Yil

"WE ARE NEVER EVER DOING THAT AGAIN," Zena announced lowly, enunciating each word as she tried to repress the slight tremble in her voice.

They were not many things that scared Zena because she was fearless, however, the ordeal had been one of a kind.

It was a race against time as we tried to escape the outside wolf males. One being the beta and the other an Alpha. My mate. His cold blue eyes had stared at me in awe, it was unmistakable despite his attempts to hide it, and I had eyed his solid, tall build in admiration. He was a fine specimen, a sight for sore eyes from the rugged arch of his lips to the sturdy strength of his legs. Mine.

Ava and I had been drawn to him and I had yearned for his large palms to caress my cheek. But all this was impossible, it wasn't meant to be. I knew the Sky Lordians were a group of unpredictable, mysterious bunch of trash but even this was on another level of bitchiness.

Why was I mated to an Alpha from the outside world?

I'm not denying the fact that I might have contemplated the idea one to many times but that was purely to tick my mother off.

"Are you even listening to me?" She asked, stopping to peer back at me. We had arrived at the pack garden a few paces from the pack house and just in time for the pack guards ten minutes morning rotation.

Zena and I were not going to get any sleep as practice would start in an hour's time.

"Yes, we are never going there ever again. I heard you," I sighed, defeatedly and attempted to walk past her but she pulled me into a fierce hug.

"I'm sorry I was a little hard on you," she choked out amidst her silent tears. I tried to protest because I was the one who initiated the idea in the first place but she hugged me tighter, cutting off my words. "I was just so scared at the possibility of leaving you there with him," she continued and I detected the slight disgust in her tone when she referred to the Alpha. "Even more so when I saw that box. I'm not still sure of the extent of its power but I don't trust them," she finished as she released me from the hug and stared at me with tear stained cheeks.

"What box?" I asked silently as I cleaned her cheeks with my fingers and fought against the urge to cry.

"I'll tell you all about it later. We don't have much time now," she promised. "But I know how hard it was to leave your mate. Trust me I do and I..."

I cut her off with a slight raise of my palm. I was drained and so was Ava, who was intent on shutting me out. "I don't want to talk about him and his not my mate," I declared. "He's an outsider," I whispered and turned to walk into the pack house but Zena stopped me with another hug, this time from the back.

"I love you, you know that right?" She whispered and I nodded. Then together we ventured into the pack house before going our separate ways.

As I neared my room and with each step I took the more I realised that I was never going to see my mate again. I wasn't one to judge a book by it's cover or in this case past animosity but my pack still came first. Surely, the reason why we still concealed ourselves from the outside world even till today was still unresolved. And it would be irrational of me to be all trusting of a world I only came to see once.

I sauntered into my room and closed the door quietly. It was usually silent this time of the morning because most wolves went for pack runs before the initial training. Zena and I were lucky to have portalled into the garden and not the Wonderan Forest or we would have had quite a lot of explaining to do.

The cold draft pulled me out of my musings and I noticed that I had left the balcony door open during my earlier escape stint. I moved to close the door and I sensed a presence before I felt a warm hand wrap around my waist.

"Rae, my father is going to skin you alive if he finds you here," I joked and turned to face him. He had a boyish grin on his face which highlighted his dimples and his eyes were twinkling brightly.

"I missed you," he grumbled as he nuzzled my neck, inhaling my scent deeply. "I wanted to see you after practice but you were very focused on your sprint around the fields," he pointed out with a pout.

I was expecting to feel fury creep up on me as I remembered Nara's closeness to him but it was only replaced by slight irritation and to my horror I craved only the touch of an unknown stranger and I fought the urge to push him off me.

"Um, I wanted to be done with that punishment as fast as possible," I stated as I gently pried his hands away from my waist and moved towards the bed. "Speaking of which, you and I might get that exact punishment if we don't get a move on," I smiled, pointing to the hung clock.

"I don't mind," he replied huskily as he closed the balcony door and stalked towards me with a mischievous grin.

"Oh no you don't," I said, wagging a finger and trying to move into the walk-in closet but he was quicker and he blocked my exit and spun me around so that I was placed standing between his laps as he sat on the bed.

"Rae we are going to be late," I whined. "And I don't want to sprint around the field in human form again," I persisted while trying to free myself.

Due to his height and considering the fact that I was relatively shorter, he was able to entrap me with his long limbs as he sat down on the bed.

"Wait, I just want to hold you for a minute," he whispered silently and placed his head on my chest. "Xavier misses you as well," he growled non-threateningly.

I stood there rooted to the spot as I tried to control the raging feelings in me. One part of me, albeit weaker, was tied to Rae and it fought violently against the invading thoughts of my supposed mate while the other blossoming, stronger part demanded I cut off Rae and go back into the arms of the blue eyed, intoxicating stranger. I couldn't do that to Rae because as much as I was drawn to my mate I couldn't stand to see Rae hurt.

