The wolf shifter walked into the shop on a Monday, though he didn’t ruin his own life until two days later. He was the first shifter I’d ever seen, but I didn’t recognize him as one right away. In his human form, he just looked like an ordinary man in his late twenties—stunningly handsome, all pent-up strength and muscle. But his eyes were dark and troubled, the kind that lingered in your mind long after you looked away.
I had just turned nineteen. I didn’t really know what I liked yet. But I liked those eyes. He paced the street a couple of times before finally making his entrance, striding into the shop like a man on a mission.
With the storm blazing behind his gaze, you’d think he was here to start a fight. The tension eased slightly when he noticed me, though not by much. “I’m here to see the magician,” he said in a commanding tone. “I’d like to make a wish.
”
“No shit,” I replied, returning a book to a shelf with carefully crafted detachment. I’d only started working there two months ago, and calling it “working” was generous—I wasn’t getting paid. Adrian just put a roof over my head and paid my school tuition, so I did whatever needed doing around the shop. “Aren’t you going to go get him?
” the shifter asked, crossing his arms. “No, thanks. I choose life. ”
When his expression hardened into a displeased scowl, I added, “He’s off today.
Hangover. ”
The shifter clenched his jaw, debating whether to force his way to what he wanted. In the end, he exhaled a long breath and slowly nodded. “When should I come back?
”
I mumbled something under my breath about hoping never. I wasn’t allowed to warn potential clients, no matter how foolish they were for thinking magic would better their lives. “Come back tomorrow. ”
His name was Caleb.
He didn’t come back the following day, but the one after that. He looked almost sheepish when he walked back in, maybe because someone had warned him about the consequences of making a wish. Or perhaps he was just embarrassed by his earlier display of anger. Either way, I led him to the back room, where Adrian was busy building a house of cards as if his life depended on it.
“Client,” I announced, ushering Caleb inside. Adrian ignored him, adding an ace of hearts to his little project. “He was already here two days ago,” I added, eyeing my boss critically. I still didn’t understand why my father had asked Adrian to take care of me after his death—a death that had happened only three months ago.
I had no idea what tied the two men together, or why my father thought leaving me with a man who ruined people’s lives for a living was a good idea. “I’ll be with you in a second,” Adrian said, picking up another card with utmost concentration. He was an odd character, from his disheveled appearance to his unsociable manners. But nothing was as odd as his job.
He was a magician who granted wishes, any wish—from raising a cat from the dead to making someone president. His powers were practically unlimited, granted to him long ago by a demon who demanded that the wisher pay a hefty price for his services. No price, no wish. “What is it you desire?
” Adrian asked, flicking a finger at his construction, which toppled to the ground. “To become alpha of your pack? ”
Caleb blinked at him in surprise. “Don’t act so surprised,” Adrian said with a smirk.
“Becoming alpha is usually what any shifter wants. Sounds like a hassle to me, but what do I know? ”
“It’s not what I want,” Caleb replied with a frown. “Oh?
Then what would you like me to do for you? ”
The shifter hesitated briefly, then squared his shoulders in resolve. “My brother just took a mate,” he explained with a displeased expression. “I would like you to break the bond.
”
Caleb was part of an impressively large pack. It had taken years for them to make a name for themselves, and when Caleb was young, they had been small and vulnerable, dependent on other packs for survival. Caleb’s mother had suffered the consequences of that weakness. While their father was away from the den, rogues had attacked, and she’d been left alone to protect her children.
She had perished in front of Caleb and his older brother. That tragedy had only strengthened the brothers’ will to help their father rebuild their pack. Which is why Caleb didn’t understand how his brother, their future alpha, on whom the entire pack’s survival rested, could have chosen such a weak, insignificant omega wolf for his mate. Or rather, he did understand.
Rowan was strong and willful, with all the qualities to lead, but he was kind and too magnanimous for his own good. He was always trying to help people, save the unsavable. So when he met Annie—the very definition of a damsel in distress, the most fragile, ill-equipped wolf to ever cross their path—of course, he had taken it upon himself to become her protector. It was only a matter of time before he declared Annie his mate.
