MATES: REMNANTS OF A BROKEN BOND (BK 2)

-RAINA'S POV- “You’ve been avoiding me,” an angry voice came from behind after I descended the glass-bifurcated stairs of the exquisite Saturn Striders Hotel. “Alpha Kain,” I acknowledged when I swung around to the six-foot man with hands crossed that made his biceps appear larger and ready to crush me for neglecting his messages. I said coolly, “I didn’t know that you were coming.” “You would if you had replied to my recent messages.” He dropped his hands to his side and his vexation toned down. The seventeen-year-old Alpha of an external pack licked his lips as his steps approached me with a cocky swagger. His nomad eyes lit up as he roamed them over my body and I took a deep breath. I was not afraid of him, but he has been one of those guys who constantly expressed an interest. “May I have the pleasure of enjoying your company or am I too late?” He stood too close to me with a taunting smirk as he gazed at my rose-mauve-coated lips. “I’ve been looking for you all evening.” He took my left hand and raised it to his lips. “I used this opportunity just to come and see you.” He kissed my knuckle. “You are quite the beauty.” Tonight was Valen’s eighteenth birthday party. It was the event of the year since Alpha Females gathered from around the globe for the main reason that we expected him to scent his mate tonight. We all wanted him to make the announcement. Each of them was wishful to be his future Luna Queen. Especially me. I turned sixteen two months ago, but I won’t have my wolf until two years’ time. Therefore, if I were his mate, he would be the one to know because he was at the age of maturity. Nevertheless, werewolves could like or even fall in love with others until that time. It wasn’t wise, but I could not help that my heart yearned for him. Not Alpha Kain. Valen was my childhood crush. The man I crammed my brain with thoughts of. I wished he was mine. I've prayed countless times that the moon goddess would grant me this one desire of my heart. It was the hope I clung to for tonight. Every second that dreadfully went by ticked on my heart with anxiety. Alpha Kain was my espresso brown-haired friend and a visitor to our pack tonight. He wanted more, but that was his problem. He did not back down from my rejections. “What’s this, Alpha Kain?” Vaheed, one of my best friends, jumped from the top of the stairs and flashed between us, shoving the guy back. Harlequin-green eyes dilated full black and his warning was a barbaric growl, “Do not touch her! Get the f**k away!” Then he turned to me and brushed the fringes of his medium-length black hair slick back. He gently touched my right arm to ask with concern, “Did he hurt you?” “No,” I shook my head and assured him, “He’s a friend. Not a stalker.” Vaheed growled in response to demonstrate his dislike of my friendship with the Alpha. Treading away, I glanced over my shoulder to give Kain an apologetic expression. The party was in full swing when Vaheed grasped my hand and led me into the luxuriously decorated grand hall. My electric blue eyes combed through the grinding crowd in search of my other two best friends, Azara and Venus. “You’re finally here,” Azara hugged me while dancing. Her auburn orbs sparkled with glee and her bouncy, cinnamon, soft, kinky hair slapped against her forehead when she bobbed her head to the rhythm. Vaheed left me in their care and left to hang out with his boys, Isaac, Benji, and Zack. He gave each a high five and then took a drink. Girls swarmed them but mostly because of Vaheed, since he was Valen’s younger brother and Venus’ twin. “Kain is here. Did you see him?” Venus asked with questioning harlequin green eyes, knowing about our friendship. With hands at the back of her neck that lifted her mid-length, layered black hair with side bangs, she did a pivot turn before jumping up and down to the beat. “Yeah, and your brother chased him away.” I began swaying my hips on the dance floor, throwing my hands up in the air and waving them from side to side. Venus and Azara chuckled. Basically, we drank and danced to every pop and hard rock song. Suddenly, the strangest thing happened. An intoxicating scent of cardamom and amber swirled into my nasal passage. My body froze in disbelief and perplexity. I sniffed again. That scent! Could it be what I think it meant? Impossible! A certain scent of cardamom and amber lingered in the air. It was rather enticing