Curse of the Alpha's Mate

Something bad was going to happen. Or at least that's what I felt when I stepped into the large field that was being used to host the blood moon festival.

"I didn't think she would show up to this."

"Isn't this a sacred ceremony? Should she be here?"

I heard whispers from my pack members as I walked through the crowd. Even though they whispered the words, they knew I could hear them. They didn't care.

I had been isolated my whole life. Well, since I was five and both of my parents died at least.

Everyone believed I killed my parents because I was found in the pool of their blood. I was five and had just woken up to find my parents murdered in their own cold blood. I only tried to wake them up when someone walked in and accused me of doing it. Everyone else followed suit.

But from how mangled their bodies were, they definitely knew deep down that a five year old couldn't have done that. Especially one who wasn't born with a wolf.

I soon figured that they hated me more because I didn't have a wolf than because of the suspicions of me killing my parents.

"What are you doing here?" Alpha Damon, the alpha of my pack, asked as he pulled me aside. "You know this is a special night for this pack since we're hosting for the first time in a long time."

"I thought everyone was supposed to be in attendance..." My voice turned into a whisper when I saw the glare he sent my way.

"You should know that was just a formality in the announcement. You've isolated yourself already. Why come out now?"

"I can go back home, Alpha Damon," I offered, looking down at my feet. I could feel people from my pack and other packs looking our way and wondering what the problem was.

"You don't have to. You made it all the way here anyway. But if one thing happens and you're in the middle of it, you'll be banished. Consider it punishment for what you did to your parents."

His words sounded like a slap to my face. Nobody would believe me, not even the alpha of my pack. Everyone thought I killed your parents fifteen years ago, and I've had to live with it since.

Nobody sold anything to me or talked to me if they didn't have to. I taught myself how to hunt so you wouldn't starve.

I stood in the corner of the field as I hoped nobody would pay attention to me, but that sinking feeling still remained.

The feeling only accelerated when the members of Nightfang pack finally made it into the field.

"Alpha Ryle and the subjects of his pack, Nightfang!" The announcer called out as they walked in, everyone of them with their heads held high.

My eyes scanned them all, stopping when I set eyes on one of them. He walked behind everyone else with a smug look on his face. His hair was dark and his eyes held the same darkness.

"Who...is he?" I whispered as my legs moved forward. I didn't even know I was walking in his direction until I found myself standing behind a group of people who wouldn't move and I had to stand on my toes to get a good look at him.

As if he could sense my eyes on him, his eyes travelled in my direction so fast that it affected how my heart beat.

I gasped. My legs were glued to the ground. His eyes went from being dark to glowing golden, and I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Mate," he growled, causing the members of Nightfang pack to turn their heads in his direction.

"What..." The rest of my words died in my throat.

It couldn't be. This man couldn't be my mate. I couldn't possibly have a mate. That's what my pack members told me at least. They said I was cursed by the Moon Goddess for killing my parents and I would never get a mate.

I had believed them. Even though I knew I didn't kill my parents, I did believe I was cursed.

But this man... He was walking toward me and calling me his mate.

"Alpha Ryle," Alpha Damon called out to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from reaching me. "Perhaps there's been a mistake somewhere. That's Arya. She can't possibly have a mate, let alone an alpha."

He was the alpha of Nightfang pack. I was mated to the infamous alpha of Nightfang pack. Someone I had only heard about up until this moment. Someone who seemed like a mythical creature to me.

"Surely, you don't think I would make a mistake in knowing who my mate is," Alpha Ryle replied, glaring at Alpha Damon. "Is that what you're implying?"

Alpha Damon could sense where this was going, so he took his hand off Alpha Ryle's shoulder.

I clutched my chest as he approached me, now standing in front of me. My heart was racing in ways it had never raced before. Not even when I was hunting.

"Your name is Arya?" He asked to confirm.

"Y-yes," I stuttered, unable to even look him in the eyes.

"You... My wolf calls for you. You will be my Luna."

Gasps and whispers immediately filled the air as he confirmed it. Even I found it impossible. I was frozen in place, scared that this moment would end in a blink and I would wake up to find out that it was a dream.

"I..." There was nothing I could possibly say. I just stood there. Was the Moon Goddess possibly this generous? Was this a cruel joke? Judging by how dangerously fast my heart was beating, I didn't think it was. I felt it too. He was my mate.

"You're my mate, Arya," Alpha Ryle said, reaching out and taking both of my hands.

I finally managed to look up at him, but what I saw was the last thing I was expecting.

His face was twisting, his brows were creasing. He looked as if he was in agony.

And then, he let out an ear-piercing scream.

Alpha Ryle fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Before I could bend over to figure out what was wrong, his soldiers all had their spears pointed at me.

"Step away from him!" One of them yelled, his spear gracing my chest as he gave me a warning glare. "Step away or I will kill you!"

I took steps back as tears filled my eyes. I could feel my heart constricting in my chest as some of his soldiers bent over to ask him what was wrong. I watched as he heaved and groaned in agony.

"What's happening to him?" I asked the soldier who stood there to make sure I wouldn't go anywhere near my mate.

