Page 1 of UNAwere

The look on my sister’s face tells me everything I need to know.

‘Are you sure?’ Nolan asks. We both know it’s a rhetorical question, but it’s as if he thinks it still needs to be said.

‘There’s no version, no plane of existence, where I’d let Maeve do this,’ I say, voice firm.

Maeve’s staring at me, eyes glistening with unshed tears. She looks so much like our mother, with her auburn hair and freckled face. It’s uncanny. I finally meet her gaze and nod once.

‘I’m not letting you go,’ I tell her.

She’s my little sister. And to watch her be forced to be bonded to the Primrose alpha would be an injustice to all big sisters. Despite the alliance being good for our own pack, to gain strength in our territory war against the Karvers, allowing my twenty-year-old sister to enter an arranged bonding doesn’t sit right with me.

Although, to be honest, allowing anyone from our pack to enter an arranged bonding doesn’t sit right with me.

Some would say it’s because our pack is too closely linked to humans and that we’ve lost touch with our primal, wolfish selves. It makes sense, with Primrose being the only surviving pack within our country, Sol, that’s still standoffish with non-Weres. I haven’t met any, as they’re renowned for being the pack that actually sticks with werewolf traditions, and there’s a wall around their territory that proves that.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ Maeve says, grasping my hand across the table.

‘Neither do you,’ I say, squeezing it. ‘You’re twenty. You deserve to live. Make something of your life.’

‘That doesn’t mean you should have to,’ she hisses, shaking her head. Her nails have grown slightly, causing little indents in my skin, and I realise she’s a lot more upset than I expected her to be.

‘It’ll be okay,’ I tell her. I look at Nolan again. ‘Let Warner know he can send his best Were out to come and collect me.’

Nolan’s nose scrunches slightly, and he rasps a hand across his greying stubble. ‘You’re doing a lot for our pack, Sybbie. I hope you know that we appreciate it.’

I shrug a shoulder, trying to act blasé, even though there’s a pressure on my chest at the thought of being bonded to Primrose’s alpha. I know of Layton Warner. I’ve seen some photos of him, in articles about alpha meetings and the growing tensions between our pack and the Karvers. But being forced to bond with an alpha to strengthen a rocky alliance, in the hopes of finally winning the Territory Wars, definitely wasn’t on my Bingo Card of Life.

Nolan’s watching me closely, and I can tell from the way his mouth is shaped that he’s worried. I’ve known him long enough to understand each and every one of his expressions – every crease in his weathered face. He’s practically a father to me and Maeve, and I think a part of him feels guilty that it’s come to this.

‘It’s not your fault,’ I tell him, in case he needs to hear it.

His brow buckles. ‘I just can’t believe Warner wasn’t interested in any alternatives. I tried, Sybbie. I really did.’

‘I know,’ I murmur. ‘I could’ve made him a really nice cake. A two-tiered red velvet? That would’ve for sure won an alliance with him.’

Nolan scoffs, and my sister slaps her palm against her forehead.

‘How can you be so carefree about this?’ she whines. ‘You’re leaving us.’

‘I’ll visit,’ I tell her gently.

Nolan’s phone buzzes on the table in front of him, and he picks it up, reading what’s on the screen.

‘He wants to fly you out next week,’ he says after a moment.

Maeve and I have been watching him, on tenterhooks, and as soon as I hear the word fly, I’m shaking my head.

‘Nope. No planes.’

Nolan sighs. ‘Sybbie, you have to work with Primrose. You can’t be seen as being difficult and risk severing the alliance.’

‘I’m not saying no,’ I tell him. ‘Just no planes. I like my feet on the ground, thanks. And hey, my future bonded partner probably needs to know this.’

He quirks a grey brow at me and then taps something out on his phone, a pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose. It’s strange, watching Nolan grow old. When all the memories I have of our adopted father are of him being the most powerful alpha in Sol, leader of Luminaire.

After another few moments, he sighs. ‘He’s sending someone out to pick you up. They’ll fly out and hire a car, then drive you north.’

I smile. ‘Good.’