Revenge On My Mate: It's Payback Time!

I forced my way through the crowd, finally getting to the end and making my way down the hall for my next class. I was in a hurry to avoid being late again.

Then, there was this strange scent hitting me... it was strong and getting stronger. This strange scent might be that of my mate.

Another wave of the scent hit me and I found myself smiling. I was desperate to meet him. I turned around quickly, looking for the one behind the inviting scent. A shiver ran down my spine. He must be close by.

And when I turned around once more, the scent was gone. I was instead met by the last person I would ever wish to be my mate, Jake, the biggest boy in class and a well-known bully.

He stood in front of me, looking all domineering like a giant. His appearance screamed violence and could send shivers down one's spine. He was backing me against a locker, one of his hands stretched out beside my face as he grabbed my hair and yanked it, causing me pain. He pushed my face closer to his as he opened his mouth, which almost suffocated me with the bad mouth odour.

"Listen up, Katerina." He begins. "You're not good enough to be a shifter. You are weak, and I don't understand how you can call yourself a werewolf. You have to know by now that you're nothing but a small piece in this pack." He slammed his fist on the locker, right by my ear. And then, in a deeply chilling voice he screamed for passers-by to hear, "you fucking killed your parents and I can't understand why the Alpha is still letting you stay here, in this pack! A murderer. You are a disgrace, Katerina. Take a look at yourself in the mirror and see how chubby, ugly, and useless you are. The next time you block my way while I'm passing, I will make sure to let you know how a girl who killed her parents is supposed to be treated."

There was laughter and mumbling from the public. No one to defend me. "Call me a murderer once more, and you will know just how weak I am." The words came out before I could stop them. It was the first time in my life that I've talked back at him or anyone who bullied me.

He couldn't believe his ears. "What can you possibly do to me? You wouldn't be a match for my left arm alone if we were to fight. Or are you going to kill me just as you killed your parents?" There were heavy bursts of laughter from the crowd that had now gathered around us.

No fighting, Katerina. I told myself as I breathed deeply to calm myself. My wolf was angry as well. 'Shift and fight,' it screamed in my head, but I couldn't. I couldn't fight but I just had to pretend I'm strong and can beat his ass.

I used all my strength to push him backwards so I could walk away, but as soon as I did, he spat on me to further embarrass and anger me. At this point, the crowd behind us increased their laughter, and some randomly spat on me as well.

"Yes, that's what a girl who killed her parents deserves. I told you, you are nothing in this pack. Everyone hates you, even your own brother. Your mate is probably too ashamed to acknowledge you as his mate. He probably hates you, too. If I were you, I would have died long ago."

Those words broke me. Tears threatened to well up in my eyes, but I fought them back. Seeing that nobody was there to stand up for me, to defend me, to let these idiots know the truth that I didn't actually kill my parents, was disheartening.

My only friend, Renee, came over a little too late to comfort me when the crowd had already left, along with Jake, as I stood there crying silently. No one even cared to find out the truth; they all took fun in bullying me and treating me like trash in this pack. I had nowhere to go, and I had no money. I could barely feed myself as my elder brother deliberately denies me food sometimes. I was suffering, but I had to bear it. This was my only home, and I can't shift without finding my mate, who I think avoids me at every chance of us meeting each other.

The pack's school separates students into different classes, and I can feel that my mate is among those in the higher classes, but I've never gotten a chance to know or meet him. It was almost impossible for students at my level to approach those higher-level wolves because of the distance between our classes and the boundary rules set by the Alpha. Despite these obstacles, I've tried my best to find my mate among them all these while, risking expulsion and severe punishment, because of what my parents told me about having a mate. According to my late parents, a mate bond is the best and sweetest relationship in the world, and mates will protect each other and stand by each other no matter the situation. My best friend already has a mate, and she's no longer with me all the time. My only brother hates me. I hope my mate's love can heal my loneliness and pain.

He's been so distant. I can only feel his presence sometimes, but I can't get closer to him to know him. I turned 18 recently, and since then, I've had this feeling that my mate is among us in this pack, and I will meet him someday.

********

The next day at school, I was seated quietly in my desk, Renee was sitting close to me because everyone avoids me in class. While waiting for the teacher, Jake was on my neck again, calling me out in attempts to make fun of me yet again. I had thought about reporting him, but no one cared about what I had to say anyway, as even the teachers believed I had killed my parent, and I was the least favored in class. Sometimes, I was deliberately given bad grades, no matter my efforts in passing each exam.

I felt a light object hit the side of my face, and I turned around quickly in anger, only to realize it was Jake who had thrown it at my face.

"Hey, I heard you are 18 now. Are you never going to find your mate so you can start shifting like us? Oh, poor girl, her mate keeps avoiding her. Your mate can't even get close to you, doesn't even want to meet you." He laughed out loud as almost the entire class joined him in mocking me. Renee touched my lap, "It will be okay, Kat. Don't listen to him." I smiled, but I was really fed up with this Jake guy. "I am pretty sure my mate is among us in this pack, and he will surely love and protect me once we meet. My parents told me that a mate bond is the best and sweetest relationship in the world, and mates will love and protect each other, just like they did. I bet I will find my mate before the week runs out."

