The Alpha's Healer

Hi! I'm Lumi

Ari's POINT OF VIEW

I inhaled deeply as those words left my mouth. Watching the shocked expression on his face gave me so much satisfaction that I gave him a smug smile.

"How dare you?" Lucas fumed, his veins popping out of his forehead and he paced back and forth.

I sneered at him. "How dare I what, Lucas? You think I didn't know that you were going to reject me just now? Do you think that I'm so dumb that I can't see right through you?!"

" Well, I'm glad you did the rejecting… you're not worth the mate bond anyway."

As soon as those words left his mouth, my heart shrunk, beating faster than usual until a sharp pain went through my heart, making me crouch and groan in pain.

"Ahhh!!" I screamed in pain. I felt dizzy and when I looked at Lucas, I could see that he was struggling with the pain too, but he was handling it way better than I was.

"What's happening to me?" I asked with tears.

Leaning on the railings of the rooftop, Lucas scoffed at me. "That's what happens when a mate bond is broken."

Really? This amount of torture? I leaned on the railings, trying to steady my breathing, but it wasn't working. I ran downstairs to my class amidst the clamoring of people to get my schoolbag.

I could hear their whispers through the pack's mind-link as I walked hastily out of the school.

"That's Lucas mate!"

"Oh no, what will she do? She's best friends with Jesse, and we know Jesse is obsessed with Lucas!"

"Oh my gosh! Look at her hair… she has silver patches!"

"How dare she be Lucas' mate?"

Silver what?! My head was spinning, and I didn't have time for side talk.

How I got home, I didn't care, but when I reached home, no one was there.

Throwing myself on the bed, I bawled my eyes out, not because of Lucas – he was a jerk – but because the pain of the rejection was too much for me to bear.

____

After a few hours, a knock on my room door took me out of my daze. I didn't know how long I was there for, but when I looked at the sky, it was getting dark.

"Yeah, come on in."

My mother walked in, her eyes holding compassion and something that looked like pity.

Sitting on my bed, she held my hands in hers, giving me instant warmth.

"Are you okay?"

Was I really okay? I shook my head. "No, I'm not."

Nodding lightly, she pulled me in for a hug. "I'm pretty sure all the pack members know that you're Lucas's mate."

Heaving a sigh, she continued. "I didn't think you'd find your mate so soon, and for it to turn out like this? A rejection?"

"Lucas is a jerk and I knew he was going to reject me, but, I beat him to it," I said in mumbles, barely hearing what I was saying myself.

"Well, your father will be here soon, then we'll start on dinner, okay?"

I nodded in response.

My eyes followed her as she made to leave my room, and she held the doorknob. She turned back and looked at me.

"Your wolf might be trying to peek out, and you have a nice patch of silver hair. It's lovely!"

I smiled as she left the room, but I scrambled to my feet and to my vanity mirror to check my hair.

" Silver!! What's happening!"

Confusion hit me like a tsunami, and followed by it was a breeze of clarity. Maybe I didn't need to be in the Nightshade Pack anymore. How was I going to face everyone?

All the memories I had of the pack flooded my thoughts. Maybe I needed to leave for my own good, but that meant I was going to be a rogue. Was I willing to risk it over a rejection?

Tugging at my hair, I groaned in frustration. And in the heat of the moment, I tore out a sheet of paper from my notepad and scribbled a note for my parents just in case they came to call me downstairs for dinner.

After I was done with that, I gathered some of my belongings and headed to the river at the outskirts of the park.

From a jog, it turned into a full-blown race as I ran against time and my heart to get some sort of peace, but it wasn't working.

All of a sudden, a sharp pain flowed through my body, causing me to stop my run. My breathing was heavy and I could hear cracking sounds.

Oh no, not again. Was this another pain from the rejection?

I watched in pain as my body popped and broke in different ways and as I yelled in pain for what seemed like an eternity, my body went limp on the floor. I tried to pick myself up when I felt the pain had subsided, but I was in for a huge shock.

Instead of hands, I saw what looked like animal legs!! I was alarmed until a sharp voice but through my mind.

"Calm down, Ari! It's nothing to be afraid of!"

"Nothing to be afraid of? Who the heck are you?" I retorted. "This is the second time I've heard your voice today. Are you a member of the pack?"

"Oh, no. I'm Lumi, your wolf! How cool is that?!!" Lumi said.

" My wolf? You mean you're my wolf? Wait, are you telling me that I'm in my wolf form right now?" I asked in excitement and confusion.

"That's right!! And we're going to go for a run!"

I felt like I didn't have the utmost control of my body as we ran and spoke at the same time, but I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time… freedom. And so I let myself loose.

Amidst the fog in the woods and thick branches, Lumi was a fast wolf and, judging from her size, she was huge too.

Enjoying the feel of the moment, all I could remember was stumbling on a huge branch, and before we knew it, Lumi was falling from a cliff.

I howled loudly, but I knew it was pointless as my wolf's body sank deeper into the water. And in the dead of the night, no one was coming to save us.