Chapter 4
FOUR
Foster
Rhodes is halfway through an update on patrol rotations when I stop pretending to listen and blurt, “I scented my mate this morning.”
Silence drops over the council chamber. Rhodes, Alpha of the North, blinks once. Cyrus, Alpha of the East Pack, whistles low. Camden, Alpha of the West Pack, sits up straighter and frowns.
“Well, damn,” Rhodes says, leaning back in his chair. “About time one of us brought good news to these meetings.”
“Congratulations,” Camden says. He has a steady way of talking that lands like a hand on the shoulder. “Who is it?”
My throat works. I knew this part would be the hard part. “Selena.”
Several brows lift. They all know Penny. Which means they all know Selena by extension.
Rhodes’s mouth twitches, the closest he ever gets to a smile.
“Penny’s best friend,” Cyrus says, saying it aloud. “Red hair, blue eyes. The girl at the bookstore.”
“Yes.”
Yes. She’s ours, my wolf howls.
“You claimed her?” Cyrus asks, raising his eyebrows.
“No.” I shake my head.
Rhodes’s gaze sharpens. “Because?”
Because I’m an idiot. Because I made a promise I thought would be easy to keep until fate made a liar out of me.
“Because when Penny was younger,” I say, picking the words like I’m defusing an explosive, “one of her so-called friends pretended to be nice to her to get close to me. It gutted her. She asked me to promise I’d never pursue one of her friends. I did. I meant it.”
Cyrus groans like I made the biggest mistake of my life.
Camden scrubs a hand over his face. “Foster,” he says gently. “This is not that.”
“I know.” The words are raw in my throat. “But she won’t hear the difference if I don’t make it clean. I won’t break my sister to keep my wolf happy.”
My wolf shows me teeth. He’s not interested in my human definition of clean. He wants to bond now, fast, teeth in skin, the line between us erased. The memory of Selena’s scent—warm sugar, and rain on hot stones—slides under my defenses, and I lock my jaw.
“Penny grew up in a house where ‘fated mates’ was a bedtime story,” Rhodes says, his tone less mocking than usual. “She knows we don’t pick them like we pick dates for the Harvest dance. She’ll know this wasn’t you circling her social circle. You didn’t choose this, Foster.”
Camden nods. “And Selena knows the truth, too. Penny told her when they were kids, right? That’s not the same as some opportunistic human trying to gain the Alpha’s attention. It’s destiny.”
“Also,” Cyrus adds, counting on his fingers, “it’s been, what, a decade of them being glued together? You didn’t encourage it. You barely look at anyone, man. She knows.”
Rhodes’s expression doesn’t shift much, but his green eyes warm.
“Your promise was meant to protect your sister from harm. Honoring the bond protects you, your future mate, and your Pack. Both truths matter. You’re not dishonoring one by acknowledging the other.
You’re navigating the edge where they meet. ”
I sit with that. The words don’t make the knot disappear, but they loosen it enough to breathe.
“I still have to talk to her first before I do anything with Selena,” I say. “Penny deserves to hear it from me and not from my scent on Selena’s skin.”
Cyrus grimaces. “Graphic, but point taken.”
Camden glances at the calendar hung beside the door and sucks in a breath. “You better hurry.”
Rhodes follows her gaze. “Full moon is coming up fast.”
My wolf surges, the word hitting him like the crack of a whip.
Full moon. Even the civil part of me knows what that means.
Emotions heighten, instincts sharpen, and the pull between mates is braided with blood heat until it’s a sensual rope.
I can white-knuckle my way through anything when it’s only me suffering.
I don’t know if I can do it when it’s Selena.
“Understood,” I say, already shoving back from the table. “I’m done here.”
“Go,” Rhodes says without judgment, his command wrapped in permission. “And Foster?”
I pause in the doorway.
“Don’t let fear talk you into cruelty,” he advises. “Avoiding her like she’s a mistake will hurt worse than the truth.”
I nod. My wolf huffs impatiently. We’re aligned for once.
I’m out of City Hall and into the wind in less than a minute, my stride eating the sidewalk, heart out ahead of me like a scout.
The town looks like it always does: flower boxes, the spinning barber pole, the chalkboard outside the general store listing peaches and sweet corn.