Caleb had nothing against Annie. She was bland and boring and perfectly insignificant, but she’d done nothing wrong. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have what it took to mate with his brother. But he’d be damned if he let the omega ruin all that his family had built.
Annie wasn’t fit to lead. Annie had nothing to bring to the table. Annie had to go. “So, you want me to break your brother’s bond?
” Adrian resumed after Caleb finished his story. By that point, I was feeling much less sympathetic. It was none of his business whom his brother wanted to mate with. But I knew it wasn’t my place to comment on what Caleb chose to wish for, so I kept quiet.
“Yes. I want him to forget about Annie and find a better-suited mate. ”
Honestly, what a selfish prick. “She is his mate, but not his fated mate?
” Adrian asked. Caleb nodded solemnly. “I would never request breaking a fated bond. ”
“Then yes, I can do it,” Adrian said with a hardened look.
“But it will cost you. ”
I frowned in annoyance. Why did he have to agree to such a selfish, obtuse wish? “How much do you want?
” Caleb asked. “It’s not money I want. I’ll grant your wish, and in exchange, I’ll take what matters most to you. ”
I shivered, just like I always did when Adrian explained what a wish cost.
“I guess that would be my Lamborghini,” Caleb said with a displeased frown, making me roll my eyes. A car? That was his big thing? “But I’m happy to give it up for Rowan’s sake.
”
Adrian sent him a bored look. “I guess I could use a new car. Though, keep in mind that what matters most to people is rarely what they’d expect. I can’t guarantee I’ll be taking your car for payment.
I’ll be taking what matters most to you. ”
“It’s definitely the car,” Caleb insisted with a smirk. “It’s vintage. ”
“If you say so.
I’ll let you think about it for a minute. I think my assistant wants a word. ”
He turned to me, and I did want a word—or more accurately, to yell at him for agreeing to grant this stupid shifter’s wish. “Don’t do it,” I implored once we were alone in the adjacent room.
“It’s a selfish wish. He’s going to ruin this couple’s chance at happiness. ”
“I don’t make the rules,” Adrian reminded me, sounding perfectly indifferent. “If a client wishes to make a wish, then I’m obligated to accept.
”
“But you could discourage him. Make him understand what he wants is wrong. ”
“How would you know it’s wrong? You’ve met him for all of ten minutes, and you don’t know the brother or the mate.
She could be a conniving bitch for all you know. ”
I pouted, displeased. “Do what you want then. You always do.
”
And he did. Minutes later, Adrian granted Caleb his wish. And somewhere, not too far from there, a bond broke. A month later, Caleb came home to find Annie sitting by herself on the porch, drinking one of those insipid herbal infusions she liked.
“It doesn’t even smell good,” he told her, eyeing her cup. “Seriously, why do you drink that stuff? ”
“Caleb! ” Annie greeted him warmly, as if she’d only just realized he was there.
Some wolf she made. Most pack members would have heard him coming from miles away, but Annie was always daydreaming about one thing or another. Caleb didn’t regret breaking the mating bond she had with Rowan for a second. Neither of them were the wiser.
They didn’t even remember being bonded to begin with. Caleb had made sure of that when making the wish—he didn’t want Rowan to renew the bond down the line. Also, he hadn’t wanted Annie to be sad. She may have been useless, but Caleb wasn’t a monster.
“Would you like me to make you one? ” Annie smiled, pointing at her drink. “It’s an acquired taste, but it’s very good for the body. ”
Caleb had no desire to try her drink, but Annie looked so hopeful and eager to please that, for some reason, he replied, “I guess if you add whiskey to it.
”
“I can do that,” she said, looking pleased. “Wait here. ”
They drank their infusion together in silence after that. Annie didn’t attempt to flirt or discuss pressing pack matters like most women did.
She just sat there, emanating peaceful waves that, while unsettling at first, felt rather nice now that he thought about it. “You know, Caleb,” she told him as he was about to head back inside, “I always wanted to thank you. ”
“Thank me? ” he asked, genuinely surprised.