I was so conflicted.

I began to stroke his hair slowly for I knew Xavier would be very pleased. This went on for another moment before he raised his head to look at me.

"I want to mark you," he growled possessively and I felt the blood drain from my face. "But only if you'll let me," he added, meekly.

Hours ago I would have been ecstatic at the proposition but at the moment I knew not what to do.

"What about our mates?" I whispered silently and stared off into the distance.

His deep chuckle reverberated through me and I relaxed unconsciously into his hold. Then he dragged my chin towards him and there he kept my gaze.

"That's quite funny coming from you," he remarked but then he sensed my apprehension. "What's wrong?" He asked, concerned, as his brows knitted in confusion.

"I just don't want to tie you to me and then you find your mate and you regret all this," I answered, hurriedly. "I never really thought of you. I only thought of my selfish needs," I tried to move away from him for the pain in my heart was becoming unbearable.

I was drawn to my mate but in love with another and more than anything I didn't want to hurt either of them.

He held me tighter and restricted my movement as he took my chin between his fingers and forced me to look at him.

"Do you think I don't know that?" he said, fiercely. "Yet I am still willing to mark you because I am head over heels in love with you. The intensity of it is driving me insane," he left my chin and ran his fingers through his hair. He usually did that when he was stressed. "When I broke up our relationship years ago, I almost lost myself," he admitted and stared fixated at the bedside lamp. "My heart was torn in two but I was adamant on finding my mate. I never wanted to lead you on only to have to leave you when I found her. It wasn't fair," he continued and remained silent for a moment.

"But I never found her Yil," he whispered, still refusing to look at me as he continued to stare at the lamps' glowing light. "Because I don't have one," he announced. "I'm a lone wolf"

"What do you mean?" I asked in disbelief.

Lone wolves were not uncommon in the white-wolf clan, however, they were born in every decade and they could be male or female. It was believed that the Sky Lordians purposefully made it so to punish our clan for separating ourselves from the outside world. The lone wolves would usually wander alone engaging in thrill or immersing themselves in their studies in order to fill the empty hole they felt inside. Measer Fern was one of such.

"But every time I would come to beg you to reconsider you would always go on and on about the importance and love of our mates," I countered, not wanting to believe his words.

"Just because I don't have a mate doesn't mean you don't have yours," he said, smiling slightly. "I wasn't going to deprive you of that," he said, stroking my chefek gently. "That was the real reason why I stayed far away from you," he let his hand fall from my face and continued. "But when I saw you that evening of the ceremony, I couldn't resist you. Then the way you responded to my touch ignited all the feelings I had kept locked inside. That was when I knew I had never stopped loving you," he looked into my eyes and smiled at the memory. "Then you said you loved me. I can't even explain how happy I felt," he said and rested his forehead against mine. "So in short I'm the selfish one who wants to have you despite the fact that you might have a mate," he finished, wiggling his eyebrows in an attempt to lighten the mood.

I giggled lightly and held his dark gaze. I couldn't imagine the pain he was going through. He would never have a mate like the rest of us and now he had to carry the curse of our forefathers. If that explanation was true.

I had a mate that I was drawn to, the fact was undeniable, but I barely knew him and he would never even be accepted by our clan. However, as much as I or Ava might try to fight it, I was in love with Rae and his pain was my pain just as his happiness was mine. He had always been mine ever since I was a teenager and our bond could not be easily destroyed by the mate bond.

What are you going to do now? Because Xavier is connected to us, Ava spoke up for the first time and I almost squealed in excitement at the sound of her voice.

I don't know. I'm confused, I replied.

I won't help you with this. You have to choose your path, she declared and promptly shut me out.

I was drawn back to Rae whose eyes were now closed with his forehead still against mine. I studied his features and flashbacks of my mate flittered past my vision.

Both men couldn't be compared; they were different in their own way.

I traced the arch of his eyebrows lightly, then his nose before I stopped at his lips where he caught my finger between his teeth.

"The things you do to me," he groaned as his hold on my waist tightened.

"I love you," I whispered and his eyes shot open. "I love you and I'm hurt by your pain," I continued.

"You don't need to. I have you now," he smiled, tracing my spine.

I swallowed the lump in my throat feeling guilty for not telling him about my mate but I couldn't. It would hurt him.

"Yes, you have me," I repeated, confidently as I pushed down my conflicting feelings.

It was my path to make and I'd choose Rae over some stranger who was fated to me by the Sky Lordians.

Screw them!

I placed my fingers around his neck and pulled him to me for a kiss as I silenced his reply..... and the mate bond.
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