The Wolf Queen and Her Alpha Mate

Chapter 3 Rejection

I stood up and tried to feel my surroundings only to fall and start sliding. The ground was getting steeper, and I was picking up speed, water was dripping on me and I saw light approaching. I flew out of the tunnel and tried my best not to scream. With a splash I landed in the lake outside of the Pack borders. The waterfall had been hiding the tunnel. We used to take field trips here for picnics. I had never noticed anything behind the waterfall. I swam to the shore and stood up panting.

As I pushed my wet hair out of my face, I heard the fighting start at the pack and my heart clinched. I wanted to help them. I didn’t want them to die. The growls echoed through the forest around me with the occasional yelps. I stood frozen trying to decide what to do.

Run Clara, it’s too late. He’s right, they chose this, and they made sure the rest of the pack got away. It is not a complete loss. We must go!

This was not fair. I started running in the direction of the mountain. I started to smell that wonderful smell again, but I kept running. My head started to fog again, and my eyes were having trouble focusing. My limbs grew heavy, and I felt pulled back towards the pack. It must be the pack link. My need to be there and fight with them was strong. I tried to fight it and kept going. I slowed to a walking pace. My head started to hurt. And I felt sick. Lean something is really wrong.

I feel it too Clara, keep going though, push past it. Maybe if we get far enough away from the pack it will cease. It must be your Royal blood making it hard to abandon them. I sense the same danger approaching that I felt from before. We must go!

I started running again. This time at my full speed. If it wasn’t for my whole body feeling like it was tearing apart, I would have noticed someone gaining on me sooner. The pain vanished suddenly and all I could do was smell the most intoxicating smell if ever smelled.

I was still running but had slowed way down as I couldn’t help but focus on how good I felt. The smell was distracting. So warm and strong but sweet. No, Clara RUN FASTER!

I couldn’t though because at that moment I heard a ferocious growl and was tackled to the ground.

My head hit the ground and bounced. I winced at the pain. But then I kicked the attacker off and stood. Growling and showing my teeth in a warning. The man that stood in front of me stared at me in shock. He was shirtless and had tight jeans that hugged his muscles nicely. His skin was tan and soft looking. All the right bulges of muscles. His face was strong set with a powerful jaw and straight nose. His hair was curly and brown framing his face. The sunlight shining through the trees made the natural highlights in his hair stand out. I wanted to touch them. His eyes were the most startling icy blue I had ever seen. When he met my gaze, my heart flipped, and I felt my inner thighs tingle. He sniffed the air and smiled. He took a step forward and then stopped. He looked me up and down slowly which only made the things I was feeling worse. Then he snarled and shook his head. As if realizing something just then. “No. it can’t be. NO!” He yelled at me, and my heart hurt for some reason at his words. He lifted his hand and stared at it and all I wanted was to touch his hand. Hold it, have it hold and touch me. Lean was silent but I could feel her anger and hurt. What was going on. I had never felt this way towards a man. He also felt dangerous though. Not safe at all. He took a step towards me absent mindedly. He wasn’t looking at me and was in deep thought.

“Stay away from me!” I yelled at him. I slowly started backing away from him. His eyes darted to me immediately. “Move another muscle and I will stop you and this time it won’t be just your head that gets hit.” His voice was full of aggression, and I knew the threat was real. He meant it. He sniffed the air again and shook his head. I sniffed too, the intoxicating smell from before was there. And very strong. It was warm and comforting. My body began to relax at the scent. It could only mean one thing. My heart started pounding as the thought entered my mind.

Clara, he is our mate. My eyes went wide and my mouth fell open. Lean seemed saddened at this revelation. Not happy as she should have been. Which only meant one thing. He was also the danger she had been feeling. I shook my head and he stared at me. “How can the goddess be so cruel?” I whispered. Seeing the hurt flash through is eyes. I quickly looked down at the ground. I can reject him. Clara, not yet we need to know for sure who he is first so we can use his name and properly severe the bond. We can’t make the mistake of not doing it properly. We also must be sure he is a danger to us, so no mistake is made.

“Who are you?” I ask in the most disgusted voice I can muster as I look to his eyes again. He grimaces at my words. As if my disgust caused him pain. Good. He squares his shoulders and stands tall looking even more handsome. “I am Alpha Vance of the Clover Pack. You are Clara, the last living Royal and my blood enemy.” He says the last with anger. This couldn’t be. Why would the goddess choose him for me? I shake my head again. “How can I be your blood enemy when I’ve never met you and know nothing of why you hate me so?” He rubs his face in frustration. “I will not explain anything to you. I am to take you to my brother to face the same fate as your parents. Run and I will find you. Fight and I will win. If I have to I will bring you to my brother barely living.” He took a step forward and I took one back. I shook my head again.

