Chapter 1 The bond that felt like fire

ELARA'S POV

I could feel a tingle down my spine, he smelled so beautifully, I was... happy? I could smell him while I scrubbed the kitchen clean and then suddenly a sharp pain....

Blinding flash of light

Shiny shoes on my face...A voice growling "no"

Everything kept fading in and out of consciousness

Then I heard it. "I reject you Elara Cornell "

I struggled to see the face behind the voice but I couldn't.

Another blinding flash and then I woke up abruptly.

"Oh my!!it was a dream" I said to myself.

I was feverish and my heart was beating like crazy. I pressed one hand to my chest and tried to calm my nerves while getting ready to stand up. I could already see the first rays of daylight from my windows.

Another morning.

"It's another day, another horrible day to be at this place", I said to myself the minute my heart calmed down.

Waking up here always felt like stepping into something I would never escape, the sleep and my dreams were an escape. But today, my dreams failed me.

"I'd better get going before some busy body scolds me for not being up before 5am" I said while standing up from my thin mattress.

I stood up and looked around my room, looking for what to wear to protect myself from this cold that bit into my skin. It was the middle of winter but I was a measly little girl without a wolf, so of course, I could get sick and I could get cold.

While scanning my room, I spotted a thick shawl, it had been with me for a while, I couldn't even remember where I had gotten it from.

I didn't care though, I hurriedly grabbed it and wrapped it around my shoulders, I picked my thickest and longest pair of pants I could find and slipped it on, I wore 3 socks on each feet and slid out of my room while preparing to take the 30 minute walk to the pack house.

I didn't even know if I was thinking of anything, maybe I was thinking about the dream, I can't tell, my hair stuck to my face as I walked briskly through the path. I found myself at the pack house soon enough

"Well, I guess today's gonna be a good day, I got here so fast" I smiled while talking to myself. Being extremely early meant less trouble for me.

I was the only one awake at this time, except the guards doing their rotations around the pack borders and the pack house, asides them, I was the only one, and I had to clean every inch of the kitchen before the cooks came out, after that, I had to move on to cleaning and mopping most of the rooms and hallways and offices in the pack house.

"I'd better get started" I said to myself, while pushing all thoughts of the dream to the back of my mind.

I started cleaning, quietly, effectively and unnoticed, as I always did. The smell of the polished floor mixed with the faint aroma of leftover bread and herbs filled my nose, it was almost...homely.

An hour and a half passed and I was done with the kitchen, I was impressed with myself, and I prepared to move to the other areas of the pack house.

I opened the door and then it hit me,

Raw.

demanding and unwavering, a scent I had never encountered.

My hands tightened around the doorknob and I stood there motionless.

No.

That wasn't... isn't possible.

My mind flashed back to my dream and my heart started beating faster.

I wasn't supposed to have a mate.

But what did I dream about?

I didn't have a wolf.

But why can I feel the mate bond?

And then....pain

Pain from my spine, to my throat and to my head, I collapsed.

I was in so much pain, all I could think about was my throat and my head burning, fragments of the dream falling into place.

The mate bond, it was snapping in place, or so I thought?

But it isn't supposed to hurt, is it?

I was so confused and I lay there sobbing and whimpering for what felt like hours till I heard foodsteps.

Footsteps that walked slow and deliberate, as if searching for something.

From where I lay on the kitchen floor, I saw a pair of shiny brown shoes, the same shoes I had washed and polished and shined just yesterday afternoon.

My heart sank.

The pain intensified.

The Alpha.

The brown shoes in my dream belonged to the Alpha.

The brown shoes kept on walking towards me, the pain lessened and the beautiful smell increased.

These questions went through my mind and I heard a voice growl

"NO"

"So"... he growled "this is the joke the moon has decided to play on me? 28 years of waiting? You are the rotten thing I was deemed fit for?"

"Please... I tried to choke out, but I was choking.

My throat burned from the pain.

"What kind of an insult is this?" He continued

"a worthless wolfless nobody , that's what I was given?"

The bond strained in my chest and across my spine violently, threatening to rip out of me.

"This is an insult" his voice is firm and cold and I don't accept it".

By then, I could hear shuffling and sounds, people were waking up,

I could hear their whispers, their snickers, their laughters

"Oh, is she his mate? What a shame"

"So disgusting, eeeww"

"Wtf, this is such a mistake, Her of all people?"

"How embarrassing"

They must have heard it all with their werewolf hearing.

The alpha crouched in front of me, I strained my neck to meet his gaze, and he said the words.

"I reject you" he said, his voice loud and firm, clearly heard all through the room "Elara Cornell, I reject you as my mate and I reject your bond"

The words were like a punch to my already aching chest

"I reject your bond" he continued "I reject you as my mate and as the moon's choice"

Pain burned hotter in my spine, in my chest and in my veins, I could feel the bond, burning and twisting, my eyes were hot.

The bond was straining, the cursed diseased bond I had been given.

Gasps and whispers filled the room

I had never thought of having a mate, but it did happen and fate is so cruel, it had to be someone that didn't want me, couldn't fate have used this as a way to make me happy? For everything I've endured?

While I lay there whispering and crying, and feeling my head about to explode.

I heard the words "Take her away"

My eyes fluttered open,

I tried to say something, anything, but words failed me.

The guards were already on me

"Please let me go" I whispered

They ignored my protests and lifted me from the ground.

The last thing I heard was the sound of doors closing, people shuffling and whispering cruel things.

Then everything went dark.