#5

EMILY recalled how she dreamed of being mated after turning eighteen years old. While other girls her age in her pack had finally found their mates when the mating season happened, hers remained unknown. She recalled how Jacob mocked her numerous times, telling her that she was cursed by the Moon Goddess, which was why she had no wolf; worse, she had no mate who would love her.

She wondered how it felt to have a mate—to be kissed and loved for who she was—but now that someone was claiming to be her mate, she couldn’t muster the courage to believe and accept it. Even her gut twisted painfully at that thought.

She just couldn’t be mated with a beast.

Looking at the Lycan in front of her, whose wayfaring blue eyes were staring down at her, made her feel repulsed. He’d be attractive only if she didn’t find him beastly. He was a typical monster any werewolf would never want to cross paths with, and out of all the shifters who could catch her, it was so unlucky of her to be caught by the primordial Lycan without a sweat.

Emily pushed him away with all her remaining strength. The man growled and tilted his head, but she would never give in to him, even though she was scared.

With her gritted teeth, she scowled at him, “I am not your mate!”

“You are,” he said firmly. “My beast can feel the goddamn mate bond pull.”

“But I don’t!” she yelled at him hysterically. “I have no wolf inside of me. I can’t feel that freaking mate bond you are saying, and even if I do, I will not accept you as my mate!”

The Lycan Blood Alpha laughed out loud, and she instantly felt mocked and insulted. If only she had a wolf to confirm what he said, she would not have hesitated to reject him right away. Emily could never afford to be mated with a beast that killed so many lives in the past—his bloodline was monstrous… killers!

“Cut the teen drama, little rogue. My beast has a strong desire for you. It’s not really me, so don’t get your hopes up.” He then smirked. “You’re lucky. I still want to consider you.”

“What’s lucky about being mated to a monster like you?” Emily shook her head, her hands forming a fist. Breathing deeply, she marched in front of him with a glare. “I, Emily Lawrence of the Dark Moon Pack, reject you—”

But before she could finish her rejection speech, he strangled her right away. When he pushed him with force, she felt pain in her back as she hit the cold cell. Emily could feel her bones cracking at his attack.

“Dare to reject me, and I will kill you,” he uttered wryly.

Her face turned red because of the suffocation. She tried to shove his hand away, but the beast was too strong. How could a wolf-less girl ever beat him?

“L-Let m-me g-go…”

“Before you act so highly in front of me, consider this thought.” He leaned forward, glaring at her. “You’re still alive because of my mercy. A rogue like you doesn’t have the right to reject a Lycan like me. Do you get that?”

Her lips formed a thin line. There was no way she would agree with the beast. Even if she was a rogue and wolfless, she had the right to reject him as her mate. Fuck the hierarchy!

“Do you fucking get that, little rogue?” he repeated, quite persistent as he gripped her neck so tightly.

Emily started to cough, feeling her head about to explode. Her body was losing oxygen, and she was about to pass out. As the hot tears rolled down her cheeks, she swallowed her pride and just nodded. She must not die!

“Very well.” He smirked and finally let her go.

Holding her neck, she couldn’t help but cough so hard and cry in pain. She thought he was done with her, not until he grabbed her arm and tugged her forcibly into an available cell.

“W-What are you doing?” Emily panicked as she watched him close the gate of the cell and lock it with a large padlock. “What the… hell… are you doing?!”

“Can’t state the obvious, little rogue?” He raised an eyebrow. “You are going to be locked up here. Try to escape and you’ll die.”

“N-No!” She ran towards the gate and tried to stop his hand from locking it. “Stop it! Y-You can’t do this to me. I beg you!”

“Oh, you know how to beg?” He chuckled a bit before he shook his head. “Then go beg some other time. You already bored me to death. I have to find fun somewhere.”

“D-Don’t do this!” Emily started to bang the cell with her hands. “Y-You can’t leave me here! Fuck, I hate you!”

“The feeling is mutual,” he said hatefully, and he walked away without looking back at her.

