All I wanted was a mate.
I had always fantasized about my mate and what he would look like and how cute of a couple we would be and how we would marry with a few kids and grow old together side by side. A perfect life.
But I didn’t have a normal mate.
My mate was cruel and had many deaths on his hands. He was a savage beast with no emotions and no sense of right and wrong, only to kill.
Brandon was in almost all of my classes, since my school was so dang small, and he flaunted his new “friend” Sofia around to make sure I would notice.
Why did it have to be him?
On the bright side, I still had Keith and now I could confide in him everything about my double life I’d always wanted to tell him.
I told him more about when I first phased and my hunting adventures.
“So do you turn into a wolf every full moon or can you do it whenever you want?” He asked curiously. We were suppose to do an English assignment but we really didn’t want to.
“We phase whenever we feel like it. I could do it right now.”
“Why don’t you?”
I gave him a flat stare.
“Because it would give everyone in this room a heart attack.”
“Do it!” Keith egged me on but I shook my head.
“Do I have to be the mature one here?” I teased.
“Funny.” I turned back to my homework but Keith kept talking.
“Wait, I have an actual question,”
“What is it?” I sighed.
“How do mates even exist? Like, how did someone just decided to be someone’s other half? It makes no sense.” Keith scrunched up his nose in confusion and I almost laughed at the face he was making.
He looked hilarious right now with that clueless look in his eyes.
“Nothing about werewolves makes sense. But I’ll tell you.” I said and took a deep breath. This one was going to be long. “I’ll tell you the story of Lucian and Cadence.”
Every werewolf knew that legend.
But I decided to tell Keith about it anyway to fill the time.
“The moon goddess Selene was lonely so she carved a son from the stars-”
“How is that even possible-?”
“I’m telling the story!” I talked over him. “So-”
“Sorry.” Keith added and I looked at him, giving him an annoyed but playful look.
I began again.
“She carved two hearts for him so he would live forever. Selene named him Lucian and casted him down to Earth so he could live as a mortal. He grew up with wolves and with humans, and was known to be the first hybrid, the first werewolf. He grew to be happy and healthy but after a few hundred years, he grew lonely. He wanted to roam the Earth with a companion, someone who he could confide in. One day, Lucian journeyed to an abandoned river and laid down to stare at the stars, hoping for his mother to appear from the midnight sky. Just as he was about to leave, a woman appeared from the river. Long black hair flew behind her bare back and her pale marble skin seemed to glow in the moonlight. Lucian had never seen anyone with such beauty and soon, he fell for her as she fell for him. He named her Cadence, after the strong, steady beat of their love.”
I paused and Keith gestured impatiently for me to keep going. I opened my mouth to continue the story.
“They were so very much in love that when his mother Selene asked for him to return to his home in the stars, Lucian refused. He said his mortal love was stronger than anything on the entire Earth, beyond the Heavens. Selene watched them and saw that Lucian would only ever love this mortal woman.”
“So Selene gave Lucian’s second heart to his love, and from then on, every werewolf would have the same heart, the same soul, the same mate.” I finished.
I blinked and it was like I had returned back to the present. Telling stories made me forget where I was sometimes.
“Wow. That’s so. . .” Keith trailed off, rubbing his chin.
“Dumb?” I grinned.
“I was going to say deep.”
“It’s only a legend.” I shrugged.
“It makes sense. So. . . have you found your mate yet?” He asked and my heart stuttered.
“No,” I replied, my answer sounding more like a question to me.
He locked gazes with me and he had that knowing look in his eyes. As if he knew something.
But just as quickly it was gone, and I returned back to my work.
*****
Unfortunately for me, Brandon and Sofia were both in my math class. This was also the one class that I didn’t have with Keith.
I sat in the back, trying to actually study, but I couldn’t help but look up every few minutes to watch them.
He said he didn’t want me, and I believe him, but what could he possibly gain from doing this? To be in the same room as me?
Argh I needed to stop thinking about him!
I looked down at my work again but my brain started thinking again. My thoughts wandered to my best friend and how he was connected to werewolves. How did he know so much about us? He knew about Albert and that I was a werewolf. There were some things he had no idea about but still, something didn’t feel right.
A shrill of laughter in front of me made me snap my head up.
Sofia’s legs were draped across Brandon and he was whispering something in her ear. She laughed again and I was losing patience.
“Can you please be quiet? I’m trying to study.” My voice didn’t sound like my own.
“Jealous?” Sofia said and seductively leaned closer to him.
She was really pushing it.
I was trying to be civil.
“Bitch.” Sofia sneered at me.
I bristled at the insult but didn’t let it show. My gaze fell on my mate, who didn’t do anything. He didn’t side with Sofia but also didn’t stand up for me.
And that was much worse.
*****
I could be strong, I could be strong, I could be strong-
“Hey,”
I turned around, almost dropping the books in my hands, when I saw Brandon standing there. He crossed his arms and leaned his body against the lockers.
“What? Here to shove your new girlfriend in my face?” I asked.
“She’s easy.” He shrugged.
He did not just say that.
I slammed my locker and walked away, anywhere from him, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the lockers.
My back hit the cold metal and my anger rose.
I growled and he growled back, his eyes flashing amber. I almost forgot he was an Alpha.
The gold ring around his pupil faded but he didn’t let go of me.
“My wolf isn’t responding.”
“So?” Neither was mine.
“I may not want you, but he does,”
“How romantic.” I rolled my eyes.
Brandon doesn’t say anything for a while but he does finally let me go. I step away from him and rub my arm where it tingled. I was definitely going to feel that in the morning.
“You rejected me. It’s your fault this happened.” I said quietly and he sighed loudly.
“That was before.”
“Before what?” I was done with him. Why couldn’t he just leave? He was so confusing, I thought in frustration.
“Before my wolf disappeared. Before I knew what it meant to reject you as a mate. I didn’t understand it and I wasn’t thinking right. But I was thinking about how you were my enemy and for the good of both of our packs.”
I blinked, digesting all of his words.
I only caught on to one thing.
“Are you saying you. . . want me?”