As Esme was lost in the beauty of this man, suddenly she heard voices around me. One man walked past her, gazing at her from top to bottom, "Mmm... Not bad for one time. But definitely not for a mate."
Another man with a weird hairstyle, "She looks so fragile. Who would want such a mate! I cannot trust her with my pups for sure."
Throwing comments seemed to be not only limited to men but also women. Some female werewolves did not miss this chance. They too threw some comments at Esme.
"Look at her. She looks so tacky and her clothes are so plain."
"I feel bad for her mate. She seems to not have any experience. She won't be able to serve him well."
"Oh Moon Goddess Selene, thank you so much for not making me a weakling like her."
It looked like people would never shut up their mouths. They kept on spouting nonsense for some time. Esme could barely control the tears that were forming in her eyes. The agenda of finding her mate had long gone down the drain. Right now, she just wanted to disappear.
Suddenly Esme felt a hand grope her hand. She looked at the hand and its owner. He was the same man who she saw earlier and passed a comment about me and Charlie being mates.
"What...What are you doing?" Esme asked him, trying to withdraw her hand out of his.
"Tsk.. Tsk..don't pull away, sweetie," he whispered. He gave Esme a creepier or the worst of creepier look than Charlie did earlier. In fact, Charlie's looks were more like an amateur if anything.
"What do you think you are doing?" Charlie asked with an aggressive tone, coming forward in Esme's defence.
The man smirked at Charlie, "What do you think I am doing?" his attitude leaked through and through.
"You better take your hands off of her," by now, Charlie had come very close to me.
"And why on earth would I do that?" the man challenged. One could give him the jerk of the year award.
"Because she is my mate," Charlie gritted his teeth while his hand turned into a fist, absolutely ready to punch the man in front of them.
Never in her wildest dreams did Esme think Charlie would be saying those words. She was not sure if he was telling the truth so she tried to decipher it. Because if he was her mate, should not she be getting their scent too? But neither of them ever got any. And finding a mate is the most happiest and fulfilling thing for werewolves. Why would he hide that fact if she was his mate? Esme got the answer and she was now damn sure they were not mates.
The man in front of them began laughing loudly. His laugh darted through Esme's ears. It was devilish and cruelty seeped through his throat.
"She is wanted by our Alpha and I am taking her. That's it," he said. Esme wondered who his Alpha is and which pack he is from.
Esme nervously swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to pull away from her hand safely and silently. But the man gripped her hand harder than before when he noticed her tactics.
"Boys drag her," he commanded. And a few werewolves came forward and bowed to him, "Yes Beta Leandro."
This was not the time but Esme's wolf, Poppy, wanted to make an appearance. She took advantage of Esme's weak state and entered her mind.
"Oh, so he's a beta but still a handsome and sexy beta. Look at the scratch on his eyebrow, simply sexy!" she commented.
"Why the hell do you have to pop up now?" Esme asked Poppy. She has the weirdest werewolf characteristics Esme have ever known and seen.
"I just came to see who this man is. He is charismatic and holds so much power. Just look at him, how he orders people around," she said, surely loving the beta's authority.
"That is not what we have to be concerned about right now." Esme tried to coax her to go back.
"Then what else should we be concerned about?" Poppy asked with a hell of a lot of attitude. Esme could swear that she would lose her mind because of Poppy's attitude.
"Charlie just said we are his mate and then we might actually get dragged away by this cruel man if we don't do anything and we can't help but depend on Charlie for it. But it will be a different story to deal with later," Esme informed Poppy.
"I don't mind going away with this handsome hunk."
Esme was done with Poppy for now, "Shut up!" Esme said and blocked Poppy.
The Beta Leandro signalled his people to drag Esme away. And that is what was going to happen. For a second Esme wondered if she had to accept her fate and let them drag her or fight them. Then again, she is a weak werewolf so fighting is far from her reach. And suddenly her nerves began to tremble and she almost lost herself and let her tears flow through her eyes.
Esme could see through the corner of her eyes, some werewolves from the Beta Leandro's side were holding Charlie and they began hitting him hard. Their hits were making him scream out of pain and she noticed a bruise forming on his right cheek and his eyes wincing because of the hit he received on his abdomen. Whatever he said did not matter now. He is Esme's best friend and she cannot see him getting beaten because of her. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably.
All of a sudden, the gorgeous man who was sitting on the car bunker got off and walked towards Esme and Beta Leandro. Just one look from him, the werewolves who were dragging Esme let go of her hand and she almost lost her balance and was about to hit the ground. But the handsome man held Esme's waist and pulled her towards him.
The world seemed to stop once again. The gorgeous man looked at Esme's face intently and moved her hair behind her ears and wiped her tears away. He nuzzled into her neck and sniffed before whispering in her ears, "MATE"