But I’m a different man walking through it.
Everything hums. I can feel her even when she’s not in sight. It’s not telepathy; it’s gravity.
I cut behind the diner—the shortcut I told myself earlier wasn’t a shortcut—and I head for home. I need to talk to Penny. Then I’ll find Selena.
The wind shifts as I step onto the porch. Sweetness. Cake. Vanilla icing and a delicious note that belongs only to Selena. My wolf is instantly alert, ears forward.
That’s when I remember that Selena is coming here tonight to celebrate.
I open the door, and there she is. My mate.
Selena is half-turned, gathering up her things like she’s about to leave. When the door clicks behind me, she looks up. Blue eyes lock with mine. The bond hits again, a hot cable running from spine to sternum. My wolf shoves at me so hard I have to plant my feet.
Mate, he snarls, triumphant, then softer, mine.
“Hey,” Penny says brightly, spinning out of the kitchen with plates in hand. “Want some cake? Selena and I were just finishing up.”
Penny takes in my expression, then Selena’s, before her gaze returns to me. Her smile falters. My sister isn’t dumb.
“Can we talk?” My voice comes out rougher than I meant. “All three of us.”
Penny sets the cake down with forced cheer. “That sounds ominous.”
“It’s important.”
Selena’s fingers flex around the cups. I can feel her pulse from here. Or I’m imagining it because mine won’t settle.
We sit, but it’s not comfortable. Penny drops onto the couch, shoulders squared.
Selena sinks to the rug beside the coffee table like she has a hundred times, but her posture is different now, coiled, ready.
I take the chair opposite, like I’m putting a table between a forest fire and the rest of the house.
“Just say it,” Penny says when I don’t start fast enough. “What’s wrong?”
I look at her. I made a promise to that heart. It’s why I’m here before anything else.
“This morning,” I say, gentling my voice because this has to be a bridge, not a blade. “I scented my mate.”
The room stills. Even the balloons stop their lazy bobbing as if the air itself is holding its breath.
Penny blinks. Swallows. “Who?”
I shift my gaze to Selena because not looking at her would be crueler. Her lips part like a secret has just walked into the room.
“Selena,” I say.
She makes a small sound. Not a gasp. Not a sob. Something in between, like relief breaking free of a cage. The joy that flashes across her face is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever had the fortune to see, and it guts me because I’m about to put reins on it.
Penny doesn’t light up. She goes very still, and color rises high in her cheeks. “No,” she says quietly. Then louder: “No.”
“Pen—”
“You promised.” She’s on her feet, plates rattling on the coffee table. “You promised me, Foster. You promised you wouldn’t do this to me again. You promised you wouldn’t touch my friends, you—”
“It isn’t like that,” I say, also standing because sitting feels like betrayal. “I didn’t choose this. I would never—”
“You didn’t choose it?” Her laugh is sharp. “That’s convenient.”
I remember Rhodes’s advice from the meeting, but those words don’t carry the same weight when your sister’s hands are shaking with hurt and betrayal.
“It’s fate,” I say, hating how weak that sounds for something that’s bone-deep. “I came here first because I respect and love you. Because I won’t do anything without talking to you.”
Penny’s eyes shine with tears. “You should’ve kept it from happening.”
My wolf lunges with a hot snarl.
I clamp down on him hard. “You know I can’t.”
“Then you should’ve told fate to pick someone else,” she snaps back.
I see the vulnerable kid in her, the one who was used by girls who liked her because her brother was the future Alpha.
“Penny,” Selena says softly from the rug. “This isn’t like—”
“Don’t.” Penny flinches as if Selena’s voice burns. She backs up a step, then another. “I can’t. I need—” Her voice cracks. “I need a minute.”
She spins and bolts down the hallway, the bathroom door slamming, the lock clicking with a finality that shivers through the house. The balloon bobs again, stupidly cheerful.
I stand there, breathing hard, every protective instinct in me snapping awake. My wolf wants to smash doors. My human wants to give her time. The second one wins by a breath.
“Pen?” I call, moving closer but not touching the door. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll wait out here. When you want to talk, I’m here. In no world would I ever choose to hurt you.”
