We take the few last steps between the massive tree trunks surrounded by branched shrubs and finally reach our destination. The moment we come out from under the dense canopy of treetops, a fresh night breeze slightly brushes against my face and fluffs my ashy blond hair. The big soft waves I got from my mother fall back on my shoulders and I take a cautious look around.

Number of small bonfires are illuminating the large forest clearing with one big fire in the middle of the open area. Its flames are dancing up towards the June starry sky, no clouds in the view. The night is perfectly clear.

"Oh my...," Idony breathes out next to me. Her eyes are wide and sliding over the crowded place. Dozens of wolves of the whole Northwest have gathered here in this night. The night of the Mate Harvest.

Auden stops by my other side and my bewildered gaze instantly finds him. He's been here several times on his own, which is pretty much why he is not so astound by the view. Still, he pursues his lips in a tense smile as he holds his hand up in the air, indicating that we should continue.

Idony obeys her brother, and they head for the central fire, but I stay still. My eyes are flying furiously over the bonfires, over the people, over the fiery night. It's a place of magnificence. And anarchy.

A soft hand appears on my upper arm and gives it a caress. I meet my mother's gaze, and she smiles at me encouragingly, the light from the nearest flames mirroring goldenly in her warm brown eyes. She gestures to the clearing with her chin.

I swallow nervously.

As we walk through the crowd, my gaze lingers on some of those present. Many girls are dressed like me, in a long white dress resembling a nightgown. Among their family members that came here to support them tonight, they look like fairies.

I wonder what I look like. Definitely not ready to be someone's wife, that's for sure.

We catch up with Auden and Idony at one of the little bonfires. Its sparks are soaring upwards around an iron rod driven into the ground in the middle of the fire, illuminating symbols on its top. One of them resembles a rose blossom, but it's actually a pinecone from below. The emblem of the Pine Valley pack. My pack.

"Alright," Auden says as he claps his hands. He's rubbing them nervously together as he raises his eyebrows at us. "You ready?"

I give him a look.

"Right," he mumbles and scratches behind his ear. "Well, we'll have to leave the clearing, but we'll be watching you from the edge."

I take a look around the wide place full of people – wolves – and my stomach becomes heavier.

It must have driven up some white shade into my face because Auden sighs at the sight of me.

"Look, you have nothing to worry about," he says almost like a promise. Almost. "They rarely choose someone they've never talked to. Let alone a young wolf who's here for the first time. It's more about getting to know the options."

Yes, that's what they say.

Once wolves reach the age of eighteen, they are obliged to attend the Mate Harvest. It only happens four nights a year and while participation is voluntary later on, the first three years are fully compulsory. And let me tell you, no amount of time can prepare you for this.

I turned eighteen just a week ago so for me, it will always be the night of summer solstice. It's ironic how the shortest night of the year feels longer than any other I've experienced in my life.

On these nights, wolves from all over the Northwest gather here to find a wolf to marry. And since our capability to form a true mate bond nearly vanished, the choice is entirely up to us. Or at least up to those walking through the fires, checking their options.

"Doesn't mean someone won't choose us," Idony mumbles for herself with a strangled voice.

Auden tilts his head to the side. "Don, you're an Alpha's daughter. They would be dense to choose you without having a word with our father first. Hm?"

He makes sure his sister understands and takes her in for a hug. As he holds her in his arms, our gazes meet, and we share a look. We both know that what can calm Idony down is no salvation for me.

The blood running though my veins is not one of an Alpha's. I am just a regular wolf. One that might, for a fact, leave this night as someone's chosen bride.

The first vibrating sound of a gong floods the forest clearing and silences all the noise around. Then everything gets louder than before.

As everyone begins to say goodbye to their loved ones, my mother takes me by my shoulders and gives me this look that tells me I am her sweet little girl.

"Aw, my puppy." The warmness of her eyes almost melts their chocolate shade. She pushes me against her into a tight hug and for these two precious seconds, I feel the well-known safety. It disperses once she releases me.

