Bittersweets

Magnus.

After dinner with Ariel, I drove her back to the pack house. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I had enjoyed spending time with her.

She was everything I hadn’t realized I needed—gentle, thoughtful, and warm. Part of me wanted to take things further that night, to invite her to spend the night in my room.

But another part of me knew better. This bond between us, the mate bond, deserved to be nurtured properly. I wanted more than just physical closeness with Ariel.

I wanted to know her deeply, to understand who she was beyond the fact that fate had tied us together.

When we arrived, I stopped the car and stepped out to open the door for her. She stepped out with a shy smile, her cheeks glowing under the soft light of the porch lamps.

“Thank you for dinner, Magnus,” she said, her voi……