Chapter 2: The Wench of Etrana

Samiya’s POV

“Leave us,” was the only thing that Meinrad had bothered to say from the moment he whisked me away from my home or what used to be my home, rather.

While I did enjoy the fact that there were no longer any brooding guards walking with us any longer, I didn’t enjoy the silence that accompanied us.

Scarlet, my wolf, also didn’t enjoy the fact that our mate went silent. I could feel her constant nagging at the back of my mind and I couldn’t blame her. Although we had just discovered our mate, the urge to bond with Meidran and his wolf was almost becoming overbearing.

“The moon goddess is truly so wonderful. I’ve always hoped to get a good mate, and what are the odds? Of all people in the world, she made my mate you, Meidran. We might have fallen off at a point, but I’m happy that my mate got to be my childhood best friend at the very least,” I mentioned, hoping that I had in some way given room for some conversation.

If Meinrad heard anything that I said, he didn’t show it.

His indifference didn’t help Scarlet’s nagging even in the least.

He continued to walk along the stony path, with me trailing behind him. There were times when I tried to meet up with his pace, but the man made it difficult.

“Meidran, can you please slow down?” I whispered a bit louder this time.

The man finally came to a halt. Slowly, he turned to face me and when our eyes locked, it felt as though all the air in my lungs had been knocked out of me, leaving me breathless.

Soft honey brown eyes met with my small emerald green ones and I began to feel a tingling sensation buzz around the air. It had to be the mate bond. I tried to convince myself with everything inside of me that it was only the mate bond that had me feeling like this, but the fact that my childhood crush on Meidran never really left was one that my heart never failed to remind me of.

It wasn’t just the mate bond. It was the history that I had with this man.

In a few strides, he was in front of me. He let out a deep breath and ran a hand through his silver-blond hair. “Miya… Samiya…”

“Miya,” I corrected, taking a step forward and further closing the gap between us. “You always called me Miya when we were little. I know that we fell off, and although I was angry then, I have come to understand why things happened how they did back then, Meidran. I was… I am an omega, and you were the son of the old Beta of the pack. You had to keep up appearances, and so we had to stop seeing each other, but we don’t have to do that anymore, Meidran.

The moon goddess was nice enough to make us fated mates, so we don’t have to hide any longer or stay away from each other… status doesn’t have to be an issue anymore, Meidran. So please, call me Miya. Please.”

With each word and sentence that I spoke, there was this loud beating of my chest that rang in my ears and echoed in my head. Never in my entire life did I imagine my life going this smoothly without me having to lift a finger and now that fate had decided to align itself with my wishes, I was determined to make the most of it and express my gratitude to the best of my ability.

Meidran’s lips drew into a soft smile, allowing his pearly white teeth to peek through. “Fine. I’ll call you Miya, but I need you to come somewhere with me first before we can discuss any further.”

“Where are we going?” I arched an eyebrow, slightly puzzled.

“Trust me?” Meidran’s smile widened even more.

For a woman like me, one of our most important rules was to never trust anyone, especially the ones who just happened to have an extra tail in between their legs, but this wasn’t just anyone or any other man. This was Meidran.

My Meidran.

Sure, he had hurt me in the past, but he hadn’t meant to. Meidran could never do anything to intentionally hurt me. The Meidran I knew couldn't bear it.

Plus, Scarlet would never have allowed me to say no to our mate.

Taking a leap of faith, I nodded.

He held out his hand, and I placed mine in his, giving room for the butterflies in my belly to spread to other places. It was the only thing that finally calmed Scarlet down.

We didn’t walk for long by the time we had reached the central market of Etrana.

Meidran and I were now walking hand in hand, which may have garnered stares from most of the people we walked past. I was used to getting stares from people wherever I went because of my popular status as the pack’s slut. I was used to getting even worse stares whenever I had men accompany me, but what I wasn’t used to was receiving weird stares when I was with Meidran.

The foreboding I felt in my heart worsened when I began to hear some of the whispers.

What is Beta Meidran doing? Doesn’t he know better than to wander about with the likes of her?

Has Beta Meidran’s game gotten so weak that he has to look for services with the wench of Etrana?

Isn’t that the wench of Etrana? I heard that she was the reason why Xavier and his mate started having issues.

What will his father say when he hears about this?

The rumors about me never bothered me in the past. I knew what I was, and I wasn’t ashamed of it. What worried me deeply was how Meidran was taking all of this.

Lowering my head, I held Meidran even tighter as we trudged forward. His body stiffened by my side, but I ignored it, trying to convince myself that it didn’t mean anything.

Maybe fate wasn’t on my side all this time after all, and maybe I was just too quick to rejoice because that was the only explanation I could give myself for what happened next.

A man ran forward, stepping in front of us, and from the tunic he wore, accompanied by a row of golden buttons and a sword strapped to his waist, I could only imagine that he was one of the Alpha’s guards.

The man took a bow, before standing up and clearing his throat. “I would hate to interrupt your rendezvous with er…” he took one glance at me before returning his gaze to Meidran, “With um… the wench of Etrana, but your father is looking for you. He needs to see you now and… he doesn’t look too happy either.”

Meidran withdrew his hand from mine, and although I felt a small shot of pain run through my heart at that one action, the sparks on my hand still lingered.

With blood rushing to my cheeks, I took a step away from him and kept my hands behind me.

“Thank you for the information. You can go now,” Meidran informed the guard, to which he took another bow and left, but not before sparing me another curious glance.

“So we will be going to the palace now? Is that where you wanted to take me all along?” I pressed, trying to clear the air of awkwardness that had somehow slipped in between us.

Meidran shoved his hands into his pockets and the free-spirited smile he once offered me was now replaced with a tight-lipped one. He shook his head. “No. No, that is not what I had in mind at all.”

The sense of foreboding I had earlier grew, wrapping its claws around my heart until I felt a small ache.

Looking around, I had come to notice that the stares had become even more. It felt as though a center stage had been somehow created and Meidran and I had somehow been pushed into it, with an eager audience to watch our show unfold.

I swallowed.

Forcing out a laugh, I tried to forget the fact that everyone was now watching us. “So where… where were you planning on taking me then?”

He scoffed. “It doesn’t even matter now. I thought that I could fix this mess quietly. I thought that I could change the stupid mess that the moon goddess created, but I can’t. I just can’t! I cannot pretend to be interested in a woman like you, much less want to be seen out in the open with you for goddess’s sake!”