My Orphan Mate ✓

Chapter One

Hi :)

Thank you for checking my story out.

• I wrote this story during my finals in PA school (to de-stress). It is cliche and complete work of fiction. All characters and events are made up completely.
• English is my third language, there likely will be errors- I'll be grateful if you wish to correct anything
• This book is the first of the Mate Trilogy, but it CAN be read as standalone. You will have to read this to understand book 2 and 3, though.
• It is a slow-burning romance!
• The story will contain mature and explicit content; so please read at your own risk.

Thank you <3

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LYRA
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The flickering fluorescent light in the graveyard was a reminder that everything, in the end, was temporary.

When I could no longer tell reality from fantasy, the faulty lamp became my only guide. I found myself wondering how much life it still held, as if that was the most important thing in the world right now.

Raindrops escaped the grey sky and clung to the xenon streetlamp, as though trying to comfort it. The sun was reserved for the summer, yet the damp, sullen weather seemed determined to disagree.

They say both the good and the bad in life are temporary, but why did the latter always feel eternal?

"Ly."

My best friend's familiar voice pulled me out of my trance. "Let's head back inside."

I turned toward the sound of his voice, squinting through the rain until my eyes landed on Jaxon, my best friend for years, and the Alpha's younger brother.

His usual emerald eyes were tinged with a faint crimson hue, and damp curls clung to his forehead. He looked utterly distraught.

"Already?" I asked, my tone sharper than I intended.

"It's getting late," he said softly, extending his arm to hold an umbrella over me. "The rain's getting heavier and you're soaked. Come on, before you catch a cold."

Instead of taking the umbrella, my gaze fell from him to the ground. My eyes traced the flower-covered soil until the tombstone came into view.

At first, the words carved into the stone were clear, but as their meaning sank in, they began to blur.

Anna Theresa Dane.

My mother.

My knees gave way as the words processed, and I collapsed, clutching at the wet earth beneath my fingers as if it could somehow give her back to me.

The tears I'd been holding in finally broke free, and my cries of pain echoed through the falling rain.

"Ly, please," Jaxon pleaded by my side, reaching for my arm to help me up.

His grip slipped, and I sank deeper into the soaked soil, sobbing for the only person I had ever truly known, pleading for the Heaven's to give my mother back.

Three days ago, I had come home from school to find her unconscious. No explanation, no warning. For sixteen years, she had been my family. My only family. And now she was gone. Just like that.

I didn't want to think about what would happen without her. Where did orphans of the pack go? As far as I was aware, there were no orphans in the pack. Once you lost your parents and had no blood kin left, you were cast out.