"What did you do to him?" He asked.

It was only when I looked around that I realized that everyone present was looking at me with so much disgust, whispering about my curse. They were saying that I did it.

"Did you see it? He was fine until he claimed her and touched her," I heard someone say.

"No." I shook my head in denial. "It couldn't be me. I didn't do anything."

I refused to believe the Moon Goddess was that cruel. Why would she get me mated to someone who had the power to get me out of a situation like that only for him to react to me like that?

I gasped when the soldier grabbed a handful of my hair. "Say it, witch! What did you do to him? Are you really cursed?!"

"I didn't do anything, please!" I begged, a sob racking my body.

"He's okay!" One of the soldiers yelled as Alpha Ryle finally stood up, his eyes narrowed as he stared at me. He was the only one who didn't look at me like he hated me. Not yet, at least.

"Step away from her," he commanded his soldier, who did as he said after a moment of hesitation.

"Walk forward, but do it slowly," he said to me.

There was silence as I walked toward him. I could feel the air being still. Even the grass on the ground held their breaths as I stood in front of him once again, but at a safer distance.

"Did you do that?" He asked.

His skin sheen with sweat, as if he had stepped into a furnace and had barely survived it.

"I didn't do anything." I shook my head. I could feel my voice getting shaky as another round of tears threatened to roll down my cheeks.

"As soon as I touched you, I felt it. It was the most painful thing I've ever had to experience. It started from the hands I used to touch you and traveled straight to my heart. Arya, if you have anything to do with this-"

"I don't, I swear!" I said in my defense. "Not on purpose. I don't..."

I looked down at my hands and wondered if maybe...

Was I really cursed? I mean, I used to think I was, but not to this extent. I believed it was only just a bad turn of events that followed me but this was something different.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I touched you again to confirm?" Alpha Ryle asked.

My heart sank at that. What if I really was cursed? What if touching me a second time would kill him?

"No, I... I don't know if it's my fault. You were in pain the last time. I don't want you to-"

"There's no other way for us to figure out what the problem is. If anything, it could have been a coincidence that I was in pain after I touched you. This is the only chance we have to confirm these whispers of curses that I'm hearing."

"Alpha Ryle, you really don't have to do this." Alpha Damon stepped in. "I think it's a bad sign. What happens if you don't survive the next one?"

"You know how I love to take risks, Alpha Damon. This is one I'm willing to take if it means I get answers." He walked toward me until he was right in front of me. His soldiers surrounded us, ready to attack if things called for it.

Alpha Ryle sighed and reached forward to touch me. The light graze of his fingers on my skin made goosebumps rise on my skin, but it didn't have the same effect on him.

I gasped, taking steps back as he crumpled in pain again. This time, I heard a low growl as his clothes started to rip and his wolf was forcing him to shift.

"Hold the witch down!" I heard someone yell, and the soldiers had me on the ground with my face shoved against the grass.

"No, please! Please. I didn't do anything," I begged, my voice muffled and drowned by the panicked screams of everyone else around me.

"Alpha Ryle!" Alpha Damon called out to him, trying to calm him down and get him to rein his wolf in, but his efforts were in vain.

Alpha Ryle fully shifted into his wolf, glaring at me with a low growl that made it dangerous for his soldiers to be holding me down. He looked like he had murder on his mind, and I was going to be the only victim.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as tears sank into the soil beneath me. "I didn't mean to. I didn't know. Please, don't kill me."

He stalked forward. My survival instincts kicked in and I tried to wiggle my way out of the grip of his soldiers, but they held me down with so much strength that I couldn't even move more than my fingers.

"No," I whispered as his wolf was now right in front of my face, eyes glowing a dangerous gold.

Before he could attack, he stumbled backwards. There were gasps once again as the wolf growled and snarled as if having a fight with himself. Finally, he shifted back into his human form.

"Alpha, are you okay?" One of his soldiers asked, his worry evident.

Alpha Ryle was quiet for a long while as he stood there while Alpha Damon found a table cloth and handed it to him to cover his nudity.

Now fully covered, Alpha Ryle returned his attention to me. His eyes were cold and dark, showing no sign of doubt like he had when it happened the first time. It had been established that the Moon Goddess had it out for me.

I was cursed.

"I, Alpha Ryle Silverwood, reject this mate bond shared with you, Arya. I hereby reject you as my mate and want nothing to do with you after tonight."

I stared at Alpha Ryle with tears filling my eyes again. A knot was forming in my chest, and it was so tight. Too tight.

"Let her go," he said to the soldiers who didn't have any intention of letting me go until he gave the command.

I was left on the ground as he turned his back on me, his soldiers following suit until they reached the part of the field that had been set aside for his pack.

People stared at me with so much disgust, almost as if I decided to do all of this on my own.

"I always knew she was cursed."

"Do you think she would have killed him if there were no witnesses? He was clearly in so much pain that he could have died."

The more they whispered without trying hard to be discreet, the more I got motivated enough to get up on my own and leave. I couldn't stay there anymore.