and potent, almost palpable. The spicy taste lingered on my tongue. "Mate," I heard, puzzled. I scanned a wide scope to see who was saying that. Riveting a full three-sixty degrees. Did Azara or Venus find their mate? Despite the blaring music and loud chatter of the partying bunch, one voice was the clearest. "Mate!" The female voice was a bit louder. A sharp pain pierced into my cranium. “Find mate.” Venus saw me flinch, with fingers rubbing my forehead, and inquired, "Rai-rai are you okay?" "Um, yes." I lied and tried dancing again to avoid drawing attention to myself. Something was happening to me. An essence was inside of me and growing. "Find our mate, Raina." There it was, very resounding and exclusive. "Who are you?" I pondered internally. "Silly girl, I'm your wolf." The voice heralded, “Call me Hera.” “How?” I was stupefied. The arrival of my wolf was not due yet. “I don’t know either. But I’m here now. Don’t you want me?” Hera queried, sounding sad. “Of course. I’m just shocked.” This was remarkable. My enthusiasm was fueled by her joy. “Go to mate, please. Follow the scent.” She urged. A bullet of panic rose in my throat. Which guy in this vast place was the man that I was to spend the rest of my life with? My heart raced in exhilaration and fear. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I told Venus and Azara. They nodded as I weaved through the mob, tracking the breathtaking scent. I found myself going towards the left end of the banquet hall and realized that I was actually drawing closer to Valen and his crew, but his back was turned to me. The throng was too massive to move faster. My chignon was pulled apart by a flashing hand as a tipsy girl carried on loosely on the dance floor. My burgundy bundle rolled down to my lower back. As jerking bodies brushed against mine, my strands got more unkempt. It wasn’t until the cutting of the cake that the music died and Luna Sianna made the announcement. I paused and every eye went to the clamorous Luna Queen. There was a low stage where the trolley with the super-sized birthday cake with eighteen colorful candles was. As Valen advanced in his Greek god-damned glory, whistles and hoots went off from the audience. He was handsomely wearing a gray denim jacket suit with a white dress shirt underneath that did nothing to conceal his bulky chest and paired that with leather low-top sneakers. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows to reveal portions of the tattoos along both muscular arms. Oh, goddess, his wavy long, glossy, black hair, which flowed over his shoulders, was the ideal complement to his chiseled features. The raw and intense s*x appeal he radiated demanded everyone's attention in the room. Tall and confident with a powerful gait, he strode with grace as he passed me, leaving behind him a rocketing aura trail. The scent I'd been hunting hit me like a boulder. My heart beat wildly. Our skin is connected. Sparks produced instant shockwaves through my body and I gasped. It was him. My brain, heart, and soul screamed at me. Valen was my mate! The goddess has blessed me with this perfect man as my mate. My heart fluttered and my eyes beamed with happiness. Every cell in me wanted to run to him. Hera purred in my head. I touched my temples from the dizzy spell that came with her foreign movements in my head. “Valen! Valen! Valen!” Continuous screams of excitement filled the building as Valen took the stage and blew out the candles. “Have you detected your mate, son?” Luna Sianna's icy-blue eyes gleamed with hope. Alpha King Vance embraces her around the waist, waiting for his response. Our gaze collided and electricity sizzled through my veins. His pained eyes narrowed on me in a way that hitched my breath. The mate bond snapped into place so strong that it tugged at my heart with a compulsion to touch him. A pin-drop silence permeated. Then he tore his eyes from me and landed them on his Mom to deny it in a deep velvety voice, "No." “Aw!” The crowd sympathized. My heart panged and my brows furrowed in confusion. The humiliation carved a deep hole in my chest and I wondered if the pain was evident on my face. Or if my attempt at maintaining a stoic façade was successful. I blinked back tears. Internally, I was falling apart, yet he appeared normal and disinterested. "Well," Luna Sianna hugged him and kissed his cheek. "The night is still young." Heartbroken, I stared at Valen while he