For a solid 20 seconds, Asher stood frozen in disbelief. His complexion turned pale, resembling someone who had encountered a ghost. While everyone else seemed perplexed by his reaction, I understood all too well. My heart pounding within me was deafening, and I dreaded its intensity tearing me apart. This couldn’t be real. It simply couldn’t be happening.
“Babe, are you alright?” Leslie touched her boyfriend’s face. “Why do you look so scared?”
“I…” He was at a loss for words, “Leslie…”
I could see that Asher lacked the courage to confront the truth, let alone admit it to his girlfriend. What did this mean for us? Asher has a girlfriend, and I end up being his mate? How are we ever going to resolve this? Will Leslie even let us be together? Will Asher fight for us?
A million questions were racing through my mind. As Asher struggled to compose himself in his newfound reality, I shook with the fear of endless ways this was going down.
I watched as Leslie wrapped her hands on either side of Asher’s face trying to bring him to answer her question. A foreign sensation gripped my heart as if someone were poised to snatch away what rightfully belonged to me. I could no longer endure the sight of her hands on him. Asher remained hesitant to disclose the truth to her, yet I felt prepared. I didn’t want to keep her in the dark anymore.
“I am his mate,” I said in a low tone.
As soon as the words slipped my mouth, Leslie whipped her head to look at me, “What?” She shrieked, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“It’s true,” I breathed out. “I am his mate.”
With her mouth agape, she looked at Asher, “Please tell me this is a load of bullshit. No way she’s your mate,” she said.
Asher slowly faced Leslie, and his guilty eyes spoke of the words he was afraid to speak, “She is right, Leslie.” He slowly mumbled, “She is my mate.”
A feeling of warmth rushed through my veins at his declaration, and I couldn’t help but feel elated. It was finally happening. I found my mate!! I knew he was not completely ready to accept it yet, but I was glad that he at least admitted it in public.
“How is that possible? There must be a mistake,” Leslie said, almost crying. Despite what she did to me, I truly felt sad for her for a moment. In what way could she possibly come to terms with the revelation that her boyfriend was, in fact, another person’s mate?
In quiet disbelief, I shook my head, struggling to comprehend the situation fully. Leslie’s boyfriend was my mate? The future alpha of our pack was my mate? How could such a seemingly impossible connection exist? And what did this revelation mean for me? Observing Asher’s expression, I could empathize with his initial shock. While I understood his surprise, I couldn’t help but yearn for a glimmer of happiness to surface within him.
His lack of emotion scared me. I dreaded entertaining the possibility, yet it incessantly nagged at the recesses of my mind. I longed for him to break the silence and acknowledge the situation. It became increasingly clear that discussing this matter privately with him would be the wiser course of action.
“Asher, can I talk to you in private?” I asked.
“Of course not,” Leslie hissed, sliding her hand around his arm. “He is not going anywhere with you. I will kill you if you try to get anywhere close to him.”
I frowned at her proximity to him as I expected her to keep her distance after knowing he was my mate. I wanted to open my mouth and ask her to back off kindly, but I was never given a chance. Instead, Asher finally seemed to have found his voice.
“That won’t be necessary, babe,” Asher said with a slight distaste. He tried to open his mouth again, but it seemed he had no words to spare.
Finally, when he found his voice, his words shattered my heart. “I reject her,” he uttered, leaving me devastated.
The concept of heartbreak had always seemed abstract to me, but at that moment, I was experiencing its tangible reality. Asher’s gaze locked with mine as he uttered those words, and it felt like his words pierced my chest like a sharp dagger. Instantly, a profound sense of emptiness engulfed my being, as if a vital part of my soul had been irretrievably lost. In many ways, it had. I had lost my soul. I lost my mate.
Tears started surfacing in my eyes, and there was no way I could hold them back. Unable to look at Asher, I turned away and started walking toward the exit. A small part of me hoped that perhaps he would follow me. But he didn’t.
Once outside, I started running to my dorm room. I didn’t stop until I reached my room and opened the door. As soon as I hit the bed, uncontrollable tears flowed down my cheeks. My throat hurt from sobbing hard, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
It hurt. It hurt everywhere.
Why would he do that to me? Was I really so bad that he couldn’t accept me as his mate? We were destined to be together, but he thought rejecting me would be easier than being with me.
It was perhaps because of the lies Leslie had been feeding him. But even then, how could he reject me without trying to get to know me better? Ever since I discovered he was my mate, it felt like a piece of me had already united with him. But he didn’t waste a minute to destroy everything I had at that moment.
In retrospect, I felt like a fool to have waited for this day all my life. Ever since my dad died, my only hope was my mate. I was sure I would eventually find someone loving and caring for me. However, I had never considered the possibility that they would reject me.
The more I thought about what had just happened, the more Leslie’s offensive words kept playing.
“Your father should have dragged you into the pit with himself. It would have been good riddance.”
Her voice echoed in my head. I never thought about it before, but perhaps she was right. Maybe I should have died with my father that night.
