Queen of the storm

Chapter 2

“I found my mate and he rejected me” Elara stared out the kitchen window.

“Details please” Jill gritted through her teeth, her blue eyes darkened.

Elara replayed the incidence earlier in the day.

“Jerk” Jill snorted

“Don’t say anything to Mom or Dad…and Lucas” Jill hissed at the mention of the last name, Elara looked at her friend pleading.

“Fine! As long as he doesn’t try anything funny I won’t tell”

“Thank you” Elara wanted to make sense of why Rhett rejected her. She hoped he would come around or at least if he didn’t, she didn’t want to be on his bad side.

The week rolled by and it was weekend, the pack planned to go for a hunt, both for training and an excuse to have a barbecue party afterwards.

They were divided into a team of threes, Elara was paired with Jill and Ollie.

“Hey Elara” he said when she didn’t reply, he stuck his blonde hair in her face.

“Ew stop” she groaned

“You were ignoring your favorite minion Elara” He rolled his eyes at her. Ollie was the second ranked in getting best grades in their class, Elara always beat him and they competed —till he conceded and began to call himself her mininon.

Hank Lancaster—the beta of the pack was in charge of the hunt. He stood tall and proud, almost as intimidating at Lucas, the only thing that kept Elara from squirming when he barked orders was the fact she would sit across the table from him later this evening and he would dote on his only daughter.

They all sprinted, the heat of power coursing through them as the shifted. All eyes on the price to get the fattest catch—no dirty pack work for that team for a week!

Elara couldn’t keep up with her teammate “Hey Jill, I could scout and signal you guys once I find something” Elaramindlinked her friend

“No we can’t split up” Jill barked at her, Ollie whined. They knew why she was truly doing this, she felt she would slow them down.

The stubborn set of her shoulders told them they wouldn’t win the argument —something she had gotten from her father.

“Fine…stay close to us” Jill replied

“Be safe Elara” Ollie rubbed his white fur against her and leapt after Jill.

Elara knew this woods really well, her father took her wolf-back riding through the forest. It had been their thing on weekends for year’s until she herself transformed—he was practically crying.

Her senses kicked in, she could see, feel and hear the forest, her wolf ears twitched as she listened, before long she found a doe grazing, it was almost as large as a stag—but small enough to be an easy kill for a werewolf.

“Jill, Ollie—found a big one” she stalked it. “Rodger, we’re on our way” Elara felt pleased with her tracking skills.

A big russet wolf came into her view, eyes on her prize. “s**t” she thought

“What's it Elara” Ollie asked

“We've got competition” Jill’s wolf form scowled at the information.

Elara silently blocked the doe from the big wolf's view with her small frame. They were at the edge of a very high hill, and they both had to keep still to keep from startling the doe.

“Stand back” she said to the wolf's mind, it’s blue eyes piercing hers.

“Or what?!” his voice was cutting but alluring, she staggered towards him unconsciously like he had called to her.

“I saw it first….finders, keepers Rhett” she snapped back.

“Only the strong get to keep anything…weaklings are the losers” he walked towards her pushing her further to the edge of the hill.

Elara shuddered in fear, questioning what she ever did to Rhett, they had never been friends despite her crush on him, but he had also never made moves to hurt her—until now.

Her wolf form whined as she turned and saw how far the bottom of the hill was, but he didn’t stop, he was snapping his fangs at her now.

“Rhett stop, are you crazy?!”

“Yes! Your existence makes me mad…I will not end up like him, I will end you early”

“What are you talking about” from the corner of her eye, she saw the doe become alert and it began to walk away from where it had been feeding.

“Rhett, I’m your mate that should count for something” she started into his eyes pleading with him.

“One weak woman always ruins everything…you don’t get it, you keep trying to seduce me every chance you get! I don’t want you and I never will” he moved a paw further towards her.

Elara was so sure she would fall, when a big black wolf slammed into Rhett, she scurried away to safety while the two wolves snarled at each other.

“Hurt a hair on me Rhett and face the consequences….” Jill growled at him. Must be cool to be the Alpha's cousin Elarathought.

He stepped back and left.

She turned to Elara, and she knew Jill was going to tell to protect her friend.

When she got home later that night, she crawled into bed and cried profusely. She couldn’t convince him and she didn’t know what to do to make everything better.

