Rejected For Another's Mate

She still remembered that day.

It had rained and the soil was damp and smelled earthy.

Selly had been inside when she heard a knock. Deciding to answer the door, she wrapped herself with a scarf and headed out.

The sky was already turning into a mixture of black and golden-red hues, a promise of changing seasons.

The young woman who looked no more than twenty stood by the entrance. Spotting her late-hour visitor walking towards her with the help of a cane, she decided to meet her half way.

"Mother priestess," Selly's face lit up as she bowed at the older woman. "I have been thinking about paying you a visit lately but here you are.

At her words, a girly chuckle escaped the old woman's lips.

"The sky is rather colorful today that I felt like stretching these old legs of mine."

The woman bowed even deeper than she did, "Apologies for arriving unannounced."

Holding mother priestess' hand, she led her towards a pavilion by the garden.

Shortly, a maid arrived with a tray, the kettle emitting steam which was a stark contrast to the weather.

"Mother priestess." She greeted and left as quickly as she came.

The priestess nodded as her face crinkled at the fleeting maid, she walked too fast for a woman, she thought . She then reached for the kettle but Selly was quicker,

"Let me."

"You may be younger but I know my place." The woman persisted. "Please allow me to serve the keeper of Agal."

The fresh aroma of the tea wafted in the air and mingled beautifully with the different scents emitted by flowers that surrounded the pavilion, bringing in a sense of tranquility.

Selly leaned back on her chair, not wanting to make her stubborn guest uncomfortable.

"I see you have made up your mind." She said as she poured tea in Selly's cup then hers.

Selly did not respond.

What was the point of denying it when it was the priestess herself who brought it up?

Besides, no one could really hide anything from her. Not even the king of Erichon would hide his wildest of thoughts when she was around.

The old woman took a sip and sighed.

"Your mate yearns for you and has been trying to reach...you?"

At her words, Selly's calm facade crumbled and her eyes turned glassy with unshed tears.

"It is not in my place to stop you but if possible please do re-consider. There is too much at stake." She took her hand into her wrinkly ones.

"The kingdom of Erichon needs you."

Patting her hand, she wiped a lone tear from Selly's supple cheeks.

"It's unfair to you, I know. But it's also hard for everyone. After all, no one could have foreseen you getting a mate."

That's right. Regardless of which kingdom they were from, all previous keepers of Agal were never mated. Such was the life of keepers of their world, which was why Selly was overjoyed when she found out she had one.

"Forgive me for being crude with you child but perhaps it was not meant for you two to share a lifetime."

"How could you say that?" Selly broke down in tears, no longer able to hold it in.

Her life was becoming unbearable and her mind, a beautiful mess.

Taking a handkerchief, she dabbed her runny nose. "Tell me, mother priestess, if we were not supposed to meet then why did he reach out to me?

Remorseful, the priestess tried to explain but her words only added to the growing agony. Hopeless, minutes passed as she watched in silence, waiting until Selly gathered herself again.

"As for why he chose to contact you is beyond my comprehension. I can only see so much as my vision is limited when it becomes a matter between worlds."

A memory of a drowning man flashed as Selly recalled the repetitive dream she had had for several weeks.

In her dream, a man struggled to stay afloat but the currents were too strong while she stood by the shore helpless as the river with pitch black waters swallowed him little by little.

She couldn't see his face but his upper middle back had a glowing rune that she identified to only belong to her mate.

Selly stared at the woman, "I have a feeling that if I do not find him soon, something bad might happen to him and I won't be able to see him again."

"It's like he calls for help and who better to be there for him if not me, his fated mate."

Watching the sky as she stared into nothing, she narrated the vision to the priestess.

"...I told his majesty that I will not be agreeing to marry king Veryl when I already have my own mate." She said between sniffs.

"And he told you no." The woman completed her sentence knowingly.

Selly clenched her jaws. Her life was not her own. It has never been.

For the first time, she felt the weight of being a veil keeper of Agal, the world of supernaturals weighing heavily on her shoulders.

