Leaning against her window, Ariana Ashford sips her morning coffee as she surveyed the preparations for the upcoming Moonlight Ball just a few yards away. Just 2 days away, her wolf Asena remarks excitedly. She sighs, a million thoughts and worries popping relentlessly in her head. Well, at least her wolf was happy to finally meet her mate. She was more stressed than excited. But as the beta of her pack, at least for now, responsibilities awaited her so she put the coffee mug on her desk and prepared to check up on the last-minute arrangements of the ball. Speaking of responsibilities, she had many. After the accident 10 years ago which killed her parents, she had to look after two sisters, Nora and Iris. She became the beta of the eastern hemlock pack 5 years later, the position left empty with respect to her late father who was the beta before her. She was also the leader of the order of blue moon, a society of she-wolf warriors formed by Luna Serine of the western hemlock pack aft

"Quit mocking Mason. I was aware of your presence. And I wasn't avoiding you"."Is that why I haven't seen you even once in the past week or we haven't trained together in months?". He says through the mind link.I jerk at the sudden invasion."Both of us are extremely busy Mase. We're not kids anymore"."We haven't been kids in a really long time. We still made time for each other".He was right. We grew up too soon. I had an entire reality shift after my parents' death. He was the next alpha, his responsibilities caught up way too quickly for his age. We haven't been kids for over 10 years. But we were always there for each other.Truth to be told, I was tired. Tired of waiting, hoping we would be each other's mate. In reality, loving someone who is not your is exhausting, it takes a toll on you that is not easy to bear.But what I've realized is that maybe I wasn't in love with Mason like I thought I was. I mean, yes, I do love him. How could I not? He understands me better than an