A month passed and the final exams were over, and so would the torture of seeing Isabella wrapped around Rhett.

She had her acceptance letters from Harvard. She was going to leave behind silver wood, some years might heal her devastated heart.

The bell rang and they had to submit their papers, after that shrills of excited students were heard in the school corridors—summer break was here, college was on the horizon.

“Hey! I’m super excited, what are we going to do for the summer Elara!” Jill was shrieking in delight beside Elara.

“Elara can we finally go swimming at the lake or go to the party at Tony Brady's place” Ollie begged

“You can go I’m not coming” Elara said plainly, she wanted graduation to pass, she couldn’t wait to leave this bleak town behind.

She became aware of their shocked sad faces. “I am so sorry guys,I’m just a bit cranky….I really would love to join you guys, maybe we could talk about plans later” Elara said trying to repair the damage.

They both hugged her till she was out of breath.

“6pm…tonight…let's meet” they both chimed and Elara knew they had planned this.

“Ok” she laughed, she was going to miss them. Jill was going to Dartmouth College, Andre was going to attend Brown, Ollie was going to UCLA.

She was going to be alone, but they had one mind…to get out of the pack and get some kind of life, they wanted their life to count for something asides from being werewolves. Others thought they were crazy.

They parted ways, Jill had plans with Andre and she really felt like walking home.

She had walked some distance from the school, when the familiar roar of Rhett's motorcycle came behind her and stopped.

“Get in” he said to her, his face looking somber “Please Elara, I'm sorry…let's talk” he looked like he was in a hurry.

She got in and wrapped her hands around his waist. They were off quickly, Elara felt the bike come to a halt and she opened her eyes for the first time.

They were at Krystal Isle Lake, it was the coolest place in town to get away, Ollie wanted to come here with his friends and his twin Katie for a picnic and a swim.

“Why are we here Rhett?” she asked aware of her companion, she was trying to ignore the fire holding him had created in her.He dropped his bag by the bike and she followed suite.

He held her hand and simply said “Come” he led her to the end of the pier and turned to face her.

Rhett chuckled as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, her cheek stained with a blush.

“I should get you a helmet…for next time”

She realized her hair was a mess from the wind and she finger combed it until she was satisfied.

“You don’t have to get me anything…you said you wanted to talk”she grumbled underneath her breath.

“I am so sorry for how I’ve treated you Elara, I was having some troubles and I was scared you'd start hanging around too much…it was too sudden”

“But you were hanging around Isabella” she eyed him, apologizing wasn’t getting him out of this.

“I know…it was just a thing…I’m sorry I hurt you Elara” in a flash movement, he was hugging her and whispering into her ear “I'm sorry” he sounded so broken, Elara wanted to comfort him, her mate.

She wasn’t forgiving him, not yet but he must have had it hard so she hugged him back.

“What happened Rhett?” she pulled away from him and looked into his cerulean blue eyes. He looked like he was in so much pain.

Without answering her, he kisses her, Rhett had quick reflexes, every movement quick, smooth and easy. Just like the kiss.

They could talk later Elara thought, she grabbed his hair and inched him closer, she couldn’t get enough of him.

He growled in response and pulled her in, he felt very hot and just as quickly as he had pulled her close Elara suddenly saw herself flying through the air into the lake.

It was then it dawned on her why he brought them here, too late,she fell into the water. She struggle to stay afloat with everything she knew about swimming .

“I'm sorry Lancaster, You can’t swim?” he stared at her with mock innocence, much to her horror. He had known, only few people did, it was why she stayed away from pool parties.

“Rhett please, help me…I sta…yed…away” she was struggling with the water.

“Yes but you friend didn’t…she ran to Lucas, ran her little mouth…I wish I could drown you two little dogs” he spat at her.

“I lost everything I worked so hard so because of you” his eyes held fire, and Elara was confused.

She couldn’t fight anymore. Her phone was so far away in her bag, she looked to it and he followed her gaze. Rhett could see she was struggling and could keep afloat, she kept entering into the water.

“Rest in Peace Elara, No one is coming” she shouldn’t have trusted him, mate or no mate. Life was cruel she knew that now, her legs buckled under her and she sank.

Her nose burned and her lungs filled with water, she was dying, she knew it even before the darkness enveloped her