Chapter2
1084 Words
(Vaelstryx’s POV)
I wasn’t expecting anyone to interrupt. Selene and I had found a quiet spot, far from the others, away from the noise. She was her usual intense self, demanding attention, craving dominance, but I tolerated it. For the moment, it was easier than arguing.
Then out of nowhere, I felt it.
A blur of motion. A weight slamming against my back. Fingernails digging into my shoulder. A sharp sting on my neck. She bit me.
She actually bit me.
“What the hell?” I muttered under my breath, turning my head slightly.
Whoever it was, she was yelling. Her voice was fierce, shaking with rage, conviction. Her words barely made sense in the chaos, but her intent was clear. She thought she was saving someone.
“Get off her!” she screamed. “You sick bastard!” she yelled at the top of her voice with her veins almost popping with ferocity of her voice
I should’ve thrown her off.
I should’ve snapped.
But instead… I paused.
There was something about her. Something strange. A pulse under the surface. Her scent hit me—not like the others. Not quite human. Not quite a wolf. A blur of wild curls, fire in her eyes, her whole body moving like she had no fear at all.
Even Selene froze for a second. Just long enough to gape in disbelief.
The girl scratched, bit, kicked. She was smaller than me by far, but she didn’t seem to care. She fought like she meant it. Like she believed she could actually take me down.
And in that moment… I almost believed it too.
It wasn’t her strength exactly, it was something else. Something deeper. Something very familiar.
I grabbed her wrists, finally pulling her off. She didn’t stop right away. She struggled like a wild animal, still kicking, still snarling. I held her up in the air, letting her dangle for a breath.
Then she looked at me.
That’s when it hit me.
Her eyes.
Familiar, but not in a way I could name.
They reached somewhere deep. Somewhere I hadn’t opened in a long time.
The bond snapped into place like lightning finding ground. Sharp. Immediate. Undeniable.
She was my mate.
My wolf stirred inside me with a quiet growl. Not in hunger. Not in anger but recognition.
This girl who had just attacked me, bit me, clawed at my neck—was my mate?
Selene’s shriek cut through the air like broken glass.
“Vael! Are you seriously just going to stand there? She bit you!”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t.
All I could do was look at her.
She was flushed, chest rising and falling like she’d just run a mile, her face burning with a mix of fear, embarrassment, and defiance.
She was beautiful.
Not in the polished way Selene liked to present herself. This girl looked… real. Like the forest itself had shaped her. Like the wind had tangled her hair and the earth had painted her skin.
I slowly set her down, keeping my hands near in case she tried to attack again.
She didn’t.
She just stood there, staring up at me, stunned. Her fingers clenched around a clay pot like it was a weapon.
Then Selene shoved past me.
“What is wrong with you?!” she snapped at the girl. “Are you completely insane?”
The girl flinched back, trying to explain. “I thought you were in trouble—”
Selene wasn’t listening.
“In trouble?” she scoffed. “You thought I was being attacked? That’s your excuse for leaping out of the woods and biting my mate?”
Mate.
The word felt so wrong in her mouth. Too loud in fact.
The girl opened her mouth to apologize again, but Selene cut her off.
“You bit him! Do you even know who he is?”
She turned to me, expecting support.
But I was quiet.
I just watched the girl.
There was something stirring in her. Something buried deep. Her power wasn’t fully awake, maybe not even known to her but I felt it.
Wolf.
Hidden.
Unclaimed.
How had no one seen this?
I could see the confusion building in her eyes. Like she was realizing the situation too late, like she was waking up from a bad dream and didn’t know how to escape.
“I’m sorry…” she said softly. “I didn’t know you—”
“Oh, I’ll give you something to be sorry for!” Selene shouted, and before I could stop her, she swung.
Her hand connected with the girl’s cheek—hard.
The sound snapped through the air like a whip.
The girl stumbled back, her pot crashing to the ground and shattering into pieces.
Something inside me snapped.
I moved without thinking, stepping between them and grabbing Selene’s wrist mid-swing as she raised it again.
“That’s enough,” I said, my voice low.
Selene looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “She attacked you!”
“And now you’ve hit her,” I said calmly. “We’re even.”
She pulled her hand back, shaking with rage.
“I cannot believe this,” she hissed. “You’re defending her?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t have the words to explain it.
This girl, this stranger felt more important than anything I’d known in years. More real than all of Selene’s games, more honest than any council title or bloodline war.
I turned to the girl again.
She was holding her cheek, blinking fast, trying not to cry.
Our eyes met.
She looked at me like she didn’t know whether to hate me or hide behind me.
I had so many questions, but none that made sense yet. All I knew was this:
She wasn’t just any girl.
She wasn’t human.
And she wasn’t a mistake.
She was mine, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Nobody was going to hurt her, not in front of me and definitely not even Selene.
Selene had been trying for months to get me alone with her—her own ambition clear in every word and look. I always shrugged her off. But this time, when I finally agreed to spend some time away from the pack with her, the god
dess had other plans. She introduced me to my mate instead.
I knew right then this wasn’t a coincidence. And I was going to make sure that girl was mine.
- Writer
