CHAPTER THREE

ZARA POV

I did not know how long I had been unconscious. I faintly remembered that I had laid in a pool of blood long after Ryder had left with Ravenna. I also remembered faintly what he had told Ravenna while I was writhing in pain.

"The medicine is potent. It will take away that thing she calls pregnancy."

When I opened my eyes and scanned the room, it was my cabin!

I quickly checked if I was still pregnant and fortunately for me, I was not!

It occured to me then that I had been reborn. The moon goddess had given me another chance to live again..I had died in the cell and I was alive again. She answered my dying wish.

'You are my home, and I will always be a part of you, from this day onward.' The voice came from within me and I realized that my wolf had been awakened. It spoke to me for the first time.

It was the day of the mating ceremony and I had to be at the pack house.

'You must go back and reject Ryder before he rejects you. The moon goddess has given you a second chance to make things right and you must do it.' My wolf spoke. It's voice came clear and calm and I almost thought someone outside me had spoken. I rose up and left the cabin. I ran with an unusual speed to the pack house, and when I got there, the drinking and celebration was in earnest.

I pushed through the crowd, steadily making my way to the front where Ryder Blackmane and his friend Blaze were standing, no one seemed to remember to boo me or taunt me for being without a wolf.

I took one deep breath and muttered words of appreciation to the moon goddess for granting me a second chance to set my life right.

I reached the front line and waited. Soon, it was Ryder's turn to pick his mate and present to the pack. The Alpha sat uneasily on the dais as he watched with his little beady eyes.

Ryder walked round the crowd, stopping to smile at the young women.

"How I wish the prince would look favorably at me and pick me!"

"How lucky his mate will be."

"Whoever happens to be his mate will be the next luna of the Hedge pack!"

"If wishes were horses, I would rather the moon goddess made me....."

There were many voices rambling on as Ryder eventually reached me. He took my hand and pulled me out of the crowd.

'Don't let him reject you first. You have the chance now.' My wolf warned. I was almost dazed by the occurrences. How was he now holding me by the hand to reject me in this second life?

"Ryder Blackmane is henceforth not my mate!" I heard myself shout. My voice came out sounding unusually loud. I knew why.

My wolf. She had permeated every fiber of my existence and affected even my way of speaking.

"I am not his mate!" I continued. "The mate bond between us today is broken and I will never have Ryder Blackmane for a mate."

There, I had publicly renounced the mate bond which the moon goddess had willed for me and Ryder.

"Why have you rejected your mate?" I heard my mother's voice as she pushed out from the crowd.

I turned around and shook my head at her. "He was going to reject me. I knew beforehand and I have made no mistake, mother." I assured her.

Ryder was coated in shame as he let go of my hand and walked out from the hall. The crowd did not recover immediately from the shock, even as I turned on my heels and ran away from the hall.

My eyes flashed dangerously, and they knew my wolf had awakened. I was my father's daughter after all.

For the first time, I took to the woods and went for a run in my wolf form. There was an unusual surge of energy and boldness in me that I could not bottle up.

When I returned from the run and went back to the cabin, Ryder was in my cabin, sitting on the same chair I usually sat on by the fireplace. I smelt of woods and river water. I had stopped by the river that served as a boundary between the Hedge pack and the tribe of dinosaurs and were witches and had dunked myself severally.

"I see your wolf is awakened and you now have the strength of ten strong wolves put together. No longer the little helpless girl with no wolf!" Ryder said with a scoff.

I stood by the door watching him and fuming with anger.

"You are my mate. You can not deny me publicly and go free. Do you know that? Do you have an idea how humiliated you left me?" He stood up and walked to me. "You trampled on my ego right in front of the entire pack!"

He breathed against my face and brought one hand around my neck. He gripped me by the neck and threw me across the room before I could make sense of the situation.

I sprang to my feet before he reached me again.

He reached me and started to take off his trousers.

"Don't you come close to me. Leave my cabin now, Ryder." I ordered.

He laughed, "You command me?"

"I said leave now!" I yelled. I felt my wolf spring up inside me as Ryder rushed towards me, sweeping me off my feet. He was atop me in the next instant. He tried to forcefully part my legs.

My claws grew as he struggled to keep me still. Without a second thought, I lifted my hand and drove my claws into his face. I waited patiently as I felt the first droppings of his blood on me.

His hand moved to the chin that had been wounded and he got off me, surprised that I had hurt him. I rolled off the bed and the last thing I saw was his fist as it descended heavily on my face.