Claimed by my ex mate

CHAPTER ONE My fitful sleep was interrupted by a violent jostling that had me groaning and frowning as I blinked myself awake. Noah stared at me angrily, the raw fury in his eyes enough to make me shrink back, even half awake as I was. "What happened here?", he demanded, his hand on my shoulder digging forcibly into my skin. "Wha-what?" The first thing I noticed as my brain finally caught up with me was that Noah and I were stark naked. I clutched the sheet strewn haphazardly over my pale limbs to myself and stared at Noah's nude form as he hunched over me. "What?", I asked again, no more coherent than I was before. "Why are you not wearing any clothes?", he demanded, his voice deep and husky from sleep and his eyes pointedly not wandering from my face and shoulders. "I...you're not wearing clothes either", I pointed out, stuttering. My legs curled up to me as he fixed me with a glare that made me want to run for cover, regardless of the fact that I was no stranger to harsh looks. Our eyes travelled around the room at the same moment, landing on the ripped pieces of the red dress I was wearing yesterday, his discarded shirt, tie, and slacks, my lacy underwear dangling from the side of the drawer on his side of the bed. Noah turned slowly to stare at me again and I gulped, feeling faint vestiges of hysteria pierce through my sleepy haze. The throbbing soreness between my legs finally made sense. When my mate spoke, his voice was colder than I'd ever heard it. "What happened here?" I swallowed fearfully again, because that question was rather redundant, seeing as we'd both just stared at the proof of how our night was spent. A night that I had no recollection of. "I..." I licked my lips. "Noah, I..." I shook my head. My brain was still sluggish, for some reason. I hadn't had any alcohol last night but a glass of champagne. I was usually able to hold much more drink than that. It just didn't add up. "What did you do to me?" Noah's voice had risen from it's comforting cadence and was now veering towards angry. Fast. "Me?", I asked incredulously, my own panic finally seeming to pierce through my cloud of lethargy. "Yes, you!", Noah said. "Why don't I remember anything? I had nothing to drink last night!" "Neither did I", I said. "Why are you making this out to be my fault?" Noah suddenly stood, either mindless of his nudity, or too furious to care. The expression on his face was one I had never seen before, and definitely not on Noah whose good-natured kindness and soft smiles never failed to draw the hearts of people. "Maybe because the only thing I had to drink yesterday came from you!", he shouted. "We've just slept together and we're barely more than strangers!" I looked down at my hands, unsure of how to answer to that. I did offer him a drink last night. Water, but a drink nonetheless. "We're not exactly strangers", I said quietly. "We've known we were going to be mated for a while now." "That doesn't mean I want to fall into bed with you at the earliest opportunity!", Noah yelled. Tears prickled at my eyelids at his words. "Well, I didn't want to do it either!", I yelled back. "I don't even know how we got here!" Noah's eyes flashed. "Liar! There's only one explanation for why I can't remember anything from last night. You drugged me!" I gaped at him. "What? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" "Is it?", Noah sneered. "It seems to me you'd do anything to sink your clutches into an alpha." My face paled at his accusation. "I never wanted this in the first place, and you know it. My father arranged our marriage!" "Then I bet it was convenient for you that we turned out to be fated, am I right?" "How can you even..." I shook my head. "I don't know how this happened, Noah. I don't know who drugged you or if you were even drugged. What I do know is that whatever was done to you was done to me too. I would never do such a thing as you're accusing me of." I hoped he could hear the sincerity in my voice. His stormy gaze faltered for a moment before hardening again. "Do not presume to accuse any of my pack members, Sirona. None of them would dare poison their alpha. Or his mate. Even if it seems like she wouldn't be us mate any longer." My head snapped up. "What is that supposed to mean?" In answer, Noah turned away from me and picked up his discarded pants. The sight of his muscular behind as he bent to pull on his clothes did nothing for me as my heart pounded, my head trying to decipher the meaning between his words. He stood straight up as the trousers got past his knees and turned to me as he did up the buttons. "This was a bad idea, Sirona. I don't care what your father seems to think. I will not be mated to a woman who would go as far as drugging me just to get what she wants." He raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe this was your father's plan