ARE YOU GOING TO REJECT ME?

I was awakened by the sound of people arguing.

I thought they were arguing in my room, but when I turned around, there was no one there.

So I tried to block out the noise by putting my pillow over my ears and sleeping back, but it didn't work, so I got out of bed.

"She cannot be crowned queen," someone yelled.

"I agree with Damian, she's too weak to be crowned queen of all clans," yelled another.

When I realized I was the target of the disturbing yells, the sleep immediately left my eyes.

"I will not allow you to call my mate weak, and you will not disrespect her in my home," Adrien finally yelled angrily.

A smile crept across my face at the thought of someone watching out for me, but it quickly faded when someone else spoke.

"She hasn't even shifted, how do you want to present a wolfless queen to everyone?" someone yelled, causing King Adrien to growl loudly.

I got out of bed and left the room after hearing enough from this distance to have breakfast downstairs.

I tried to be as quiet as possible so as not to interrupt their conversation, but when I was almost at the bottom of the stairs, I realized they were arguing in the hallway and there was no way I could pass by without them noticing me so I turned around to go back upstairs, but the conversation became heated, and I became engrossed in their argument.

They kept yelling at each other about how weak I was and how I was unfit to be the queen of the entire werewolf clan.

I didn't even want the mantle of leadership; all I wanted was a normal life, which seemed impossible to obtain.

They continued to use hurtful words to describe me; one of them referred to me as a "pulp" as if I were not twenty-three years old, while others referred to me as "weak," and they all refused to reason with King Adrien.

For all they know, I was a disgrace to werewolves everywhere and should not be crowned.

"You should reject that weakling and pray to the moon goddess to mate you with someone strong enough to handle the entire fucking werewolf clan," someone yelled, causing me to gasp.

I gasped at what the man had just said, and everyone turned to look at me.

"Leave!" King Adrien yelled at the four men, and they reluctantly walked out of the corridor, leaving Adrien and I alone.

"What were you doing listening in on my conversation?" He yelled at me as soon as they left, transferring aggression to me, and began walking towards me with his fist clenched.

He had a deadly grin on his face as he took long strides towards me, causing me to back up until I reached the bottom of the stairs.

I was terrified, both from what I had just heard and from the way he approached me as if I were an animal he wanted to devour.

"Are you going to reject me?" I asked in terror, ignoring his question.

Instead of responding, he scrunched up his face in disgust, grabbed my neck, and pinned me to the wall.

"Never respond to me with a question again!" He yelled at me, his grip tightening with each word he spat, and I struggled to break free, but he only let go when he saw I was about to be knocked out.

Then I sat on the floor, trying to catch my breath while he stormed out the front door, transformed into a wolf, and ran away.

When I was certain that I had enough air in my lungs, I dashed up to my room and sobbed on my bed. I didn't expect to be treated this way, especially since he said I was his mate.

Mates were supposed to protect each other, not hurt themselves, and it's been a week since I've had any physical contact with him.

The only evidence that he visited was his scent on the other pillow on my bed every morning when I awoke, implying that he always slept beside me.

After the first three days, I began to believe that the moon goddess had finally forgiven me for my misfortunes and decided to bless me with a mate who would not treat me like others did, but I was mistaken.

Deciding not to spend my whole day sobbing like I wasn't used to being hurt by people,I wiped the tears off my eyes and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

When I finished changing, I went downstairs to eat breakfast, hoping not to run into him.

I finished breakfast quickly and went to the room where I had spent the majority of my time since arriving.

*****************************************

I opened the large door to the room and turned on the light bulb, then ran my fingers across the picture frame by the nightstand and admired the teenager in the picture for the hundredth time before repositioning the frame and going over to the balcony.

The balconies of most of the rooms here were decorated with various types of flowers, and I know this because I've taken numerous tours around the four-story building, but this room was unique.

Instead of flowers, there was a drawing bench in one corner, with a new piece of paper on the easel.

On the small shelf there, various colors of paint, paint brushes, and pallets were arranged.

I grabbed a paintbrush and sat on the bench to think about what I wanted to paint today.

I only started painting when I moved here because I didn't get to paint in my old park and my art teacher at school despised me, so I took philosophy as an elective instead of arts.

When I started painting, the door to the balcony was flung open in less than five minutes.

I looked up, already knowing who it was, and jumped to my feet, splattering the paint on the palette all over my body.

I moved back as he marched up to me, but stopped when my back hit the shelf of paint supplies.

"What are you doing here?" He yelled at me as he dragged me out of the balcony and then out of the room by my hair.

He threw me across the hallway and locked the door before angrily making his way back to me while I crawled back in pain.

He then lifted my chin to look into his eyes when he was very close to me.

"There are only two rooms in this building you're allowed to enter, your room and the dining hall; every other room is off limits!" He yelled at me, and tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Did I make myself clear?" He yelled at me and I nodded, then he let go of my chin and walked away.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I yelled with tears streaming down my cheeks.

If he was going to reject me, he should do so without hurting me physically.

"Why did you bring me here if you were going to treat me like a plague? You should have left me in my pack if you were going to treat me like a slave." I continued to scream in agony.

He came to a halt but did not turn to face me, but I could tell he was angry because he bawled up his fist.

"There's no difference between you and them; you're all monsters," I spat.

This must have enraged him because he turned around and marched towards me while I crawled back in fear.

When he was very close to me he carried me off the ground by my neck.

As I struggled to break free from his grip, I noticed his eyes had turned from emerald to pitch black.

"I'll show you how a monster acts," he growled silently at me, but it still scared me.

"Abel!" He yelled, and a large man dashed into the hallway.

"Take her to the dungeon and tie her up," he said, hurling me at the Abel guy.