No, no, no way! I didn't want a mate, actually the fact is I wasn't supposed to have a mate. I had Alexander... he was the love of my life. I swallowed hard, he probably expected me to jump right into his arms or smile but unfortunately for him that was not how I functioned.Life wasn't all rainbows and butterflies-fuck that.I glared at the red sand and acted as if I did not just hear him say the word 'mate' although I am sure everyone else heard it.
I heard a growl and boots marching in my direction. I kept my cool and made no effort to look at him again. The mate bond kept screaming at me to just go to him but I pushed it back. I would rather die than let this mate bond fool me or weaken me. That's what it does, it plays with our emotions begging us to have a weakness but it was too late now.I have been through a lot worse, rejection.
I already had a weakness once and it almost destroyed me. This time I was going to be stronger than the mate bond no matter what. He growled again loudly and I breathed in deep, his scent was glorious. I almost gave in, his scent was like lavenders in the rain drowning me in heaven.
"look at me" he growled, it was a demand but I decided to ignore it. I mean what's the worst that could happen right. Suddenly sparks invaded my skin as he grabbed my chin forcing me to look up at him. He was forcing me to do it, I had no choice but to tell him. It was for the best.
"I reje..." before I could complete my statement a dirty cloth was shoved into my mouth I groaned. I was both disgusted and kind of angry. Nothing was going my way it was so maddening.
He scoffed before grabbing my hand and pulling me up on my feet "kill the rest" he said as he marched away with me.
I did not resist or even try to resist because that would show my weakness so instead I just let him drag me. I could feel the anger radiating off of him. I was so grateful my eyes weren't covered this time so I could see. I was in some sort of an office. It was cooler inside and neat making me feel even more filthy. I looked around, there was a couch, a table and lots of books on a shelf. It reminded me of my home.
"why?" he suddenly asked breaking the silence
I studied him, he didn't strike me as a lover boy. So why did this hurt him so much? He just met me and already there was so much drama.
"It's obvious is it not... I don't need a mate. I do not want a mate. So what are you going to do now, force me to love you?" it was so cliche if he took that initiative.
Suddenly he didn't look angry anymore. He breathed out and folded his large arms "I won't force you to do anything you will work just like everyone else." he said studying me with those big blue eyes. If I wasn't careful he would catch me getting lost in them.
I blinked a lot to avoid staring at him "fine," at least he wasn't going to kill me. I had a feeling he was upto something. Whatever it was I wasn't going to stay long enough to find out.
Suddenly two men walked in and he smirked "follow them" he said and I stood up happy to escape his scent that kept invading my nostrils.
The two men led me outside. We walked for a little bit and suddenly a beautiful garden made its appearance. Women wearing beautiful plain white dresses were working mindlessly in the garden. They didn't even care that they were getting all dirty.
An older lady with dark brown hair spotted me and she walked to towards me. She nodded at the two guards and they walked away. She looked at me carefully before smiling "you need to wash up" she said indicating for me to follow her as she walked forward.
I followed her, the other ladies didn't seem to pay attention to what was going on. The older lady led me to a beautiful make-shift bath. It didn't surprise me that it was outside, it was so public. Most werewolves did not care about nudity anyways.
She looked at me and waited for me to strip and get into the bath. I stripped easily and got in. The water was warm and it felt so nice. The lady came, she knelt down and poured some sort of thick liquid into the water. Immediately it started foaming bubbles and it smelled so nice like rose petals.
She helped washed my back and my hair "you have such nice hair, it's rare to see pure red heads around here"
"thank you" I didn't know what to say to her, nobody has ever been this nice to me without wanting something in return or because of fear. It felt weird and kind of nice being complimented by another female.
After the bath I dried up and she handed me a long white dress. It was clean, plain but comfortable.
"you can call me Ella," the lady said looking at me in approval. She liked how the dress fit me perfectly. It showed all my curves before flowing on to the ground
I nodded my head "You can call me Iris"
She raised an eyebrow at me with pure amusement showing on her face. It is as if my name amused her for some reason. "a rare name as well for a she wolf, I would expect names like Amara, Lilian, Maya, Rachel but Iris! There's definitely something unique about you. You look like a leader." she commented with a smile.
For the first time ever someone had said it, I was born to lead. My blood hummed beneath my skin, proud that someone had seen me. The real me, a leader.