all along? Consummate the relationship so that the alpha doesn't get away?" He shook his head disgustedly. I cringed at the insult. "Listen to yourself, Noah", I urged. "What you said doesn't make any sense. Why would I drug you when we're already fated? I have no reason to do that, I stand to gain nothing from that!" "Well then", Noah said scathingly. "That doesn't say much about your scruples or your virtue." I shied back as though I'd been slapped. Noah had just implied that I was a loose woman. A w***e. "Last night was my first", I told him tightly. A smudge of blood on the sheets confirmed my words. Noah shrugged impossibly broad shoulders that I cursed myself for noticing. "Doesn't change anything, Sirona. I, Noah Black, Alpha of the Red Moon pack, rejects you as my mate. Whatever you do next does not concern me." The ache that attacked my heart was so acute, I felt myself bending forward. I looked up at Noah alarmingly. His face was a calm mask, all of the earlier fury hidden. Noah rejected me. What would I tell my father? For that matter, what would happen to me? Everyone knew that being rejected by your fated mate was something no werewolf wanted to live through. "Noah..." He fixed me with one last hard glance before turning away and walking out of the room. My legs propelled me up and forward as I chased after him, sheet trailing behind me. At this point, I didn't care who saw me or what they thought. My mate couldn't just reject me after one day. I pushed the bedroom door open and entered into a hallway that led in opposite directions. Noah's broad back was just rounding a corner and I ran towards him, turning the same corner and almost smacking into his back. I put an arm out to steady myself and he didn't even turn to look at me. A young woman stood in front of him, smiling softly. I recognized her as one of the many females fawning over him. Her name was Mia and she also happened to be his first love. I knew that because I'd overheard Mia telling her friend about the one and only kiss she had shared with Noah before news of his engagement reached the whole pack. "Mia", Noah said, deep voice rumbling. "What are you doing here?" Mia smiled bashfully up at him. "I..." I clamped a hand down on Noah's arm. "Noah. Listen to me." They both turned to look at me and Mia's eyes widened comically as she took in the sheet hanging precariously over my breasts. "We have nothing to talk about, Sirona", Noah said. "I do not want to see you any longer." Mia gasped. "Are you two..." I ignored her and sent Noah imploring eyes. "Noah, you can't just make a decision like this after..." "After what, Sirona? After you drugged me? Is that not reason enough?" Mia gasped again, louder this time. I shook my head frantically. "I didn't do it! I was drugged too!" Noah scoffed. "You drugged him?", Mia asked me, looking aghast. Anger flashed in my eyes at her obvious act. No one could be as innocent. "Of course I didn't!", I snapped. Mia shook her head. "I don't blame him. No offense, Alpha, but I think I'd do the same thing you're doing if I found out my mate drugged me. My fated mate." She paused for a second. "But Alpha, what are you doing?" Noah shrugged my hand off his arm. "I've rejected her", he said with finality. "Ohh", Mia nodded. "I understand where you're coming from. I'd do the..." "Shut your mouth and don't say you'd do the same!", I snapped at her. "I didn't drug him, for god's sake!" "Don't snap at her!", Noah snapped, the same moment when Mia said, "Who did then?" "You're out of line, Mia", I warned. "You're out of line, Sirona" Noah said. "I will not have you talk badly to Mia in my presence." I shook my head, then really stared at him. "I didn't take you for one who would jump into conclusions without doing your investigations first", I told him. His expression of barely concealed anger didn't change. I drew in a desk breath, feeling the last of the mate bond break away as I came to terms with what I was about to do. "Very well, Noah", I said, pulling the sheet tighter around me, keeping my head up and my eyes dry. "I, Sirona Blackwell accept your rejection." Without waiting to see his reaction, but hearing Mia give another theatric gasp, I turned and walked briskly back to the room Noah and I had woken up in. Thankfully, it was the one where all my belongings had been kept. The Red Moon pack could do without me, and so could Noah Black. *** I knocked on the door of the house before turning the handle and letting myself in, pulling my in luggage behind me. My stepsister Olivia lounged on the sofa, munching on a handful of M and M's. She spared me a cursory glance before turning her attention back to her show. "What have you done this time, Sirona?", she queried absently. "Dad's already heard you're back. He's up in his study waiting for you." Of course he was. Nothing ever escaped Alpha Jack, my