Mate

The Northwest pack’s celibacy covenant is a symbol of social pressures and societal expectations. According to the covenant, the Alpha of the pack is not allowed to engage in intimate relationships of any kind, platonic, sexual, or romantic. The covenant is in effect to ensure the Alpha’s loyalty to the pack. Because “Alphas are people. And people make mistakes,” the pack has “systems of checks and balances” (177). The covenant is designed to maintain order and stability for the collective; at the same time, it risks disadvantaging the Alpha in question, establishing that, in the Northwest pack, the collective is prioritized over the individual.

Serena and Koen rebel against the covenant to honor their love for one another, developing the theme of Romance as Rebellion. With Layla’s blessing, they spend Serena’s Heat engaged in passionate sexual intimacy. Doing so is a direct violation of the celibacy covenant—and thus, their society’s expectations of them. The majority of the other characters believe that Serena is a threat to Koen and the pack’s stability. They fear that because she is a hybrid and Koen’s mate, she will steal Koen away from them and threaten their future. They also believe that Koen will abandon his duties, history, and loyalties to gratify his sexual urges. What they do not expect is that Serena and Koen will spend the Heat together and sacrifice their relationship thereafter. Serena and Koen rebel against sociocultural prescriptions of who they are and should be—Serena the hybrid temptress and Koen the heartless and domineering pack leader—proving themselves to be loving, sacrificial, and wise.

Serena’s Heat is a motif that explores the theme of romance as rebellion. Serena is shocked and furious when she discovers she is entering this state of heightened sexual desire and activity, also known as Estrus. She is thankful that she is not dying but resents her physiological condition because she has no control over it. She feels the same about love and romance: She does not want to fall for Koen because she does not want to be at the mercy of her untamed emotions. However, once she gives in to the Heat (and her love for Koen), she frees herself.

She and Koen spend four heated days having sex in the cabin when she is in Estrus; this passionate period allows Serena to rebel against others’ expectations of her, against her past, and even against her own logical thinking. She is prioritizing her body’s desires and embracing her true “animal” nature. Doing so leads to a more liberated sense of self.