My Bullies My Mates

My foot slipped from the side of the chair and I went tumbling to the ground with a loud thud as I landed on my buttocks. I thought I heard something snap in my wrist as I tried to hold myself up with it, and it forced a groan out of me.

"Ella!"

I looked up and noticed Keith rushing towards me. He crouched down beside me, his squinting blue eyes fixed on me with worry buzzing through them.

"I'm fine." I responded with a smile, trying to hide the graze on my wrist.

"I told you to be careful! I don't know what will happen to me if you get hurt like that." His honeyed voice sang with fear and worry.

I found myself smiling. Keith was the son of our reigning alpha, alpha Edwin Kingston, and soon, he would take his father's place. He will turn nineteen today and tomorrow, he will be named alpha of the silver thistle pack.

Luckily for me, I got to grow up with him. After my parents passed away while protecting the Luna, they decided to take me in as a reward for their braveness, and they saw to it that I was comfortable.

It happened when I was seven and that was when I met Keith. Ever since then, we have been glued to the hips alongside Tiara, our third friend who is our beta's daughter.

We shared the same birthdays, Keith and I, and he had insisted on throwing a party to celebrate not just him this time but me as well.

It didn't matter though, because I would forever be a shadow to everyone else. As long as he noticed me, I was fine.

"I'm not hurt, I'm fine, seriously." I responded with a warm smile.

His hand suddenly cupped my cheek and caressed it softly. "You know you are important to me, right?"

I felt my heart skip a beat. Whenever he touched me, I usually lost grip on reality. I could feel Ida-- my wolf-- hopping about inside me, and I was glad to know we shared the same excitement.

All we ever did in our free time was pray to the moon goddess that she let him be our mate. It was impossible to be this attracted to someone without a mate bond holding us together.

His slightly full red lips curved into a smile as if he purposely taunted me, knowing that I would freeze when he touched me like that.

"How will you hang up the decorations if you keep falling off the chair?" Tiara asked as she swayed into the room.

I immediately sprung to my feet and cleared my throat. We weren't doing anything wrong, but her entrance saved me from losing my mind completely.

"Hey," I smiled. "It only happened one time, okay? I can do it."

"I'll do it." He picked up the fallen banner and stretched his long hand to hook it up.

What I had to do on a chair, he had done standing on the ground. But I wasn't surprised because I was the shortest in our friendship group. My head was just as tall as his shoulders and my petite stature made me feel smaller.

"Everything is ready except the celebrants." Tiara noted. "Will you do me the honor of dressing you, princess?" She asked with a soft smile.

I nodded my head and wrapped my arms around hers as we went to my room.

Tiara was the same age as us, but she acted like our older sister. If only I had long cherry hair like she did, they'd find it hard to pick us apart as not being siblings.

She always wore a dark shade of brown eye-shadow around her big pale blue eyes and her small lips were always a shade of deep orange.

A small gold earring pierced her straight pointed nose and a loving smile touched her eyes as we walked to my room.

Rummaging through my pretty clothes, I ended up in a tight-blue dress that almost matched my ocean blue eyes. A long slit preceded from the bottom all the way up to my thigh and the v-neck revealed my bosom.

My light blonde hair was let loose over my shoulders and allowed to fall back all the way to my hips and I applied-- for the first time-- a little make-up.

I was so excited! Ida more than me.

In our pack, we got our wolf when we turned eighteen and then our mate at nineteen. I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen when I walked out there into the party thrown for me and Keith.

I kept imagining a scenario where I walked outside and felt the mate bond stronger than ever with Keith.

Oh, I was so excited!

"Is the woman of the day ready to go out there?" Tiara's loving smile touched her face.

"I keep thinking about Keith and the fact that he could actually be my mate!" I had confided in her about the way I felt about him, since I had no friends or family. "What do you think will happen?"

Her smile wavered or so I thought. She reached out and touched my shoulder. "Let's just hope you find a man who will love you and care properly for you. That doesn't have to be Keith."

