Cast Aside Without a Mate

*Unknown POV*  Darkness surrounds me, it consumes me, and I feel like this may be what dying feels like. I fight against my restraints in an unknown space. My lungs burn like lava about to erupt from my chest as I struggle against the pain that consumes my body. My heart wretches, and I hear my Menyaka and Neubetu howl in agony. "What happened to me?" It feels as though my thoughts are floating around me rather than inside my head. All I know is, "I refuse to give up!" I screamed into the void, my voice hoarse from fighting the darkness. Finally, just as the unseen restraints feel like they may be about to break, my body feels weak, and I let the darkness swallow me whole. "I hate you; I reject you as my mate -" a voice drifts throughout my mind, pain searing my body as I hear the words I never want to hear ever again. A female voice that tortures me on a day that was supposed to be unique to me. "No! I do not believe it. I do not want to consider it. Is it possible I am here because of my mate? Did they reject me?" I heard the voice again. "I hate you! It's all your fault!" her voice was clearing, and as I struggled to breathe and open my eyes, it flooded through my veins like a consistent reminder. "I reject you as my mate -" Her poisonous voice seemed to fill the void I was floating in, and when I finally woke, her voice faded to the background till it died ultimately. "Hey! He's starting to wake up. Come quickly, bring food and water!" a guttural voice came from above me. Slowly, the blurred lines began to focus, and I could see the owner of the male voice. His broad shoulders were well-defined with muscles as I looked up into his face; he had jet-black hair that was just long enough to cover his right eye, his eyes were honey brown, his nose was intense yet dainty, and his lips were full though his top lip was smaller in comparison to his lower lip. His brows furrowed with concern as he leaned down to help me sit up. Pain erupted from my chest, and I gasped as I grabbed tightly at the pain, cutting through my bare chest to stop the fire under my skin from spreading. In my attempts to soothe myself, I cut into my chest, nearly tearing off the skin above my heart. My eyes widened. "Something does not feel right." Although I was unsettled by something, I tried to brush it off. Right now, I needed answers about where and who I was. Looking up at the man still holding me up, he seemed familiar. "But why?" "Who am I?" I asked in a quick panic, my voice still hoarse from whatever void I came from. The man trying to help me looked at me surprised and asked, "You do not remember? You are our King. We have been waiting for you, Your Highness." He smiled at me with a softened expression, and as I was about to ask my next question, another male approached us with food, water, clean clothes, and a small box. "Welcome home, Your Highness." his voice bristled my ears as he lowered himself to my level to put all the supplies he was carrying by my stretched-out legs. "Home?" my gruff voice was barely a whisper, but that did not affect the others trying to assist me in my current state. "Yes! Home!" chirped a female coming to us with shoes and a navy blue velvet box. Sitting beside me, she repeated, "Welcome home, Your Highness," and began to pack the cloth in the water she was carrying. I slowly drifted back into the void, my eyelids heavy after the day I just had, and as I closed my eyes to rest, one name echoed in my head, a name I will never forget as long as I live. "Alice."