Be my mate

THE LOST

CHAPTER TWO

Beth POV

I was crying and had been crying since the night before. I just can’t do this anymore. My father came to my room at intervals to check on how I was doing. That was after the speech he gave at the burying ceremony.

His words were words of comfort, or they had tried to be, not to me and definitely not to the person who’d lost their son.

I knew he meant well, but maybe it was best to just forget me and focus on the people.

The priestess had left the ceremony with a thin smile, stopping very briefly to grip my hand as she whispered.

“You are meant for the Dark one”, then she left my hands and hobbled away. Her words of warning had left a sense of doom in me, and I was feeling it.

In the days that followed, the pack house saw more activity than on any other day in the last five years. It started with the crops. Havests for years have been dying all of a sudden for no explanable reason.

The children were next falling sick in quick succession as well. So far none of them had died, but it only seemed to be a matter of time, it was all a veritable disaster, and then one morning word came the Alpha of the North was planning a campaign to take over more colonies and we were in the direct path of his ever-growing reach for power.

So, now we had children who were sick, parents who were worried and sad as well as dying crops and so, inevitably, I heard the whispers among them, as they tended their children,

“He was a failure and alpha his daughter is a harridan bringing death and misfortune on our door.”

“He should let the girl die and give the sacrifice needed to cleanse the pack now he has the chance, and we won’t be in this mess.”

“The girl couldn’t even sacrifice herself for her mates. You are sure she’ll do it for her husband“ they clucked, each word pierced me like a blade, and it was hard to let go of it. They were right in some ways, my mates were dead, and I was what connected all of them together, bad things were happening, and my father needed to be a leader and not just my father.

I needed to see my mother, so I took slow steps to her room. She seemed to be getting better, but then sometimes she didn’t.

I sat by her bedside. She was pale

“I’m so sorry” I murmured as I wiped her skin with a cold cloth. She looked at me, raising a shivering hand to my face.

“I am fine. I’m the one who is sorry” she coughed, taking my hand into hers.

“I should be making things easier for you and your father”,

“I love you so much” she said. I smiled, leaning my face on our intertwined palms.

“Your father would be so angry with me for leaving you like this” she murmured,

“You are not going anywhere” I cried and she smiled.

“Of course I am not. I want to see you get mated.”

“But I want you to know that you are the brightest star in my sky, and I will always think so.” I gulped, nodding, and I straightened her on the bed, turning her to the side.

The door opened, and my father walked in. He paused, looked at us, and sighed. He strolled to bed and kissed my mother on the head.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and I stilled as she smiled.

“I’m fine,” he said, turning to me with a sigh.

“How are you?” he asked. I grimaced softly as he looked at me.

“I am not well; I am so afraid of everything, so there is that,” I whispered, and he shrugged.

“That’s not the best way to think about this, dear; you will be fine, and so will your mother; that is all we can hope for.” I nodded, gulping down my tears. He gripped my arm tightly, pulling me into a hug.

“It will be fine,” he whispered very softly, and I nodded. With a long sigh, he pulled away.

“You have to get mated,” he muttered, and I sighed, looked at him, and laughed as he sat by my mother’s side.

“What part of me killing my mate did you not watch?” I asked, and he rubbed his forehead with wet clothes.

“Is that best?” my mother asked, and I shrugged at her.

“Your mate seems to think so.” I huffed, and she shushed me.

“We need an ally; we are close to war. And Alpha Derek is not a man to be trifled with; mating with him would at least allow us to have a reprieve.”

“You want me to mate that brute?” I asked, my voice choking, and he sighed.

“We need the alliance,” he said, his eyes shifting, and I blinked.

“You want me to mate with him; you’re hoping I’ll kill him like the others.”

“Of course not, Beth,” my mother said, looking at him.

“Right?” she asked, and he shifted his gaze.

“I’ll never do what you’re asking; I’d rather die,” I screamed at him, stalking out of my room and jamming the door behind me.

He left almost immediately, and I went to my mother again, and she sighed.

“You need to cut your father some slack,” she whispered, and I sighed.

“It’s dangerous.”

“I know, but he is doing his best to avoid this war.” I sat next to her and leaned on her lap. She caressed my hair.

“You will do well,” she murmured as we dozed.

I woke up the next morning, taking her hand in mine, so I could wake her up, but he didn’t respond.

“You need to wake up, mom,” I muttered, but she didn’t stir. She felt cold as ice and dread filled me.

“Mom, please wake up.” I cried, pulling her into my arms; she didn’t move and didn’t speak even as the door was thrown open wide and my father rushed in.

I stood over her grave as we buried her. It was a chilly morning, and most of the pack had come except those who had children at home who were sick. My father joined me at the head of the grave, taking my hand in his.

“Beth, I know that you are sad.” He said, taking my hand. I swallowed the tears that had built up in my throat.

“But we have to think of the future,” I nodded softly.

I knew my duty was to get mated, and I would do so to protect my father’s pack, but I had no idea how to survive being mated to someone who was not my fated mate, who would not take care of me, a man I would likely kill.

“Our pack,” he started, and then stopped.

“The pack is weak, Beth, and we are open for taking, but if you can mate with him, we just may survive this.” He muttered, and I sighed, nodding.

“We could prevent unnecessary deaths,” he added, as if I wasn’t already aware of the benefits.

“Does it have to be Alpha Derek?” I asked softly, cleaning my eyes again and looking at him.

“Alpha Derek,” he whispered, and I recoiled from him.

I knew Alpha Derek, of the Black Moon, and my stomach whirled with nausea. He was old enough, he was my father’s age.

“I-I,” I stuttered, then paused.

“Beth”

“Just give me a little time,” I begged, and he sighed.

“We don’t have time” I blinked, looking around me at the whispers and murmurs.

“I’ll do it,” I murmured.

“I’ll mate with Alpha Derek.