I guess she worried about what our friendship would become if Keith and I started dating. A smile curved my lips. With a heavy sigh, I proclaimed, "Let's do this..."

The place was packed with other wolves from our packs and even neighboring packs who were friends with alpha Edwin.

As I had expected, no one had noticed me, even though it was my birthday as well. But I wasn't bothered. I kept looking out for Keith.

Taking a step back, my heel caught my dress and I slipped. Leaning on a wall for balance, I looked up and noticed the wall had the most handsome face I had ever seen.

His firm hands gripped my waist, holding me to himself to keep me from falling flat on my face.

His eyes were a magic green that held me in place. The lightest shade of green I had ever seen on a man. His slightly glossed lips were a shade of dark orange similar to red.

I wanted to release myself from his hold, but his knowing eyes kept me from moving. Moments passed by before I came to my senses.

I immediately sprung away from him as quickly as I could. "Oh I am so sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"It's fine." He cut me off plainly and walked away.

The excitement Ida had been feeling drained out at once. 'Rude!' She angrily said.

She was right. He was rude. Yet I found myself watching the back of his towering frame as he went and melted himself with the crowd.

Shaking my head, I reminded myself that Keith was probably looking for me at the moment. If the signals he was giving were what I thought, then he probably prayed to be my mate as well.

A strong scent of something pleasing caressed my nostrils-- cinnamon maybe?-- and I closed my eyes as I took it in. The feeling was familiar in a distant way, like something I had felt before but never this strong.

A whirlpool of emotions stirred up inside me and, for some reason, it didn't make me feel sick in the gut.

I wanted to find out where that scent was coming from, I wanted to be sure it was what I was thinking. The scent was too familiar for me not to recognize this time.

Pushing my way through the crowd, I saw a man standing next to Tiara, his hand around her hips, but it didn't freak me out because he held me like that too.

Keith was lost in his chatter with three young men I had never seen before. As I took a closer look, I realized one of them to be the one I had bumped into a while back.

He suddenly stopped-- Keith-- and turned to look directly into my eyes. My heart almost humped out of my chest-- along with my wolf-- as I stood there like a petrified thing.

I still couldn't believe it. It was really happening! The person I had prayed to be mine for more than a decade was really my mate!

I refused to believe it, even though he was walking towards me already.

I stood there in murdering anticipation, grinning widely like a love-stricken fool. Which was what I was, to be honest. Ida was the happiest she had ever been.

'Our mate! Our mate! Our mate!' She kept exclaiming as she hopped around for what seemed to be an eternity.

His blue eyes bore into me as he stopped in front of me. "Can you feel it too?" He asked me, his bushy brow arching up skywards.

I nodded my head, still grinning widely. "To be honest, I have always felt this... This connection, but it was never as strong as this. This feels... Amazing!" I chuckled.

I was so happy I could almost burst into tears. I wanted to hold him, feed the longing inside of me, the agonizing ache to be in his arms.

But he didn't look as happy as I was. In fact, he didn't look happy at all.

His brows furrowed as a slight frown sat on his face. "Ella." His voice was low and void of emotions.

"What?" I asked with a wry chuckle. "What is the problem-- I mean no, is-- is there a problem?" My heart was pumping faster than ever.

Fear crawled on my skin with its sharp claws sinking into my body. I felt my heart in my throat, trying to push its way out of me, and Ida was abnormally silent. Watching closely what exactly was going on.

He sighed heavily. Taking my hand in his, he pulled me out of the crowd and into his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he looked at me, his squinting blue eyes sadder than ever.

What is the problem, Keith? Why do you...? Why do you look like that?" My voice broke as I spoke.

"I can't..." He sighed. "I can't be in your life the way you want me to be. I'm sorry."

"What?" My eyes widened. "You're not even going to give us a trial? I thought you loved me!"

"Hey, I do--" he cupped my cheeks in his hands, "--but this... This can't happen between us."