She takes my cheeks in her palms. "Look at you, my beautiful girl, all grown up."

I smile at her fondly. My smile lasts only until she leans in for another embrace, though, which she chooses as an opportunity to whisper in my ear. "Whatever happens, remember, sweetheart, it's a blessing."

Her words do something to my stomach, as well as my head. She's been telling me this since I was a kid, but what a difference it makes when the time comes for you to finally have to take it to your heart. Especially when that little beast is pumping furiously in your chest.

"Devora?" Auden addresses my mother.

She smiles at me with so much love that she could provide the whole world with it and still have enough left for making me feel this way. Unconditionally loved.

She takes a step back but a sudden fuss startles us all. And by right. The whole clearing dives into a grave silence, all eyes on the opposite side of the clearing.

There, emerging from the darkness behind the trees, several wolves are making their way through the clearing. They don't falter in their steps, completely unbothered they are watched by everyone. People take steps back to clear the way for them, but some of them recedes purely out of the need to get further away.

There are at least ten wolves holding behind one in front. The one that hasn't looked around once. His heavy gaze of no emotion is aimed forward, completing the trembling feeling I've got from him the minute his feet touched the clearing. His demeanor is unyielding, tough, demanding. He is walking like a force of nature. One that feels like a direful earthquake.

"What is he doing here?!" Idony hisses at her brother when whispering starts slowly booming all around. Auden's attention still hasn't left the man who's caused the atmosphere here to completely change. "I thought he never visited the Harvest!"

My mother's hand goes to her pine cone necklace and she squeezes it firmly in her palm. With that, my nervousness transforms into something very close to being frightened.

I turn my gaze to Idony, her eyes holding about as much fear as mines already on me. We share a look and turn back to the newcomers.

For someone who did never visit a single Harvest, he sure doesn't look taken aback, something such as nervousness is absolutely out of question. And for someone who is visiting the Mate Harvest, he certainly doesn't look interested.

He still hasn't sneaked even a peak to any girl. I'm able to tell what wolves are going to participate tonight just by taking that one journey through the clearing. Those who came here tonight to find their partner have been intently studding every girl in a gown in their view.

The gong sounds again, making me jump this time.

I let out a startled breath and turns towards my mother. Love is not what would define her expression right now. Her smile is uncertain, just like her playing with her pine-cone pendant. She exchanges a silent look with Auden at which she nods. She gives a gentle stroke to Idony's shoulder, then does the same thing with mine, and she heads away, alone.

Auden sends his hand over his heart shaped jaw. "Look, it doesn't have to mean anything."

Idony's mouth opens, but she just shakes her head in disbelief and turns aside. She is still an Alpha's daughter, after all. Which, once gain, does not concern me.

I look at the man – wolf – in question. He's talking to the white haired wolf who oversees the Mate Harvest tonight, his attention fixed purely on the man. His sharp squared jaw with dark fine stubble is moving as he speaks. His gray T-shirt is tight enough for me to say he is in a great shape and his solidly looking arms give more than a sufficient idea of how strong he must be in his wolf form.

An exemplary male wolf. But more importantly, an exemplary Alpha.

I chuckle at the absurdity of Tarquin, the Alpha of the the Silver Meadow wolves, the most feared pack far and wide, and me.

So when Auden looks at me, troubled by not knowing what to say to make this better for me, I don't hide my amusement. The ridiculousness of this idea is clear in my voice as I chuckle and assure him, "I wouldn't worry about this one."

Auden frowns. His eyes bounce between mines in confusion, as if I'm missing something.

"What?" I ask.

He inhales through his deepened frown to answer me, but another upheaval in voices around cuts it short.

Tarquin has finally started to look around, that's where the sudden panic in all voices comes from. He thoroughly scans everything in the clearing and then heads away with his men, most probably to get ready for the beginning of the Harvest.

Auden looks quite troubled as he looks to both sides, biting his bottom lip in visible contemplation. He ends up in heaving a sigh.

