My Mate is My Curse

Chapter 2

Zopia's POV

I made my way back to the East Pack. My house was at the north end of the pack, just behind the back hills. The sun has climbed up to the top. Sunlight glowed on my white house, making the triangle roof sparkle with golden spots.

Pushing open the wooden door, I went inside. With one hand closing the door, my other hand quickly took off my bloody black sleeves and sports pants. I grabbed the clean jogging outfit which I had prepared on the bed before going out.

I turned around, sitting in front of the dressing table. I pulled all my hair into a high ponytail while glimpsing at the clock. I still got thirty minutes left before the pack meeting.

Time to do my makeup. I looked into the mirror, bloody scars crawling on my face.

"Your scarred face makes you like a serial killer," Arya commented in my head.

I giggled, "Yeah. But I like it." It is a gift from my Mama – an ugly, destroyed face, which protects me from all kinds of harassment you might think of happening to an orphan girl.

I pinched my face skin from the jaw, pulling it out and upward. My skin was slowly flipped up, revealing my real face.

My papa used to say I would grow up to be as gorgeous as my mama. I did, but he never got to see how I looked. And in my memory, he never grew old. Perhaps that’s the only benefit from I lost my parents at a young age.

I checked on my delicate features in the mirror, which was nearly the same as my Mama’s. I raised one of my eyebrows to myself in the mirror, feeling strange that I was looking like that. I will never get used to my real face.

I opened the drawer and pulled out another scar-scattered fake mask. I started to glue it on my face from the edge of my jaw. When the mirror changed to an ugly scarred face, I felt comfortable and familiar.

“Cover your face to be safe…” That was what my Papa told me before he died. Those rogues who killed Papa and Mama were intentions to take their lives – only their lives, as the murderers left then, without taking any money from us.

My parents are the kindest werewolves I’ve ever known. I never understood why someone would plan to kill them.

“Beep-beep!” My phone called out, reminding me there were only ten minutes left for the meeting.

I bounced up from the chair, strode out of the door, and went straight to the meeting hall.

"Your Beta is awful. Alpha Patton f****d her and gave her the beta position." I heard this remark about me when passing by the training yard.

Though I was urgent for the meeting, I stopped to peep into the yard. The one talking was a so-called experienced trainer sent by the Silver Pack, assisting our pups to do the warrior training.

Some pups surrounded him, arguing,

"Nonsense! Our Zopia beat everyone to get the Beta position!"

"Peter, you know nothing about Zopia. Please don't spread rumors."

"We don't need you to train us, you big stupid dull."

Seeing my pups fighting for my reputation, I swore inwardly I would never interrupt their training later on.

Since I got the Beta position at 16, rumors about me have never stopped.

Even a famous hybrid of witch and werewolf, claiming herself professional in predicting the timing of werewolves meeting their mates, declared that I wouldn't have a mate. She had a pair of orange glowing eyes, which are said to see werewolves’ future. She said she saw my future lingering in the endless darkness.

I’m used to being questioned about gaining the Beta position only because of my female gender and non-Beta bloodline.

"Liar, Zopia has scars everywhere on her face. She is violent and a little ugly. No man wants to sleep with her! Our Alpha is also a man!" Another pup spat out to oppose the trainer.

Thanks, kid, but please don’t use such an excuse the next time. I laughed bitterly inside. Though given my fake ugly face, I used to have a boyfriend, even a noble one, the son of Alpha Patton, Alpha heir of the East Pack. His name is Asher. He broke up with me a year ago after meeting his fated mate. I didn’t blame him because I wanted to kill him for the first couple of months. Just kidding.

More kids rushed to yell and retorted to the trainer. The whole training yard became a lawsuit debate scene but lacked a judge.

As the Beta of the East Pack, I was responsible for solving this problem. Considering I was the main topic of the problem, I’d better not get involved directly. I tried to mind-link Alpha Patton.

"Who knows which b***h was f****d, gave birth to your Beta." I heard the trainer say. And I looked towards him, “You are Zopia, right?” He sneered at me.

How dare he humiliate my parents? I sprinted towards him with my wolf speed. I yanked him by his collar, the other hand pulled out my knife and stopped one inch before his heart.

"Peter, right? Watch your mouth." I moved closer to his ear, whispering, "Children are present. That's why I won't beat you."

I saw his teeth shiver for a second before gritting tightly. "Do you know who I am? If you know, you will beg for my forgiveness."

"I don't care who you are. Mind your own business." I pushed him away and retreated back.

“Hurray! Zopia wins!” The kids around us cheered up.

I spun to rub their hair, “Go on with your training. Don’t gather around"

"Okay, Zopia!"

"Got it, Zopia!"

...

Some of them grimaced at Peter and mimicked my action, yanking up each others' collars.

"What's your last name?" Peter suddenly asked a weird question.

I didn’t answer him, instead, turned to walk towards the gate. Time had run out for the pack meeting. I couldn’t get stuck here any longer.

"I, Peter Harris, will challenge you, Zopia no last name, till one's death." He roared. His growling went through the trees behind, surrounding the yard, causing everyone to look at him.

I paused, spinning back. His index finger pointed at me. His tanned muscles under the sun made him like a stone sculpture. As the trainer sent by the Silver Pack, one of the most important packs in Werewolf Land, Peter should be a good fighter.

A challenge till death is the severest type of fighting. Never end till one’s death.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw a slim woman standing under the oak tree, watching us in tears.

"You have a mate?" I asked, ignoring his challenge.

"What do you mean?" he sneered, "Do you want to sell your body to me? She won't mind," he said as his eyes shot at that woman.

