The Rejected Mate

chapter 4

* 3 years ago *

It is safe to say that she was miles away from her pack grounds. She had crossed the border about two hours ago.

Their pack was the strongest pack in America, yet it does not surprise her that no one noticed when one of the pack members was leaving through the border.

They must have been so indulged with the announcement Damien had made a little while ago.

She has been running for two hours in her human form. It was tiring her out. Growing up she did not indulge herself in any sports or pack training, so she was sure she was a bit out of shape.

She decided to stop and rest for an hour or so before shifting into her brown colored wolf and continue with her journey.

She had noticed a stream, a little farther from where she had stopped and she could literally see it from where she stood. It was beautiful to say the least, and the way the water glistens in the sunlight makes it appear like it was made of sparkling diamonds.

She moved towards the edge of the stream and bent her head down so that she could quench her thirst first. She continued lapping at the water with her tongue and continued to drinking the water.

From her crouched position on the ground, she was so pre-occupied with quenching ger thirst that she failed to hear a twig snapping not too far away from her.

A Rogue.

It was too late to react. The Rogue leaped and clamped its jaw onto her hind leg.

she started trashing around in its hold, when she sees an opening she grabs the opportunity and head-butts the rogue and eventually escape from its hold before the Rogue has time to recover from the pain her head-butting had caused.

She claws at its back with her long claws and leaving three jagged claw marks visible on its back. She knew it would leave a scar as the cuts were deep into the rogue's flesh.

The rogue howls in pain but recovers quickly and its red empty and dead eyes are set on her form, his prey.

It jumps and tackles her down on to the ground with so much force that her wolf whimpers with pain and the rogue takes this opportunity to clamp its jaws onto her neck in order to finish her off.

One moment she saw its sharp yellow teeth almost about to bite into her neck and the next thing she knows, the weight of the rogue is gone from above her.

A big black wolf had tackled the rogue down from above her and had clamped its jaws on to the rogue's neck and is flinging the rogue from side to side.

The rogue lets out a huge whimper, but the wolf effortlessly separates its head from rest of its body.

She turns her head from the gruesome scene before her and tries to escape discretely from the scene fearing that even though the black wolf had saved her from the rogue, there is no guarantee that she was not going to be its next target.

The moment she turns to run, she is tackled down by the big black wolf and she lays on her back facing it, not wanting to move, and come off as a threat.

It is only now that she had noticed that this wolf wad bigger than the average wolf and stands tall.

It has hazel brown eyes similar to hers and there is no mistaking by its black fur, which usually only Alpha's have.

She turns her head to the side and whimpers showing the wolf that she submits under its power and means no harm to it.

The wolf c***s it's head to the side and analyses her for a second contemplating whether she was telling the truth or not. It eventually steps back from above her and gives her space to stand up.

'Shift' she hears a voice say in her mind. Her eyes widen hearing the voice.

There is no way anyone from the pack can mind link her, she was far away from the pack house so there is no way they can. Realization dawns upon her and she looks towards the wolf and see it giving her a wolfish grin, if you can even call it that.

She does not protest knowing that the wolf means no harm, so she turns around and goes behind a tree to shift and change into some leggings and t-shirt she had taken along with her.

She eventually walks towards the spot where she had last seen the black wolf and instead of finding the wolf, there was a guy standing there with just a pair of basketball shorts hanging dangerously low on his hips.

To say that this man right before her eyes was an average looking man would be an understatement. Her eyes take in his dark dirty blonde hair and hazel brown eyes, just like his wolf. He has a chiseled face with a sharp jaw line and high cheekbones that any girl would kill for and an obvious six pack and toned legs.

Of course, he had to look like a runway model.

He is a good looking male. If she had not found her mate and even though he rejected her and easily found a replacement, she would date this guy. she pushes the thoughts to the back of her mind.

She hears a chuckle and she instantly realizes that she had been caught checking him out which causes her to blush a shade of red.

"I don't mind you drooling over me. I'm Matthew. Matthew Wilson. You can call me Matt for short." He says with an amused smile on his face. He smiles a lot for someone who just ripped a wolf's head apart from like it was a rag doll of some sort.

This just proves the phrase 'you can't judge a book by its cover'. Wait. Why does his name sound so familiar, she thinks to herself.

"Yes, because my pack used to be the strongest until the rogue attack that took place three years ago." He says with a dark look on his face and she realizes that she might have said it out loud.

She notices the strong emotion flitting through his hazel eyes. The hatred reflected in his eyes is not directed at her, but he smiles at her afterwards remembering the situation at hand.

She remembers him now, Matthew Wilson. Alpha of River Stone Pack. Their pack was apparently attacked three years ago by a pack of rogues while their Luna went into labor.

She still remembers hearing how they attacked and killed her along with their unborn child, killing them both effectively along with the rest of his pack.

Because of the pain due to losing his mate, he couldn't do anything to save his pack. Losing a mate you're destined to be with, most probably wouldn't kill him but some do go down a dark path while others commit suicide. she's surprised to see that he is still alive.

This just proves how strong of a person he is.

She does not ask or mention anything about his former pack knowing that it was a touchy subject for him especially losing his other half.

She was glad though that he is not one of those Alpha Mates who go bat s**t crazy and go on a killing spree after the demise of their soul mate. He appears to be as normal of a werewolf that there is, even with him being an Alpha.

If you did not know about his pack beforehand and met him you would think that he lived a normal and happy life and not someone who lost their mate and unborn child.

"Um, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry and I'm Serenity." She replies. She was a bit embarrassed after getting caught checking him out.

Wow she did not stutter while talking to this stranger, now that is a first, she thinks to herself.

"You know you space out a lot for a wolf." He laughs and says.

she scrunches her nose up and ask, "What's that supposed to mean mister?" Her sassy side was apparently making an appearance today.

He holds his hands up in a mock surrender motion and says "Hey, don't take offense but I mean that you space out a lot for someone who should have heightened sense and all, y'know?".

"Oh" is all she could reply.

"So, what is a pretty girl like you doing here, living a rogue life, anyways? I can tell that you are new to it." He asks, and she instantly blushes as this is the first time anyone other than Courtney and her family had called her 'pretty'.

She thinks for a moment deciding whether she should tell some stranger about her life story or not. She eventually decides against it and replies with "Stuff happened and I ran away".

He c***s an eyebrow at that, but he does not pry and ask anything related to that.

"So where are you headed to anyways?" He asks, and she narrows her eyes at his question.

Honestly, she was surprised that she was not stuttering while talking to someone else, a rogue and that too an Alpha at that.

There is a part of her telling her that she could trust him after all he just saved her life; she owed him at least that.

"I don't know" she replies honestly, and he frowns at that and mutters something under his breath which she could not hear even with her werewolf hearing.

"You can join me if you want to" he says, and she contemplates it for a moment and replies with an "Okay".

He looks surprised at her reply but quickly recovers, grins, and says, "You won't regret it, trust me" and starts walking towards the North not waiting for her.

"I hope not." She says under her breath and follow behind him.