CHAPTER 3

ETHAN'S POV

The moment I have been waiting for all my life is finally here but I cannot bring myself to be happy about it. When she fainted in front of me last night, I shift back to my human form, and anger coursed through my veins when I notice scars all over her body.

I carry her in my arms to take her to my pack only for me to realise that she is human. I change my course and take her to a cave where no one could find her. After I lay her down on a large boulder, I tower above as my eyes scan her frail body which is covered with both old and new scars. She looks undernourished and her face has lost its color. Her dirty brown hair looks unkept which makes me wonder what she is going through to be in such a terrible condition.

Knowing that I can not leave my house for too long without my parents sending people to look for me, so I return to the pack with my head in turmoil.

Having a human mate is forbidden in my pack.

Although we have a good relationship with the human community we don't consider them as potential mates because they are weak compared

M to us. I know my pack will be against me taking a human as a mate especially when we will be creating the next generation of the alpha bloodline.

At a point, I start to consider rejecting her and taking Amelia as my mate like my parent suggested. But my wolf decides to give me the silent treatment for even thinking about rejecting our mate that we have been searching for all these years. Deciding not to reject her and trying my best to make my pack accept her, I sneak out in the middle of the night with some foodstuff and go to the cave where I kept her.

It did not surprise me to find her still asleep. Her body is weak and needs a lot of rest to regain its lost energy. I sit down next to her, thinking about how I am going to convince my pack to accept her. Since I can't come up with any idea, I decide to keep her hidden for a while.

I remain in my seat until the sun came up and I notice her stir in her sleep and open her eyes, taking in the surrounding with a confused gaze before she sit up.

She jumps back in fear when she notices me beside her. She calm down when I lied to her that I

saved her life. Seeing that she was scared of me I decide not to tell her the truth about my identity.

A sense of sadness run through me when she said she was leaving. I want her to be by my side forever even if I have to go against my community for her. The moon goddess chose her to be with me for a reason and I'm not ready to dispute that reason.

After I convince her to tell me what happened to her, she open up to me and told me everything she faced before coming here. As she narrates the story, all that is running through my head is to go into Silver wood town and search for the heartless man who did to his stepdaughter, my mate.

"I think it's advisable not to go back there," I say after she finish narrating her story.

"But I have nowhere else to go," she says almost in a whisper as the ray of light entering the cave causes her blue eyes to twinkle.

"You can stay here." I take a step closer to her and place my hand on her cheeks. "I don't want you to go back to a place where your life is constantly in danger."

"How am I supposed to survive here?" She turns to look inside the cave with raised eyebrows. "I can't live in a cave forever."

"I'm going to provide anything you need here and I will arrange a place for you in my town but for the time just stay here, okay?" I give an assuring look.

Never in my life have I been eager to please someone and make them stay. Usually, I cut people off when they make the slightest mistake which is why the only friend I have is Aaron. He is the only person who tolerates my cold attitude and understands me. But, surprisingly, I have been nothing but nice to the blue-eyed girl which is against my way of manner.

"Okay." She bobs her head up and down.

You must be hungry." I turn to walk back inside the cave. "I brought some food for you." I take my seat on the boulder she was occupying and bring out a bag that I place beside it. One after the other, I bring all the snacks and food while she comes closer to sit with me.

"What's your name?" She asks and I look up to meet her curious eyes.

"I'm Ethan."

"I'm Mia." Her face lit up with a smile, making her look beautiful despite her miserable condition.

Just by looking at her, one could tell that she has an unspeakable beauty but what she has been through did a lot to hide it.

We eat breakfast together as she asks where my town is. I reply her by saying it was on the other side of the forest and they have strict rules about accepting visitors which is why I can't take her there yet.

After breakfast, I leave for the pack house to attend a meeting concerning the moonlight festival which comes up every two years. It is a festival we hold to thank the moon goddess for protecting us and also to celebrate our peaceful relationship with the human community.

Long ago before my father was born, the werewolf community and human community had a lot of dispute over the dominance of Silverwood town which resulted in a war that led to a large number of death in both communities. The werewolf elders decided to put an end to it before the werewolf clan was completely wiped out.

