I Am The Alpha's Mate

There was no way I had heard right.

I looked around to see if it was just a joke or a prank they played on new people but when I saw the serious and stern faces of the men in the werewolf council, I knew none of this was a joke.

How could I be put to death for simply being human? It was not even like I had asked to be here. Those three men just carried me here against my will. If this had always been the plan, they could have killed me when they had the chance. What was the point of parading me here just to end up killing me? How did I go from running from my people to being sentenced to death in a mystical land in a day?

By my far left, I saw the man he ordered to ready the gallows, coming closer with a long rope in his hands.

Realizing the gravity of my situation, I fell to the floor just like one of the men had done, and begged. "Please pardon me. I don't want to die!"

"You dare question my judgment!" His voice resounded like thunder, making my insides twist. His previously chill handsome features now looked very agitated and terrifying. "In fact, no more gallows. Feed her to the lions immediately."

The man with the rope came up to me and began to tie up my hands. He was frail, a sharp contrast to the alpha king and I started to think I could take him down. I wouldn't die without a fight.

The man could not even complete the simple task of binding my hands together soon enough. This should be worth a shot. There was a sword by his side and I swiped it before he could even react. I had never practiced with a real sword but somehow, my aim turned out perfect. The executor groaned in pain as he clutched his right side where I had just stabbed him.

The room went silent. I had a feeling their silence was more from the shock of my foolhardy bravery than fear. I stood with the sword in my hand, holding it up as a warning to anyone who dared come any closer. Three guards charged at me, but I stood my ground. The sword was very heavy in my hands but I managed all the same, my desperation to survive giving me the confidence and strength I needed.

I ended up wounding all three of them, but unlike the executor, they didn't try to nurse their wounds but kept swinging their swords at me. One managed to stab my left arm, but in my determination, I blacked out the pain and kept fighting. This went on for about three minutes. The alpha rolled his eyes and came forward. I didn't care who he was. I would fight him.

The three guards fell to the ground in a pile when he just pushed them with his hand. I pointed my sword at him, but before I could even do anything, he came closer in a flash and twisted my arm backward, making me drop the sword on the ground. I was under him now, and I honestly didn't know what to do. If he hated me before, he now abhorred me.

But none of it mattered. I was destined to die anyway, with or without a fight. At least I'd feel a little justified if I died, knowing I had caused some of them to bleed.

"You wrench," he cursed at me through gritted teeth. I shut my eyes, terrified yet strangely heated by his closeness to my body.

"Come tie her up," he ordered the whimpering executor. "Now!"

He did as he was told and after, the alpha tossed me to the ground where I landed in an unnatural position and had to use my elbows to painfully hoist myself up.

"Now, prepare the lions. I want her to suffer greatly before she dies," he said in a chilly voice.

"Wait!" A voice called, bringing all within the alpha's court to attention. Everyone gaped at an old man who walked in holding a stick for support.

He was the oldest-looking man I had ever met in my life but from the way everyone was watching him, he must have been someone of great importance.

"You cannot kill her Damon, for she is your mate," the old man said in a raspy but clear voice.

The gasps that followed came from all present. After my family's betrayal, my sudden realization that werewolves exist, and the fact that all I had learned in my years of training didn't even work in real life, I didn't think anything could shock me, but this...

How could I possibly be the mate of someone I had just met?

I didn't know much about mates, but from the few werewolf lessons I took in school which I rarely paid attention to, I knew mates were partners for life, just like in marriage. I didn't react. I only tried to peer into the man's face to see if he was a human in a disguise that my mother had sent to trick them into releasing me.

"Nonsense," the alpha seethed, walking up to the man in a way that made me start fearing for his safety. "How dare you even imply that my mate is a human?

"It's Gwyddion, the druid," someone said in a fearful voice from beside me. "He never speaks unless it's very serious. If he says she's his mate, there might be some truth to it."

I could vaguely remember what a druid was. Someone like a Celtic priest, but in some werewolf mythology could be some sort of a wizard. How I wish I had paid more attention during my classes.

The druid looked up at the alpha without flinching. I could see a hint of a smile on his face, a clear indication he had no fear for him.

"I didn't imply it, your majesty. I said it."

