Fated to the cruel Lycan king

"Watch where you’re going half breed!" Snapped a rude old man on the market street. I was already very used to everyone being very rude to me. My village -Madir— was very harsh to outsiders. I wasn’t born an outsider though. My father was a bona fide son of Madir. A werewolf of true blood . But my mother was a witch of Grigor, an outsider; and everyone knew that a half witch, half werewolf wasn’t welcome in Madir. The worst part was I had never even transformed into a wolf yet. I picked up the basket of crops I was carrying home. It felt like I was dragging a large boulder. Normally, two people were needed to carry a load this heavy, but my uncle had sent me to carry it alone while he lay in bed eating all the berries I had spent hours picking yesterday. People passed me on the street watching me struggle with the weight, but nobody made a move to help me. No one wanted to be associated with a half breed after all. I got home at dusk and heaved the basket into the house. “Where have you been?” Bruce, my fat uncle, yelled at me. “I was at the market” I replied, irritated. “All day?”He snapped back. “The basket was too heavy” I replied curtly. I was in no mood to argue today. “Weak useless mutt,” he growled. I just rolled my eyes at him. I was already very used to his insults. “Anyway, I want you to go to Elron forest tomorrow. It’s the only place that grows the kind of potatoes I like”. I stared at him in shock. Elron Forest was a huge, dark, dangerous forest. People had gone there and were never ever found again. But that wasn’t why I was shocked. I've always known that Uncle Bruce didn’t care about me at all. I have always known he would prefer for me to be dead so that he doesn't have to be associated with the half-breed mutt anymore. So I wasn’t shocked that he was putting my life in danger at all. But tomorrow is my birthday! I was turning 18! Tomorrow is the day that I am going to meet my mate. And I couldn’t possibly meet my mate if I was in some dangerous forest somewhere covered in dirt! “Uncle”.. I said calmly. I didn’t want to risk him getting angry… “But tomorrow I turn 18..” “So?” He asked with a frown. “I’m supposed to meet my mate tomorrow!” “Haaaaa!” He let out a malicious laugh. “You think you will get a mate tomorrow?” He sneered. “Do you really think anyone would want a half-breed mutt like you?” “Even if you land on an unfortunate bastard, I can assure you that the poor man would reject you!” I tuned out his harsh words , I had to remain positive no matter what. If I had listened to any of the harsh words that they hurled at me, I would have run mad. The morning of my birthday I was too excited to sit still. I finished all my chores in a hurry so I could go and mix with the other young people of my age. I was so excited because I would finally be meeting the man meant for me. The man that was meant to love and care for me no matter what. Mates were ordained by the gods as the people that would make each other happy. But there are 3 types of mates. A chosen mate….The type of mate you choose for yourself if you were not assigned for a mate by the gods. A Destined mate, the type of mate you find on your 18th birthday. And finally … a true soulmate… a mate that is said to have loved you before you were even born. Legend says that a true soulmate bond doesn’t develop instantly but over time. But those were so rare that they were considered a myth. I walked into the market, with so much excitement, searching for my destined mate. Suddenly, I started to smell something so delicious behind me. I turned around and traced the scent till my eyes landed on a couple a few feet from me. Jake and Leila. The two most beautiful people I have ever seen. I used to stare at Jake all the time growing up. I was always drawn to how people loved him so easily. Jake was the son of the current alpha of my village. He was very handsome and strong and many girls always flocked around him, hoping that he would choose them as his mate. But that had never happened, Jake was waiting for his destined mate…He was waiting for me. I moved to him quickly and he turned his face towards me and our eyes locked together. I felt the instant connection….. “Mate” my heart whispered to me. But all of a sudden as I approached him, I watched his face turn from bright and smiley to full on horror and rage. As I got to stand in front of him, he started furiously shaking his head. “No no, no way,” “Jake”.... I whispered, but before I had the chance to say another word, Jake looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I reject you Erica Brandon as my mate!” He yelled out, drawing everybody's attention to us. I staggered back like I had been slapped. He didn’t want me? I started to hear people giggle around me. “The Filthy mutt actually thought she would find a mate here”. Someone whispered. More people giggled.. Tears welled up quickly in my eyes. “But Jake”…. “But jake nothing!” Leila snapped… “He just said he doesn't want you!” “Everyone in this village knows that Jake and I are destined to be mates, we were only waiting for the gods to confirm it when I turn 18 next month.” She looked me up and down, then she snared. “But it seems like the Gods made a mistake.” “A mistake we plan to correct. So you can run along filthy half breed, no one wants you here. People laughed harder at that . I could hear what they were saying but I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that the man I waited for all my life truly didn’t want me! I looked back at him again. Tears of shame and pain filled my eyes. “Jake, is this really true… You don’t want me?” “That’s right Erica, No one wants you here, no one has EVER wanted you here. When are you going to get that through your thick skull, huh?” He growled at me. Something in his words finally broke me. I turned around and started running, leaving their hateful, mocking laughter behind. Tears blinded me as I ran, but I didn’t care, I just kept running, I wanted to get as far away from the pain as possible. It felt like the pain and rejection was in my heart now, following me even as I ran. I ran for a really long time until I finally hit my feet on a branch and fell on the forest floor. That was when I realized that I had run far into Elron forest. I looked around for any sign of people that I could follow back home. It wasn’t wise to be in Elron forest alone. But only an eerie silence surrounded me. Only brave people dared to venture into Elron woods. And even when they did it, they made sure to do so only during the daytime. It was already getting dark. I looked around me in fear as I realised what a stupid mistake I had made. I quickly started walking, trying to trace my way back to my little village, but everywhere was quickly getting darker and I was finding it hard to see what was in front of me. Suddenly, I heard a branch snap behind me. I whipped around in fear, but no one was behind me. I looked around wildly but everywhere was deadly silent. I couldn’t even hear the sounds of crickets, there was no life here. I hastened my steps when I had another branch snap at my left. Then, from the side of my eye, I saw a dark shadow rush past me. I broke into a frightened run. I suddenly felt it then, a presence, chasing after me. I could hear branches snapping faster and faster, closer and closer to me. I started screaming then. “Help, help somebody help me” I cried. But I knew that it was a waste of time. No one could hear me here, and even if they could, they had already made it very clear that no one wanted me there. They probably wished me dead. I could hear branches snap much closer than I expected. I turned around to see what sort of demon was pursuing me. But all I saw was a huge black creature with blood red eyes. It definitely wasn’t a werewolf. It was 5 times taller than any wolf I had ever seen before, and 4 times as wide as the biggest werewolf in my village. It didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before. I let out a terrified scream as I hit my foot on another branch and tumbled down. Hitting my head very hard on a rock. My body tumbled and rolled to a stop, but I had no energy to get back up. My vision turned blurry and was getting darker. I heard the creature growl dangerously as it came closer to me. As I slowly fell unconscious, my vision darkened, but I still saw the black demon with red eyes come to stand over me, its blood red eyes blazing. “Mine” I heard a deep growl say in my mind …. That was the last thing I heard before I fainted.