Silence behind the wood, then a watery, “Just…go.”
Her rejection grinds like broken glass in my chest. “I’ll give you some time.”
I step back because if I don’t, my wolf might test the doorhandle.
When I turn, Selena is standing. The distance between us is five long steps and ten years. Her eyes are wet, but she’s not crying. Her jaw is set like a girl who has learned to live without.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“For what?” My voice is rough.
“For making this harder. For wanting you anyway.”
My wolf surges to the surface so fast that my vision edges with heat. Every part of me is hyper-focused on the flutter of her pulse in her throat, the freckle near the corner of her mouth, and her fingers twisting in the hem of her shirt like she needs something to hold on to that isn’t me.
“Don’t apologize for what you are to me. I should’ve told Penny years ago that there was a clause in my promise. That if fate stepped in, I’d answer it.”
Selena swallows. “You kept your promise to protect her. You came here first. That matters.”
“It doesn’t feel like enough.”
“Maybe not tonight.” Her voice shakes, but her chin tips up bravely. “Penny loves you. She’ll remember that faster than she remembers the hurt. Especially when she realizes I didn’t plan this either and would never use her to get to you.”
I take a step toward her. Then another. The air tightens like a bowstring.
My wolf presses, rubbing his muzzle against invisible restraints, wanting everything at once—her throat, her mouth, her, all of her.
I stop a breath away because any closer and my hands will be on her without the safety of thought.
“Full moon’s in three nights,” I say, a warning to both of us. “This feeling, this yearning, will get worse.”
Her exhale stutters. It ghosts across my mouth like a test I’m failing.
“I know.”
“Penny first,” I say, scraping the words out of my throat. “I have to make this right with her before I…before we…” Before I show you the inside of my head. Before I let you see the place in me that has been empty for years and now isn’t. “Until then, I shouldn’t—”
“Touch me,” she finishes, so soft it’s almost a plea and a dare.
My wolf’s howl could shatter granite. I curl my fingers into fists at my sides until my knuckles pop.
“If I touch you, I won’t be able to stop.”
A flush climbs her throat and spreads across her cheeks. Her pupils dilate. She sways a fraction closer, like I’m a cliff and she’s hovering on the edge.
“Is that a promise or a threat?” she asks breathlessly.
It’s a question that would have wrecked me even without the approaching full moon.
“Yes,” I say, because both can be true.
We stand like that for three long heartbeats. The house settles. The refrigerator hums. Old pipes creak. Penny blows her nose behind a door. The world is ordinary. We are not.
“Tell me what you need,” she says finally. “From me.”
“Patience.” The word tastes like ash when all I want is to pull her close.
A myriad of emotions darkens her eyes like a storm breaking.
“I almost decided to leave before you walked in,” she confesses in a rush, making me flinch. “I thought if it wasn’t me, if you looked at me and didn’t feel it, I’d go. I couldn’t stay and watch you find someone else.”
My jaw locks so hard it aches. “You’re not leaving.”
“Not now.” Her small smile is brighter than a sunrise. “Not if Penny comes around. If she doesn’t…”
“No,” I snap, my wolf growling loudly inside me.
“Foster.” She whispers my name like a vow.
I drag in a breath. Stepping away from her is like leaving the comfort of a fire in winter. It feels wrong, but the right kind of wrong. A sacrifice you make for family.
“I’m going to give Penny tonight,” I say. “I’ll talk to her in the morning. We’ll talk, all of us. Then I’ll take you for coffee and tell you everything I should’ve told you years ago. I’ll make it right.”
She nods, throat working. “Okay. I’ll see you then.”
I watch her as she turns to leave. This feels wrong. All of it. But I have to let her go. For now.
“Happy birthday, Selena.” The words feel like a pledge.
“Thanks,” she whispers, opening the door and disappearing into the night.
My gaze follows her for a moment before I head back to my sister.
At the bathroom door, I pause. “I love you, Pen,” I say quietly. “I always will. This doesn’t change that. It just…adds to it.”
A beat. A muffled, “I hate this.”
“Me too,” I answer. “But I’d rather hate this together than apart.”
No answer. I give her the only thing I can right now. Time.
Even if it kills me.