The blood forest

Amora.

"No, I don't want to die!".

The deep and  loud voice  before, was becoming fainter and fainter as we got closer into the forest. 

My mind was not in all this. As the Alpha, these were times that I needed to be strong, but not when it came to this forest. I dreaded coming here.

"Can we just go back ? We are getting closer to the center of the forest and you know the stories about this place."

I leaned against a tree behind me as I panted heavily from the running.

"We can't, as a protector of our people, these are the times we need to be strong and courageous. It might be a pack member in danger and seeking help."

Carly said, walking towards me and  grabbed my hand, but I seized it from her.

"I'm leaving. You guys can go ahead and save whoever it is."

I said, taking myself away from the tree and was about to make a u-turn, when a sudden force vibrated inside of me, making my head spin.

I almost fell to the ground, luckily Carly caught me right in time. 

"What is going on with you?" She asked as she steady me to my feet. 

"Lily". I whispered.  She glared at me. "What about her?."

"She has been on the edge since we enter this forest and she has been whispering  something incoherent in my head, and she doesn't want to talk to me"

I  rubbed my forehead in frustration.  What was wrong with her? She decided not to talk to me but kept pushing me to the edge. 

"Suki!"

Carly called out and that's when we realized she was nowhere near us. 

Just how stubborn she could be.

"Guys, you won't believe this" we heard Suki's trembling  voice, not far from us.

Carly looked at me and I did the same and almost at the same time, we scurried in the direction of her voice. 

 

"What is going on?"

Carly asked when we spotted Suki, a few meters away.

"Wait, what is that scent?" I scanned the area around us. I feltl Lily stirred inside of me.

'I smell that too'. For the first time in weeks, Lily responded to me.

"I don't smell anything". Carly said as she lifted her nostrils trying to perceive the air around us.

"I don't smell anything." She cast her eyes on me.

As I got closer, the scent fainted away leaving me with the normal air around me. I took slow steps towards Suki, who seemed to be pacing impatiently around what she was looking at on the grass.

"What is going on, Suki?" Carly called out.

"It's a boy, guy, Man...I don't know...he looks badly hurt. If we don't give him help, he might die. He is bleeding terribly from his abdomen and his face is all covered with blood."

She responded with a raspy voice and without thinking, Caryl and I absconded to the location. 

Something I wish I didn't do

A half-dead body of a boy soaked in blood was lying helplessly on the green grass, with his bloody face, looking up to the sky and his bloody hands, shaking terribly at his side.

The moment I got closer to get a better view of him, I felt this strong pull of emotions  , and my heartbeat increased more than normal. 

Lily growled heavily in my head. I quickly stood up to regain myself. 

'Are you okay, Alpha?'  Suki walked to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. 

"I'm okay" I lied. 

Something wasn't right. I already knew what was going on, but I didn't just want to confirm it or else, I might just end up killing the dying boy.

"He-he-help me."

I gazed at the floor, when the boy spoke again and at the same time, our eyes met.

I  couldn't make out his face, as it was all bloody.

However, my eyes remained glued to him and the last thing I never thought would leave my mouth did and it did leave his mouth too.

"MATE."

My eyes snapped to my waist, where I had a small dagger stuck to it.

I quickly pulled it out and before anything, I was already on top of him, with my left hand on his neck and my right hand holding the knife just above his throat. 

"If say that word one more time, I promise to the Moon Goddess that, I would snap your head away from your throat."

I growled at him, but he didn't flinch as his bloody eyes remained glued to my face.

'We found a mate. Lily whimpered happily in my head and If I could slap her without hurting myself, I would have done so.

"Just wow. You want to kill your mate, just after finding one. Praise to the Goddess."

"That can't be. We don't know him and I can't accept him as my mate. 

I snarled but the others weren't buying it.

"Before you do so, we need to take him to the pack doctor and when he must be stable, we can question him."

Carly suggested and Suki nodded and then again, I didn't have any choice, other than to agree with them.

**

"What in the name of heaven do you think you are doing? It's been two days and you have not bothered to go check on your mate?"

Carly rolled in  my room fuming and then followed by Suki.

They were trying too hard, to make me lose my mind. A fucking and clueless boy we met at the blood forest and they wanted me to accept him as my mate, even after the fact that I didn't want a mate. 

We had taken the boy who I didn't know his name to Doctor Debra. She is our pack doctor. 

Carly and  Suki were the ones who took him there. 

"I have pack matters to attend to and I would not waste  my time checking on nobody, understood".

I slammed the newspaper in my hands on the table with such force that they flinched. 

"You are not going to use your Alpha tone on us when we are talking about something important " 

Carly scolded. I narrowed my eyes at her. 

"Remember you are just my beta and whatever I say, you have to go with it.

I snarled as I wrapped the blanket around my body and just then, the door to my bathroom burst opened, and James walked into the room, with a towel tied around his waist, water dripping from his shiny brown hair.

He froze the moment Carly and Suki turned to face him with a deep scowl  on their faces. 

"Wait, so it's because of him, that you've been acting like this, leaving your mate at the hospital."

"MATE". James called out with gritted teeth when Suki said that  

"Yes, mate and if you don't leave this minute, I will chop your manhood off"

Suki threatened to hit him and he raised his hands up in the air in surrender. 

I gathered his clothes from the rug and aimed them at him.

He grabbed them and stomped outside. 

"Do you have anything to say?' 

Carly glanced at me. "How many times will I tell you guys that I don't want a mate. You're the people that have to..."

"Don't even go there, you are not going to bring your worthless and late father into this. You are not him. We expect a difference from you. Because your father was a lunatic, doesn't mean every other man out there would be like him".

Suki caught on,  when  I was about to explain myself.  She was just too blunt for her good. 

Suki had a mate and Carly didn't and I don't understand why she wasn't focused on getting one, but on me.

"Fine, I will got see him"

I have no other choice than to go see this so-called mate.

I will have to make him understand that I don't need a mate. We can perform our rejection rites on the next full moon, which is not far from now and when that is done, we can go our separate ways. 

"Fine, let me put on some clothes and we can go see him."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance and got up from the bed.

"The boy, Carly and Suki   brought to hospital, is awake and demands to see you."

Doctor Debra mindlinked me.