𝕬 𝖗𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖒𝖊𝖑𝖑
𝕴𝖓𝖘𝖎𝖉𝖊 𝖆𝖓 𝖆𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙 - 𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖜𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊
There was a rotten smell in the air, as if someone had let the garbage bin open for far too long. Mina quickly recognized the smell, she had sensed a similar one a few years ago when she found her mother dead, alone in the forest - “those damned stray dogs all smell the same” she thought, while opening the door slowly and sliding inside. The entrance was dark, but she could see a dim light at the end of the hall, probably coming from her bedroom. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness as she dived further into the apartment - as a pure-blooded werewolf, it posed no problem.
The bedroom door was slightly open, she noticed, “Wilhelmina”, Goddess, how she hated the name her parents gave her. She turned around, silencing Aiden with a hand gesture, as she pushed the bedroom door fully open and finally turned on the light. They were gone, her things trashed on the ground, some drawers hanging while others were smashed on the floor.
“You need to switch locations, it’s not safe anymore.” He sounded serious, discontented even. The warrior had been against her decision to leave pack grounds for so long after all. Her wolf disregarded him as soon as he spoke“What a puss, I like it here Mina, let them come, I’ll rip their hearts out.”
She took him in as she leaned against the door, getting a cigarette from the case in the pocket. He frowned - didn’t like her smoking, one of the reasons she started in the first place, out of spite. As a pack warrior, Aiden was a big guy, taller and larger than most men she knew. One of the most attractive ones she had ever met as well, and at that moment, his electric blue eyes burned through her skull, urging her to move, probably out of there - before the strays came back, the rogue smell still lingering in the room. Mina took a drag, closing the gap between them and blowing the smoke into his face. She stretched until she could easily move her fingers through his ashen brown hair and pull his face to hers, “Stop it”, he said. He didn’t really mean it, and she knew. She knew his urges better than him at that point.
“I want to fuck.” The growl that followed was more her wolf than hers. Aspen enjoyed being around his wolf even though they weren’t mates. And she enjoyed the whiff of danger even more. It excited her, and he could feel, and smell... their arousal.
“It’s not safe -” he insisted, trying to resist, while his fingers closed around her waist. Such a contradiction.
She licked her lips, looking him in the eye “Says who? They didn’t find us, they won’t be back for a few hours... we have time.”
“We need to leave, the Alpha will kill me if I let you get into danger.”
“He won’t care”. Not after her mom died 8 years back and her little sister managed to mate a strong Alpha from a nearby pack before she did - Mina could still picture her father’s disappointment when her mate rejected her in front of the whole werewolf committee at the annual meeting, two years before.
Sebastian Walker, Beta of the Red River Pack - she could never forget his face, even if she wanted to. Those haunting green eyes and messy blackhair - the bastard didn’t deserve to be that good-looking.
Aiden noticed her spacing and sighed. She could feel his fingers moving below the blouse she was wearing, swiftly finding her without a bra and with hardened nipples. “Fuck” he cursed, before tilting his head to meet her. His lips were warm, moving fast, urgent. Mina gasped for air, removing his clothes and tearing his t-shirt in the process. It was always like that between them - fast, hard, savage. She dug her nails onto his back, drawing blood as he lifted her up like a feather, her back pressing against the cold wall with a bang. He entered without any warning, making her scream while he growled against her neck. His lips brushed the marking spot - she knew he longed to mark her, to claim her, but Mina would let no man, no wolf, claim her as his. She was her own.
𝕺𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖎𝖉𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖎𝖙𝖞
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE WASN’T THERE?!” the smaller man cowered in the corner, watching the table flip. The man in front of him was one of the scariest wolfs he had ever met - not an Alpha, as rogues didn’t believe in ranks, but a former one, that Tyler was sure of. The aura he emitted made the others around him shrink and bare their necks.
Xavier Williams was known as an underground king - a ruthless rogue that had killed his own father out of rage and was thrown out of the pack. Recently, he had become obsessed with a female he had seen at a supernatural club and was making them run little errands, tracking her. The chase was consuming him, and it seemed to entice him even more, as she kept running around, slipping through his fingers. He wanted her and he would have her, whatever the cost. Tyler pitied the poor woman.
𝕹𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖉 𝕽𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖕𝖆𝖈𝖐
Sebastian cursed under his breath, finding his twin brother wallowing in self-pity by the river, once more. He and Zain were turning thirty next month and the pack elders were urging the Alpha to find a mate - if not his true one, then a chosen one. They needed a strong Luna, who could bear strong pups. Zain wasn’t having any of that, he wanted to wait.
“Hey man, Eva was looking for you”. Eva was the eldest daughter of their father’s Beta, and had loved his brother since they were little kids. Everyone thought she would make the perfect Luna, and he knew that Zain had considered it once, when they turned twenty-two, and four years had passed by without him finding his mate.
“Fuck her.”
“Rude.”
“She’s clingy, I’m tired, I can’t even stand to smell her nearby anymore.”
