Lorelai didn't even realize she was holding her breath. Only when her chest began to ache, her heart tightening painfully, did she finally exhale and inhale sharply.
Perhaps it was the shock, but her mind felt utterly blank, like a slate wiped clean of all thought.
Mate.
She had read about it before in her studies of the beasts, but only as a detached, academic concept—never something that might touch her own life.
Unlike pure-blooded beasts, who had no control over their instincts and were bound to accept the mate their nature chose for them, half-bloods lived with far greater freedom. They could suppress their primal urges and instead follow the pull of genuine affection, selecting a mate who truly drew their heart.
Yet, even with that freedom, fate sometimes played cruel games. It wasn't unheard of for even the most noble, pure-blooded lycans to find themselves irresistibly drawn to someone wholly unsuitable in the eyes of their kind.
