Rise of the Rejected Mate

Chapter 5

The alpha howled, calling out his pack members. They were under attack by their rivals, the Iron Claw pack.

Sonia struggled and panted heavily as the werewolf’s claws tightened around her. “Help me, Zara!” she screamed in pain.

Zara was too weak to fight at that moment. She looked around her aimlessly in search of any object she could find. She then grabbed onto a vase and smashed it on the ground.

The wolf distracted by the noise, turned his head to check what happened, which gave Sonia a brief opening.

She pushed him hard, which caused him to stagger towards Zara. She then transformed and took to her heels for safety to join the other pack members, leaving Zara behind.

Zara stood there helplessly. The silver dust took a heavy toll on her as her hands began to shake. The enemy werewolf growled loudly as he became very furious. He stared at Zara straight in the eye for a moment without making a move. She lowered her gaze as he stared.

Suddenly, a loud howl echoed through the air. It was the sound of their alpha signaling a retreat.

He glared at Zara one last time. Her head craned up to meet his eyes, and she swallowed nervously. A look of horror crossed her face, and she stumbled backward. He snorted and turned around without laying a finger on her.

“Who could it be? Could it be someone I know?” she whispered as a slight shiver worked down her spine.

She picked up the bag of elderberry Sonia dropped and slowly dragged herself out of the place. When she stepped out, she realised the chaos had died down. The enemy pack had all left after making a big impact on their pack.

Zara journeyed alone for hours, sadness clouded her features as she dragged her feet throughout the journey. She walked for hours in the wild, searched far and wide for the cabin but couldn’t locate the place.

When she got to a T-junction she was familiar with, she stood there helplessly, hoping to find anyone passing. She stood for hours and no one came around, it isn’t a common route.

Not long after, she saw a truck from far, she waved at the truck hoping it would stop and to her greatest surprise, it stopped. The stranger then helped her to the cabin since he stayed very close.

Finally, she arrived James Father’s Cabin late in the evening. The cabin was old, filled with cobwebs and needed lots of cleaning. But that was the least of her concerns at the moment.

She spotted a rickety table and hastily cleared everything off it, placing her materials on the surface to prepare an antidote for the poison.

Starting with elderwood bark and elderwood berries, she ground them together in a bowl, crushing and mixing them thoroughly for five minutes.

“I hope I also got stabilizing herbs?” She spoke out loud as her fingers thrusts into her bag.

She searched her bag thoroughly and luckily for her, she found lavender herbs deep down at the left corner of her bag.

She added the lavender herbs to the mixture and stirred for a few minutes.

Thereafter, she went to the small fire place just around the corner. After several minutes of striking stones together, a flame finally lit up. She poured the mixture in a kettle and boiled it until it became concentrated.

She added a few drops of wolf’s bane oil, a pinch of sage and two teaspoons of honey to the mixture, stirring thoroughly.

She waited for a few minutes to let the mixture cool down a bit, then she gulped down every bit of it thereafter.

Immediately, her eyes became dim, her bones became weak and she began to lose her balance. She stumbled toward a cushion and collapsed onto it. Pressing her body against the soft foam, she found a moment of comfort.

As she sat there, she instantly remembered all that happened. Her eyes welled up as she began thinking and reminiscing all that happened to her these past few days.

She felt powerless and helpless. “Everyone I knew turned against me, asides James,” she thought as she stared at the ceiling.

“Oh Sonia… how long have you been planning this? How come I never knew about this? Could you have been the one behind all this?” Her mind started opening to several possibilities as she sat down there.

“Am I truly cursed? The Seer never tells a lie. Could that be really true? Or is there a possibility Sonia and her mother, the seer, planned this together?” She kept on thinking.

“I never really liked the seer in the first place. My father never believed in superstitions or prophecies so he didn’t consult her so much before making decisions when he was the alpha. Could there be a reason why he never did?”

Her thoughts went far as she sat on the chair. She had all the time in the world anyway.

“Come to think of it, my rejected mate severed his bond with me. That’s the worse thing that can happen to any wolf. The humiliation… the pain that comes with losing your fated mate. Will I ever be able to recover from this?” She thought as she tapped her fingers continuously on the arm rest.

She was so consumed by her thoughts that she paid zero attention to her environment.

Suddenly, she had a very loud bang on the door, she jumped up in fear and carried a metal rod lying around the corner. “Who is that!?” She asked as a growl emanated from her throat.

She didn’t get any response and became more anxious. She moved slowly to the door, gripped the metal rod tightly in front of her.

“Who is that!? She said again, this time shouting out loud.”

“It’s me, Zara,” his voice firm and unbending.

Zara became more at ease as the voice sounded familiar even though she wasn’t still sure whose exactly it was.

“Do you have a name?”