She wished for a way out. She hoped there was a way to step down and give the responsibilities to a willing person, after all, most people wished the Goddess would have chosen them to keep the veil between the human and the supernatural.

It wasn't that the king sent her to persuade the young lady but she knew better. There was no way around it, one of the two parties had to suffer to keep the peace that was subject to uncertainties.

Bracing herself, the old woman stood up, having taken only a sip from the tea cup.

"I know that I am being selfish," She said, her eyes softening upon contact with Selly's, "but if you choose to leave, there will be war. And where there is war there's death."

With those words she took her cane and walked away prompting Selly to stand up.

"I will come back after I find my mate."

The old woman stopped in her tracks, seemingly contemplating about something.

"As soon as I mate and get marked, I will...come back to Erichon."

"The journey you are embarking on won't be a smooth one. Storms await ahead." She said without turning to see her reaction and took off.

Selly could only stare at her retreating back.

When she got outside the gate and was sure that Selly couldn't see her, the priestess wiped her tears and climbed on her carriage.

Time flew by and Selly sat on her bed holding a letter with a royal seal on it. The king had sent it. Inside of that letter was her fate, her kingdom's, and that of Agal.

The young and ferocious king of Horizenia's demands were clear. If they didn't offer Selly as a replacement bride then he would wage war against Erichon.

With an army of thousands of capable shifters at his disposal, Erichon would surely have a hard time keeping up.

Veryl would not stop for anything until one of the kingdoms was erased from the map of Agal.

That was not to say Erichon was weaker against Horizenia but it had everything to do with the opponent having some advantage over them.

Although his threat sounded foolish at first glance, everyone in the supernatural world knew better than to provoke the seemingly calm and unbothered king.

Not known as the aggressor, the young king was simply not scared of no one.

The rest of the kingdoms wouldn't dare to intervene because consequently, that would escalate to world war which everyone was trying to prevent.

Jeopardizing the two centuries of peace in Agal after having fought each other for hundreds of years was out of the equestion.

Erichon and Horizenia were simply on their own.

Putting the letter inside a drawer, Selly packed a small backpack. Just a few things she needed for a few days.

The king would be furious after he finds out she had chosen herself over her duties, that much she expected.

She didn't intend to abandon her people anyways, all she wanted was to secure her Goddess given right to be with her destined mate.

So when the clock struck midnight, Selly stood in the middle of her chamber, chanting as she drew a rune as ancient as time itself on the marble floor.

Taking a small knife, she made a small cut on her wrist, just enough to draw blood.

Her mate was a world away but she was positive that she would find him before things turned worse at home.

Marrying a cold-hearted king Veryl when she had her own mate was unthinkable, she thought.

It wouldn't be too hard to locate him now, would it? She continued to muse as her chants increased in frequency.

As soon as her blood touched the rune, a black smoky portal ring appeared and she stepped inside it before it shrank into nothing, vanishing along with her as if it were not there.

Away from Selly's house, the priestess sat by the fire holding a glowing crystal ball with a disturbed face.

"May the Goddess have mercy upon us." She murmured as she watched the portal close shut.

~

Selly found herself being unceremoniously thrown onto the ground before the portal vanished into thin air.

It took her a short while before her mind connected the dots and adjusted perfectly to the darkness.

A forest.

She was in a foreign world.

Huh! didn't the locator spell indicate the exact coordinates?

Scratching her un-itchy head, she murmured, albeit unknowingly, "How am I supposed to find my mate in the middle of nowhere?"

Did the portal drop her at the wrong address?

A technical problem of some sort?

Turning her head in both directions, she couldn't find any sign of humans or shifters around.

Weird!

She glanced into the heavens, silently asking for guidance and the moon stared back, round and proud.

The sun wasn't going to show up any time soon, she noticed.

Scanning her surroundings, nothing was out of ordinary, it was almost as if the human world was a replica of her own home. Although she could tell for sure that the energy vibration felt a little lower it was nothing to be concerned about.

It was her first time to travel to the human world and she didn't know what to expect of it but hope.

There was never a time in history that the portal led one to a wrong destination while traveling between realities.

This was it.

Securing her little backpack, she smoothed her unruly brown hair and marched.

