For the Love of a Good Mate (on hiatus)

Chapter 2: Cayleigh POV

Chapter 2: Cayleigh POV

Ayden pushed me into a wall and screamed, "Don't look at any man but me!" I whimpered, my bare back scratching against cold hard brick. We were outside the Alpha's house, his house. "You are mine, you hear me?!" I whimpered again as he smacked the brick with his hand. "Say it!" His voice boomed through the pack community. I know people heard him but no one was willing to stand against the future Alpha. "I'm yours," I whispered, tears in my eyes. He imprisoned me in a tight hug and said, "Exactly, you are mine, don't forget that!" He pushed me up against the wall again and forced his lips to mine. I hated when he kissed me.

I slid to the grass, crying, after he left. He was pleased with himself as usual. He was an Alpha male asserting his dominance on his Beta female. As long as I could remember he told me we were mates and that I would be his Luna one day because I was who the Moon Goddess had chosen for him. "The best girl for the Alpha," he would say. I thought it was cute until I was about 14 and I realized he was not a nice boy anymore. Puberty and entitlement had caused him to change, to become someone unkind. He became more horrible and abusive the older we got.

He wasn't actually of Alpha blood in the traditional sense but the title had gone to his head. His father Marcus Cummings had established our current pack. I, unlike Ayden and his father, was of Beta and Alpha blood. My father left his old pack and Beta position because his second chance mate was human. My birth mother, his first mate and Alpha female, died when I was two. My mother was second in line so she never took the official Alpha title.

On my 16th birthday I learned Ayden was not my destined mate chosen by the Moon Goddess. I confronted him about it and he slapped me. "Never say that again! You are mine!" Those words haunted me. I hated the word "mine." It was how Ayden imprisoned me, dominated me. Everyone believed in him and his claim on me.

I submitted to him because I was scared of him. I was scared of his fists and scared of disappointing my pack. They thought we were meant to be. They wanted acknowledgement as a real pack. What better way than to have a Luna with Alpha blood? I'd heard it my whole life.

Then suddenly I'd smelt him, my true mate. He was a boy with honey blonde hair that fell in his face and beautiful blue eyes. His existence was everything to me in that moment as I stood on the corner of Meadowe and Greene. He and I had a moment, I even heard my wolf cry "mate" and I muttered "mine." But of course my peace of mind and the opportunity to meet my mate was stolen away by Ayden when he appeared and ordered me away through the mindlink. "Mate, right now!" He screamed out loud when I didn't respond fast enough.

As Alpha and Beta we had developed a mindlink over the years. I had shut him out so I could be alone for my run but he had found me anyway. Ayden always seemed to know where I was no matter what.

As I pulled myself together I thought about my mate. He was so handsome and he had an aura about him. He was special. He may not be an Alpha like Ayden but he exuded a strength like no other normal wolf I'd ever met. He had eyes like deep pools of cerulean and a smile like the sun. I wanted to meet him, know his name. Maybe even touch his hand. My wolf was begging for his touch. I sighed in frustration, knowing Ayden would never let me be with my mate. He would definitely interfere and continue his pursuit to possess me.