“Yes. I’m very grateful your family agreed to take me in. ”
“That wasn’t my decision,” Caleb confessed, feeling uneasy. “Maybe not, but I know your brother and father.
They’d never have agreed to let me stay if you’d argued against it. And for that, I thank you. ”
An uncomfortable feeling settled in Caleb’s gut. He hadn’t argued against Annie staying, but he’d never encouraged it either.
He’d seen her as a lost cause and chosen to ignore her over and over again. And yet here she was, thanking him as if he’d shown her kindness. That didn’t feel right. “I know I’m not very strong,” Annie said, smiling sadly.
“So I’m really grateful you’ve given me a chance, Caleb. Thank you. ”
“Why are you telling me this now? ” he asked, curious.
Annie turned away. “Because your brother has arranged for me to be mated,” she said in a bright voice that didn’t match her expression at all. “He’s from another pack, so I’ll be leaving soon. ”
Caleb agreed to act as Annie’s chaperone during the courting period.
Because the match was between different packs, custom warranted that Annie be accompanied by a member of her own pack for protection. And when Rowan requested Caleb take on the role, he couldn’t find it in his heart to say no. Partially because his brother and future alpha requested it, but also because he was excited at the idea of Annie finding a mate outside the pack. Now, if only Annie was a little more enthusiastic about it.
“Corbin is as good a wolf as any,” he told her, driving her to her meeting in his Lamborghini, which, against all odds, hadn’t been confiscated by the magician. Caleb had been worried about that, wondering what this thing that mattered to him most was, if not his car. But in the days after making his wish, nothing and no one he cared about had gone missing. So he’d concluded that whatever mattered to him most probably hadn’t been very significant.
“I’m sure he is,” Annie agreed easily. “I’m very lucky to have found a match with a strong wolf. ”
She said the words like she’d practiced them. Annie was always very genuine.
It was practically her defining trait. “Give him a chance,” Caleb encouraged, feeling slightly guilty again. It happened more and more often when he was around Annie, and he didn’t like it. “If you don’t like him, then you won’t have to mate with him.
”
What was he saying? Of course she’d have to mate with him. It was Annie’s best chance at a safe future. But she’d been luckier before, a little voice whispered in his mind.
She was your Alpha’s mate, your own brother’s mate. There is no better wolf than Rowan, but you took that away from her. “Don’t worry, Caleb,” Annie said, placing a hand on his arm, misinterpreting his unease. “I’ll make Corbin like me.
I won’t let you down. ”
The unease only grew. “To be honest,” Corbin said, after Annie had left them alone to discuss pack politics, “I’m not very difficult. I just want a nice mate who can cook and bear my children.
I don’t care that she’s not very strong, and your father promised me a nice dowry for her. ”
He said this reassuringly, as if it was something Caleb would be happy to hear. Strangely, he probably would have been a month ago. But ever since making his wish, ever since he tore Annie and Rowan apart, he just hadn’t been the same.
“It’s just the guilt talking,” he told himself, trying to hold back a grimace at Corbin’s words. Annie wasn’t some stock that could be cheaply bargained and exchanged for pragmatic reasons. She was a person with thoughts and feelings. But it was like everyone had forgotten about that somehow.
Even Annie herself didn’t seem to pay any mind to her own reservations. “But what did you think of him? ” he asked as they were driving back home. “He’s a strong wolf,” she replied ever so politely.
“Yeah, we’ve established that, Annie. But did you like him? ”
“What’s not to like? I’m very lucky to have found a match, Caleb.
I know that. I’m grateful. ”
Caleb ground his teeth, feeling an unfamiliar aggravation rise within him. “It’s not just about finding a random match.
It’s about finding love and happiness. ”
He felt foolish once the words were out. Annie was looking at him as if he’d grown a second head. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” she confessed in a small, fragile voice.
“Do you think you could grow to love him? ”
Annie hesitated, then averted her eyes and replied in the firmest tone he’d ever heard her use. “My heart has always belonged to another. And it always will.
