"Their beloved Moon Goddess is nothing more than a witch who cursed the first man," my mother continued, her face painted with a dismissive sneer. "She deserves none of the slavish devotion the wolves have treated her with."

I stared at my mom in horror. Even though I didn’t have a wolf, I was raised in a wolf pack that honored the Moon Goddess. After what I had experienced with the Oracles, I knew better to think that the divine was nothing more than a figment of my imagination, a party trick from a charlatan.

What my mother was saying was downright sacrilegious!

"Mom, even if you’re a hunter, you can’t say that!" I protested, mentally praying to the Moon Goddess to forgive my mother. She was a hunter; hopefully, that excused her blasphemous words. "You’ll offend the Moon Goddess!"

My mother waved a dismissive hand at my concerns.

"Her husband betrayed her, and in her grief and wrath, she doomed him and his brethren to turn into animalistic monsters. So that their kind would never betray their other half, she bound another soul to theirs, deeming them fated mates, forever binding two strangers together even before they would ever meet. Don’t you think this is an overreaction to being cheated on?"

"But that’s romantic!" I spluttered, continuing to protest. I didn’t expect to argue with my mother about the whole concept of mates during our first reunion. "That is something every werewolf youth dreams of. Mom, it’s good to have a mate, to have someone who will always love you no matter what!"

My mother’s smile turned patronizing. "Harper, it’s quite hilarious that you would think a curse is romantic. It truly isn’t when you understand that these bonds can be easily betrayed," my mother said with a laugh.

She pointed to herself.

"Just look at me. And how things ended up for me. Do you think your father cared a whit about my status as his mate?"

"I...but... but he’s not the norm, Mom. He was terrible to begin with!"

"And your beloved Moon Goddess saddled me with him. What does that say about me then, Harper? Do you think I am terrible enough to deserve someone like him?"

I fell silent.

"Are you truly this naive? Or perhaps this was my fault, for not getting you out of the pack sooner. They’ve filled your head with nonsense." My mother tutted in disappointment, and I contemplated her words.

She wasn’t exactly wrong; I was lucky to have Damon and Blaise who cared for me the way a mate was supposed to care for their other half of their soul. People like Elijah and Milo weren’t so fortunate in their mates, yet it was only my mother that ended up in a new level of hell thanks to the mate bond.

She wasn’t even a werewolf. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

She was a human, and yet, she had to experience a torture that wasn’t meant for her.

The injustice threatened to choke me, and I wished I could revive my father so that I could kill him all over again― or let my mother do it. She deserved to end him, after all he put her through.

My mother, sensing my silence, decided to continue, "Just because they have a mate doesn’t mean they can’t mate with another. Just because you have a fated partner doesn’t mean your mind can’t decide you need someone stronger than what fate assigned you. And likewise, just like how Selene’s husband has left her, not every mate would stay with their fated one. Even with the mate bond, werewolves will choose who they want to love."

"Werewolves were once humans, and just like human hearts would stray, theirs would too," she said. "But you’re right― unfortunately, the price to pay is much higher than ours. Daughter, you must listen to me. Having mates only leads to despair. I only want the best for you."

"We should always have the right to choose who we love," she added firmly.

"But the mate bond is a good thing," I tried again, "the bond makes it so that it would be hard to stay away, so you would have to try to work things out." Like what happened to me and Damon.

Without the Moon Goddess’s efforts, I would never have given him a second thought and would hence have missed out on an incredible mate, in addition to Blaise.

My mother smirked, as though she could tell what I was thinking. "Your partner should already be communicating with you, without need of some mythical guidance. It worked well enough for humans, didn’t it?"

"It’s not the same," I said, feeling increasingly vexed at my mother’s unwillingness to understand. How could she not have felt my father’s emotions for her when they consummated their mate bond?

Or did she feel his hatred in the end― was that why she had so much disdain for the Moon Goddess and her decisions?

"The bond simply offers a physical attraction between two strangers, guaranteeing their chances of mating and producing offspring. The werewolves follow their instincts, simply because it’s the path of least resistance." My mother shrugged, almost sounding bored. "It’s basic biology, similar to dogs going into ruts and heats. All for the survival of the werewolf species."

"No, you’re wrong! A mate bond is a real connection!" I exclaimed, upset at her words.

I held a hand to my chest, over my rapidly beating heart. I could not feel Blaise and Damon from such a distance, but I knew they would be coming for me. They loved me, even if I was a mere human without a wolf. I could not let my mother continue to slander them.

"I know it because I’ve felt it. The mate bond is an infinitely precious thing. It’s a blessing to feel my mate’s emotions and to know how much they love me even when they don’t say a word. The Moon Goddess chose well; they’re the best thing to have happened to me!"

"They?" My mother paused as she sucked in a quick breath.

I clamped my mouth shut so quickly that I nearly bit my tongue. But it was too late. I let the metaphorical cat out of the bag.

"Mates? You have more than one?!" My mother exclaimed, her voice loud in the silence. For once, I had seen her lose her cool. "Gus only told me you had one― the Beta of Fangborne. You’re telling me you have gotten more? How is this even possible?"

"Yes," I said, biting the inside of my cheek at my lapse in concentration. My heart sank in dismay as I caught sight of the fervent, fanatical delight in her eyes, warning bells ringing desperately in my mind.

My mother hated werewolves and the very concept of fated mates. There is no way she would be genuinely happy about this turn of events.

"How miraculous. Maybe this is the way that Selene has decided to repay me." My mother’s lips curled into a smirk. "All that suffering was good for something, after all."

"Mom?"

"Call them over for a visit."

I stared blankly at my mother, uncomprehendingly.

"I want to meet both of your mates."