She was hopeful and ecstatic. Nothing could get between her happiness and soon, she would meet, mate and mark. And after she had secured the bond , she would go back home and accept her punishment.

~

Miles away from Selly, a grand off-white house stood in the middle of forest with guards in both human and wolf forms standing vigilant in the periphery.

The tension was palpable. Not a single one of them wore a smile and one could hear orders being barked at the far end.

It was happening again. The Westhund pack was under attack.

Recently there have been many rogue attacks in Petroit city and their territory was not an exception.

In the midst of it all, most shifters were struggling to conceive but Colette, the Luna of the Westhund pack gave birth to twins leading to their pack being targeted twice already, albeit unsuccessfully. This made Alpha Lewis Westhund lose sleep.

Some smaller packs decided to leave the woods and move into the inner parts of the city which was initially considered human territory for safety reasons.

With the only window of time to shift being on the full moon and the following daytime, the packs with fewer werewolves were vulnerable against rogues who were showing up in even bigger numbers after every attack.

For them, the only option was to live among humans and visit territories during full moons when they could shift and protect themselves better.

The decline in fertility had triggered abduction of the little ones, with some rogues turning it into a profitable business.

"Alpha," Beta Grigor bowed as soon as the head of the Westhund pack emerged from the house.

"We have increased rogue activities in the northern border. I'm afraid they might attack anytime now?"

Having taken a short break to be with his Luna and pups, Lewis couldn't help but furrow. Everything was happening too fast.

"Add manpower to that border and stay vigilant on the other three."

"Right away alpha." The Beta nodded, taking the radio transmitter, he passed the message to the different heads of borders as they walked to the closest gate but before they could get far they heard a scream.

"Attack!, the south is under attack!"

As soon as the caller sent a message, they heard another scream, louder than the first followed by silence. Not long after, the line got disconnected.

"Fuck!"

As soon as the curse left his lips, the radio was once again filled with different voices, each sending the same message.

The rogues had fooled them.

They had carefully distracted them using the north only to attack from all sides simultaneously.

"Ring the siren!" Alpha took the radio and gave the order which was carried right away by the emergency department personnel.

With mutual understanding, the pack members quickly started to assemble the pregnant women, children and elderly to their closest hideout.

In less than 20 minutes, the small town was almost empty except for smaller groups of capable men and women who were ready to defend their pack with their lives.

Selly, who had been aimlessly walking for hours, finally found herself on a highway.

Sweaty and worn out, she took shelter under a tree when her sensitive ears picked up a faint sound of a siren. Confused, she stood up and listened carefully.

Seems like there are people closeby, she thought.

She had already started to feel a little hopeless after having not met a single human since she arrived. Deciding to meet these people in hopes that her mate would be among them, she followed the sound.

Fifteen minutes later, Selly stopped. In front of her was a dead body then another. Before she knew it, a few dozen more bodies added to the number.

What have I found herself into?

Deciding against mingling with the human business, she retreated but then stopped.

What if my mate is closeby? At the thought, her heart raced.

The dream!

What if this is what I have been envisioning?

Being a veil keeper, she knew the ways of the universe. There was no way that she just found herself into all of this without a reason, be it minor or otherwise.

There had to be some connection to what she was searching for. The locator and portal couldn't be both wrong.

Crouching down, she held one of the bodies by the neck and checked his upper back.

"No rune symbol", she murmured before she moved to the next.

She was not going to take any chances, especially when her time was límited.

Gory scenes didn't affect her as she was a shifter herself and had seen worse.

Selly sighed, grateful to the universe that her mate wasn't among the dead.

For what she could deduce of the situation ,there seemed to be a conflict or worse war. To think that she left her kingdom on the verge of one only to end up in another felt surreal.

To go or not to?, she pondered.

Well, if I don't find anything of tangible value to my mission then I would just continue searching, she thought and took off in the direction of the many footprints.

Heading deeper into the forest, she found herself in what looked like a village but without... people?

A moment later, the siren rang again and this time she heard it more loudly, irritating even due to her sensory sensitivity.

Aah!