Sebastian sat down, smacking his brother on the head and ignoring the glare he had thrown afterwards. “She likes you, and if you keep sleeping with her every now and then, it won’t help your case... The pack keeps saying she’s the next Luna”.
“She’s not. My Luna is out there, I know it.”
“Zi, you may never find her.”
“You found your mate” he said, looking him hard in the eye. “Hell, you even found your second chance, why can’t I even find mine?” Sebastian looked away, unable to look his twin in the eye. He was right. He had found Lily when they were both eighteen. She was a few months younger, and came from an omega family of their pack. They spent 8 years together before she passed away giving birth to their pup. Cain was both a blessing and a curse to him at that time, and it was a little bit after that he met her. His second chance - Mina Reed, of the Bright Moon pack.
He remembered the smell first - a strong hint of cinnamon mixed with coffee. His eyes had wandered the room until he found her. She was petite, with a curvaceous body and a small waist. Her lips were full, of a rich pink color and her eyes shined in a mysterious dark brown. Her hair, of a deep auburn color, fell around her face in waves. White, unmarked skin, like snow. Stunning. Freki had growled in his mind “MATE!” - but before he could think about it, he was in front of her and the words were out of his mouth, something in the back of his mind saying it was for the best. She was young, twenty at the time, and he was already twenty-eight, with a two-year-old son to worry about. He could feel he wasn’t the right one for her - hell, he wasn’t even supposed to be there, just filling in for his brother, as Zain was solving an issue on their borders. They should never have met and he wouldn’t have made her pass through the pain that followed the rejection. Her screams forever printed on his mind.
“I’m sorry.”
“Maybe she’s not born yet”. It wouldn’t be the first case, but for his twin’s sake, he really hoped it wasn’t his.
“We have the annual meeting soon, and the ball... Maybe if you go this year, you’ll find her”.
“Hell no, not happening. You know I hate those kinds of gatherings”.
𝕭𝖆𝖈𝖐 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖎𝖙𝖞
Mina dug her nails further onto his skin, as she felt his teeth grazing her neck, tempting her. Aiden kept pounding harder and faster onto her, taking away her breath each time he got inside her. She flipped him on the side, taking the lead, marveling at the sight below her.
“I can’t get enough of you”. His lips were parted, red from the kisses, and his eyes shined with desire. His hands moved to her waist, helping her up and down at the pace he chose. She could feel he was coming close.“I love you” he whispered, closing his eyes and growling. This gorgeous man, who wanted no more than to please her every time and kept surrendering to her whims. She would have to end things soon, before she damaged him beyond repair.
“You’ll meet your mate soon” she said, getting up from the ground and picking up the cigarette case. Aiden kept lying, his eyes following her around the broken room.
“I’ll reject her”.
“No, you won’t. She’ll be a very lucky woman” she paused, trying to find a lighter and giving up on smoking when she couldn’t. “don’t make anyone pass by the pain I went through”.
“I will reject her Mina, I mean it, I can only love you”.
She sighed, starting to dress herself “You need someone that loves you back, Aiden... I’m sorry, I’m too broken at this point”.
They had left the apartment not long after. The silence between them ripped her to pieces, maybe she shouldn’t have said anything and just kept going to see where it would lead them. She was starting to regret the whole thing altogether. “It’s for the best” said Aspen, after being so long without making a remark “I like Ulrich, but he isn’t our mate” “We have no mate, remember? He rejected us, neither Sebastian nor his wolf wanted us” “Freki wanted me, he was mate” “WAS, as in the past. We’ve no one now, let’s drop this”.
By the time it was dark, they were reaching the outskirts of the county. Mina had been visiting various packs, establishing connections for her father. It was the best she could do after all, and it was the only way she could find to get out of the pack, and the disappointment and pity looks everyone threw her way. The rumors said she was unfit, and that was why Sebastian rejected her. Not Luna material like her sister: the perfect little she-wolf, the perfect little wife - quiet, elegant, pure. Mina was nothing like her. Behind her back, when they thought she wasn’t listening, they said she had thrown out the perfect Alpha they needed because of her slutty behavior - Sebastian was strong, of Alpha blood himself, and well-known in the werewolf community. Well, she had no need for him anyway and after that embarrassing moment she never saw him again. Thank the Goddess for that small mercy.
“We’ll have to keep going on foot, it’ll be faster”.
She looked at Aiden, surprised to hear him after five long and dreadful hours. He glanced her way, slightly, and opened his mouth to say something before changing his mind and turning his head to the other side. The pained look in his eyes made her uncomfortable. They parked the car as soon as they reached one of her father’s safehouses at the border and proceeded to shift.
Ulrich was an imposing dark brown wolf with golden eyes. He sniffed the air, checking if it was safe for them to go down that path - he was still her warrior, responsible for her safety after all, even if he probably wanted nothing with her at the moment. Aspen followed right behind him, jumping and running through the forest with ease. She was bigger than the average female wolf, with silver glistening fur and icy blue eyes. Mina had loved her the moment she first saw her mirrored on the lake.
It was time they both headed home.