"Oh really, I bet you can't. No one would ever acknowledge you as his mate. Are you so dumb not to have realized that your mate has been avoiding you? You are the one searching for him; he's not looking out for you. He practically avoids you." The entire class listened to both of us with interest.

"And if I do, what's going to happen?" I asked.

"If you can find your mate by yourself, we will respect you henceforth and reduce the way we treat you if he actually acknowledges and accepts you." Some of them said almost in unison. "Everyone has a mate in this pack except you. So, who could be with the wrong mate among us? Your unfortunate mate must have disappeared into thin air after realizing he's paired with you as mates." There was heavy laughter from the class at Jake's statement.

"I believe my mate will accept and protect me, that's what my parents said. That a mate bond is the sweetest relationship ever, and mates will love and protect each other no matter what."

"Then don't you think your late parents, whom you killed by yourself, will have more reasons to be disappointed in you if you never get to have a mate?" Jake said sarcastically.

The entire class, apart from Renee, roared with laughter. I was boiling with rage, and my wolf.

"Then we have a bet?" I said with a straight face, showing no sign of weakness or fear of failure.

"Yes!" The class exclaimed. "And I will personally give you a reward in addition to our pledge of respecting you henceforth," Jake added.

"You honestly think you can find your mate in this pack? Dream on!" A girl added.

Renee looked at me, a clear question in her eyes.

On getting home from school, I kept thinking of how I'm ever going to find my mate who seems unwilling to find me. There's no male in this pack without a female companion. I can't even get close to any of them because everyone avoids me, apart from Renee, my friend. Even my own brother is distant from me.

Shaking off my thoughts, I remained firm on my bet and decision to find my mate as soon as possible, even if I had to shift to do so. Maybe he isn't avoiding me, and he's also looking out for me, but there are obstacles in our way to meeting each other. Shifting would get me banished, and I would have nowhere to go, but my wolf was dying inside.

I checked the time, and it was time for the Pack's dinner. Everyone who came always brought their companion, and I've never felt any sort of connection to anyone because I'm always at some distance from them. That was how much they hated me. My mate should be somewhere among us, but I couldn't sense his presence yet.

"I haven't eaten since morning when I left for school. I'm dying of hunger. You said I only get to eat once a day as part of my punishment for a crime that actually wasn't my fault, just to keep me alive, yet you are giving me only a little food for dinner?" I asked the Pack's cook as everyone was being served dinner. I was ignored as usual, as my pack members began mocking me again as if I had cracked a joke.

"You should be grateful you get to eat at all. You are just a waste of space here in this pack. What makes you think you are special and deserve special treatment?" A girl spoke out.

"After what you've done, you still have the guts to complain? You should be thankful you are still being allowed in this pack because of a lack of strong evidence that you intentionally killed your parents." A boy added.

"Shut up, Kat. You are not better than any of us here. As a matter of fact, you are nothing. You are dull in class, you can't even fight, and you are weak. No matter how much you are being denied food, you still cannot lose weight; you are fat and ugly. Are you not ashamed of being a werewolf?" Another girl spoke, and there was heavy laughter among my pack members.

I ignored them and managed the tasteless food. I'm sure everyone else got something better to eat. Renee kept comforting me after the dinner, but my own brother, Ace, cared less about how everyone was treating me. The Alpha and his mate were aware of all these and did nothing to help my situation. If I had somewhere to go other than this pack as a teenager, I would have left long ago, but there was no nearby pack or anywhere I could run to. If I tried, I would probably die on my way out of severe hunger, even if I shifted to my wolf. I could be preyed on by wild animals out there because I am weak from severe starvation.

After my second class, I slipped my backpack over my shoulder and was the last to leave the classroom as usual. I ignored the jeers and whispers about me from my classmates as I walked past them.

Then all of a sudden, there was this familiar scent hitting me, yet again. It was that of my mate as far as my wolf's sense recognized it. I was extremely desperate to meet him this time around. I turned around quickly, looking for the one behind the scent. A shiver ran down my spine. He must be close by. The bet between me and Jake made me breathless, and I couldn't wait to catch up with my mate and let him know that I was beside him. What made me even more excited was that, unlike last time, his scent didn't disappear immediately, but got closer and closer to me.

I stroked my dry curly hair nervously with my hands, took a deep breath, and turned around. This time, I saw him, my mate.

He was tall, standing in the shadow at the corner of the stairs. He was wearing a hat and a sweatshirt, standing motionless. I knew he was looking at me.

I couldn't see the expression on his face, but a smile was forming on my face.

The scent of mate excited my wolf, and it kept running around in my mind.

"Mate! It's our mate! Let him claim us!"

My heart was also surging and excited. After having a mate, my wolf can go out for a run. Maybe we can be with our mate, and that will be the best thing in the world!