exited the stage. Hera whimpered as I let out a soft sob. He didn't want me. Most werewolves would have run into each other’s arms for a passionate kiss as the bond kindled. I was stuck staring at what was mine. Brazenly, he trod the same route that he'd taken to the stage. He paused at my side with a smirk and whispered right in my ear as his hot breath tingled my skin, "Stay away from Kain." "What?" I peered up into his mesmerizing emeralds that hacked into my soul to stir up a fervent desire I had never experienced. My cheeks blushed red. The s****l attraction was very commanding. "Go back to the girls." The coldness in his voice extinguished the heat and he rejoined his clique where Theo, Thaines, Devin, and Jason stood. Not to mention the women who flocked around them like that ever-present strawberry blonde girl. Hurting in the process, I growled lowly with my chest heaving. Hera wanted us to tear those girls from around him. He was mine but he did not display any sign of wanting to claim me. I was doing my best not to crumble and break down. And now, I endured the dreadful hallmark moment, wondering when and how my crush would reject me. - - One year and some months later……………… - -VALEN’S POV- "Enough, Vaheed!" We tumbled out of the back door of the bar into the drenched, cold, drab alley and landed in a pool of water. Rolling around in a tussle on the hard urban street, we aimed to score a blow once one of us took the top position in the struggle. Unbothered by the chilly night’s drubbing rain, our wrestling prolonged through the commotion of our wrath. Quickly, I flicked upwards to land on my two feet, while Vaheed was on his back. My soaked abalone button-front shirt clung to my sinewy body, missing a few buttons. My hands automatically cleared the curtain of dripping black strands from my face, tossing the long hair slick back. The steady shower that doused the two of us could not extinguish the enmity between us. “I don’t want to fight you!” I hated raising my fist against him and I watched him rise to his feet, glaring at me with contemptuous harlequin green pair of eyes. He wasn’t drunk, but he was not thinking straight either. I never thought I’d live to see the day that my younger brother of two years would look at me venomously. Though his medium-length black hair covered past his eyes, my eyesight pierced through to see the reflection in his orbs. The green in them disappeared, leaving only flames. “Will you calm down?” I encouraged because I truly desired to end this fight. “Go and f**k yourself!” He snarled. The anger in him built like deep water currents. Drawing his arm back, Vaheed drove his fist into my nose. My head flew as my eyes locked on the sky. I stumbled back. My left foot slid on the pavement and I braced the heel of my sneakers against the rough ground. Raising my hands to cover my nose, my eyes squeezed shut. As my head jerked forwards, my nose throbbed and I scowled at Vaheed over my fingers. He was progressively pushing for a hardcore ass-whooping. "Reject her!" He shouted with heavy breaths. "Never!" I wrestled to keep my wrath at bay, so I took a step back to show that I was giving him the emotional space that he ought to take. Once I shifted, it would be over for him, since my Alpha wolf would tear him apart for his disrespect to his superiority. Enraged, he bared his teeth and lunged at me. "How could you take her away from me? You of all people!" Defensively, I covered with my arms and forearms up and in front of me. “She wasn’t yours to begin with. Let's talk instead of fighting!” Lowering my hands. Before his next move, I took a stride forward, pulled my left leg back, and struck out. With a solid crunch, my instep slammed into Vaheed’s shin. He yelped, lifting his right knee off the ground and lowering his head as he leaned forward. Seizing the back of Vaheed’s head with my fingers, I forced his skull down and rammed my knee upwards into his face. The blood that oozed was washed from his face by the cascading rain. He staggered and lost his balance, and when his body rotated he fell on his tummy into another puddle of dirty water that splashed into his face. “Pfft.” He spat both blood and water from his mouth. For only two seconds, he lay there before getting off his stomach and standing again. Vaheed whistled and charged at me once more. A low growl escaped me. His eyes were two cold black abysses with faint lines of dark veins