Both came to an agreement that humans take the town while the werewolves take over the entire forest. It makes it obvious to me that Mia has been caged in her house for she not to know that no other town exists on the other side of the forest except the werewolf community. I know I cannot hide the truth for long but I want her to trust me before I disclose it to her.

As I step into the pack house, I meet with Aaron who is sporting a confused gaze as he stares at me walking in.

"Where are you coming from?" he asks.

"I went out for a run," I lie without meeting his eyes.

"Is that so?" He raises his eyebrows at me. "I've been here since six in the morning and you were nowhere to be found. So now I'm wondering when you start running for five hours in the morning."

Aaron knows me like the back of his hand, so I don't know why I bother to lie to him. He moves closer to me, folding his arm. "What exactly is going on? I run my fingers through my hair and sigh. "It's complicated."

"Since when did we start using that sentence with each other?" His eyes bore into mine. "I'm going to ask you for the last time, what's going on?"

Taking a deep breath, I look left and right to make sure no one is coming. "I found my mate."

"Oh my God, that great news," he screamed out of excitement.

"Will you keep it down?" I whisper-yelled, glaring at him.

He keeps quiet immediately and gives me a confused look. "I don't understand why you look so sad about it."

Not wanting to risk anyone eavesdropping on our conversation, I lead Aaron to my room. I look

at both sides to make sure no one is following us before I shut the door behind me.

"What's wrong with you, Ethan? Finding your mate is something you and the entire pack have been waiting for, we should be celebrating the news with everyone not hiding around like you have committed a capital offense."

"She's human," I blurt out, making him freeze in shock.

He gaps like a fish before he says, "Are you sure you got the right girl? Maybe you mistook her for your mate because you were desperate. Or maybe her wolf is just dormant that is why you think she's human."

"No, Aaron. I'm certain." I take a step closer to him. "My mate is a human."

"But it's forbidden to have a human mate," he remind me.

"You think I don't know that," I yell at him before moving away to punch the wall.

"What are you going to do now?" he asks and I rest my back on the wall.

"I have no idea."

Finding my mate is something I have been looking forward to because I need someone that will truly love me not someone who only wants me because of my position, someone that will share my burden, but finding her only added to my worries.

"Does she know about your identity and that she's mated to you?" he asks.

"No, she has no idea." I shake my head.

"That's perfect." His face lit up with an idea. "You can easily reject her without her knowing."

"I will do no such thing." I stalk toward him with my face red in anger. "She's my mate and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone in the pack accepts her."

I've waited for her my whole life, I'm not about to let her go because of some law that should have not been imposed in the first place.

"You are letting your emotions cloud your judgment. If you try to fight for your relationship, you may end up losing everything."

"I'm not going to give up without trying." I stand my ground.

"Fine." He sighs. "We'll talk about this later, let's get to the meeting first."

We walk out of my room and make our way to my father's conference room which is located on the top floor of the house. We step inside to see all seven elders taking their seats at each of the tables. I move further inside to sit on my father's right while Aaron takes his seat beside his father who is on my father's left.

"Ethan, we have been waiting for you," Davis, the oldest man among the elders says. "We are discussing you taking the position of alpha during the moonlight festival. But the issue there is the position of the Luna. You still haven't found your mate and we can not leave the position of the luna empty."

Aaron and I lock eyes before he speaks, "We still have a few days before the moonlight festival.

There is a possibility that Ethan might find his mate before then, so we should be patient."

Some of the elders nod in agreement but I can see the look of disagreement on the faces of a few of them. I turn to my father who is observing everyone quietly.

"What do you think, Alpha? Do you also agree that we wait?" says Leo, another elder.

He swerves his head to look at me before he stands up and clears his throat. "As planned, we will proceed with crowning Ethan as Alpha, and like Davis said, we can't leave the position of the Luna empty. I have no intention of waiting for someone we don't know if she is still alive, so I have decided that on the day of the moonlight festival, Ethan will marry Amelia and mark her as his mate.