“No, you see, I will not be going with you. I only just found out who I really am, and I will not be punished for something that has nothing to do with me. I am innocent. This is all bullshit. I did not ask for this blood and as of right now, being given a Mate like YOU I wish I could be anyone and anything else. You will not take me. You cannot, because someone who follows the orders of someone else is too weak of a person to go against me. I do not want a weak mate. This will be last time you see me, or I you and I thank the goddess for that.” I made my voice drip with disgust and hatred. Making sure to insult him and call him weak as well. He grimaced again at my words. And clutched his chest. Do it Clara now and in his pain, he will be too weak to follow us.

She sounded so sad. This was going to hurt her as well. Hurt us. I raised my head high and grounded myself. “I Clara Stillwater, Reject you Vance, Alpha of the Clover Pack, as my Mate and Other half. May we never cross paths again.” He fell to his knees and tears welled in his eyes. He looked up at me and for a moment I saw his raw need for me. “Clara….” My name sounded so sweet on his lips. He said it so gently. He looked at his hands “What have I done?” then back at me. He was fighting a battle inside I could tell. My heart felt like it had been torn out. A tear fell from my eyes. “I had such hope in a Mate, the one meant to protect and love me. May the goddess see fit to give us our second chance ones. I’m sorry for whatever caused you to hate me so much that you’d be willing to throw a mate bond away.” At my words he looked up in anguish. “Clara… I … no… I wish I could… no…” he curled into ball and yelled loudly. Screaming in pain. And I turned and ran away. I ran at my full speed and ignored the pain in my chest. After a few minutes I felt Lean join me with all her pain as well. Her pain fueled us though and we were even faster. How could this be?

An enemy Alpha as my mate? One who hates me for things I know nothing of. The sounds of his howling and screaming vanished as the distance grew between us. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry for days, but I knew I couldn’t stop yet. The sun started to set. I’d been running for a couple hours. I wasn’t tired yet though. I changed my direction realizing I couldn’t lead them to the Rebel Pack. I found a river and ran into it and followed it for a while then I got out of it and stopped running. I grabbed mud from the banks and covered myself in it in thick layers and then pulled grass and leaves pushing them onto my mud-covered skin. I started running again. I zigged and zagged and found a road. There I grabbed some bark on the ground and tied them with vines under my shoes. Then I left the road and walked into the woods and headed for the mountains.

Fate was bullshit. My parents weren’t my parents. Everything I knew was a lie. My family was dead. And the fake one was probably dead too right now. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought of my family sacrificing themselves. How could this be my life? I lost track of time as I began to run again and thought back on my life and how good they had all been at pretending. Id never seen anything that would have given it away. Id looked forward to finding my mate. Id always wanted him. And I finally found him, only to have to reject him in the next moment. How could the Goddess be so cruel. Did my parents really do something so horrible that their bad karma spilled over to me? The sounds of the forest surrounded me as I slowed my pace.

I reached the bottom of the mountains just as the sun was rising. I stopped and watched it rise catching a small break. listening to the birds waking up. I was surprisingly not in pain. My heart wasn’t breaking. Lean seemed fine too. It is probably because we did it quickly and were not around him much before the break. We deserve better Clara. I looked up at the mountain. Did I really want this life? I could run. I could go far away into the human world and just leave this one behind. I could pretend to be human. Find happiness. And leave the wolves to their own devices. Fertility went down but it didn’t go away completely. Wolves are strong they could figure it out. They didn’t need me, did they? I can hide away. If I go up this mountain, I will have a future of pain and loneliness and fighting, I just know it. Second chance mates were rare. And I did not want a chosen one, but heirs are important, so they’d probably force me into one to be bred. Treated like livestock to continue the line. I wanted real love.

All I ever wanted was to be a warrior like Anthony and live a normal life. Meet my Mate and have pups and live a good life. A peaceful life. I turned away from the mountain and looked to the direction of the human’s big city that was merely 10 miles from the base of this mountain. I wanted happiness. I deserved it too. Why should I risk my own happiness and safety for a whole race who would let someone like the usurper stay in power. Why would I let countless more die for me too? The wolves should have banded together back then and took him down. Why should I suffer for their cowardice. Like Lean said, I deserved better