“C’mon Zara, it’s me James. I’m the only one who knows where you are remember? I just came to check on you.”

“Come in, it wasn’t locked anyways,” she said as she dragged herself back to her former position.

James tried opening but the door got stuck. It was an old house so most of the things there needed replacement. He then pushed the door hard to get it to open.

“Oh my! I never knew this place was as bad as this, I’ve never been here in like 6… 7 years I think. It’s been a long while.” He said as his eyes glanced through the room.”

“Are you alone?” Zara asked

“Yes of course” he said as the corners of his mouth quirked up.

“Are you sure you weren’t followed? Now that I’ve been tagged as a killer, I have to be extra careful.” She clenched her feet tight as she asked.

“C’mon Zara, of course I wasn’t followed. My senses are very active, I will definitely know if someone did. And also, you’re no killer, we both know that.”

“Yeah we do, but Tom doesn’t, his mum doesn’t, Sonia doesn’t and even the entire shadowmoor pack doesn’t,” she responded as she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“I’m really short of words at this point. But the deed has been done, the way forward is what we should be talking about now,” he said.

“Oh really? Just… just like that? She glared daggers at him.

But the way, why are you here? I was banished from the pack remember? You could be in serious trouble of you’re caught helping me.” She said

“You’re my Cousin, Zara. I can’t just leave you. I actually came here to check if you’re safe. We were attacked by the ironclaw pack just around the same time you left. We had several casualties so I was worried since I didn’t see you around after they left.”

“At least, someone cares about me,” she said as she a dreamy smile crossed her lips.

“You know I’m always here for you anytime Zara, my sweet little cousin,” he said, and patted her on the cheeks.”

“What’s your story with the ironclaw pack anyway? I remember they used to friendly when my father was the alpha,” she asked.

“How did a once friendly pack turn to their worst enemy all of a sudden?. That’s really alarming,” she added.

He took a painful shuddering breath through his mouth as he replied. “I don’t know in details how or when the disagreement started. I was very young and very low in rank when your father was an alpha.”

“Although, I’m quite sure your dad was a great leader. Peace reigned while he ruled, he never stepped on anyone’s boundary and had alliances with neighbouring packs. Although, many people took him as being weak for that decision. You know it’s in our blood to gain more territory, expand and dominate. But I guess your father was built differently.”

“Does this war in anyway have something to do with my father?” She asked

“I… I don’t think so,” he clenched his feet tight as he replied.

“You don’t think so or you don’t know?” She scrunched up her face as she spoke.

“Like I said earlier, I was young then so the details are faint in my head,” he chewed on his bottom lip as he replied

“What are you hiding from me James? No one is willing to tell me exactly how my father died. I have so many unanswered questions. I’ll make sure I get to the root of this James,” she said again, as her brows snapped together.

“I totally understand how you feel Zara, I would feel the same way if I were in your shoes as well. But for the time being, I feel you really need to figure out a way out of your current situation.”

Sadness clouded her features as she spoke, “my current situation you say.”

“Yes Zara, have you figured out what to do now that you’re a lone wolf?” James asked.

“Purging myself of this poison in my body is my greatest priority for now. Others can come later.” She said as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Poison?, who could have done that to you? I will make sure I get to the bottom of this Zara, I promise you that,” he said

“You can start with that wicked friend of mine, Sonia,” she said, as she twitched her face.

“Why do you suspect Sonia though?” He asked as he thrust his fingers into his hair.

“I was with Sonia when the ironclaw attacked,” she said.

“Sonia? Why were you with Sonia? Did she say anything about me? A line appeared between his brows as he asked.

“Why would she say anything about you?, stupid,” she said, curving her mouth into a smile.

Tom breathed out in relief.

“Why were you with her then? I thought you both had a little disagreement earlier,” he asked.

“A little you say? She stole my position, my mate, my dreams and literally took everything away from me. You call that ‘a little’? You must be joking” She said stomping her feet on the ground as her eyes blazed with fire.

“Easy there, easy Zara,” he said

“Call me crazy, but I know I was poisoned before the contest.” She said

He gave a lopsided grin and said “are you sure you aren’t just looking for excuses to justify yourself?”

“It’s easy to say that since you weren’t in my shoes. You trained me yourself so you know I should have performed better than that,” she responded.

“True, you have a valid point. Asides Sonia, do you know anyone who would have wanted to poison you and why?”

“That part is still a mystery to me but all evidences point to Sonia,” she replied.

“Detective Zara,” he said, as his mouth curved into a smile. “What are your evidences then?”

“Just before the attack, I was shopping for ingredients for the silverdust poison and eventually, she came to me with the elderwood portion, which I searched tirelessly for,” she responded.

James swallowed heavily and replied, “oh, that’s really suspicious.