"Who knew the Moon Goddess could make such a mistake? I mean, even if he didn't react to her, why would she be mated to an alpha?"

Those words stuck with me. The woman was right. The Moon Goddess couldn't have made such a mistake, right? Perhaps this was just the work of whoever placed a curse on me. Maybe the Moon Goddess couldn't do much but watch.

I got off the ground, feeling all eyes on me as they watched me leave in silence. There was a lump in my throat that didn't seem to go down even as I swallowed it down. In fact, it only got worse from there.

As soon as the small cabin I called a house came into view, the tears blurred my vision.

"This is unfair," I said to no one in particular. "How..."

I didn't think I had ever heard of anyone whose mate reacted to their touch with so much pain. I had overheard people talk about how their touch with their mates created a shock, but it was apparently a good shock. I wanted to feel that. I felt nothing, and he...he felt way worse.

"Why would you do this to me?" I questioned, sliding down the door when I was finally in the confines of the living room.

The Moon Goddess had to be watching. She was the most powerful being I'd heard of. If this wasn't her intention, she could have found a way to stop it. She didn't. That only led me to believe that this was all her.

"What did I do to deserve this?" I asked, choking on my own tears and finding it impossible to breathe.

I didn't know how long I sat with my back against the wall, crying until I had dried up everything in my eyes and they felt heavy enough for me to fall asleep.

~

"Mate killer."

I had moved on from the girl who was cursed and who killed her parents at the age of five to a mate killer. Everywhere I went, the whispers followed like a shadow I could never get rid of.

Just the way they didn't care whether I heard about it before, they didn't care now. This time, I could argue that they were even louder with it. Bolder, too.

"Hey!" I heard a voice call out as I bathed in the river under the light of the new moon one evening. I knew who she was calling out to, but I didn't bother looking in her direction. I could hear her and her friends just fine.

"Do you think her hearing is also not up to that of a wolf's? I mean I wouldn't be surprised since she doesn't have a wolf," one of the friends said, causing everyone else to giggle.

I could hear them. I had the senses of a wolf. I could run faster than average. I could hear up to a mile. I could do as much as they could. I just couldn't shift.

"In that case, why don't we go say hello?" The girl who seemed to be the leader of the clique suggested.

As soon as I heard them approaching, I got out of the river and hurriedly put my clothes on. Unfortunately, they stood in front of me before I could make a run for it.

"Why are you in such a hurry? We came to say hello," the girl said, crossing her arms. "My name's Brenda. You're Arya, right? The...mate killer."

The way she said it sent such a hot surge of anger through my veins, I was so close to moving and holding her by the neck, but I soon figured that I was outnumbered. If I did anything to anger them, they wouldn't hesitate to kill me.

"I'm not a mate killer. My mate is very much alive. He only rejected me," I corrected her, knowing fully well that she knew that but not wanting to remain silent.

"Well, I'm not the one who started the name calling. I'm pretty sure I heard it somewhere. Nicknames have a way of sticking around here. You should know that. But I'm curious. If you didn't kill your mate, why do they call you the mate killer?"

She knew why. I could tell from the sly smirk on her face and the way her little chuckle betrayed her as she asked that question.

"I don't know," was all I said as I turned around and attempted to walk around them and be on my way.

I stopped in my tracks when she took her hand out and grabbed my arm. She squeezed so hard that I had to hold back a yelp.

"Where are you going, Arya? I'm not done. You know, before people started to call you a mate killer, you were called the girl who murdered her parents. Is that true?"

"I didn't kill them!" I fumed, causing her to fake a gasp.

"Oh, don't get all angry at me now. What are you going to do, kill me like you did them?"

She was testing the waters. She was trying to get a rise out of me. That was what I had to remind myself as I looked down at the ground instead of her face. I couldn't get angry. Not now.

Before I could say another word, she let go of my arm and gave me a menacing greeting. "Have the best night, Arya. You never know when karma might strike and it could be your last night."

I shot her a glare for a second before leaving and being thankful that it didn't go south.

I rushed back to the house and sat in the cool living room. Winter was drawing closer by the day, and it would soon get unbearably cold with me alone in the house and lack of proper heating, save for firewood that I would have to get by myself.

I blinked back the tears that were brewing behind my eyes and went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea when I found the back door open.

"What..." I trailed off when I saw the small dining table in the middle of the kitchen. Written on the tabletop in the blood of what I only hoped was a deer caught in the woods were the words MATE KILLER! YOU'RE NEXT!

The tears I had been fighting back didn't hesitate to flow as I grabbed a cloth and the last few drops of homemade dish soap I had to wipe the table. I was caught between being extremely annoyed and being sad.

I didn't do anything to deserve this treatment. None of this was my fault. Not my parents' death. Hopefully not for the way Alpha Ryle reacted when he touched me.

"What now?" I snapped, tossing the cloth against the table as my one act of showing my anger as I heard a knock on my door.

I headed for the door, ready to tell whoever it was off if they were there to bully me, but my heart sank when I opened the door.

"Arya Ross," he said, his voice an intimate whisper and his eyes a golden hue as if he was about to shift.

"Alpha Ryle."