People began to murmur and I saw the alpha's hand twitch. He was angry. He raised his hand in the court and all went silent.

"You don't want her to die. Is that it? You've always been partial to the humans. I won't have you make up a lie without punishment. Don't think your position saves you from it."

The druid laughed quietly.

"I only do as the moon goddess instructs me, Your Majesty. I have never seen the girl, but for months I have seen visions of you cutting off your own arm but I didn't immediately understand what it meant. Last week I saw a clearer vision of you capturing your own mate and cutting her off. Some minutes ago, my body became very tense, more tense than it has ever been in my old age. I asked my helpers to bring me here and when I did, I realized it all started when she entered our territory," the druid says, turning to me. "Not only is she your mate, but she is a very vital part of your destiny. If you kill her now, it will just be as bad as ending the world."

Right now, my brain was already tired of processing things that didn't make any sense. It all had to be a dream. What kind of messed-up food had I eaten yesterday?

The alpha king laughed drily, shocking me. The rest of the court laughed along with their leader while I remained gaping from the floor with my arms and feet bound together.

He took out a sword from the sheath of one of the guys and to my horror, slid the knife across my cheek in a thin line so quickly, it took a while for the pain to register.

I screamed, feeling the blood dripping, but couldn't do anything to stop it.

He turned to the druid, whose expression surprisingly remained the same.

"Have I doomed the world now, Gwyddion?" he teased, swinging the sword around to display my blood.

"Be careful, Your Majesty, she is your mate," Gwyddion simply said.

The alpha turned to me with rage in his eyes. He charged at me and swung the sword and I shut my eyes and waited for the end. I heard the slash of the sword, but the only thing that fell apart was the rope.

I was breathing fast now as I forced myself to look into his eyes, wondering what next he would do to me.

"Get up," he ordered and I obeyed.

He walked around me, taking his time to look me up and down, wondering what to do with me. I felt uncomfortable, but I could only stand and take it.

He raised the sword again and I shut my eyes for the second time. When I heard the familiar slash but felt no pain, I hurriedly wrapped an arm around myself, realizing he had split my dress open.

I was standing in my underwear in a court filled with over a hundred men.

"My mate?" he asked derisively, turning to the court and pointing at me. "This is my mate, really?"

"Your majesty…"

"Just see how underfed she looks. Do you know the kind of women I receive in my chamber? And you want to tell me that of all the beautiful potential lunas the moon goddess could have given me at this late age, it's this sickly human?"

Wow. I wouldn't flatter myself by saying I was extremely beautiful but no one had ever insulted my physique this way before, but usually because I didn't let them.

"Your majesty…"

"Do you know I could put you to death right now?" he threatened, pointing the sword so close under his neck, even the slightest movement would render the old man dead. He didn't flutter.

"Your majesty, death will only be an honor to me for I know I have served the moon goddess well. I don't make the rules. I only tell you what the moon goddess, through nature, tells me. The human is your mate and even you know it. You felt something when you saw her, but you ignored it."

I saw a flash of an expression I didn't understand on the alpha's face when he turned back to me.

"How do you think she wandered into your men? It was all predestined," the druid kept speaking as the alpha eyed me up and down as if he was searching for something. "Don't let your hatred for the humans stop you from being with your mate. Yes, human killed your mother, but that is something you have to move on from."

Well a werewolf had killed my father as well. A fact I had always doubted but now knew to be true. However, I didn't say anything.

"She is not my mate!" he barked. "I already had a mate."

"But she died," he said, walking forward with his walking stick. This man must not value his life at all. "The moon goddess knows how much our alpha needs a Luna. Your burdens are mighty. You need her. She completes the prophecy."

"A human cannot be my mate," he said through gritted teeth, but he was not as firm as before.

No one was even asking my opinion. I didn't want to be the mate of a werewolf either. Wouldn't that be bestiality? But now this seer guy was talking about a prophecy, just like my sorcery teacher had been doing before I escaped. I began to realize there was more to this.

The alpha king walked over to me until there was less than a centimeter of space left between us. I tried to steady my breathing, wondering what he would do next.

"If somehow any of this is true, then I, alpha Damon reject you to ever be my luna."

I never wanted to be a luna, but hearing him say that still hurt.