The morning after the birthday celebration, Y/N found herself feeling oddly restless. Her thoughts kept circling back to the previous evening, to Soul's words and the way his eyes had lingered on her.
With a sigh, Y/N pushed back her covers and got out of bed, her feet hitting the cold floor. The house was quiet, most of the pack still asleep at this early hour.
Y/N padded out of her room, intending to get some fresh air. As she walked downstairs, she heard soft voices coming from the living room. Curious, she followed the sound, finding Taecyeon and Jiung sitting on the couch, whispering intently to each other.
"Did you see how Soul looked at her last night?" Taecyeon, the unofficial gossip of the pack house, was saying in a hushed tone, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
Jiung, who was usually more composed, smirked and nodded. "Yeah, not very subtle, was he?"
Y/N, hidden from view, could feel her heart rate increasing. Were they talking about her?
"He's never looked at anyone like that before," Taecyeon mused, a thoughtful look on his face. "And the way he wanted to build another cottage?"
Jiung snorted, clearly in agreement. "He's never been this eager to expand the house before."
Y/N's breath caught in her throat. So they were talking about her and Soul.
Taecyeon leaned forward, lowering his voice further. "You know what I think?"
Jiung raised an eyebrow, waiting for the gossip. "Go on..."
Taecyeon glanced around, making sure no one was listening in. "I think he's got a thing for her," he declared, a sly smile on his face.
Jiung chuckled, the sound low and knowing. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
Y/N felt a swirl of emotions - disbelief, joy, and above all, trepidation. Was it possible that Soul, the alpha, leader of the pack, felt something for her?
As Y/N listened to Taecyeon and Jiung's whispered conversation, a thought flitted through her mind - could Soul and her really be mates?
It was a possibility she had toyed with before, but dismissed as too far-fetched. After all, the bond between mates wasn't something to take lightly. It was binding, intense, and all-consuming.
And yet, the way Soul had looked at her last night... the way she felt drawn to him... it all aligned, almost perfectly.
But then, reason took over, sobering Y/N's thoughts. She was just a newcomer, an outsider in the pack. And Soul, he was the alpha, with a heap of responsibilities.
Even if they were mates, it was probably a bad idea to act on those feelings. The timing was all wrong, the situation too complicated. She couldn't let her emotions get the better of her.
Y/N silently weighed the pros and cons in her mind. It was true that she had been with the pack for a month already, and in wolf years, that was a significant amount of time.
She had found her place among the pack members, had even established a certain comfort level. Maybe, just maybe, it was possible to build something with Soul without rocking the boat too much.
But still, that small, rational part of her warned her to be careful. The situation was delicate, their statuses in the pack too different.
She imagined what it would be like to be Soul's mate - the closeness, the intimacy, the absolute trust that came with the bond.
But alongside that pleasure, came an undercurrent of unease. She wouldn't just be Soul's mate, she would be the Luna, with responsibilities and expectations of her own.
