Chapter 4 Murderer

The man who had rejected me and said he wanted nothing to do with me was standing in front of me. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming.

"What...what are you doing here?" I asked as soon as I was even a bit pulled out of the trance he had me in.

I soon realized that even after he rejected me, I still found myself drawn to him. I shoved it aside and chalked it up to him being my only mate. Of course it wasn't easy for me to get over a rejection just like that.

"I came here to figure something out," he said.

As if recalling what happened the first and last time we met, I took multiple steps back in an attempt to create enough space between us so he wouldn't have to come in contact with me.

Taking this as a signal for him to walk in, he was soon in my living room. It was only then that I noticed an older woman walking behind him.

"Who are you? What's going on? Does Alpha Damon know you're here?" I asked, looking through the windows to figure out if this was a trap. Maybe they wanted the perfect excuse to have me executed. They could say I lured Alpha Ryle back to me and killed him. I wouldn't put it past them.

The woman smiled as she finally walked forward and took my hands. I gasped, half expecting her to go down the same way Alpha Ryle did, but nothing happened.

"My name is Fana, dear. I'm a seer. You have nothing to be afraid of. I just want to take a look at you and figure out the bond between you and Alpha Ryle. I'd like to see if there's a way to go around this."

My eyes immediately snapped up to meet Alpha Ryle's. He stood there with his hands in the pockets of his pants with an unreadable look on his face. He was looking around the living room, taking in my living condition. Shame washed over me.

"Let's sit over here," Fana said with her soothing voice, leading me towards a two-sitter couch and sitting with me as she took my hands in hers.

My brows furrowed as I watched her eyes turn white. It looked as if her grey hairs also turned white for a moment, and my mouth parted in surprise at such power. I knew there were people blessed with more than just werewolf powers, but I had never met one until now.

"Oh..." I heard her moan, her head rolling back as her mouth fell open.

I gave Alpha Ryle a panicked look. He simply stood there, watching. He didn't seem bothered, but that didn't relax me for even a second. I was the one with much more to lose if this woman died in my house.

"What is happening?" I asked, my voice shaky as she started to take short pants of air.

"She'll be done in a moment. Don't fret," Alpha Ryle said, making no attempt to reach out to us. I wouldn't even advise him to do that.

True to Alpha Ryle's words, Fana's irises rolled back down and her mouth snapped shut as she sharply let go of my hands and shook her head, standing up.

"So? What did you see?" Alpha Ryle asked.

"The moment you decide to claim her as your mate, you will be going up against something much more powerful than we all know. The bond will kill you, Alpha," she said.

I was disappointed. I had foolishly allowed myself to have a bit of hope when she came back to normal.

"It's fine, really. You don't have to do this," I said.

"No, it's not fine," Alpha Ryle protested. "I rejected you days ago, but my wolf is still restless. It's like he keeps calling out to you, begging to be killed. The bond should have died as soon as I rejected you. This is strange."

It really was. I had never heard anything of the sort. I thought that me thinking about him was just because of what could have been. Then again, I didn't have a wolf so I probably didn't feel it half the way he did.

"You're coming to my pack with me," he said, causing me to freeze.

"What? No. I can't do that. This is all I've known since I was born. I don't think I want to leave. It's fine-"

"Then you must enjoy the way you're treated. I was here for just one night and from the way they were talking about you and how you were accepting it... Do you seriously want to live like this forever?"

I didn't. But it didn't take away the fact that I was afraid of what was out there. Better the devil you know, right?

"I assure you you'll be treated better in Nightfang than you're being treated in this pack," Alpha Ryle said, sounding so genuine. His words melted me, and I had the urge to leave, but...

"I don't think Alpha Damon will take kindly to you taking me away without his permission," I came up with another excuse.

"Do you really think Damon will miss you?" He raised a brow, making a valid point.

I stood there in defeat because as much as his words were a slap on the face, they were true. Nobody would notice I was gone. Even if they did, they would be thankful for it.

"You're free to take whatever you want from here. I'll wait," he said.

I was quick to turn around and head into my room. There wasn't much to pack. There was the small vase my mother had made out of clay and some of my clothes. I took some other clay made items I had made and walked out with a bag half as heavy as I was.

"It's time to leave everything behind, Arya," Alpha Ryle said, gesturing for Fana to take my hand as he couldn't risk it.

~

Alpha Ryle was quick to announce to everyone that I was not going to be their luna. When they saw him bring me in that night, there were rumors about a new luna. He was quick to shut it down the next morning after calling for a pack gathering.

My heart broke at the official statement.

For the rest of the day, he avoided me like the plague. Whenever I got glances of him when I was walking around to explore the pack, I noticed how quickly his eyes would turn into that golden tint and he would turn around and disappear before I could say anything.

"So...tired," I breathed that afternoon as I took a hike up a hill. Nightfang was a huge pack, twice or maybe even thrice bigger than Bloodmoon where I came from.

My vision was hazy in a matter of seconds, and I found it strange how I couldn't fight off the urge to fall asleep. Sure, I was tired, but not that tired.

I didn't know that I had collapsed onto the ground and fallen asleep until I heard a shrill scream that made me open my eyes.

"MURDERER!"

I sat up, covered in sweat. No, not sweat.

Blood.

"What...?" I turned around to find a body beside me. Eyes open, but clearly dead. Brutally mangled that I had to turn away. Why was I covered in the blood of this person?

And there was a woman standing over us, screaming. She was calling someone a murderer...

She was calling me a murderer. I had killed the person and was now covered in the blood.