"I've got to go. Take your spots and wait for the gong, okay? Everything's gonna be alright," he says, but not to us. His attention is all around, his eyes running over the place.

When he walks away, Idony looks at me in question, her lips quivering from tonight's jitteriness.

I don't have to be the one to try to answer it, though, Auden handles that on his own. We watch him halts in his steps, swear under his nose and that go for the white haired man with tattooed hands. After some speaking, the man nods and gestures to where the wolves from our pack are hidden in the forest, getting ready for the night.

"He's going to participate?" Idony says bewildered.

"No," I whisper and shake my head, watching him doing exactly that. "He can't..."

He can't...

"Car." Idony pulls my hand and nods towards the central fire. The organizer is heading for the gong.

I give one last confused look to Auden who disappears in the darkness among trees and let Idony squeeze my hand. She looks me deep in my eyes.  With a pep nod, we part our paths.

I take a place between two girls from other packs and try for the same, learned posture. Back straight, chin up, hands along my body. But no one taught me what to do with my pouding heart.

The third ring of the gong spreads across the clearing, bouncing off the trees on its edge, putting everything to silence. I fix the pose and swallow, my anxiety reaching its highest peak.

With the last vibration of the gong dissipating, the white-bearded man steps forward.

"Wolves of the Northwest, welcome to the Mate Harvest, here on the night of summer solstice," he shouts and spreads wide his thick tattooed arms. The corner of his mouth twitches with a canny smile as he inspects the whole place from the big fire. He chuckles foxily. "May the nature be on your side."

With these words, wolves in their human form begin to appear from all sides of the clearing. They slowly round one fire after another, studying closely all the girls surrounding them in their obedient positions.

The dry night breeze rises, turning into a light wind. It's not the reason I shiver every now and then, though. That comes from pairs and pairs of eyes sliding over my body, measuring me in most sicknening way. I hold my gaze down and try to keep my breathing even when they slow down by me.

When there is no one nearby, from time to time, I dare to raise my eyes. They always look for Auden and each time I find him squinting worriedly at me. And for what it's worth, I have no idea where his sudden concern came from.

Another steps sound around my fire, so I lower my gaze again. The more they are approaching, though, the more an unpleasant wave arises within me. And it all skyrockets in a moment.

It quickly turns into a spiral of stupefying feelings, sending shocks through my chest and belly. My head starts tingling, and the feeling travels down my spine. Breathing suddenly becomes harder.

Something takes a tight grip over my stomach and sends it up my throat. My chest feels like it is flooded with an acid, my entire body burning from inside. My view starts spinning horribly.

And then, when a tall figure taking slow steady steps appears in my peripheral view, it happens. All hell breaks loose.

I can not breathe. I can not stand. I can not take it. With my chest moving with a frantic shallow breaths, I feel like I'm being drowned in a hefty cloud.

Panicking, I drop the pose and look up. And the ability to breathe leaves me completely.

The moment his eyes land on me, he stops death in his steps. We stay staring at each other, his dazed expression a perfect mirror to mine.

With our eyes locked, everything I felt slowly fades away, only a hint of it left. An intriguing wave of fulfillment slowly fills my head, my chest, my stomach, my entire body, every tiny corner of my soul.

That's when I realize it.

I am confounded, my head barely manages to process it, my thoughts are running a thousand times faster than usual, making it harder for me to think, but there is still something so magnificent and literally breathtaking to it.

I have a mate.

Coming to the same conclusion, he closes his mouth and swallows audibly. His light green gaze is suddenly so clear, fully capable to perceive the world around. He narrows it at me, his eyebrows forming a frown. He searches my eyes and my eyes only, not ogling my body like the others, and yet it's this what sends a shiver down my body.

He doesn't miss it. He presses his lips tightly together. And then his expression hardens.

He clenches his jaw and while the world is spinning from beneath me, Tarquin takes a step back. His eyes slide to the girl next to me. He offers her his hand and his deep and smooth voice kills something inside me I wasn't even aware of when he tells her decisively the one single word.

"You."