”
Caleb’s heart sank. “But don’t worry,” Annie added, placing her small hand on his arm. “He’s not someone I stand a chance with. I’ll mate with Corbin, I promise.
I would never let you down, Caleb. ”
The date for Annie and Corbin’s mating ceremony was set, and it was everything Caleb should have hoped for. Yet for some reason, the faster the day approached, the more anxious he became. He was losing focus, sleep, and appetite.
He just couldn’t stand the idea of Annie leaving with a wolf she didn’t truly want just because she believed she couldn’t do better. Just because Caleb had ensured she wouldn’t do better. He’d ruined her happiness. She said she loved another who would never have her.
Except Caleb knew the man she loved would have, and in fact had, taken her for a mate. Annie was happy with Rowan, and Caleb had taken that from her. “How about I train Annie personally? ” he offered his brother.
“If she became stronger, we could find her a better match. ”
Rowan didn’t object. So Caleb started spending time with her—hunting in their wolf forms, practicing her fighting skills, trying to attune her senses and control over her abilities. He could see how hard Annie tried to improve, how much she hoped to become stronger.
Except he realized it wasn’t for herself or the chance to find a better mate. Annie was just doing it because she was trying to please him. “Maybe that’s your problem,” he snapped at her in anger—an anger directed at himself, but that he was letting out on her like the miserable man he was. “You’re always thinking of other people and what they want.
What do you want, Annie? Do you want to be stronger? ”
Her kind smile broke and tears pricked her eyes, making Caleb feel like the lowest of the low. “It doesn’t matter what I want,” Annie said with resolve.
“Because I won’t ever have it. I know that, and I’ve made peace with that. But if I can bring a smile to someone else’s face, then at least it won’t have been a waste. ”
“You’re not a waste,” Caleb protested, feeling it in his heart to be true.
She was calm, collected, and understanding. She read people easily, always found a way to help them even to her own detriment. That wasn’t nothing. Caleb couldn’t believe he ever thought it was nothing.
“Please don’t be angry with me,” Annie said, taking his hand. “I just want you to be happy, Caleb. I always have. ”
Caleb returned to our shop not long after that.
I was upstairs making dinner when he arrived. I’d realized that if I didn’t make Adrian food, he tended to forget to feed himself, and since he was the one keeping a roof over my head, I’d best make sure he stayed alive. So Adrian was the one to greet Caleb, and I only became aware of his presence once I heard yelling from below. Curiosity got the better of me, and I hurried to the entrance to discover our shifter client yelling at Adrian in a tone that made me freeze in fear.
Adrian had told me Caleb wasn’t human once he’d left the shop after making his wish, and I now realized he was right. He was frankly terrifying, like a beast about to pounce. “I’ll pay whatever you want or do whatever you want. I don’t care, but you have to cancel my wish,” he ordered, backing Adrian into a corner.
Adrian was perfectly indifferent. “I couldn’t cancel your wish even if I wanted to. Once it’s done, it cannot be undone until the day I die. ”
Caleb looked like he was seriously considering making that happen, so I jumped in, my heart beating against my ribcage.
“What if he makes a second wish? Would that work? ”
Adrian’s eyes snapped up to me, suddenly displeased. “Go back upstairs, Iris.
”
“But—what if—”
“One wish per person. No refunds. ”
Caleb’s anger deflated before my eyes, replaced with a sharp, heartbreaking sadness. “Please,” he begged in a defeated tone.
“If not for me, then for her. Annie’s a good person, the best, really. And she’s about to mate with someone who doesn’t even see that, who doesn’t even see the beautiful soul she has. But Rowan did.
He would have made her happy. What I did to her was unfair. ”
“Life is unfair,” Adrian interrupted in a bored tone. “Now, leave us, shifter.
You’re scaring my assistant, and she doesn’t easily get scared. I won’t have it. ”
Caleb left looking like his entire world had just ended. We never saw him again.
