The Rogue Alpha's Mate

CHAPTER 2

LYCANDRA POV.

I knew it wouldn’t last! Dammit here she comes! I groan to myself internally as I watch one of the elders coming straight my way. I was trapped. All I wanted was to get myself a glass of orange juice and it unfortunately was in the corner of the room at the end of the table where the omegas put out an buffet breakfast for our birthdays so that we could mingle and dish for ourselves instead of the usual breakfast setting. I thought it really sweet, until I saw the ancient hag heading my way. Her eyes not even blinking as though she didn’t want to risk me disappearing in front of her. Elder Mary Booth was probably one of the oldest amongst us and she was still strict in her old ways.

I didn’t know if it was because I was born human, but she had this way of making me feel guilty, like it was my fault that I didn’t have a mate yet. Like I was doing something to put off the unmated boys in the pack. I grit my teeth when elder Booth pulled along an uncomfortable looking young man after her while shoving people out of her way with a cane that she always had with her. Only when they stopped in front of me did I register that it was Gerald. He recently turned sixteen and he looked at me apologetically before his eyes darted around the room, apparently just like me he was looking for a way out of this. “Hello dearie.” The old woman chirped, and I had the sudden urge to scratch out my ears from the tone of her voice but forced myself to keep the fake smile on my face. I just hoped it I would be able to keep it on my face till the end.

She practically pushed Gerald into my face that he had to stop himself from falling onto me by grabbing onto the table on either side of me and in reflex I took a step back and bumped my ass against the table, making the glasses rattle against each other. This drew some of the pack’s attention. Just great, exactly what I needed. And audience to humiliate me even more than I already am. “Well boy? Is she your mate?” She asked eagerly. Watching our close interaction with eager eyes. Gerald quickly jumped back and said “sorry” before walking off with a red down cast face.

The elder groaned in frustration and stomped her cane against the floor that drew more attention to us, and I could feel my embarrassment climbing. I so wished for the floor to swallow me whole. “This is ridiculous!” She ranted. “Not even the newly come of aged men are mate material for you.” She said. Tears started to well up in the corners of my eyes and in my swimming vision I could see that all attention was on us and I could barely make out my brothers in the one corner and they both had on matching anger faces.

“BOOTH!” Came my father’s angry voice from the pack and the wolves parted a path for my father to step through. I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked furiously to clear my unfallen tears so that I could at least appear to be fine in front of my parents. My mom was right behind him, and she looked just as pissed. The old woman had the audacity to look angry at being addressed angrily and swung around to meet my father head on. “How dare y…” She started to say but my father cut her off. “No! How dare YOU humiliate my daughter on her eighteenth birthday and in front of the pack no less?” He growled and the elder looked taken aback. “This matching obsession you have with Lycandra stops now!” He ordered and my mom stepped forward. “The Moon Goddess will guide her mate to her when she’s ready… not when you decide your mad old bat!”  My mother and the elder looked furious. “Such disrespect. I was only thinking of the pack’s image.” She snarled and a lot of people in the room had confused looks on their faces. “A human born into a wolf pack is a disgrace.” She said and eyed me with distain.

I gasped out a sob and not wanting to hear anymore, I ran out of the room and hear my brothers calling after me. Some of the other young she-wolves snickered at me as I ran past them while others looked at me with pity. I ran out of the house and onto the grounds towards the woods and only when I made it that far enough that the treetops blocked out most of the day’s sun did I slow down to a walk.

The tears were freely rolling down my cheeks. Never before have I felt so humiliated, and I hated myself for what I was. I didn’t ask to be human… I didn’t ask for any of this. I think to myself and suddenly feeling drained I stop to sit down on a fallen log. I shivered when a cool breeze blew over me and I looked up. With a shock I saw that it looked darker and with a I realised that it was nearing sunset. I was so lost in my own negative thoughts that I didn’t realise how long I have been sitting in the woods. Another shiver ran through my body but this time it had nothing to do with the cold. I’ve never been in the woods alone at night and I felt scared because I realised that I blindly ran into the woods instead of following the path that was mapped out for me as a child. I got shakily to my feet and turned around a few times, looking for anything familiar to indicate which way I came but everything looked the same. Deciding on a direction, I started walking. In my mind it sounded better to keep moving than staying put. Hopefully I’ll come across one of my pack that is out on patrol.

It wasn’t long when hope sprang in front of me. It was the path through the woods. I laughed out loud in relief as I went to stand directly on it but stopped when I realised that I still didn’t know which way to go. Following it could either lead me deeper into the woods or take me home. I sighed. Even if I choose wrong, the path leading deeper into the woods would still take me back to pack house eventually, it will just take longer. Not feeling as though I had a choice, I picked a direction and hoped it was the one that lead the shorted way home and started walking. It was getting darker, and it was getting harder to see but so far, I have kept to the path and started walking faster. Soon it would be too dark to see anything at all, I thought to myself.

And with those thoughts came the negative one as well. What was the use of going back when I was seen as a disgrace and an outcast. My only real friend was Tracy, and she was mated to my brother’s so that alone made me feel alone anyway. I was rudely shaken from my thoughts by a noise that halted me in my steps. It almost sounded like a howl, but it felt… wrong.

Another howl pierced the air and I feel the warmth of my body leave me to be replace by a block of ice in my stomach. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. What the hell was I thinking?" I chastise myself and force myself to turn and to run, but I stick in place. Run? Run to where? I've been wondering absentmindedly for a while, stewing in my anger and silently cursing the fight inside of my head that I completely ventured off the path.

Another howl pierces the air and this time it was closer, and I cursed myself for stalling. Not caring to which way, I dart off in a direction, silently hoping and praying that it was the right way, but just as long as it was away from that threatening noise.

My mind is racing, and I barely take note of where I'm going, just as long it's away from that unknown howl. I may not have a wolf, but I know every howl of my pack and that is not one of them. I should have listened to my father, he said that there were rogues in and around nearby packs but I just... A snarling noise behind me cuts my train of thought and instinctively I look behind me and then I wished I hadn't.