Normally the pain from rejecting your mate would be agonizing, a pain unlike any other but I didn’t feel it. The stinging sensation in my heart was there from having been ripped from its other half but I wasn’t sad.
Everything looked just like Alpha Sebastian wanted it to.
On the far end was the big oval table where the Alphas would sit and everyone would get a glimpse. The smell of oakwood and citrus was prominent from tapestries that had been hung on the walls. They sent the fragrance out into the room and it stuck onto everything.
The river was empty of people today. I walk down the hill and see the water running clearly down the stream. Rocks and sticks had been set by the pups to make the water look cooler as it shifted down into the forest.
My lips tugged up in a smile when I sense her. The wind blew in soft breezes and caressed us soothingly.
”What’s on your mind?” She asked and looked out over the stream. It always eased my mind when I sat here. The stream only went one way, it knew exactly what to do and had no other obligations. It just was.
”I found my mate today,” Anna turned her head with widened eyes. Anna’s lips parted and she was three seconds away from screaming in joy.
”I rejected him.” I said and smiled. The joy in her eyes died down into a pit of sadness and confusion. It was validated because nobody ever rejected their mate.
Her little button nose wrinkled and her lip stuck out.
”Why?”
”It was Alpha Sebastian.” The little pout turned to an O and her brows furrowed. Her long blonde hair was put in two braids that fell over her shoulders and she slumped.
”So the Moon Goddess assigns mates sarcastically now?” I laughed and agreed. It was the only logical answer as to why I would be mated to the man who hated my guts.
A man-child with a superiority complex who cared about nobody but himself. The previous Alpha, Sebastian’s father, was the very same and Sebastian was a more spoiled version of him. For that family, the title of Alpha has been a right, not a privilege.
”Do you think you’ll get a second chance mate?” I had thought about that myself and concluded that I didn’t want one.
It was in our nature to want a mate. Embedded in our DNA. But I wasn’t like my sister or the other she-wolves who willingly sought them out. It didn’t come as naturally to me.
”I’m not sure I want one,”
The sound of tires against the gravel was heard and several cars were driving up to the pack house. Black SUV’s with tinted windows and ornaments on the hood.
”The Alpha has arrived,” Anna said with a glint in her eye.
We walked the empty road up to my house. I could imagine most of our pack members were rushing to the house to get a glimpse of the Alpha who had all gathered. It happened only once a year and never had it been here.
I opened the door and looked with widened eyes at the chaos that was currently ongoing in my home. A piece of fabric came flying at my face. Dresses, shirts, and skirts lay scattered on the floor and the sofa. My mother and sister were frantically running about the house showing each other pieces of jewelry and then screaming when it didn’t match one of the garments.
”Oh wow,” Anna’s eyes were round as saucers and she gulped.
The tension was thick and I had no idea why.
”What is going on?” I asked and stepped over the pile of heels on the hallway floor.
They stopped and turned around. They were as confused by my calm exterior as I was by their panicked state.
”The meeting of Alphas,” my sister said as if that cleared things up.
It was surely a big deal but not enough to awaken this craziness. I pulled Anna after me up the stairs and we locked ourselves in my room.
”I have my dress so I can just crash here,” she said and tossed her bag down on my chair.
”What are you wearing?” I asked and opened my closet to look for something elegant enough but not too much.
”That short pink dress I bought last year, I still haven’t worn it.” Anna could put anything on and look like a storybook princess. I had to try a little harder.
My brown hair fell in waves down my back. I pulled it up and tried holding it differently to see what would look best.
The sun was setting and the house grew quiet. The thoughts started revealing themselves. I had just rejected my mate but why would the Moon Goddess be so cruel to mate me with Sebastian? He hated me. Did I not deserve better?
The moon was at its peak and I heard footsteps circling outside my bedroom door.
It was time to get ready.
I put on the long backless dress that I pulled out from the closet. Golden petal earrings and a pendant necklace to go with it.
Anna was ready as well and we walked out together.
”We’re gonna meet the Alphas tonight so I expect you all to be on your best behavior…” I listened to my mother’s voice and tilted my head to the side. A sudden warm flash came over me and I couldn’t stay still. Her lips were still moving, her finger pointing to all of us, and her eyes brimming with seriousness. There would be no embarrassing the family tonight.
I held my breath and dragged my fingers over my throat. Why was I sweating? It was excruciating and it surged through my whole body.
”…are we clear?” I heard her snap.
”Yes,” everyone said in unison. Her stone-hard gaze turned on me and her eyes were narrowed to slits.
”Yes,” I said and cleared my throat.
”Can you turn the air-conditioner on?” I asked my father in the car and started fanning myself with my hand.
”Sure, honey,” I fiddled with the vent so the cool air hit me in all directions and it worked for a split second until the heat I felt returned.
My wolf was purring in the back of my mind and was writhing on the floor bank.
We stepped out and gazed upon the house. It was never this pretty, this was all for show.
We walked into the room where everything had been set up and immediately my mother ran to mingle and get closer to the Alphas.
I looked around the room; Sebastian was standing by the far end wall of the entrance. His head rose and he locked eyes with me and I held his gaze until something else caught my attention.
What is that smell? I walked further in and bumped into everyone on the way. Each breath grew heavier and each step felt like I was pulling led blocks behind me.
The smell of forest and sweetness started seeping up my nose and I looked around to see where it came from. My eyes landed on a broad back. He was wearing a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up showing off his big arms. The veins were popping and his back muscles flexed with every move he made.
Dark hair, broad shoulders, who are you?
”Turn around,” I whispered.
”Now if everyone could take their places, the food will be brought out soon,” Alpha Sebastian’s father said. Alpha Sebastian looked small in comparison to many of the other Alphas.
I was shown from the people walking past me but I couldn’t take my eyes off the man’s back. I needed him to turn around, I needed to see who it was.
They all walked to the table and I was guided by my sister. Then I gasped, the air stuck in my throat as the man turned and I saw his face.
Alpha Kade.
’Mate’.