"No, no, Keith please--"

"I, Keith Kingston, reject you, Ella Johnson, as my mate and future Luna." His voice had become void of all emotions again.

The way he looked at me caused a shiver to run down my spine. Tears trailed down my face and I immediately wiped it away. "I..." The words hung in my throat. "I accept your rejection."

A sharp pain like a knife struck my heart, and destroyed it at once.

It felt like I would fall to the ground and die at that moment. I shuddered as tears poured down my face. I gripped my chest as I almost crumbled to the ground.

His hand held me up, but I shoved him away. As much as I needed something to lean on, I couldn't let him touch me, not after what he did.

My breath shuddered as I tried to stand up straight. My hands clutched together tightly in anger and pain, my nails digging into my palm as I turned and walked out of his room.

Teary-eyed, I made my way down the hall towards my room. I stopped in my steps as the pain struck me twice as hard. Ida was mourning now. Mourning the love we had both wanted.

I stumbled against the wall with tears trailing down my face. My legs became too redundant to carry my weight, but as I was about to fall, a hand held me.

I looked up and realized it was the same man I had seen at the party except... Different. His eyes were a light gray instead of green and his hair was the same as before-- brown curls-- except lighter and longer.

"Are you okay?" His voice was not as deep as before.

Was I losing my mind? It was obviously the same guy! I was so sure of it! Even Ida was no longer silent.

She told me it was the rude guy from earlier except differently, which confused us both. They had the same face, only their eye color told them apart and the depth of their voices.

"I..."

A hand gripped mine and pulled me away from the stranger. "She's fine," Keith grunted in reply.

The stranger didn't seem intimidated by Keith's presence. Instead, his eyes darkened into a threatening matter and I swallowed.

But he didn't say anything. Instead, he just stood there and stared at both of us.

It was all too much for me to handle, from the rejection to the change in eyes colour with this stranger. I noticed Keith was still holding my hand and I shrugged free from his hold.

I leaned on the wall and used it to keep me on my feet as I walked to my room. Closing the door, I didn't even make it to my bed before I fell to the ground and broke out in tears.

My whole life had crumbled before me just like that! How could he reject me without even trying to give our relationship a trial? Didn't he always say he loved me? Why did he flirt with me when he knew he felt nothing for me?

How could he do something like that to me? He was so cruel!

Hours passed by like days as I lay on the floor, sobbing my heart. I felt too weak to stand on my own two feet, but I had to get out of the house and breathe again before confronting Keith for answers.

The party had ended when I walked out of my room. The music had stopped, and no chattering was heard in the living room as I made my way down to the hall.

Arriving in the living room, a few familiar faces from our pack were helping clean up after the party, and they only spared me a glance before continuing with their work.

I went into the kitchen to get myself a glass of water to quench my ever-rising thirst when I heard what sounded like my two best friends' voices.

"I just never expected her to be my mate, you know, I thought it would be you," Keith said with a sigh.

"Me neither. "Who knew she was right?" Tiara responded. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

My eyes widened in disbelief. She was sorry he had to go through what??? I was the one who almost lost my life to his rejection!

"Thank you." He sighed. "What a way to ruin all the fun."

I took a step closer and peered into the kitchen just to be sure I was not imagining their voices in my head. I wasn't.

Keith was standing there, leaning on the counter with one hand on Tiara's hips. Her head was resting on his shoulder.

"Hey," Tiara said as she looked up at him. "Enough talking about that mood spoiler." I am here for you. Focus on me."

Keith smirked, the way he did whenever he teased me, and leaned to kiss her. My eyes refused to believe what I saw as they searched each other's mouths with their tongues.

My breath shuddered as I watched them close the gap between each other. Their lips mashed together in a way that caused my stomach to churn.

The rejection replayed in my head and my blood boiled at the thought that he had rejected me because of her!

All of that had been happening behind my back! How dare they trick me like that?

I refused to stand still and watch. "Keith!" I exclaimed as I stepped into the kitchen.

They pulled apart my voice and Tiara stared at me.