It’s been four months since the war, and nothing remained the same. The aftermath of the battle was just as gloomy as the events leading up to it. Although the threat to our survival diminished significantly, it took us a long time to accept the disastrous consequences of the war. With so many lives and resources lost, we all had to work extra hard to restore the balance of our community. However, it was only after these four difficult months that we found a reason to celebrate once again. And the occasion was Bella and Lucien’s much awaited wedding. When Lucien took over his empire, Bella and him decided to move out of our house. Starting a new life of their own beyond the mountains, they remained away from us for longer than we’d hoped. Although Amanda visited her a couple of times, both Marcus and I haven’t been able to make time for the same. So naturally, when I met her earlier today as we arrived at their new house, I couldn’t control my tears, and neither could she. “I’v
Considering who we were dealing with, we should’ve known better than to believe that the Lycan King would stick to the rules of the war. When the war began, both the parties established that none of the fighters would carry the war beyond the battle ground. However, after experiencing significant loss yesterday, the Lycan King had perhaps realized that they were heading for defeat. It drove him to do what he was doing right now, breaking rules and going to capture Bella. Thank God Lucien and I caught them before it was too late, for I don't know what would have happened if the Lycans had infiltrated the town. “Where are they?” I asked in impatience as I looked out of the window. As soon as Marcus was informed about what the Lycans were up to, he asked us to head straight home. Bella, Ethan and Natalie were already shifted home by the time we came, along with the baby and the other staff at the medical center. Our army was heading into the town now to fight the Lycans although few
“I heard you were hurt.” He clasped his eyes shut in regret, shoulders slumping down. When he opened them once again, his eyes flickered toward the two men who were awkwardly standing by his side.“Please leave us alone, Potter.” “Yes, Alpha.” The man with the blonde hair nodded and walked past me to exit the room. Once my eyes were on him again, I noticed that his disappointment was still persisting. “Come on,” I said, “You can’t be mad at me.” “Of course I’ll be mad at you Kiara, what were you thinking?” He said, “I’d particularly told you to not do anything stupid and you come all the way into the danger zone all alone?” Tears welled in my eyes at his strict tone. I understood why he was reacting like this but I hoped that he would have some empathy for what I was feeling. He couldn’t expect me to not do anything when I knew he was in danger. “I couldn’t help it.” I managed to say, “I was scared for you. And I knew that if I told anyone, they would never have let me come here
My hand instantly wrapped around her, reclining her onto a nearby stretcher. Thank God I’d asked for a midwife to stay on stand-by, I was suspecting this would happen. “Take her into the operating room right now!” I said as the nurse took over. “Kiara.” She clutched my hand, forcing me to come with her into the room, “I… I need Ethan.” My heart twisted in pain as I looked into her eyes. Conflicting emotions arose within me as I contemplated what to say to her, making me temporarily devoid of voice. Noticing my hesitation, she shook my hand once again.“Kiara?” “Yeah…” I said as I found the courage to answer her. There was no way I could tell her the truth in this condition. I would have to mask it with a good lie until she was in a position to hear the truth. “Natalie, I’m so sorry, dear. But Ethan is in the middle of a battle. I’ve got the news about half an hour ago, I can’t get him to you now.” “Oh, God.” She groaned, falling back onto the pillow, “I don’t think I can do this
Although Marcus was giving me the most reassuring smile he could, I couldn’t help the trepidations in my heart. The war had arrived much sooner than I’d expected, making it even harder for me to let go of him. In fact, I didn’t think any number of days would have prepared me for this one, for no wife would want to bid adieu to her husband as he prepares himself to fight the most cruel monster known. Despite my attempts to have faith in Marcus’ abilities to kill the Lycan King, I couldn’t help the worry that traveled all the way to the pit of my stomach. It was merely days ago that we were happily relishing our honeymoon, and now, Marcus was heading to a war. I was feeling a lot of emotions right then, but fear dominated them all. “Kiara?” He said, placing his hand on my shoulder, “Oh, don’t look at me like that, darling.” Pursing my lips, I gave him a defeated look, “Alright,” I sighed, “I’m going to be so worried for you.” “I promised I’ll be careful.” “I don’t trust you.”
As luck would have it, Marcus and I arrived home right about the same time. Relief washed over his features as he saw me running towards him, opening his arms for me. “Thank God you’re alright.” He said as he pecked my forehead. “Marcus,” I said, breathless, “What the hell was that about?” “We got news that Mary’s Husband, Victor, is part of a rebellion.” He said, “He is a Lycan.” “What?” I asked, “H-how did he-“ “He mostly probably came as an Immigrant, and is looking to turn our people against us.” He said and looked towards our house. “We need to get out of here, Kiara. Our men are going to take care of it. I’ll deal with him later.” “Okay.” I nodded and let him lead me into the house. Within minutes, our bags were packed and loaded into the boot. Hoping into the car, Marcus drove away from there. “Does this mean Mary was also a Lycan?” “Most probably.” He said, “Her husband is leading the rebellion. Of course, she’s aware.” “I knew it.” I mumbled under my breath, “How co