Lethal Error

The metallic smell of blood filled my nose, pleasing me as I pushed the blade further. This wasn't the plan, this hadn't been the plan but I hadn't been able to stop myself, not after what I’d come across.

When Damon spoke, I heard the smile on his lips. “And I had hoped you'll make good on your promise.”

Hours before...

"Alena, are you okay?” Marina asked the door slamming loudly behind her as she hurried into my house, worry in her eyes.

She had been away for days now so my mother had said, my eyes went up to her... This was my best friend? Marina had untamed red hair that seemed to be all over the place, she was pretty in a wild way.

She grabbed me by the hand. “I was so worried about you, I'm sorry I hadn't come earlier.” She said,

I roughly pulled my hand away from her and when I saw the hurt expression cross her features, I realized what I had done - this was going to be harder than I thought. It would be difficult to manage Eliana and Alena, we were two different people and only the gods know how I’d been able to live like her all these years, she was nothing close to me, she was a pathetic weakling where I stood, but I was going to suck it up if I didn't want anyone to find out who I was and maybe it was for the best, no one would suspect sweet, gentle Alena, the Beta’s daughter for the kind of chaos I had planned for the Dark Moon pack.

“Alena, your eyes, they are…”

I quickly shut it down, I was going to also have to manage Eliana’s trait from showing up when I was more of her, like my eye color turning into a blazing red just like a sorcerer’s.

“I met my wolf,” I said to Marina immediately, choosing to switch topics. “And everything has been off since then, it's been so confusing but I'm glad you're here now. I'll be fine.”

Marina smiled at me. “It’s cool, don't worry about it. You'll get used to her very soon and you'll see how much she cares about you.”

I shrugged, saying nothing. Her voice in my head had subdued or she was giving me the silent treatment since I’d yelled at her yesterday to shut the hell up, either way, she was doing what I wanted and that was being nonexistent.

"Ah, did you hear?" She asked excitedly. "The Alpha is back!"

My demeanor switched immediately at her utterance reminding me of the act he had pulled last night. I had come home to scrub every inch of my body as much as I could and I had wiped my mouth a ridiculous amount of times.

I didn't want to do anything rash but this mate thing had to be the biggest stumbling block in my way.

"Explain to me the mate bonding thing." I suddenly said to Marina, a few months ago she had met with her mate, a warrior from our pack.

She smiled, showing off her dimples.

"It's the best thing that could happen to anyone, finding your mate is like finding a part of you you hadn't realized was missing, a huge chunk of you actually."

I felt the frown on my face deepen. "Surely that's just an exaggeration."

She shook her head. "It is not and no matter how much a person fights it, it's almost impossible to resist one's mate."

It was obvious Marina was in over her head about this mate's thing, there was no way another person's existence could mean so much in one's life, and of all people it certainly wasn't his.

I scoffed, "People reject their mates Marina, you're being extreme."

"And how many cases of that have you heard? Few right? That's because it hurts like hell, and even for the one doing the rejection." And then she lowered her voice. "Mother says long ago, a werewolf killed himself after he got rejected."

Rejection! I hadn't thought about that, that was right!

"Rejection breaks the mate bond, doesn't it? Forever, it kills off the awareness of them, the scent, the reaction..."

I trailed off when I saw Marina looking at me with curiosity.

"How do you..."

I cut her off immediately. "Don't be stupid Marina, it's common knowledge." I snapped defensively. I would be damned if I mentioned it to anyone who my mate was.

She seemed momentarily shocked by my outburst before shrugging it off. "It does, but it makes absolutely no sense to reject the one whom the goddess has chosen for you, she knows best who is suitable for each one."

I eyed Marina and said nothing in response, she knew nothing.

"Come on," She said standing up. "Have you tried shifting yet?"

I furrowed my brows, why would I want to do that?

"I don't want to." I simply said.

“Why not? It's much more exciting to shift after you've met your wolf, you're much more in control and now the communication between you and her that didn't exist before while you were in your wolf form would be established.” She said excitedly.

“Why would I want to communicate with her?” I muttered under my breath.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Marina asked, her eyes peering into mine intently.

"Why won't I be?"

"It's just, I don't know, there's something different about you."

Fuck! I closed my eyes and took in a breath.

"You were excited about meeting your wolf Alena, and now you're just, and it's like you've switched all of a sudden." She said gently.

I opened my eyes and stretched out my hand, gently placing it on her arms while maintaining steady eye contact with her - her thoughts filled my head immediately.

"Marina," I began in a soft voice. "You have nothing to worry about, it's still me Alena, your best friend, and I know I might be acting odd but you have to understand that a major change has happened in my life and after that night, I really haven't recovered."

And instantly, I heard her wary thoughts change to pity and it irked me. Who the hell was she to pity me? A lowborn species? It was almost laughable but I kept on with it, it was best I had everyone around me on my side, every single one of them.

She suddenly pulled me into a hug, surprising me. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back.

"I'm sorry Alena," She said, pulling away. "By the way what was that? What had happened? I was terribly scared, you'd fallen on the floor screaming your lungs out."

"Who knows? C'mon, let's head out." I said jumping up.

We shut the door behind us and made our way into the woods.

"I found this spot," Marina said as we walked deeper, past large trees.

"Technically not me, André did but it's amazing." André was her mate and they did so much together, they were still yet to commence their bonding ceremony but they as well could have.

I let her lead the way there, letting myself get distracted by her incessant chatters that irritated me... Has she always been this much of a chatterbox?

"Come on, we have to be back before dusk settles in." She said pulling me by the hand towards a steep slope, we climbed our way down and she jumped down landing on solid ground before encouraging me to do the same, and just as I did, and turned to see where we had gone, I froze.

"It's stunning, right?" She asked, turning to me with a large smile.

I stared at the beautiful view, aware of my eyes blazing uncontrollably - It was the same clearing the werewolves had gathered around to set I and Mother on fire.