popping up vines around his eyes. I dodged each blow successfully. Rabidly, he tackled me. Trying not to do any real damage, I shove him off every time. He swung a powerful right, I met him halfway and struck out with my own right. My punch was faster and connected with his mouth. He spat blood and wiped his lips with the back of his hand as we stared at each other. We were at it for a while. Though he chose to unleash his pent-up anger on me. The alcohol in his system and the strumming emotions beat him into rapid exhaustion. He rarely drank, but I supposed he felt the need to numb his sentiments into several bottles of bourbon. With half of his energy depleted, he was before me in a half-kneeling position before he sprang at me with tireless determination. The cloudless tar-black sky wept as lightning ripped across its gloomy disc. While our combat prolonged, the downpour became heavier, splattering on us, and puddles plinked in the dark abandoned alley. The mighty patter of water on our shoulder blades soused our attire, entirely. He was the main reason I had to stand in this pelting waterfall. Although, I prefer we settle the altercation out here instead of the centralized area of our pack where we lived. Since Mom and Dad would have gotten involved to break up this dispute. They would be incredibly dissatisfied with our actions and would chastise us severely. However, Vaheed needed this to get the anger and hurt from his system and move on to prepare himself for his own mate. The outcome was predetermined by fate. All wolves had mates. “You don’t even love her.” He accused with an aggressive stance, pushing against me as I reinforced my posture, unmoving. “Of course, I do. She’s my mate.” I demolished his argument. The hair on the back of my neck bristled. No one could have loved her more. I would remind him a million times if I had to. “You haven’t told her and you ignored her for years.” Sneering, he supported his previous statement. “You gave her the cold shoulder. How is that love?” “Shut up, Vaheed,” I warned, and delivered two palm blows on his chest that forced him to retreat. He was oblivious to a lot that I did or endured which was a secret to me. “Does Dad know?” His gaze challenged me as he c****d an eyebrow. “What about Mom?” “Apart from Devin, you are the second one to know,” I admitted. I had my reasons for not broadcasting it. Yesterday was Vaheed’s birthday. He's been crushing on Raina for as long as everyone knew. Mom planned a grand party at the pack house for him. Sadly, he had a bad celebration when he realized there was no mate bond between the two of them. Disappointed and hurt, he shut down and didn't want to talk to anyone. Depressed, he drove away in his car. My bald eagle guardian, Zuzu, tracked him, which allowed me to follow him to an old bar miles away from town. There he sat on a stool around the pecan wood counter drowning in liquor. We spent the next day as brothers hanging out. I hated seeing him disheartened. So, I waited until today, to tell him that she was my mate. Now he expected that, for the sake of our sibling bond, I should reject Raina and let him have her. It was like this, they were around the same age and he had a thing for Raina while she liked me. Her interest was something that I worked on keeping and there was no way in hell that I would break the mate bond with her. For the record, they were not a couple. Hence, we will iron this out here and now. The rain was incessant. Like bracken pods in a bush fire, it snapped and crackled. There did not appear to be anyone around to stop the floodgates that had been unleashed in the tenebrous sky. Sprouting out thunderous water gouts and thunking bubbles of sopping liquid. “Why did it have to be you?” He asked stiffly and was evidently still not on terms with the fact that he could not have her. "It’s destiny,” I replied firmly. “Anyways, the choice will be Raina's to make." My wolf and I refused to deny the mate bond. However, if Raina actually loved him and wanted to reject me, as much as it would kill me, I'd want her to be happy. But it has to be her choice, not mine. Simply because I loved her. "MINE!" My wolf growled his disagreement. He was adamant about keeping our mate and honoring the bond. I understood his resolve. We'll just have to wait to see what happens when Raina turns eighteen in a month. Although it was pretty clear that it’s time to get rid of my brother. -