is lavender.

I laugh. "Only you, Joanna, could move on that quickly from seeing a werewolf shift."

"Are you kidding me? I helped raise you through your teenage years. You've always been an animal," she teases.

"You guys didn't have to bring presents," I say, leading them down the hallway toward the huge living room.

"You can't show up to a party without presents," my mom says.

"Yeah!" Joanna agrees.

I tap Serena on the shoulder. She turns around and gives my parents a huge smile. She hugs my mom while I introduce her to my dad and Joanna.

"Pink's from us, lavender is from Sarika," Joanna tells Serena kindly, holding out the presents. "Ours isn't much, I'll admit, but we had to pick a gift based on what Rowan said you'd like. And you know how helpful boys are."

I hold up my hands, offended, as Serena laughs. "I gave you plenty of ideas."

Serena hugs Joanna. "I'm honored that the parents of my future alpha even came, let alone got me presents. Whatever you brought will be perfect. Thank you for coming."

"Birthday party in a wolf den is better than my usual weekday plans," my dad says with an easy smile. "It's nice to meet you, Serena. Rowan's told us a lot."

As usual, I smell Luis before I see him. He's changed into a black button-down and a nice pair of jeans. He looks so good all I can think about as I watch him hug my parents is how much I want to tear those nice clothes right off of him. I nearly start salivating, but I make myself help Hannah with the mate bond kit.

Ideally, Serena's mate is in this house. Less ideally, she's in another wolf pack somewhere. Worst case scenario: she's a human and it will be a long few days for Serena before she can take the edge off. So Hannah has gathered up an assortment of muscle rubs, over-the-counter pain relievers, bottles of water, mugs and a tea strainer full of Serena's loose-leaf oolong tea. I help her organize everything and plug a small electric kettle into a socket in the wall. I've never been through the sudden onslaught of the mate bond as the wolves feel it, so I hope like hell this is enough to help.

***

"Present time!" Jose announces, throwing his arm around Serena's shoulder. He leads her to a cushy armchair pulled in front of the dark fireplace, where it looks a bit like a throne. The guests ring around as Jose begins piling the presents around Serena's chair. He readies a white garbage bag to hold the discarded wrappings.

I move back to Luis and my parents. "Time?" I ask my dad.

"Twelve thirty-one," he whispers. "When was she born?"

"Twelve forty-three," I respond quietly, nodding to her. "That's when it will happen. Might be a few minutes before or after, but it'll be around then."

Serena first selects a small, thin box from atop the pile. It's a gorgeous mint green with blue lace for a bow. There's no tag attached, so Maria speaks up as she reaches to hold Jose's hand.

"That's from us," she tells Serena.

Serena opens the box. I can only guess that what's inside is cash or a check due to the size of the box. Whatever the amount, Serena's eyes go wide and she looks over at Maria and Jose, protests springing from her lips.

"Sh," Maria says, walking over to her. She leans down to wrap Serena in a huge hug. "You're the daughter we never had, Serena. Happy birthday!"

"Thank you," Serena tells Maria and Jose. She slips the closed box under her leg. "You're the parents I never had."

Her free abuse of her parents makes those of us who know her better chuckle. I lean my head on Luis's shoulder.

"Good thing you made the right call on taking in a little gay kid, because you had another one the whole time and didn't even know it," Serena says, gesturing to Luis.

Luis laughs out loud. "Bisexual!" he corrects, which starts up the laughter again. My mom laughs and pats Luis's shoulder.

Serena reaches for the boxes from Luis and me next. He carefully wrapped them in dark grey paper and tied them together with a white ribbon. She smiles up at us when she reads the tag.

"From your brother and your gay best friend," she reads aloud, which makes the laughter start up again.

We got Serena two pairs of customized Nikes. She and I love the brand because of its support of the LGBT+ community. One pair is a gorgeous mixture of bright blues and purples with a rainbow stripe around the sole. The other pair is a more heavy-duty, utilitarian design of dark purple and black. She shows off the custom kicks to the guests, tears in her eyes as she looks at the lovingly chosen colors.

"These are so perfect," she tells us, her voice trembling. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Luis and I say in unison. I reach to squeeze his fingers.

Serena reaches for the next box, one that looks pretty similar to the shoeboxes she was just holding, but Josiah holds up a hand to stop her from opening it.

"That one's from me. I don't know how it got out here. Open that one in private," he says hurriedly. Chris elbows his son, a paternal glare in his eyes, but everyone is laughing. Serena sets the box down and reaches for another.

I mindlink Josiah. Did you get Serena a strap-on dildo?

He looks back at me and grins. She said she's been wanting one.

I burst out laughing and bury my face against Luis's shoulder so I'm not too obnoxious.

The next present is from Hannah. It's a thick, beautiful wall tapestry stitched with the phases of the moon. It matches the dark and cozy style of Serena's bedroom so well I can envision it hanging there already.

The pink bag from my dad and Joanna holds an assortment of fishing hooks, lures, colorful jars of bait and some reels of line. Serena grins so widely I think her cheeks must ache.

"Thank you!" she gushes. "I've been needing to restock! This is perfect!"

"Once Rowan told us you like fishing, Marshall was so excited to go to the store!" Joanna replies.

The lavender bag from my mother holds a PSU sweatshirt and a couple bottles of lavender-scented body spray.

"Rowan said you like lavender," my mom says, giving her an awkward smile.

"It's perfect. Thank you," Serena says.

