Chapter 2

Leila's heartbeat began to pound loudly in her ears, the moon priestess was pointing at her! The wide eyed stares that the people around were giving her, confirmed Lola's thought, but she still felt she needed to ask.

"M... Me?", Leila stuttered, pointing at herself.

"Yes, you", the moon priestess confirmed.

Leila looked at the people that were standing next to her, they were all staring at her, even the girl that had been praying silently next to her, Leila could now feel her gaze on her.

"Come child", the moon priestess' words pulled her out of reverie.

Leila shakily walked forward, towards the moon priestess. By now, a silence had fallen over the entire field as all eyes were on her. She stopped in front of the moon priestess who took her hand and led her towards the center of the field, where the bonfire had been lit, towards Hendrik. As they approached the bonfire, she could see Hendrik staring at them, watching them, his head cocked to the side curiously.

They got to where Hendrik was standing and the two of them glanced at each other. Hendrik stared at Leila curiously and Leila could not meet his eyes. She felt like she was in a dream.

The moon priestess held Leila's hand and gestured at Hendrik to come closer. Hendrik inched closer to them, his eyes still on Leila.

"What is your name, child?", the moon priestess asked Leila.

"Leila", she managed to answer softly.

"Hm, Leila", the moon priestess nodded.

"And are you unmated Leila?", the moon priestess asked her.

"Yes", Leila nodded.

"And are you looking for a mate? Is that why you came and wore the flower?", the moon priestess asked.

"Yes", again Leila nodded.

"Which means if the moon goddess has chosen a mate for you tonight, you would accept?", the moon priestess asked.

Leila drew in a sharp breath,

"Yes", she managed to nod shakily.

'Was this what she thought it was?

Leila sneaked a peak at Hendrik. He was no longer looking at her with curiosity. There was something else she saw in his eyes as he looked at her but it was gone almost as soon as she noticed it.

"Let it be known, that in this annual moonlight ceremony, the moon goddess has decided to choose these two people, Hendrik and Leila, to be each other's mate", the moon priestess announced in a loud voice.

There was a sudden break out of whispers among the crowd and Leila herself stood, staring at the moon priestess with wide eyes.

Had she heard the moon priestess right? Did she just say that Hendrik was her mate? The moon goddess had finally answered her prayers and given her a mate? Leila felt a rush of happiness, excitement and relief. The moon goddess had not only given her a mate, he had given her a kind one, how could she be so lucky?, she thought to herself and couldn't stop a small smile from creeping onto her face.

Leila looked at Hendrik and the smile on her face froze. He was staring at her, but the look in his eyes as he stared at her was not one of happiness or excitement, he was staring at her coldly? Leila couldn't tell because it was gone almost as soon as she saw it and his eyes had now reverted back to the usual merry eyes that were always glittering with gentleness and kindness. Leila blinked.

'Had she imagined it?', she wondered to herself.

She looked at Hendrik again and that cold look wasn't there but he still didn't seem very happy about the whole thing and Leila slowly began to lose her joy.

'Would he reject her?', she asked herself.

'Had she miscalculated? Was Hendrik not kind enough to want to accept her as his mate? Would he reject her here', these questions ran through Leila's mind like crazy and she found herself feeling less and less happy when she realized the burden of their answers.

'Had the moon goddess actually answered her prayers?'

From where she stood, Leila could hear the whispers or the crowd growing louder. She caught the cold, disapproving stare from some of the girls but she couldn't be bothered with them right now, her eyes were on Hendrik as she contemplated in her mind the answer to her questions.

"If there are any objections as to why these two should not be mated, please speak up", the moon priestess announced as was customary.

"There is", Hendrik said finally after some minutes of silence.

The moon priestess stopped and turned to look at him. Leila held her breath.

"All my life...", Hendrik began gently.

"I have known only my mother as my parent. It was always her wish that I get the best of everything before she passed", Hendrik continued raising his voice a little louder since everyone could hear him and the crowd in turn welcomed his voice by turning quiet.

They all stood silently listening to him. Hendrik's gaze roamed around the crowd before finally coming to settle on Leila. He looked at her kindly, with something of an apologetic expression on his face.

"So I'm sorry, I cannot be your mate, Leila", Hendrik told her softly and Leila drew in a sharp breath.

"Would you reject the will of the moon goddess?", the moon priestess asked him calmly.

"Yes", Hendrik answered and glanced at Leila again.

"Yes I would", he repeated while staring directly at Leila.

"Let it be known!", he raised his voice and removed his gaze from Leila.

"That I, Hendrik, reject Leila as my mate!", he announced.

Leila began to breath shakily as another round of whispers broke out in the once silent crowd. The whispers grew louder as more and more people began to talk to themselves about the sudden turn of events. Leila bit her lips as the tears pooled in her eyes.

"I am sorry", Hendrik told her softly, with an apologetic expression.

"Well, if that is what you desire then by laws, you are free to reject...", the moon priestess began to recite the customary words that followed rejection but Leila could not hear any longer.

All she could hear were the whispers that were growing louder and louder with each minute that passed. She could feel all of their gazes on her. She knew they were talking about her. She saw some of them look at her with jeering looks, sneering eyes and mocking smiles. No doubt they were all mocking her and all of a sudden in such an open space, Leila began to feel suffocated. When the moon priestess had finished with the customary rites that followed rejection, she told them they were free to leave. She heard Hendrik say something to her but to be honest she didn't hear exactly what she had said, she couldn't. She turned around and began to walk back towards the crowd like a zombie, a deafening ringing in her ears, tears pooled in her eyes. The crowd made way for her to pass as she approached but they were all sneering at her, mocking her, she could see it on their faces, they didn't even bother to hide it.

Leila had walked through the crowd when all of a sudden she noticed someone standing in front of her, blocking her way. She looked up and saw Hannah and her gang of friends staring down at her sneeringly.

"Guys, look at her, she's in tears", Hannah mocked and her friends laughed.

"No way, you didn't really think Hendrik would accept you as his mate, did you?", Hannah asked her jeeringly.

Yes, she had been that foolish, been that stupid to think that fate would be nice to her for the first time.

Leila circled around Hannah and her friends and walked past them, leaving them jeering and sneering after her as she walked past them. She didn't have the strength to answer them or anyone so she just kept on walking. She walked a great distance with no destination in mind, just letting her feet lead the way.

The sound of rushing water woke Leila up from her zombie-like state as she blinked and looked ahead, she was standing in front of a waterfall. She recognized this waterfall, she looked around and there were only trees around her. In her tired state, her feet had carried her here, to the waterfall she used to come so often to with her parents. Leila stared at the waterfall as fond memories came running into her head and with the memories, great pain also followed and Leila broke down at the edge of the waterfall, tears rolling freely down her cheeks.

Why? Why was fate so cruel to her? Not only had she been born without a wolf which was considered bad enough, fate had also taken her parents away from her, her only source of strength and comfort and now even the mate that she had hoped would be her way out had rejected her. Just what had she done to deserve this? Why was life so cruel to her? Why had fate dealt her such a cruel hand?

Leila lamented over all these questions for a long time but there was no one to answer them so she continued to cry. Leila sat there for a long time crying until she cried her eyes out. When she started to feel a bit better, she stood up and began to head back home.

On getting to her house, Leila was surprised to find someone waiting for her.