But a week later, another shifter came into the shop. A frail, pale-looking girl with very light blonde curls, freckles, and earnest brown eyes, who wouldn’t look powerful or impressive even if she tried. But she didn’t try. She greeted us with a warm, hopeful smile.
It was Annie. “I heard that you grant wishes,” she told Adrian with peaceful resolve. “So I’ve come to make one. ”
I wondered if Caleb had confessed what he’d done to her.
It must be why she was here. After all, he couldn’t make a second wish. But Annie could make one for herself, to annul Caleb’s and be reunited with Rowan, her alpha mate. “All right,” Adrian said, giving her an assessing look.
“What is it you desire? ”
Annie’s expression became resolute. “There’s someone in our pack who’s so worried about us being vulnerable that he focuses his entire life on making sure we’re safe instead of thinking about his own happiness. I don’t think he even knows how to be happy, you understand?
” She frowned sadly. “It’s because when he was little, his mother died protecting him. He feels guilty. And he’s afraid that if he starts thinking with his heart rather than his head, he’ll lose everything again.
But he deserves better than that. He’s a good man, and he deserves to be happy. I just want him to be happy. ”
“Is that your wish?
” Adrian asked, not unkindly. “Yes, sir. I wish for the man I love to be happy. ”
I became nervous.
Adrian hadn’t even told Annie about the consequences of making a wish, and she’d already lost everything once because of his magic. It didn’t seem fair that she should face consequences again for wanting someone to be happy. I opened my mouth to tell her so, but Adrian snapped me a warning look and replied, “Very well. Tonight, the man you love will ask something of you.
Agree to it, and you’ll ensure his happiness forever. ”
A bright, relieved expression spread across Annie’s features. “I will! ” she immediately agreed with heartwarming enthusiasm.
“It really will make him happy? ”
“I guarantee it,” Adrian replied with a small smile. “Oh, thank you! Thank you, sir, really.
” She got up from her chair, eager to get the task done, but then turned back around as if she just remembered something. “What do I owe you for the wish? ” she asked timidly. Adrian shrugged.
“That one’s free of charge. ”
Annie would be mated to Corbin tomorrow, and Caleb had decided that was unacceptable. She had made it very clear she was only agreeing to this union to please their pack, but she needed to understand that everyone needed her here. Caleb needed her here.
He didn’t want Annie to leave, especially not if it was going to make her unhappy. But he also understood that Annie needed a mate. So really, there was only one thing left for him to do. He knocked on her bedroom door, feeling more nervous than he thought he would.
He had barely knocked once when Annie already appeared, looking hopeful and expectant. “Caleb! ” she exclaimed, sounding confusingly relieved. “I was worried you weren’t going to show, but you’re here.
”
She pulled him inside her room and made him sit on a chair, which Caleb did, feeling uncharacteristically dumbfounded. “Go ahead,” Annie encouraged him, squeezing his hands. “Tell me, what can I do for you? ”
Caleb frowned in confusion.
“How do you know I have something to ask you? ”
“A hunch,” she replied with a smile. She looked so eager to please, Caleb didn’t know what to do with himself. “Well,” he hesitated.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you…”
He suddenly felt very foolish. It had seemed like a good idea when it formed in his head, but now that he was about to say it to Annie, he realized how selfish he was being once more. Caleb’s plan was to ask Annie to mate with him instead of Corbin. If she became his mate, she wouldn’t have to leave the pack, where Caleb knew she was happy.
She would remain with her family, and he’d be a good mate to her. He’d do his utmost best to make her happy. He may not be Rowan, but perhaps he could be the next best thing. He was almost certain Annie liked him better than Corbin.
But with her looking at him so earnestly, holding onto his hand expectantly, with that warm, kind expression he’d grown so fond of, Caleb understood he’d been a selfish fool once more. This wasn’t about offering something better to Annie or keeping her around for their pack’s sake. If he so earnestly wished for her to mate with him instead, it was because he’d fallen in love with her. And he wanted her all to himself.