Other gifts include various camping, fishing and survivalist accoutrement, some nice chocolates, and some self-care and spa stuff. The gift that most takes my breath away is from Zach Hines, the kid who tore off the ear of the son of a bitch that plotted to kill Luis. I knew that Zach is an artist, but when Serena unwraps a framed acrylic painting of her wolf form, complete with shining indigo eyes, Zach's skill is impressed upon us all forcefully. It's a gorgeous painting.

"I couldn't figure out what to get you, so I thought this... I thought it was a good idea," Zach says, shrugging, his cheeks reddening as though he's sorry it was all he could offer.

Serena hugs the painting to her chest. "Zach, it's beautiful. Thank you so much. I'll cherish this forever."

"Cake time!" Jose announces, squeezing Serena's shoulder.

Time? I ask Luis over the mindlink. as everyone moves to the equally vast dining room for the cake.

12:45, he responds.

I frown. Luis's expression matches my own.

The cake turns out to have been well-worth the grief it caused Luis. It's a huge, gorgeous white creation with purple and blue pipette flowers spiraling around it. It's a well-known fact that Jose hates fondant and has banned it from the packhouse. He calls it inedible playdough. We sing the birthday song. Serena blows out her eighteen candles. Jose insists Serena help him serve the guests. I'm starting to get a bad feeling in my gut, so I can't concentrate on the flavors of the cake though I'm sure it's delicious. Though he expertly saves face to avoid worrying anyone, Luis does the same. The bad feeling in my belly expands all over my body when Maria gives me a worried glance and shows me the time on her phone, careful not to let anyone else see. 1:03.

I wait for an opportunity that comes within seconds when Josiah makes Serena laugh with a funny but obscene joke that makes Chris sigh in defeat. I give my parents significant looks. They understand me well enough to know that this situation could get tense, and that there is something they can do to help mitigate any anxiety for the birthday girl. Like a trio of PTA presidents in search of another child to adopt, they surround Serena and embroil her in questions and conversation amid bites of cake. My dad asks questions about Serena's favorite fishing spots while my mom grills her on her academic future and Joanna gushes excitedly about pack life, asking Serena for details on werewolf lore and science. Serena's not stupid enough to let herself get distracted from checking the time for too long, but I think we have a couple minutes to figure out what's going on.

Maria pulls Luis and me into the hallway, where we can talk without being overheard.

"Did Roy and Julie get the time wrong?" Luis asks. "Or the date? Could they have told her the wrong thing on purpose?"

Maria shakes her head, her eyes wide as she glances back into the dining room. No one else knows the exact time of Serena's birth, so our current situation has not dawned on any of the happy partygoers who give Jose adoring praise on his baking. "When she moved out, she took her birth certificate. It's in my safe with Luis's. I double checked it this morning. July seventh, 2001, 12:43 p.m. And I called Julie just now. She confirmed. Middle of the day, not at night. That's when she was born. There's... there's no reason this should be happening."

I don't bother asking if there's a possibility Roy and Julie aren't Serena's biological parents. Serena looks just like her mother. "Does this ever happen?" I whisper. "Someone not getting their mate?"

Luis and Maria shake their heads. "If it has happened, it's never been recorded," Maria tells me. "But we can figure that out later. Right now we need to worry about Serena."

"She's going to be fucking crushed. If she isn't already," I mutter, my heart breaking for my friend.

Luis shakes his head. "We can't treat her like a kid. I'm going to talk to her. Thank your parents for me, Rowan."

Maria and I exchange fretful looks as Luis walks back into the dining room and requests a private word with Serena. Based on the look on Serena's face, I think she's praying he has an answer for this impossible situation.

Maria excuses herself to go to her office. Chris follows her. Undoubtedly going to contact NALA.

I pull my parents out into the hallway. I'm not sure where Luis took Serena, but they're not here.

"What's going on, Rowan?" my mom asks, her brow furrowed in worry.

"We have no idea. There's no reason this should be happening. This has never happened before," I say. My body is wracked with pain for Serena. She deserves her mate like no one else. I can't imagine how she's feeling now. "Luis asked me to tell you three thank you for stepping up to distract her like that while we tried to figure this out."

My dad nods dismissively, not interested in the thank-you. "So what's the next step? What do we do? How can we help?"

"Luis is laying it all out for her. We're certain of the time she was born. There's no reason this should be happening," I repeat, feeling stupid and impotent. "Maria is talking to our government body, our scientists, trying to figure this out. For now... there's nothing we can do but get ready to do damage control when this fully hits Serena."

Joanna straightens her shoulders, her eyes filled with sadness and determination. "Well, that's something we can do, then. Let's put away her presents so she doesn't have to worry about it."

I nod, happy for the suggestion, even if it's small. "I'll show you her room. Don't go in there, just bring the stuff to her door and I'll carry it in."

I knock on Serena's door in case she and Luis are in there. I'm met with silence, so I push the door open. One by one, my mom, dad and stepmom all carry Serena's presents to the doorway and set them on the porcelain tile of the hallway. I bring the things inside and set them where they won't be in the way. I rest the small box from Maria and Jose on Serena's pillow.

Luis makes a reappearance when we're all finished moving the things and my parents are advising me on how to place certain things in her room for lack of anything better to do. All four of us look to him for answers, but he sighs sadly and holds his hands aloft to show that he holds none.

"That was rough. She went out for a run. Alone," Luis says, shaking his head. "I don't think she'll be back tonight. Or even tomorrow, if I'm honest."

A tear drips down Joanna's cheek. My dad wraps her in a hug.

"Is there anything we can do?" my mom whispers.

Luis shakes his head.

Bitterness fills me at the sheer hopelessness of the situation and how absolutely powerless I am to do anything about it.

"Happy fucking birthday, Serena," I mutter.