Huntress or Mate?

Chapter 1 - Mate

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Enya

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“That ungrateful son of a… bean,” I mutter, shaking my head after checking my phone for the umpteenth time. Today is my big brother’s girlfriend’s birthday, and he asked me to help him organize a romantic dinner for them. He's such a hopeless romantic.

I smile at that, knowing Harlow's very lucky to be mated to him. He worships her and will be the best husband and Alpha. I'm also glad it's Harlow. I like her.

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Arlo has been in love with Harlow forever, but Harlow is human, and she didn’t take it well when she learned about the existence of werewolves and my brother being one. My brother has been a worried mess ever since he discovered they were mates. He hoped they would be and knew he would have to tell her what he is, but still, the fear became too much when he was certain he would have to.

He was supposed to have told her right after confirming she was his mate, but he couldn't summon the courage until six months later. He had been scared shitless for months but woke up hopeful on that day. I was also hopeful for him, we all were, but all the hope that was shining in his eyes when he left was replaced with raw soul-rattling fear when he returned. He looked like death, and I found a few tears escaping my eyes when I looked at him, thinking she had rejected him, only to find out she hadn't done it yet. She didn't say anything.

For two weeks, she ignored his calls, and he couldn't stomach anything; he couldn't even sleep. All he did was train, day in and day out. He was terrified, especially since he had to present her with the option of rejecting him should she choose.

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I’ve been praying to the Gods every day for him. It would destroy him if she rejected him, and I’m afraid he might never recover. Before he told her, I advised him to include wolf topics in their casual chats, just to find out how she feels about wolves, so he could get an idea of how she’d react if she were to find out werewolves were real and he was one, but he didn’t want to. He said he wouldn’t be able to take it if she hated them.

When I left the cabin this afternoon, I asked him to at least let me know if things went well, but I guess I will have to settle for his silence as an indication that they did.

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I place my head back on the pillow, deciding to sleep. I have college tomorrow, and it’s almost midnight. I have a test and need my rest. I close my eyes even though I'm not sleepy yet, but a faint smell of smoke hits my nose. My eyes snap open, and I raise my head, wondering where it's coming from as it suddenly becomes strong, and just then, I hear something crashing through the window. I abruptly sit up on the bed, my heart rate immediately accelerating as whatever broke through the window lights up the whole house.

“Enya!” my mother’s voice echoes just as I get off the bed, and she comes busting inside my room with a horrified look in her eyes. “We are under attack! You need to run! Where is your brother?!” she yells in panic, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the window while I’m still confused, noticing the house is on fire.

“Run!” we hear my father's voice before I hear him groan, and a thud follows. I stop and yank my arm from my mother before turning around and running in the direction where my father's voice came from. But my heart stops, and I feel my strength drain from my body as my eyes land on the gut-wrenching scene.

My father is lying in a pool of blood on the floor, unmoving, while men with crossbows hover over him. Another three bodies lie next to him, two with their heads detached from their shoulders.

My mother screams, barging inside the room after me, and the men now charge at us and deploy their arrows. I dodge them, and she lunges at them, shifting into her wolf mid-air before landing on top of one of the men and knocking his head clean off his shoulders, causing him to tumble to his knees. I also transform into my wolf as more men come out in all directions, cornering us.

They are all wearing masks and dropping tear gas bombs on the floor, turning the place dark. If I weren’t a wolf, I wouldn’t be able to see a thing.

My mother jumps in front of me, shielding me while letting out a ferocious growl before I hear her panicked voice in my head, telling me to run. But I can’t. I can’t leave her.

I drop into a crouching stance, ready to attack too, and just then, she leaps up again, but they deploy their arrows, and I watch in horror as her brown wolf tumbles to the ground, letting out a painful howl before shifting back to her human form and telling me to run.

“Run, Enya!” she repeats, but even her Alpha command doesn't move me. I fall on my hind legs, feeling the last bit of strength I had managed to gather drain from my body as blood gushes out of her chest.

This cannot be happening; it has to be some kind of nightmare. I involuntarily shift back to my human form as I start crawling to her, silent tears sliding down my face, too broken to scream. But they clamp a collar around my neck just as I get to her before yanking me back, causing me to fall miserably on my back, choking.

“Take it out!” I hear one say as I desperately try to go back to my mother, hearing her take her last breath.

“Mom! No!" I call out to her, falling to my side as they start to drag me away, and just then, I feel multiple stings on my back, like razor-sharp blades cutting my skin and I fall face first, paralyzed.

They drag me out of the burning house and load me onto a van while I helplessly look on, unable to scream or move a finger. But even if I could, I have no will. I have nothing to fight to try to save. My parents are gone. “Arlo,” I whisper with a broken voice, hearing them saying they got my brother too.

I hear the door being locked as my eyes flutter close, my heart too heavy to stay awake. But the door makes another sound again, and I feel cold hands on my face.

“Wake up!” a voice says, the person shaking me, but I don't move, and darkness takes over.

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“Enya! Enya! Wake up! You need to get out of here! You need to run!” I hear a voice say, but it’s faint. Just then, I feel the cold hands on my face again, tapping against my cheeks. But I’m dizzy, defeated, and broken. I just lost my parents. I have no will to live. I want to lie here and die, but she won’t let me. Why won’t she let me?