I slowly approached, expecting my mate to give me a big hug. I endured too much in this pack to wait for him, and I couldn't wait to tell him about my sad experiences. Maybe when he hears them, he will love me, protect me, and make me forget it all.

When I walked in, he was still standing there, as if he had been waiting for me for as long as I've been waiting for him.

However, when I saw his eyes, my wolf became more excited, but my heart slowly sank.

When he got closer to me, he took off his hat to reveal himself fully. To my greatest shock, he was the Alpha! The person who hated me most in this pack was my mate? I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought he had a mate already, all this while. Who was the girl who was always beside him then? Or could this be a dream?

He stood in front of me, backing me against a locker, one of his hands stretched out beside my face. He was very handsome and masculine, with beautiful eyes. I wanted to touch him, I wanted him to touch me. I let out another breath. No, don't say it. And I hold myself together, not giving anything away.

"Listen carefully, Katerina." He begins, his voice so alluring. "You're not good enough to be a luna. Hell, I don't understand how you can call yourself a werewolf. You have to know by now that you're nothing in this pack. And I can't even begin to understand why I was paired with you as a mate." He slams his fist on the locker, right by my ear. And then, after drawing his breath, in a deeply chilling voice, he states, "I formally reject you, Katerina Bathas, as my mate." And I watched as Kol Knight, my Alpha, turned his back on me like I didn't even exist. I have a gut feeling I'm being watched, and I find myself looking around frantically, my heart racing, only to find no one, thankfully. And before I could stop myself, I took a deep breath and screamed, desperately trying to find any form of release from this pain.

I fell to the floor, watching the crowd form around me, having heard my loud scream. There was laughter from the pack and mumbling from the outsiders. The tears that rimmed my eyes were now falling freely down my pale, chubby cheeks. The hallways were now totally empty, and I was left alone. I was hyperventilating. I was just rejected by my mate, one whom I've been looking forward to meeting for so long. My brother hates me; he practically blames me for our parents' deaths.

Everyone in this stupid school is set out to make me regret living. My own reflection made me angry and sad. I didn't believe them when they said I should have died with my parents. But now, I was starting to believe that, too. Or worse, that I should have died instead of my parents.

I wiped away the tears from my face and scrambled up to a stand. Ignoring my backpack that lay on the ground, I sprinted out of the school doors, pushing past the assholes in the hall and back down the street until I felt the gravel rocks beneath my thin, worn out shoes. I slowed my walking into a fast speed walk as I passed the familiar driveway. I stepped into the empty pack house and, holding onto the railing, stormed up the stairs, skipping two steps each until I reached my door right above them. I burst through it, rummaging through the broken drawers of my broken dresser to take out the few clothes I did have and shove them into a duffel bag. I grabbed my mom and dad's picture from under the mattress that lay directly on the dirty floor, dusted it off, and placed it in the duffel bag as well. I zipped it up, slung it over my shoulder, and sighed.

One thing I had to do before I left was visit Renee's room. When I reached her white, flowery door, I stopped. New tears flooded my eyes. I wanted to inform her that I was leaving, but I couldn't leave now because I had nowhere to go.

When I closed the pack house front doors behind me, I said to myself, "I, Katerina Bathas, accept your rejection." I felt a painful pull, and I held in a whimper. Leaving this pack would make me a rogue wolf, and I knew the Alpha, along with the whole pack, would feel I was leaving. Not that they would care, I thought to myself as I approached the woods, desperate to get the hell away from here. I knew the instant I crossed from our territory to an unknown one, I would feel another pang of pain, and so would the pack. Then would they know I was truly gone, not just from their pack but from this shitty ass town I can no longer call home. But I had to stay and see how much more I could bear all this agony. I couldn't afford to starve myself to death by leaving this pack now. I couldn't predict the dangers a weak and hungry wolf like me stands to face outside in the woods. I finally decided to just return home, in a miserable state.

******

"Alpha! There's an attack. Rogues are forcing their way into our pack, killing anyone in their way!" I heard the pack's alarm sound. It was the middle of the night. What was going on? Everyone was told to stay indoors as the Pack's security hurried to confront the rogues.

The attack happened in the middle of the night. I was resting at home, having made up my mind that I couldn't stay here anymore with all these pains and suffering I was going through. Even if I had nowhere to go, even if I might get killed by wild animals that could prey on my wolf form, I didn't care anymore. I had to leave and this could be an opportunity to leave but at least Renee has to know I'm leaving. There was no time to draft her a letter now, and I may be seen by one of the rogues and be killed, as I'm weak from starvation and hunger.

I heard a loud noise outside. I looked through the window and saw fire coming closer and closer. My brother must have left the house. I wanted to sneak away on a small path. Several roads out of the pack were blocked by rogues, leaving only one that seemed passable.

On the way, I kept walking fast, almost running, as I was frantically looking around me. I saw several houses that were attacked, with blood stains everywhere.

"Katerina! Please help me!"

Suddenly, someone called out to me for help, yelling my name in despair.