My Runaway Mate

I could barely breathe. I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes as I threw my arms around him, my heart bursting with joy. “Yes,” I whispered, over and over. “Yes, of course.”

I was on cloud nine. After a year of carefully hiding my true identity as the princess of the Wilderford werewolf clan, I finally felt ready to tell him everything. I was ready to share my world with Rowen, to bring him into the life I’d kept hidden for so long.

But everything fell apart the moment that woman appeared in our lives.

I sat curled up on Rowen’s couch, flipping through a magazine without really seeing the pages. The familiar scent of his apartment—leather, cedar, and the faintest hint of his cologne—usually brought me comfort, but today, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I couldn’t shake. Rowen had been distracted lately, his attention slipping away whenever I asked about his day or plans. But I told myself it was just a rough patch, nothing more.

Rowen was in the kitchen, fiddling with something on the stove when there was a sudden knock on the door. Rowen darted me a quick, unreadable look before he opened the door.

Standing in the doorway was a woman I’d never seen before. She was striking, with long, wavy auburn hair and eyes that glittered like green glass. Dressed in a fitted leather jacket and worn jeans, she exuded casual confidence, the kind that turned heads without trying. Her gaze swept the apartment before landing on Rowen, her lips curving into a smile that seemed both warm and familiar.

“Rowen,” she said, her voice smooth and laced with something unspoken. “It’s been a while.”

Rowen’s face shifted, his guarded expression melting into something I couldn’t quite place—relief, maybe, or a bittersweet kind of familiarity. “Alecia,” he said, his tone tinged with surprise. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”

Alecia. The name was new to me, a sharp intrusion into the quiet space Rowen and I had carved out for ourselves. She walked in without waiting for an invitation, her presence commanding the room as if she belonged there. Rowen stepped aside, letting the door close behind her, and I felt my stomach twist with an uncomfortable knot of uncertainty.

Alecia’s gaze flicked to me, lingering just long enough to make me feel exposed. “Oh, I didn’t realize you had company,” she said, her tone casual but with a hint of something sharper beneath it. “I’m Alecia, by the way. Rowen and I are childhood friends.”

I forced a smile, trying to ignore the way my wolf was prowling beneath my skin, uneasy and on edge.

“Eliana,” I replied, keeping my voice polite. “Nice to meet you.”

Alecia looked at Rowen again, and the familiarity between them was palpable, like a thread connecting their pasts that I couldn’t quite see. She turned her attention back to me, her smile never wavering, though there was something almost assessing in her eyes. “I just got back from abroad,” she explained, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve been gone a long time, and… well, things didn’t exactly go as planned. I don’t have a place to stay right now, and Rowen was kind enough to let me crash here until I sort things out.”

Darlene snarled inwardly, a low growl of warning that echoed in my chest. I didn’t like this—didn’t like her sudden appearance, her easy confidence. I could feel the tension thrumming between us, but Rowen was watching me, his expression expectant, as if waiting for my reaction.

“You’re welcome to stay,” I said, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. I hated how much it cost me to say them, to swallow my unease and play the accommodating girlfriend. But Rowen had already agreed, and I didn’t want to be the one to cause a scene. I wanted to trust him, to believe that this was just a harmless favor for an old friend.

Alecia’s smile widened, but there was something about it that set my teeth on the edge. “Thank you, Eliana. I promise I won’t be in the way. It’s just temporary, really.”

Rowen squeezed my hand briefly, a silent reassurance that only made the doubt gnaw at me harder. I nodded, trying to ignore the way my wolf paced in frustration.

“It’s no trouble,” I said, even though every instinct was screaming that it was.

Alecia moved past me, her presence filling the space in a way that made it feel smaller, more suffocating. Rowen followed her, offering to help with her bags, and I sat there, staring at the spot where she had stood. I could still feel the lingering chill of her gaze, and the uncomfortable weight of Rowen’s silence.

I knew Rowen had a past—I wasn’t naive enough to think I was the first person to capture his heart. But something about this felt different like Alecia wasn’t just any old friend. I wanted to ask him, to press him for the truth, but I held back. I didn’t want to seem paranoid, didn’t want to give voice to the unease clawing at me from the inside out.

As the evening wore on, Alecia made herself at home, chatting with Rowen in a way that spoke of years of familiarity. I watched them from the sidelines, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my chest. Rowen laughed at her stories, his eyes bright and relaxed in a way I hadn’t seen in weeks. They spoke in half-finished sentences, their inside jokes and shared history forming an invisible wall between them and me.

I forced myself to smile, to be the picture of calm even as doubt ate away at my resolve. But deep down, I knew this was only the beginning of something that would change everything. My wolf’s unease wasn’t going away—it was growing, its instincts screaming that Alecia was more than she appeared. And as much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the first crack in a foundation that I had believed was unbreakable. But for Rowen’s sake, I stayed quiet.