She heard someone scream as she closed in.

Plunged into the middle of an all out fight with many fallen bodies of shifters, people who either lay dead or severely injured and at least a couple dozen more fighting, her former faith wavered.

This is not good, she thought.

Seeing how dangerous and fatal the men were going against each other, she changed her mind.

Turning to where she came from, she only took a few steps when a massive black werewolf stood in front of her, gnarling and baring its fangs at her and her stomach churned.

She had heard of some few and lesser shifters existing beyond Agal but seeing one was different especially during full moons when their urges were enhanced.

The bloodthirst was clear in its dark pupils and for a second she felt scared.

The black werewolf didn't let her mind wander for long, he charged at her and she had no way but to protect herself.

Her hand crumpled on the backpack hard as she ran for her life aiming at the far end of the building where the fight was not as intense aiming to disappear from the scene.

As she got closer to the grand off-white house where men fought with everything to stop the other group from advancing, her nose picked it.

The scent of her mate.

Simultaneously, she felt her rune burn and she knew for a fact that she was at the right place.

The werewolf who had been pursuing her seemed to have hand-picked her. At this point, it was either him or her.

Her nails swiftly elongated into laser sharp claws and she assumed a defense position. The wolf attacked her with full force, seeing that she was the only one in human form and assumed she was a weaker wolf.

Selly evaded his attacks and when she stopped just two steps past him, she turned to see the wolf had stopped in his tracks too.

His face was too stunned to process what just happened to him.

The ground beneath him was instantly painted crimson as his intestines hang loose outside of his body and with a whimper, he fell.

The alpha sparingly spotted her when she fought the wolf with ease, having retained her human form and only shifted from her wrist down.

A werewolf with partial shifting abilities?

That was strange, he thought. But for now, his priority was to stop the intruders from getting inside where his mate was.

Anything else could wait.

At the moment, he couldn't just decide whether the strange young woman was a friend or foe. Who even stood by and watched people killing each other with such calmness?

The scent is becoming stronger, Selly thought.

By now her heart was pounding inside her ribcage like a pendulum. She didn't know what to expect as her eyes searched for him.

She stood at a sideline with eyes that moved like a wiper blade while everybody else was busy clawing one another.

There was a commotion behind her and she turned to see a man making his way out of the house carrying a baby wrapped in a shawl in his arm.

A woman, seemingly weak, jumped at him, trying to stop him from taking the baby away but with a single forceful push her back collided with a wall, making her hold her stomach only for her hand to turn red with blood.

For some reason, the scent seemed to have intensified. Was the man holding the baby...her mate?

"Please, don't take him away.?" The woman pleaded with teary eyes, too wounded to move.

The man smirked. Clearly too amused to see the Luna of the infamous Westhund pack begging. It was a rare sight if not impossible.

That bastard seemed proud of having caused pain to the bleeding woman.

Selly's hand balled into fists and without second thoughts she went after them, the scent growing even stronger with each step.

Whether he was her mate or not, that would be dealt with later. A man hitting a woman, especially one who just gave birth, deserved a lesson.

At that time all she could think of was the safety of the baby. Clearly, he was trying to separate the baby from its mother and she couldn't just be a bystander anymore. Not under her watch.

With clenched jaws, she muttered, "Of all men, I can't believe I am mated to a moron."

From the looks of it, he must be a rogue werewolf. This was kidnapping, she concluded

The man had not noticed someone watching his exchange with the Luna, just as he turned to leave,

Punch!

Selly hit him square on the face so hard that he staggered backwards as the baby slipped from his arms.

"Nooo!"

Her scream alerted the fight-worn alpha and warriors but the opponents seized the opportunity by ganging up on him and beta Grigor, making it hard for them to leave.

They were purposely buying time for their comrade to make an escape. The sooner he left with the baby the better because the fight had taken longer than they had anticipated. They, too, had underestimated Alpha Lewis' defence.

The Luna's eyes threatened to get out of their socket. Her fragile baby was going to get badly injured or worse die.

Just in time, before the baby could hit the hard floor, Selly catched him and she froze.

What in the Goddess name was happening?