Chapter 0002

Of course I’d run into her at this exact moment: it was like the universe was mocking me. Think you can’t be more upset? Well, think again!

“Out to get some fresh air, I see… I am not surprised, I just saw your sister with her new mate. What a lovely couple, Samantha sneered. Such a shame you haven’t found your mate yet! Especially now that your sister and best friend will be busy with each other. Weren’t they like the only two people who tolerated you?”

“You’d know something about not finding mates, Samantha. What’s it been? Like two years since you got rejected by that pack warrior? At least, I still haven’t found my mate… beats finding them and getting rejected!”

Samantha flushed and growled menacingly. She had been the biggest b*tch to me since I could remember, so this behavior was normal. She’d never dare attack me for real, since I was the daughter of Alpha. She turned around and started walking away from me, and into the house, before suddenly stopping and turning back. She had an evil look which meant she was about to say something horrible to me.

“Too bad Marcus won’t be around this evening… to celebrate your birthday. He’ll probably be celebrating with his girlfriend though. They were so busy making out, they didn’t even notice me walking past them in the garden.”

It felt like a million silver daggers hit my body all at once. Marcus has a new girlfriend? Having reached her goal, Samantha simply turned around and kept walking. I was trying to catch my breath. Something was not right. I was feeling overwhelmed, my body was heating up, I was nauseous… This weakness couldn’t be because of what she said.

Of course, I had a crush on Samantha’s brother, Marcus, for years. But a crush is just a crush, for us wolves. You can only be heartbroken over your mate, and I still hadn’t found mine.

“Or maybe, we have…”

The voice came out of nowhere, along with this feeling that someone was standing right behind me. I checked my surroundings, but I was still alone, standing in the same spot that Samantha had left me in.

“You’re not alone, close your eyes…”

The voice was sweet and somehow calming. I obeyed, and what I saw was beyond anything I could describe.

“You’re…MY WOLF!”

“Yes, my name is Alexandria, and I have waited so long to finally meet you.”

She was GORGEOUS! It was like the moon had suddenly transformed into a wolf, and what’s more amazing, we had the exact same shade of blue in our eyes.

“Hi, Alexandria! I am so happy to finally meet you! You are absolutely stunning! I really thought I was too weak to have a wolf…”

“Too weak? You are the strongest. Just wait till we can finally transform, I’ll show you just how strong we are together. You can open your eyes now that you’ve gotten a sneak peak at me!”

I chuckled and opened them.

“I am right here with you, the whole time. You’ll never feel alone ever again. Now, let’s go claim our mate!” she said, excited.

“Our mate? Who do you mean?”

“Haven’t you guessed, already?”

Could it really be? Was Marcus our mate? An enticing scent reached me: it was like freshly-cut lemongrass mixed with the salty sea air. Like spending a day hiking through the mountains and finishing it off with a dive into the waves. I followed it, it was getting stronger and stronger as I made my way through the garden.

That’s when I saw the most heart-wrenching scene of my life. I could only see him from the back, but I’d recognize his black shiny curls anywhere. He still hadn’t felt my presence as I just stood there and watched him. He was f***ing an omega, a black-haired beauty who often worked in the garden. She was bent over and moaning softly as he was thrusting, her black hair wrapped around his fist.

“Marcus, Marcus, that’s so good, keep going…”

“You like that, don’t you?” he growled.

My heart hurt and I could hear Alexandria howling in agony.

“LET’S KILL THAT B*TCH! SHE’S TOUCHING OUR MATE!”

It felt like she was trying to rip out of me and rip that girl to shreds. I’d never felt this kind of rage before. It was almost like all my emotions were heightened. While I was still debating whether or not I should release Alexandria and allow her to destroy that girl, I saw Marcus stop moving. Then, he slowly started sniffing the air around him.

“Marcus?” the girl called out, intrigued, “why did you stop?”

“THIS B**CH BETTER STOP TALKING OR ELSE…”

“Calm down, Alexandria. We can’t attack her! She’s not at fault!”

I wasn’t about to hurt some poor omega just because the beta took advantage of his power and convinced her to have s*x with him in the gardens. He was the one at fault, he was the one always messing around, he was supposed to wait for me, his true mate. But, he didn’t.

Marcus turned around, and his eyes met mine. I loved his eyes.

The omega seemed puzzled, she looked at him, then back at me, and I could see the horror on her face when she recognized me.

“Miss Summer, I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”

“Leave us”, Marcus used his beta tone to dismiss her.

She quickly raised her shorts and fixed her clothes before running away. Marcus was still looking at me. He didn’t even bother to hide his nudity, which made it very difficult for me to concentrate and maintain eye contact. I would have given anything, anything to get inside his head at that moment… What was he thinking? He was looking at me like he absolutely hated me…

Of course he hated me. How else would he react? It was like reliving my nightmare all over again. Who would want you? Who would want to be mated with a weakling like you? My heart burned, I just needed him to say something, anything. But he was just staring at me with this disgusted expression, like he wanted nothing more than to see me disappear.

*Marcus’ POV:

I could barely breathe. There she was, looking at me, probably disgusted and disappointed. Her electric blue eyes were staring right at me.

“MATE! MAAAAATE! WE NEED TO CLAIM HER RIGHT NOW!”

My wolf Brutus was going crazy.

“We can’t claim her, you know that. We agreed on that!” I tried to reason with him.

“We agreed on NOTHING! I told you to stop wh**ing around with those females and YOU WOULDN’T LISTEN! IF SHE REJECTS US I WILL KILL YOU!”

“YOU CAN’T KILL ME YOU IDIOT! LISTEN TO ME!”

I was still fighting internally with my wolf when I saw her look down at my… Sh*t! I was still naked! I pulled up my pants and fixed my posture before looking back at her.

My heart was breaking, but I was the Beta, I knew this day was coming, I’d made up my mind. Ever since I watched my father die of guilt and sadness after losing my mother, I swore I’d never accept my mate. I did everything I could to make sure every female in our pack knew I was a f***boy, an unacceptable mate and husband. I didn’t want to feel the loss of a mate, or cause it to someone. I was a warrior, for f***’s sake, why was this so hard?

The way she smelled was too much for me, I couldn’t stand being this close. It was like smelling a warm cup of cocoa on a rainy day, or the fresh honey I sometimes let Brutus eat, straight out of wild bees’ colonies. Nothing could smell sweeter, and I was dying to get a taste of her. Even as kids, I knew she was destined to be mine. I felt drawn to her the minute I got my wolf, so I kept my distance when all I wanted was to be able to devour her. But I couldn’t…

“Marcus, don’t be an idiot! Claim her! She will be our future Luna! We have to protect her! Don’t…”

I put up a mental block between me and Brutus before gathering all my strength and courage. This was going to hurt like hell. I don’t know if she wanted this, but she didn’t say a word ever since she caught me with that omega. I was only loyal to her and to the pack, I was loyal to the Alpha. This was definitely for the best.

“I, Marcus Lainey, reject you, Summer Storm, as my mate.”

The look of absolute shock on her face, followed by pain and tears almost made the rejection hurt more. But nothing could hurt more than this… My heart was exploding with pain, and despite the mental block I could feel Brutus’ agony. It didn’t matter how much it hurt, because it was done. I could never harm her again. The pain was temporary.

She’ll get over it…