Emily felt her anger coursing through her veins. Crying, all she could do was scream in frustration and bang the cell one last time before she fell to the cold ground.

***

‘You should not have done that to her! She is our mate!’ His beast, Argus, grunted in his mind as he walked to the porch of his house. ‘Release me right now!’

“Your mate!” Lucian groaned. “Not mine. Mine was Elena. I don’t feel connected to that rogue either. She was a total stranger to me.”

Lucian found the situation too odd. He grew up with the knowledge that every lycan could only have one mate. Having a second-chance mate made him confused. That was something he never saw coming.

‘I can tell you that she’s our second-chance mate! The mate bond kicks in like crazy! Fucking release me so we can talk!’

“We are goddamn talking, Argus!” He gritted his teeth, annoyed.

‘I said release me!’

“Then you have to fucking wait!”

As soon as Lucian entered his house, which was filled with darkness, he surrendered to his beast and opened the invisible vessel within him, making a huge amount of black smoke go out of his body. That dark smoke formed a beastly shape; its crimson eyes were giving him a deadly glare.

One of his special powers was to speak with his beast’s spirit, even in his human form. Argus loved to be released most of the time. It was their hobby. Talking to his beast gave him nothing but relief. However, that is not the case at this moment. Seeing his beast spirit, who was obviously growling at him, had given Lucian the impression that this would not be much of a good time.

Apparently, Argus was mad because he had just maltreated their mates—or his beast’s mate. From the moment they first saw her near the boundary, Argus had acted nuts, like the first time they saw Elena. But Lucian couldn’t feel the same as Argus could. He couldn’t feel the connection at all.

“Why did you hurt her?!” Argus’s monstrous voice echoed throughout the entire house.

Lucian crossed his arms while shaking his head. “I only shut her out.”

“I saw what you did! You hurt our mate, Lucian!”

“Probably just your mate, because I don’t feel anything about her, not even the goddamn mate bond pull, Argus.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at the beast’s spirit. “It’s not the same with Elena, or you’re just telling a lie, perhaps!”

“Our lineage is different. We can have a second chance mate! I already told you, Lucian, and you dare to doubt me right now?”

Lucian fought the urge to growl at Argus. He walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, completely aware that his beast was following him.

“I’ve felt it even if she hasn’t unlocked her wolf yet. Her smell made me so aroused and thirsty. We should take her here. We have to mark her!”

After finishing up the bottled water, Lucian turned his attention back to Argus. His beast was persistent, and the way it acted was enough to prove that it was telling the truth. He just could not figure out why he didn’t feel the same thing towards that brave rogue.

“She doesn’t want us, though,” Lucian said hatefully.

“Then we can make her,” Argus grunted. “This will be your chance to remarry. You better marry our second chance mate instead of a whore, Lucian. You wouldn’t like what I’d do if you dared to defy me.”

Lucian had an idea about Argus’s threatening words. His beast had the ability to make him suffer physically. He could hurt him, and it was the only weakness he had.

“You should transfer our mate here into the house. Again, do not defy me,” Argus warned him before the wolf spirit went back to his body.

“Shit…” he cursed as he sucked in a deep breath.

Lucian felt as if he was cheating on Elena, his dead wife. For him, she was the one and only mate he ever had. No one would be able to replace his wife, not even the rogue who just trespassed the borders to escape. But he had to pacify Argus…

And so he mind linked with Tyler. His Beta arrived at his house in less than two minutes and seemed to have just woken up from a deep slumber.

“What’s the matter this time, Lucian?”

“You have to get the rogue we just caught from the prisoners’ area. Put her in the guest room and call the pack doctor,” Lucian ordered him.

But Tyler looked at him in confusion. When his Beta tried to read his thoughts, he quickly blocked it.

“Why would you let a rogue enter your house?”

Lucian glared at him. “You’ll know. But right now, get that rogue and make sure no one finds out about this. This has to be a secret. That woman will be useful.”