If I accepted Peter's challenge, his mate would witness his death, drowning in desperation forever, just like me, seeing my parents get murdered. No one deserves that pain.

"I decline your challenge." After replying to him plainly, I mind-linked Alpha Patton.

"Sorry, Patton, I failed to make it to the meeting on time. Please drop by the training ground ASAP. URGENCY."

He answered me quickly. "What meeting? Today is Saturday, Zo. We don’t have a pack meeting on the weekend. I'm watching a movie with my Luna on Netflix. No time for any urgency. You deal with it."

I was choked for a second before replying. "....Peter challenged me to death. He literally forced me to kill him. Don't bring popcorn here."

I cut off the link when Peter lunged toward me. "Take my challenge!" he snarled.

His eyes turned pitch black, his wolf took over furiously. Noises like millions of bees flying around me bumped into my ears, bringing a dizzy wave running through my body.

"Like my gift, chick?" He snarled.

I twisted away in a trance to avoid his attack. All I heard was “Zzzzz…” the annoying noise took up my brain.

I found it hard to concentrate on his movements, let alone breaking his bones.

Arya shouted inside, "Zo, are you okay?"

"My heart beats fast," I said. The volume of noise was up and down, changing at a rapid frequency. It caused my heart to hammer with it. My eyes got blurred and my forehead enlarged as if it would explode.

"I've heard of this kind of gift before. It is impossible to force his noisy gift out once it sneaks into your head. Change your strategy!" Arya said quickly.

Arya was right.

Taking a deep breath and contemplating other fighting strategies, I need to think quickly.

“Run!” Arya shouted.

I got her instantly. I used my wolf speed, swiftly running around him in a circle. My body was vibrating like a high-speed train passing by. My shadow became a blur, nearly disappearing under the sunlight.

I’ve never run so fast in my life. So fast that my scars were ripped apart by the wind, blowing bloody scent in the air.

Peter rotated in the center. His eyes tried to catch up with me but he failed. His bee noise lost direction, unable to locate my ear.

Instead of driving the noise from my mind by myself, I ran fast to let him give up inputting his noise into me.

"It works! It's time to beat him down!" Arya joyfully said to me.

The time I stopped was the moment I snapped his second rib.

Crack!

He screamed in agony, stumbled, and knocked to the ground.

I stopped running right away, "I reject your challenge. I don't want to fight with you."

He stood up within seconds, “No!” he roared.

I took a step back, shaking my head, “Peter, calm dow-” He didn’t wait for me to finish the word when he turned into a crazy mode, lurching upward and throwing himself at me. "No, go to hell!"

I immediately escaped to the left side, his punch passing by my cheeks, leaving a cut on my cheekbone. At the same time, I pulled out a foot, tripping him over.

"Hey, you won. Okay?" I shouted.

"You die today!" He lunged towards me again.

Suddenly, Alpha Patton mind-linked me. "Zopia, Peter is from the Silver Pack, the Pack that the Alpha King viewed as the most essential one. I don't want to see blood between our two packs. Remember, Peace & Love. Fingers crossed."

Just a second of distraction, I missed Peter’s attack. Somehow, he got a wolfsbane ball thrown at me. Too late for me to catch it; I could avoid it though.

“Bump!”

“Ah!” Kids squealed in panic when a little boy became my scapegoat, hit by the wolfsbane ball. He fell backwards, crying out. His arms instantly bubbled and blistered to a searing level.

“Peter! You’re over the line!” I screamed, difficult to contain my anger. My blood was boiling and bubbling, eyes reddening with blood crawling on them. Hurting kids was the last thing I couldn't bear.

My last fight was wrecking his neck bones like I just did on the rogue.

The first c***k sound came out of his neck. He widened his eyes, perhaps wondering what I did.

“Like my gift, asshole?” I said.

His eyes broadened more.

“Remember, you seek death yourself. My parents are the greatest werewolves in the world. Don’t ever curse others’ parents in hell.” I said.

My eyes raked from his neck down to his spine. More cracking sounds came out, followed by. I was so angry that I broke his bones all over his body. The beaming light in his pupils gradually faded as he was like a doll losing the rope, dropped lopsidedly on the rugged land.

My legs almost went limp when I ended up my gift. The extremely powerful gift consumed an as large amount of energy. First were rogues, then was Peter. The entire morning has drained me. But my mind turned clearer.

Watching the corpse beside my feet, I squatted down and buried my face in my hands. Jeez, what did I do?

I shouldn’t have killed Peter! I was too impulsive!

"Zopia! You...kill my mate." A female voice sounded up. I raised my head at who was talking. My eyes met a whimpering woman. She is so slim as if wrapped by her lousy navy blue dress.

She was that woman just under the tree, Peter's mate.

I stuttered, "Sorr-"

"Thank you." she cut off my words. She burst into tears with a smile, "You can call me Belle; I'm truly thankful for what you did."

“Uh…” I opened my mouth, shocked.

"He abused me for a long time. My body was attracted to him due to the mate bond, while my heart wasn't. I hate him." She said.

Well, I didn't see that coming. Can my killing Peter be regarded as a good deed? If saying what Belle was now confessing dragged me out of the remorseful hell, the next word she said kicked me back into that hell again and even pushed me into a deeper hell.

"Zopia...he is Alpha Omar's older brother."

Alpha Omar owns the Sliver Pack, one of the most powerful packs in Werewolf Land.

Rumors are saying Alpha Omar was the illegitimate son of the Alpha King as the King himself had taken care of Omar so much since 12 years ago. I froze in place with my jaw falling.

"I'm afraid you may be sentenced to jail for killing his brother. Alpha Omar won't easily forgive you." she looked at me, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Alpha Omar," I muttered the name, stunned.