He Put His Ex First, So I Found My True Mate novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Founders' Ten
Isla finds the draw was rigged, refuses to be left out of the family photo, and cancels the weekend she paid for in front of the pack. At the gate, her silent wolf wakes for a stranger.
Torben fed his ex a strawberry while she wore a blindfold, and the whole lawn cheered.
That was round three of the pack's yearly contest, and the envelopes had paired him with her all three times.
I stood at the edge of the grass with a scorecard in my hand and the camera around my neck.
I was the event coordinator. I had also paid for the cliffside house, the caterers and every bottle of champagne.
I was the only person there who wasn't allowed to draw, because I hadn't sworn my pack oath yet.
"Rules are rules," Torben's mother had told me, smiling. "You'll be so much more useful keeping score."
So I kept score, and I photographed every round. The camera stamped the date and time on each shot.
Portia pulled off her blindfold, laughing, and crossed the lawn to me.
"Thank you for organizing all this, Isla." She squeezed my arm. "You don't mind, do you? It's only for the pups."
Their six-year-old twins were chasing each other around the buffet table.
I said I didn't mind. Then I went to the storage room for spare scorecards.
A torn envelope lay in the trash by the door.
The wax seal had a small dent pressed into one edge, no bigger than a thumbnail.
I took the unopened envelopes out of the box and held them up to the window, one by one.
Every seal had a different dent. Each one told whoever held it which couple was inside.
The draw had never been random. They had arranged it before I ever sat down at their table.
Outside the door, Torben and Portia laughed again.
Ember, my wolf, used to stir whenever I smelled the cedar and leather on Torben's coat. Lately she sent me nothing but warnings.
I put the envelopes back exactly as I'd found them and walked out into the wind.
The last round of the Founders' Ten was the family portrait.
"Final round!" Torben's mother tapped her champagne glass. "Family portrait!"
Gisela Lowell was fifty-eight, silver-haired and pearled, and the founding families agreed with whatever she said.
She had brought a dark wooden frame carved with the Ledgewatch crest.
"For the founders' gallery," she said. She slid a thin envelope sealed in black wax into the back panel and clicked it shut.
"The keepsake letter," she said to nobody, and set the frame on the table.
Torben stood in the center of the lawn. Portia drew the twins in against her side.
Gisela held the camera out to me. "Isla, dear, you always take the best photos."
I didn't take it.
"I'm Torben's publicly promised partner," I said. "I belong in this picture."
The lawn went quiet.
Portia sighed gently. "Of course you do. Nobody's denying that."
"Then why am I the one holding the camera?"
Torben frowned. "You're making this harder than it needs to be."
He put the camera in my hands himself. "Take the picture. Don't disappoint the pups."
I looked through the viewfinder. Torben, Portia and their two children stood smiling in front of the sea, and there was no room in the frame for me.
I took the picture. I wanted it dated.
When I lowered the camera, Portia turned her cheek up to Torben. "The rules give a bonus point for a kiss."
Everybody shouted for it.
Torben bent and kissed her cheek, and she closed her eyes and rested a hand on his chest.
Gisela raised her glass. "Your champions, Torben and Portia!"
Portia smoothed her hair. "Shouldn't the champions get a prize?" She pointed at the third floor. "I'd like the ocean-view master."
That was the room I had booked. I had put down the deposit on my own card.
I looked at Torben. He lifted his champagne and said nothing.
When I went inside, my suitcase was on the sofa in the main hall, and the houseman was dragging the second bag down the stairs.
"Champions get the best room," Portia called after me. "It's only one night."
"Put my things back," I said to Torben.
"The kids want to sleep with Portia tonight." He lowered his voice. "Don't argue in front of them."
"Then where am I sleeping?"
He pointed at the folded sofa bed.
So I stepped out.
I took the coordinator tag off my neck and called the house desk from the hall, loud enough for the lawn to hear through the open doors.
"This is Isla Corbett. I'm cancelling every remaining night on my card, effective now."
Then I walked back onto the grass with my suitcase and laid the tag on the champagne bucket.
"I paid for this weekend," I told the Founding Families. "As of tonight, I don't. The house locks at midnight. Enjoy the sea."
Torben said my name. Portia covered her mouth. Gisela didn't move at all.
I carried my own suitcase down the long drive to the gate.
A supply truck was idling beyond the bars, and a man in a work jacket stood leaning on its door.
Ember, who hadn't spoken to me in months, spoke up now.
Him.
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