“Please, le- ” I beg her to let me die, but she cuts me off, ordering me to wake up. She keeps shaking me until I open my eyes, but I struggle to see. The poison in my blood, my bleeding heart, and the collar have drained all my strength. She puts her arms around my waist and pulls me out of the van, and I fall to my knees, too weak to stand.

“Please, get up! Please,” she begs, desperation evident in her breaking voice as she tries to pull me back to my feet, her voice now sounding louder. I get up, but my knees are shaky, and I’m still bleeding from the open wounds since my wolf can’t heal me with the collar on. She helps support me, and I'm able to stand.

“ Drink this,” she instructs, placing what seems to be a bottle against my trembling lips, and I gulp down the water. She pours some on my face, tapping me awake before starting to move with me as I limp next to her.

“What the hell?!”

We hear a voice scream in the direction we came from, and she lets go of me and tells me to run, but I fall to my knees.

“I have risked everything for you. Please, don’t let this be for nothing. Get up! Please!” she says, pulling me up again, and as dead as I feel inside, something tugs at my heart at her words, and I start crawling on my knees before getting to my feet and running.

“This way!” I hear the male voice shout, and I run faster, but a scream escapes me as I slip inside a black hole. The hole swallows me whole, and I desperately try to hold on as it sucks me deeper. But everything I try to hold on to keeps snapping, and after what feels like forever, it spits me out, plunging me into a raging river. I desperately gasp for air, but the water is too fast and powerful, and my lights go out.

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Harlow

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“Are you ready for tonight?” my father asks, placing his hand on my shoulder after sitting next to me on the ground, his legs crossed as I have. My training session finished about two hours ago, but I couldn’t stop. When I do, I feel like I’m losing my mind, like I have extra voices in my head that are trying to talk to me, to scold me. I have to keep training; I need the pain to stay sane. I’m a disappointment, a failure. I feel ashamed and disgusted that I had allowed my family’s killer to touch me, that I let him kiss me. I feel betrayed, and thinking about it makes me want to burn down everything. How could I have been so blind? How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I notice? Surely there were signs. My father has spent years training me to be the best, but I have let him down. I have been to their house many times; I've dined with them, but I couldn’t figure it out. They must have been laughing at me; they must have been really impressed with themselves. But we'll see who has the last laugh.

“Yes, I'm ready,” I reply to my father, turning to look at him. I'm ready to end this. I’m ready to take its life, just like the beast, together with its filthy family, did to my mother and my siblings.

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Today marks the third week since the beast's capture. Its family was killed the same night, but my father saved it for last. He kept it for a special occasion.

Tonight's a full moon, and full moons are significant to us, for it is the night my family was killed. So, my father decided to honor their memory by performing the initiation rituals only on a full moon. A new leader comes with new strength, the strength we need if we are to exterminate the vile beasts, if we are to prevent another family from going through what we went through, another man from losing his wife, and another child from losing their mother.

My father tells me to get ready before getting to his feet and heading inside. I get up right away and follow behind him. There are still two hours before the ceremony, and I would have liked to stay a little longer, but I’d rather not be punished on my initiation night, even though maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea, feeling how I feel.

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When I was a little girl, I sometimes watched Enya’s parents play with her. I would listen to how gently they spoke with her and the love that always shone in their eyes; then, I would close my eyes and think about my father. He was distant and cold. I had never seen the look that Enya’s father always had in his eyes when looking at her in him. It was never there. His eyes were always void of any emotion, always a general and never a father. When Enya broke the rules, she got scolded or grounded. If I broke the rules, which I rarely did, I trained all night without a moment's rest. But as I grew older, I understood. It wasn’t his fault. It was the monsters that took my mother from him, that took his family, and he was making sure it didn’t happen again. He was ensuring they didn’t strip him of the one thing he had left. My father was making me stronger, preparing me for when evil finally emerged from the shadows. He wanted me to be ready. My father loves me, and I feel disgusted to have ever compared him to those vile beasts.

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I step inside the shower and clean up, and when I come out, I notice everyone has arrived, dressed for the occasion too. I smile, looking at my new Ravin R29X sniper crossbow. It’s an upgrade from the Excalibur matrix I was using. My father will present it to me at the end of the ceremony tonight, and I will make him proud. I will kill many beasts with it.

I put on my black leather outfit, and we head down to the cells, my father walking in front, holding the light since the dungeons have no light. There’s no need for the beasts to be comfortable. Plus, it's not like they need the light anyway. The cell doors are opened, and we enter. But I gag as the disgusting stench of blood greets my nose. How are they even bleeding the same blood as us?

The rest of the men enter with more lights, causing the room to be bright, and I finally see the disgusting beast, its arms wrapped around its knees as it trembles in pain.

My father hands me the blade, and I walk up and stand in front of it. The men yank it up using the chains around its neck, causing it to groan in pain.

“Look at me, you filthy beast!” I demand, frustrated that it's still hanging its head low even though on its feet. I want to see it. I want to see the light flee from its eyes as I bury my blade in its chest and cut out its vile heart. The men tug at the chains, and it finally does as commanded, but I freeze the moment our eyes meet.

Everything stands still, all of it fading to the background as this indescribable heat spreads across my chest before traveling through my body like wildfire and knocking the air out of my lungs. I let out a strangled breath, staggering, and just then, a voice I've never heard before speaks in my head.

'Mate'

I shudder, gasping out a breath as the blade falls out of my hand and hits the ground before my knees give in, and I follow to the floor.