I Was Raised To Kill My Mate

Chapter 2: The scent of mate

Sera's POV

I froze. My wolf screamed, claws tearing at the inside of my chest. Every instinct shouted to flee, to fight, to survive. But deep down, a terrifying truth settled over me like a shadow.

I knew him. And somehow, I already belonged to him.

The wind shifted. A branch snapped somewhere in the dark, and my wolf growled violently. I turned sharply—, and caught the full, impossible truth.

He wasn’t alone. Another figure emerged behind him, watching, waiting, and smiling in the shadows. And for the first time in five years, I realized I wasn’t just being hunted… I was being claimed.

I crept against the trunk of a tree and I was breathing silently. The wood appeared to close in on me, each crack of the twigs and the sound of the falling leaves exaggerated. I was howling my wolf inside me, with itching claws and high senses. And then I saw him.

The wolf was massive. Like, off the charts. Larger than I had ever dreamed of. But this one was different. I liked something familiar in the manner in which he moved--a superiority that had all eyes upon him, and mine included. My stomach had done that flippy-floppy of fear and something I had no words to say.

The shadow turned itself around. The wolf moved, with strains of his muscles, bones, re-modeled with some golden light. A man appeared in the place of the beast in a heartbeat. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his hair as dark as midnight, his eyes with their gold, burning through the darkness.

My heart gave a skip, then resounded like a war drum.

Jayce. Alpha Jayce.

I had long been training myself to it, pictured in countless nightmares and day-dreams. All the details of the Ember Village m******e set in my head. Here he was, alive, dangerous, impossible, in the moonlight.

I experienced a flow of hatred, so pure, sharp, that my teeth were aching.

And then there is another moving under it. I felt my wolf flare to life, and instincts screaming, was drawing me to him like a magnet I could not resist. I choked and found breathing hard to come by. Desire.

I threw the thought away. No. Hate. Hatred was first. Always.

I took the dagger, and the leather cut into my palm. “Stay back!” I hissed, voice low but firm.

He threw back his head, and the most slight smirk twitched at his lips. “Sera,” he said, rough and low. “I’ve been searching for you.”

I froze.

The accent of my name in his voice, dominating, jealous, passionate, got into my heart. I would have loved to hate him, to be out at him, were it not that my wolf growled, and trembled with recognition.

“You’re the monster who—”

He raised a hand, still, like he was fearing me to complete. “Monster?” His lips curled. For years you have believed that, have you? But you’re here. Alive. And staring at me.”

I shook. No way. I won’t let you win.

I do, he interpolated, with a low and firm voice. “Because you’re mine. Fireborn. Always.

The word stuck. Fireborn wasn't just a label. It wasn't just a bond. My wolf screamed, tore my reins. He reeked of fire, strength, anarchy. My chest ached, haunted.

I turned back and pushed myself against another tree making efforts to stabilize my breathing. “You’re lying,” I whispered. “You can’t claim me. After everything!”

He approached, step by step, everything very calculated. My digestive system is knotted in anxiety and anger. The nearer he came the greater the attraction I had been struggling so hard to overcome.

I do not lie, he said, a voice falling an octave, hard and jealous. “You can run. You can fight. But you belong to me.”

My wolf nudged, and raved within. To bite, to claw, to kill--but some other part of myself... shivered, desired, yearned. I thrust the dagger into the hilt once more, was about to attack, about to kill him, about to do all that I had been trained to do.

But his aura hit me again. My body betrayed me. My wolf quailed, a guttural growling shaking my chest. I fell backwards with a halted breath.

I… I don’t…” I whispered, voice shaking. Desire and rage were lacing up my veins.

His hand ran along the side of my face--not coarse, not soft, but in a manner that was so queasy. “Shh,” he said in a low voice. I can sense your wolf, your fire... your anger. It’s intoxicating.”

I shook my head, in an attempt to escape. “You… you’re insane!”

Your mate, I said, as though it were the most natural thing of all. The term struck me with the force of a punch. Mate. My wolf rolled, and the claws were in my breast as though to compel my recognition.

I stumbled, nearly falling to my knees, but my pride held me upright. I glared at him, trying to inject my hatred into every ounce of my glare. “Mate?” I spat. “I don’t… I don’t—”

“Shh,” he repeated, his voice low, dangerous. “You can fight it all you want. You can hate me. You can try to kill me. But this bond…” His eyes glowed gold, unyielding. “It doesn’t lie.”

The words seemed to me like a stabbing knife in my chest and my heart was beating madly. My wolf was snarling, and your nails were screechy, and the voice was all screaming to rip me open. But deep within me I could not have denied that there was something within me which wanted him. Something within me was screaming that I was stuck with him and I could not resist.

“You…” It is you who do not get to claim me.

He laughed as he did that slow, dangerous, alpha smile which causes chills down my spine. “I don’t need permission. You’re already mine. Fireborn. Always.”

My breath came in and all things were blurred. That pulls in me and hate, anger in conflict with instinct. I had fallen to the ground, and clanked a dagger. I gave another try, punching, and the wolf screamed, and I missed each blow. Every move felt… off.

It was inevitable that he would have his aura, his presence, his claim. Howling within me, my wolf shivered. The pull was real.

Then he came a little nearer and I simply froze. My heart beat was so great it seemed like betrayal. Gold eyes focused on me, blazing in torchlight, insatiable, jealous.

You may attempt to run, he said, in a low, dangerous sort of voice, like a sort of intimacy. “But you’re mine… Fireborn.”

The words went on bouncing in my head, and they sounded primal. My wolf was howling, tearing holes into my soul. And I did know, in that pulse, the struggle was only beginning.

The wind changed abruptly, with a fragrance I had no idea of. There is one other presence--observant, waiting, threatening. My wolf growled hard. I turned round and saw a shadow stealing among the trees.

And then, as it were, the night was a hundred times more dangerous. I was no longer with Alpha Jayce. Somebody, or somebody... I was waiting, and they realized that I was alive.