Instead of trying to reunite her with Rowan, the mate Annie deserved, the man she claimed she’d always love, he’d come to her room wanting to claim her. He felt sick to his stomach, but he was determined to fix things. He would make Annie happy, even if it meant giving her up. “Annie,” he began, bringing her hand to his lips.
“You once said to me there was someone you would always love, that you’d prefer to be mated with. ”
Annie searched his gaze, looking confused. “Yes, but—”
“Well, I came here tonight to tell you that this person does in fact love you. And that he would love nothing more than to have you for his mate.
And if you let me, I promise you, Annie, I will make sure you—”
Annie threw her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into his neck. “You love me? ” she asked, her voice full of hope and tears. “You really love me, Caleb?
”
“I—”
Caleb interrupted himself, confused. “What? ” he asked, disbelieving. Annie immediately recoiled, looking terrified.
“I thought you just said the person I loved felt the same,” she said, her voice trembling. She looked seconds away from crying. “But I misunderstood, didn’t I? ” She lowered her eyes, twisting her hands nervously.
“Of course, you don’t feel this way about me. ”
She looked like she was about to move away. Caleb didn’t think he’d survive it. He grabbed her arms and pulled her onto his lap, heart leaping.
“Of course I love you, Annie. ”
He was awed by how ridiculously happy she seemed at the news. “But you said there’s someone you’ve loved since forever and that you’d always loved,” Caleb continued. “So I assumed you meant Rowan.
”
“Yes,” Annie said, placing her small hand onto his. “It’s you. It’s always been you. ”
Forgetting customs, the fact that Annie was currently engaged to another man, and that Caleb hadn’t yet requested permission to court her from their alpha, he took her face in his hands and pulled the woman he loved into a kiss, with the thought that he hadn’t known what real happiness felt like until this very moment.
“Break your engagement, Annie,” he begged, bringing their foreheads together. “Be my mate instead. ”
“Yours? ” Annie asked, tears of joy streaming down her face.
“Really? ”
“Yes. Please, will you accept me as your mate and make me the happiest man in our entire pack? ”
Annie’s eyes widened in surprise, but then a slow, hopeful smile graced her lips.
“Yes,” she replied. “Yes, of course I will. ”
Back at the shop, Adrian was staring at our dinner with a disgusted expression. “And what is this supposed to be?
” he asked. I ignored him. “Do you think Annie’s gotten her wish by now? ” I asked nervously.
“Undoubtedly,” Adrian replied, bringing his fork to his nose to smell my dish. “I think it’s burnt,” he complained. Poor Annie. I didn’t think I’d get any sleep that night.
Why did my father leave me with a maniac who ruins people’s lives? It made no sense. Even Adrian’s own rules didn’t make sense. He always claimed he couldn’t grant wishes for free, and yet—
“How come you agreed to grant her wish for nothing in return?
” I asked. “I thought you said you couldn’t. ”
“Because I didn’t actually grant her anything,” Adrian replied with a shrug. “She got what she wanted, magic free.
”
I frowned in confusion. Though I did feel some relief knowing Annie was essentially fine. “Well, Caleb will be relieved to see things end well for her, I guess. I guess maybe you didn’t ruin anyone’s life today, then.
Good on you. ”
“I guess not,” Adrian replied, making his way back to the stove to prepare some pasta. “Though you still took the thing he loved most,” I observed. “Don’t you think he’ll miss it?
”
“Not really. If anything, it was holding him back. ”
Seeing my confused expression, he sighed and added, “It was his fear. His fear of losing the people he loved.
He was holding on to it like his most precious possession. So it’s what I took from him as a price for his wish. ”
That particular piece of news took me a good minute to process. “His fear?
” I exclaimed. “But that sucks. How does it benefit you taking someone’s fear away? If anything, you actually helped him on top of granting his wish.
”
From what I’d gathered, this wasn’t how things were supposed to work. Adrian poured too much pasta into the boiling water. I couldn’t read his expression, and I was left staring at his back.
“I guess we’ll find out,” he eventually replied before getting started on a sauce.