father. Worse still, his daughter was returning home on the morning after her marriage. News like that would spread like wildfire. Olivia spared me a glance again. "You're in deep s**t. Dad's furious." She sounded gleeful about it. I forced myself to roll my eyes at her, then made for the stairs that led to my father's study, stowing my large suitcase at the bottom. I knocked softly in the door and my father's booming voice admitted me in. I walked in, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim lighting in the room. My father looked me over once. "Sirona", he said. A single word, and already, my palms sweated. As a child, I'd always had the irrational fear of my father abandoning me if I disappointed him. That fear stayed with me well into adulthood. "Father", I replied. His high-handedness during my childhood had earned him the title of "father" instead of a more conventional or affectionate "dad". "You're home", he said. Not a question, but I felt obliged to provide an answer nonetheless. "Yes, Father." He stared at me silently for two seconds, three. Then, he snapped impatiently. "Well, girl? Don't just stand there gaping at me! Why are you here?" "I..." I wiped damp hands against the fabric of my jean skirt. "Yes?" "Noah rejected me", I blurted. "Did I hear you say", Father said quietly, "that the man whom you married last night, the man who so happened to be your fated mate, rejected you? A few hours after he married you?" I shakily nodded, twisting my hands nervously in front of me. My father's gaze fastened on my ring finger, on the absence of the gold ring that had been there the night before. I'd left it nestled in the sheet I'd discarded on the floor of Noah's room. A hapless housekeeper would find it together with the stained sheets, and have the gossip of her life. "Answer me!", Father suddenly bellowed, making me jump. "Yes, Father", I replied quickly. "Why?", he demanded. "For god's sake, why? Everything was fine last night. He mentioned nothing of this manner. What the f**k did you do?" I shook my head. "I didn't do anything! Noah got it into his head that I slipped something into his drink and he..." "You drugged your mate?!", Father yelled again. "I didn't!" I had to raised my voice a bit so he could listen to me. "I didn't, Father, I promise!" He ran an exasperated hand through his hair. "Can you do nothing right, Sirona? What sort of foolhardy stunt was that?" "I didn't..." "Keep your mouth shut! Whether or not you did it is of no consequence! The point is you're here now, gracing us with your useless presence. And I thought I'd finally gotten rid of you while putting you to good use." My mouth opened and shut as I stared at the man who birthed me saying such hurtful things. "But Father..." "Don't! Don't speak to me, Sirona. Just leave." "LEAVE!", he bellowed when he saw I wasn't moving. "And I don't mean leave my presence. I mean leave this pack! This isn't your home anymore!" "I have nowhere else to..." "That's not my problem, Sirona. It isn't my fault I made arrangements for your wellbeing which you ruined. Go back to your husband." I knew that was a lie. Arranging my marriage to Noah hadn't been for my wellbeing. It had been because as his firstborn and heir, whoever I married would get to lead beside me as alpha. He had simply chosen the man with a pack of his own, which would no doubt lead to an alliance that would enlarge and strengthen the pack. I was nothing more than his chess piece. "I can't go back to Noah's pack, Father", I pleaded. "He doesn't want me anymore." "And you think I do? Get lost, Sirona." "Father..." He shook his head. "As from today, you are no longer affiliated with me. I didn't raise a failure." I shut my eyes tightly, my heart breaking at his words. Even when Noah had callously rejected me, it hadn't hurt as much as hearing the man who raised me tell me he never wanted to see me again. Silently, I nodded, the motion sending a single teardrop that had pooled in the corner of my eye falling and making an imperceptible splash on the polished wooden floor. I turned and walked towards the door, pausing with my hand on the doorknob. Wheñ i turned, my father had already turned his attention back whatever he was working on. "Goodbye, Father", I said softly. When he didn't look up or acknowledge my words, I pulled the door open and walked out. My stepmother stood to the side. She'd been eavesdropping. Her pitying look barely concealed her glee. "Have fun?", I asked as I brushed past her. She rolled her eyes at me. I hurried down the stairs, not even pausing to say goodbye to Olivia as I pulled my luggage with me. I tried not to think of what awaited me. There's a reason werewolves tended to stay in packs. It kept the mindless insanity of loneliness away. Only the worst or most unfortunate wolves were forced to choose that life. I was officially a rogue.