The rogue princess

The mates' betrayal

Billy POV

The closer I walked towards the dining room the crazier my wolf, Thai was acting. He was all over the place, running in and out of the depths of my mind as I suddenly picked up the smell of cinnamon. I never smelt this particular scent, but it was somehow familiar to me and it drove Thai mad with joy.

As I stepped through the dining room door Thai suddenly stopped and everything in my mind was still and silent as he disappeared to the back of my head.

“Bloody wolves.” I let out an exasperated sigh and took my seat at the table.

“Freya, this is Billy. He will be your assigned warrior.” Si introduced.

“I believe I am also your next door neighbour.” I looked at the girl and realised the alluring scent was coming from her. “Nice to meet you Freya. Don’t put yourself in any unnecessary danger and we will get along just fine.” I said and was earned a giggle, making my wolf happy.

“Ok.” She replied in a small voice.

During the meal, Freya began to come out of her shell a little more, she was finding it easy to talk to Nick, George and myself. Si, however was less than hospitable, he sat throwing glares at the poor girl, which was unsurprising considering Mara was still unmarked and the alpha had finally found his true mate. Freya was a huge threat to his family and their power.

We tried urging her to eat more, the five small mouthfuls she had taken did not fill us with confidence that she had eaten enough. She was our true Luna, she needed to become healthier and fitter, so she could prove herself to alpha Zak that she was worthy of such a position within the pack.

Nick, George and myself had decided, Freya was the one that the moon Goddess had specifically chosen to rule our pack, beside Zachary, not Mara and we had to help him realise that. And we knew most of the pack thought the same when they had found out about the appearance of his mate.

After the meal we walked back to our rooms, they had put her in one of the common rooms, which did not sit well with the majority of the pack. They saw it as a huge disrespect to put the alpha’s mate into such a tired old room.

The common rooms were saved for unmated male wolves and underage orphans. The alpha had either not thought, or just didn’t care about the fact that giving her a room in this part of the house could put her in serious danger with the unmated male wolves.

When a she wolf finds their mate, it starts a process in an attempt to urge the marking ritual along. The female will omit a strong scent, irresistible to any males that have not completed mating and marking a female themselves. During this time the males have no control of their horny wolves, it has been known for deadly fights to occur, in an attempt to pleasure the particular female who is suffering from the heat, even if the she wolf is not their mate. The she wolves were specifically housed in the far side of the house, as far away from any of the males for this very reason. The pack has put me in charge of her safety, but the truth is that being an unmated wolf myself, I don’t know how I would protect her against any dangers, when I, myself may be the greatest danger to her during her heat.

As soon as I leave Freya at her door, I went next door and into my own room. I grab some pyjama bottoms, pulling them on and brushing my teeth before turning in for the night. I lie in my bed, trying to communicate with the other part of myself, my normally excitable, chatty wolf has had nothing to say since just before dinner. Even now, the only answers I am getting are one syllable words.

At some point I must have fallen into a state of unconsciousness, when suddenly I wake with a jolt of all too familiar pain to my chest. My chest feels like it is being stabbed repeatedly, while the blood throughout my body feels like it has reached boiling point, my beautiful mate’s face flashes through my mind and my wolf snarls at the knowledge of what is occurring. I ball my hands into fists at my sides as I can hear the screams and cries coming from the adjoining room. I roll out of my bed and flop onto the floor, dragging myself along on all fours through the bathroom and into Freya’s room.

Freya is sitting up in her bed, her eyes scrunched tight and her hand clenched against her heart, agony written all over her gaunt face and tears streaming down her pale cheeks. When I reach her bed, I pull myself to my knees and touch her unclenched hand, that lays flat, at her side on the bed. I pull my hand away briefly from hers in surprise, before returning it to her. The slight touch brings a little relief to the pain, holding onto her hand, I climb onto her bed and pull her into my arms, holding her close to me and bringing even more relief. The pain is almost gone, only a dull ache in my chest remains, but my wolf has calmed and the images of my mate have vanished.

“What was that?” Freya says quietly as I stroke her long hair.

“They call it…” I pause, summoning the courage to say the words. “The mate’s betrayal. It’s when your mate is having…”

Freya POV

I lay in the soft bed, stretching out my limbs under the warm duvet, I can’t believe how lucky I have become today.

Suddenly I heard a loud growl from Ray.

Hey, what’s wrong?

I didn’t receive an answer, just another, louder growl followed by a searing pain in my head as an image of Zachary flashed through it.

What was that?

I asked Ray, but didn’t get a reply as the searing pain to my head returned, along with a stabbing pain to my chest. I cried as this pain continued, the blood in my veins felt like lava and the images of the alpha kept replaying over and over. I shot up in my bed as another, sharper pain went straight to my heart.

I had finally managed to get away from my father’s beatings, but I would gladly go back and take them willingly if it meant freeing me from this agony.

I scrunched up my eyes as I felt the tears slip from them and down my cheeks, holding my balled fist to my chest, I wished I could just rip out my wounded heart. I tried to breathe through the pain, but the pain just grew worse with every passing second. I was no longer paying any attention to my surroundings when I felt a cold hand on the top of mine, the pain in my head receded briefly before the hand was snatched away. And then it was there again, but instead of the hand being pulled away again, I was pulled into the comforting scent of my warrior. The mixed smell of apples and vanilla calmed Ray immediately and I felt her return to the back of my head with a sigh.

“What was that?” I asked as I tried to regain my senses.

“They call it…” He said miserably. “The mate’s betrayal. It’s when your mate is having…”

“Mating with someone else.” I interrupted and I could feel his head nodding slowly where it rested on my shoulder. “So Mara is your…”

“Mara is my mate, yes.” It was his time to interrupt.

“Have they…” I cleared my throat, trying to think of the right word to say. “Finished?” There were no right words.

He shook his head, frowning.

“No, I can still feel the pain slightly in my chest.”

“But it’s barely there now.” I looked at him with confusion.

“I know. I don’t know how or why, but I am glad you are here to help me through it. Some nights it can be unbearable.”

So this is what I was going to have to put up with, going from being beaten physically and mentally to being tormented physically and mentally. So much for a more peaceful existence.

“How often does it happen?”

“Once a night. Sometimes more. When she’s on heat, it’s a constant twenty four hour thing.”

“Heat?” I had never heard the term before and I could tell it was an uncomfortable subject for him as his face paled.

“You should talk to a female about that. Harriet maybe.”

We both gasped and he pulled me in tighter to him as we both felt a stronger wave of pain flow through us.

“Now, they’ve finished.” He said quietly as he wiped away my stray tears and laid a kiss on the top of my head.

“Why did the pain go away when you touched me?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s because they are our mates and some sort of bond has formed due to their rejection of us?”

I nodded, it would be the most plausible explanation, our mates didn’t want us, so the moon Goddess gave us solace in each other.

“I don’t know if I can take that every night. Once was enough, maybe we should just leave and get as far away from our mates as possible.”

He shook his head quietly.

“It doesn’t work like that, little one. Once you meet your mate the bond is made. The only way to break it is to reject your mate and that comes with some risks. The main one being insanity. It doesn’t matter how far you run, you will always feel that betrayal through the unbroken bond.”