Secrets of His Rejected Mate

IN THE WOODS

"Mom. Oh, my God, you scared the hell out of me," Rain said and gave her mother her hand to help her up.

Claudia took her hand and raised her. Rain dusted her hands and butt and looked at her mother who was staring at her calmly. She knew what it meant when her mother looked at her that way, but she chose to ignore it.

"What are you doing here by this time?" she asked.

"You are gonna pretend you don't know why I am here? Rain we had an agreement and you promised..."

Rain started walking, leaving her mother trailing behind her. "I did? Come on, mom. I am an adult, okay? I am twenty-four and no longer a child."

"You are no longer a child, but you are my child!" Claudia snapped. Rain halted and turned to look at her mother. It was dark, the street lights were dim but she saw the glitter of tears in her mother's eyes. It always gets to her, her mother's tears. "You are all I have got, can't you see?"

"Mom," Rain sighed and moved closer. "You shouldn't be so scared. Sometimes I wonder what you are so scared of."

"I am scared that one day...that one day, you will be hurt by one of these supernatural beings. The werewolves can tear you apart when they shift."

"I am always careful, mom." Rain heard a rustling noise by the woods and her eyes darted to it immediately. Her mother grabbed her arm

"We've got to go. It's quite late."

Rain felt as if something was watching them from those trees. There was no moon in sight, so it couldn't be a wolf, maybe a vampire or a witch, or even a fellow human. But why were they following her? She didn't want to tell her mother so she won't upset her the more. It was typical of the night to have shadows anyway. In the morning everything was going to be okay. But the way goosebumps covered her skin made her look behind her again.

"Did you hear anything?" her mother asked.

"No, I didn't. It's just the wind howling through the trees."

They walked hand in hand down the road as quickly as they could.

Two pairs of eyes watched them as they went.

~~~

The next day went on slowly for Rain. She just sat in her mother's storage all day, drawing unreasonable things, but when she was done, she realized that she had painted a whole scene. A scene she didn't even know how it came to her head. It was a scene of war between the wolves, the vamps, and the witches. She left her mother's store in the evening, went to Sunset, and did her performance with her band mates. It was late again when she finished and when she parted ways with Jenny, she found herself going into the woods, curious to find out what it was that was following her. The night was silent, except for the chirping of crickets.

The sky was dark, so she took out her phone from her bag and turned on the flashlight, to see her way into the woods. She knew it was dangerous going into the woods alone by that time of the night, her instincts kept telling her to turn back and run home, but something in there kept calling her and it was as if her feets developed minds of their own, they kept moving into the woods without stopping.

Then she heard a shrill cry that rang out throughout the woods. She had known these woods since she moved here seven years ago, but that particular night, she felt she was in a completely different place, it was darker in there and scarier.

"Hello?!" she called out, pointing her flashlight around the place. Everywhere went dead quiet again.

She stood there for a while straining her ears and listening to hear any noise. She heard someone panting faintly, and turned in the direction her ears had picked up the sound from and started moving towards it. Someone was in trouble and needed help, but it eluded her from what anyone would be doing in that thick, dark place by that time of the night. She kept going as the panting grew louder and louder. But as she went further into the woods, she still couldn't see who it was.

She came to an abrupt stop when she heard a low growl. She knew that sound, but it was unusual on a night like this, she looked up and saw that the moon was already riding out of the clouds. The panting grew louder and louder. It had dawned on her at this point that she had just walked into a trap. She had been lured into the heart of the woods and she didn't know what to do anymore. She started walking away from where she stood, looking around in terror as the growling of the wolf grew louder.

The moon was fast appearing and she needed to be home. But she was too farther into the forest to be able to get out quickly. Soon, the whole forest was lit by the full moon and she heard the howl of wolves, all around her. She was surrounded. Their luminous eyes stalked her from behind trees and bushes. She was trapped now and there was no way she was going to escape them that night. Slowly, they moved out of their hiding places, stalking her while she stood there in the middle of a suddenly cleared area, the moon directly above her.

A big black wolf emerged and the others cleared the part for it to come out. She could tell he was their Alpha and his eyes seems to bore inside her soul. She stood there looking at them frightened.

"She belongs to me!" someone said from behind.

She turned to see a familiar woman, a woman she was sure she has met somewhere but she couldn't remember where. She was clad in black and seems to be floating. The woman walked up to her and held her hand. She tried to wriggle out of the woman's grip but her grip was tight on her. The wolves wouldn't take defeat, they began to chase them. She ran with the floating woman.

Maybe, she was her helper but why was she clad in black apparel? Suddenly, she didn't see the woman again and she was running on her own. The growling of the wolves grew louder and louder as she ran It was as if they were just behind her, but whenever she looks behind, she sees nothing. The next time she looked behind and turned her front, she came face to face with another big wolf with white fur. She halted abruptly. This time, this wolf didn't stalk her or wait, he lunged at her. She screamed as she started falling backward.

She jerked up in bed, screaming. As usual, her mother was sitting by her bedside. Claudia embraced her and held her there until she was calm.

"It's okay, it was only a dream," Claudia said rubbing her back.