MATED TO THE ENEMY BROTHERS

CHAPTER 5: Burnt Bridges

FENRIR

Glad I got over the reluctance of leaving my pack earlier today. That decision was a blessing in disguise.

If I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have met my mate. Maybe I eventually will, but not so soon.

I hadn’t had a reason to step into the Grimpaw Prowler’s pack ever since I was banished with my mother years ago.

I couldn’t forget how everything had gone down that night. It was a complete fiasco.

I was much younger then. I was just five years old, and the memories were still fresh in my head, like it all happened yesterday.

“Come out here, you slut of a woman!” My father growled at my mother, anger evident in his alpha voice.

He bellowed. “You… and that abomination you birthed as a son.” My father has never been this way. He never used vile words on us. But what I witnessed that night was the complete opposite of what I know him to be.

We were just two. Adolphus and I. Adolphus was a few years older than I, but there weren't many differences between our physiques.

We took the tallness of our mother and physical strength from our father. That was what I thought.

I remembered my father said my mother birthed an abomination as a son. Was it me or Adolphus?

Boom! Stars spinning around my eyes and head. Everywhere went completely blurry as my father's coarse palm made a sudden impact across my face.

Immediately I knew what was going on. I was the abomination my father was referring to.

Bile rose in my throat as my body hit the floor beside my mom. She brought me closer to herself, shielding me from any further assaults from my father.

She was already trembling, and I couldn’t help but feel pity for her.

Why was I an abomination?

Why not Adolphus?

Why not the both of us?

My eyes were shut, ready to receive another attack from my father, when Adolphus’ small voice halted him.

“Father, stop. You’re hurting him.” He protested, trying to stop my father from continuing with his assault.

My father stopped; the anger on his face was momentarily replaced with warmth. He crouched down in front of him and ruffled his curls playfully, as he always does to both of us.

He stared into his eyes and said. “He is… a bastard… he isn’t your brother. He is an abomination of nature. I didn’t give birth to him. You can’t love him anymore like you used to. He is a useless bloodsucker, and he is going to bring ruin to our world.”

Adolphus squinted his eyes in confusion. “But why?” He asked as his eyes welled up with tears.

“He is a hybrid. A werewolf and a vampire!” My father air-coated the last word.

My heartbeat pounded as I heard the word ‘vampire.’

My father had told us stories of how brutal they could be and that they are not welcome in our world.

I recalled him telling Adolphus and me they used to have two long fangs, which they used to suck the blood of their prey, usually humans.

Little me didn’t waste any time touching my canines to see if they were long and didn’t notice all this while. And it was just like normal people’s own.

I couldn’t believe it when he said I was one.

I watched as Adolphus took some steps back away from Mother and me. His eyes widened like a saucer, and one could tell that he was terrified.

“A vampire…” He mouthed the words slowly, shaking his head unbelievably at what Father just told him. Without hesitation, he ran into the house like he had seen a ghost.

That moment shattered the love that my mother had built between us. The bridge was burnt that very night.

If I were able to, I would have run away from myself too because that name terrifies me as well. It’s more like a nightmare.

I turned to face my mother, hoping she would say no, that I am not a vampire, but the regret on her face confirmed my worst fears as she dragged me closer to herself.

Her eyes flooded with tears as her body trembled with fears. Her bad decisions were gnawing at her. Her choice weighed heavily on her conscience.

“I should have put a knife to your head this instant.” Father rose up and gave us a once-over. “But, I won’t. You won’t make me do what would haunt me for the rest of my life.” He paused and looked heavenward. His eyes were glossy. He felt betrayed. Maybe.

“Go and return no more!” My father growled. No. He wasn’t even my father anymore. He was my stepfather.

That night was the last time I saw Adolphus. Not until tonight. I wasn’t so happy to see him. I grew up hating him and my stepfather because they are werewolves, and I hated all werewolves with every fiber of my being.

I once used to hate vampires, but I had to accept who I was no matter what. I was a hybrid; maybe I hate the werewolf part of me as well. That was the result of the discord my father sowed between us that night.

But one person I couldn’t bring myself to hate was sitting beside me. My mate.

I was painted as the abomination of nature because I was a hybrid birthed from the infidelity of my mother. I was supposed to be a full werewolf just like everyone else, but as faith would have it, my mother had a thing for this stranger who came into our pack before I was born.

Like my mother had explained to me, no one would smell if he was a vampire. He hid his identity so well because if he hadn’t, my stepfather, who was the Alpha, would have had him killed even before he came close to my mother to talk of both of them having an affair.

My mother said my real father doesn’t feed on human blood. He had control over himself such that anytime he craved blood, he would go deep into the woods to hunt animals and feed on them.

When my mother got to know he was a vampire, it was too late for her to stop whatsoever thing that was going on between them.

My mother loved him, and he made her swear secrecy to protect him and not reveal his identity to anyone.

She knew the consequences of her actions if anyone else were to know what she had done, but she still did it. All for what?

Love?. Would you call those stupid things one does for love?

Becoming rogues wasn’t easy on my mother and me. She died a few years after we were banished, and I was left in our cruel world to survive alone.

Tonight, catching a whiff of my mate’s scent, I knew immediately that no rules were going to keep me away from stepping inside their territory.

She wasn’t just a fated mate. She was something more than that…

I took a long pull from my cigar. The smoke, thick and gray, drifted lazily out of the window into the dark sky in a haphazard manner.

“You don’t smoke?” I gave my mate a side glance as I kept my gaze on the road.

What was I expecting? An eighteen-year-old should know how to smoke? f**k me.

She didn’t utter a word, but the irritation laced on her face was enough for me to know she wasn’t comfortable.

Looking at her, she seemed to be afraid of me. Well, everyone was always afraid of me. They cower at the mere mention of my name.

I don’t want my mate to be like that. She shouldn’t be afraid of me even if everyone else is.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” I threw my cigar through the window, hoping to make her feel relaxed.

With my focus still on the road and using a side eye to catch a glimpse of her, I could feel the uneasiness in her posture. I really need to make my mate feel at home because this is our home.

The car made a screeching sound and came to a halt in front of my pack.

Yes, I have a pack. I couldn’t do it alone, so I raised a pack of human-turned vampires. I turned them myself. They are more like my army. We are vampires here and not werewolves.

And you know what we feed on. Blood. Human blood.

“Hey, baby,” Rieka, my human girlfriend, sashayed out of the pack house.