She wanted him so badly. But she was going to deny herself. They were not going to ever be mates, ever.
****
Later that night.
“They fought it. How is that possible?” Penelope asked.
Gertie reached for her best friend’s hand and tried to offer her support. For eighteen years, they had waited for this moment. With their kids’ hatred for one another developing, they had all hoped that with the first transition, a mating would occur.
It hadn’t.
They had watched the two face off with each other, and being in wolf form themselves, they had felt the connection the two had. The rumors were indeed true.
Born at exactly the same time, within the same pack, it meant they were fated mates. They knew all their lives that they were destined to be together, but they had fought it.
Gertie had never known anything like it before.
“Their hatred for one another,” Marcel said. “That has to be the key. They don’t want to be mated, so they’ve denied each other the truth for so long. In my experience, I’ve never known anyone to reject their mate before. Never.”
Penelope sat back. “What do we do?”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Gertie said.
“But this is going to have repercussions,” Dan said. “We all know it. Them denying themselves now doesn’t mean it’s going to make life easier for them. If anything, it is going to make life a hell of a lot harder.”
“We will have to deal with that … problem when we get to it,” Marcel said.
“You can’t be serious,” Penelope said.
“I’m not going to force our kids together.”
“Marcel?” Gertie asked, a little shocked by his decision.
“For now, I suggest we just be grateful that our babies got through their first transition. We all know it’s not easy. It’s fucking hard, and it’s painful, but they got through it, and anything that happens, we will deal with when the time is right.”