His Fiery Mate

The forest was my home.

I felt my breath still when a sound came from behind me and I knew I had ventured farther into it than I should have, but there were no limits to how deep a person could fall, were there?

I clutched the hilt of my sword and listened for the sound while realizing my stomach was churning.

It was a boar. I knew this and I knew it had seen me.

Slowly, I pivoted on my heels, my gaze running wildly in trying to pick up its sight. I wasn’t a huntress, far from it, but too many times in this part of the wilderness I had managed to stumble upon wild animals with a craving for me.

Werewolves’ smell drove them insane and pulled wild animals toward us with a crazed passion. It was why this place was off-limits, but if there was anything that satiated my own passion was the risks that involved plunging into dangerous situations.

A chill ran down my spine and I knew it had nothing to do with the thick cold that settled on the air—my eyes finally caught the boar.

It was large, larger than I’d expected. It stood massively built, with black furs gleaming, and its black, sharp eyes filled with hunger were fixed on me.

My wolf fought, pounding my insides begging to be let loose. She was an even more risk-lover than I was, but this time I forced her back down; this was my win to take.

The thicket that surrounded us seemed to freeze in anticipation, breaths held at our locked gaze. In the farther distance, I heard something feral that seemed to be the rough pounding of my heart.

If I died tonight, no one would ever find my body. No one would be bothered enough to venture to this part, but if I died tonight, it would give me a respite—perhaps.

“Come on, big guy,” I whispered under my breath, taking a fearless step closer.

If I died tonight...

The boar mirrored my movement, its cold eyes flickering to the shining blade that I was clutching in one of my hands.

I could smell its bloodlust and it caused a quiver to travel through me. If the boar’s craving was anything to go by, tonight really could be it.

Sometimes, I wondered why I bothered to fight if I longed for an end as much as I did, but then the realization that fighting back was where the thrill lay hit. It saddened me — there really was no winning.

Fighting with a boar in my human form would be something I’d never done and with everything in me, I needed this fight. What I wanted to prove to myself went beyond my knowledge but when the pounding remained as it did currently, I fought with it, never against it.

The boar bared its fangs at me, and drool ran down its jaw right before it dashed toward me. If anything, I never expected an animal as big as it was to be that fast but I’d been taught to be faster—just as it reached me, maintaining its momentum, I ducked down and slid underneath it, my blade slashing across its stomach.

It was one of the advantages of having my figure, my trainer had told me. I could fit in almost anywhere and it heightened the stealth in my movement. I always had the advantage of sneaking up on a person.

The boar skidded to a halt before turning sharply toward me, blood trailing down from its insides, but the bastard didn't seem deterred by it and once more it attacked me; its large body slammed into me, flinging me to the tree behind and I felt a ringing resound inside my head as it came in sharp contact with the solid body of the tree.

“Fuck!” I whispered before staggering to my feet, in time to dodge the animal that once more charged at me, missing his pointed canines by an inch.

I swung up onto the closest tree branch and crouched there, taking a fighting stance. My escape angered the large animal and it furiously shot up toward me, its claws scratching at my leg, slashing and tearing the material of my trousers.

I hopped from one branch to the other, the pain in my leg stinging. Just when the boar had lost sight of me, I leaped, landing on its back, my blade burying itself in the boar’s neck before I pulled it out and once more stabbed the boar.

The animal lurched, throwing me down, and from my position on the ground, I watched as it stumbled before falling and rolling down the ridge to its final death.

I let out a breath and shut my eyes, hoisting myself into an upright position.

I didn't die tonight.

Dragging my bloodied blade along, listening for the scraping noise that trailed me and letting it comfort me, I made my way back home.

The manor was blanketed in silence; it was, after all, past midnight and every other person would be asleep—except for the one with gnawing guilt that threatened to suffocate them.

The doors made a creaking sound as I pushed them open and stepped inside. The warriors who stood guard, the only other people awake, stared at me as I came inside the house but their eyes had long lost the element of shock they used to hold.

I missed it.

“Alpha,” they greeted me, bowing down and not rising until I’d walked past them.

I climbed up the stairs slowly, still dragging my blade along; the last thing that bothered me was the noise I made with it.

My hand paused at the doorknob in my bedroom and I felt rancid trepidation, unlike anything I’d ever felt while fighting. This feeling was nastier and it held me hostage, tearing at my insides.

It was the fear of what lay beyond this door, the fear of what it held when the sun has set and the darkness enveloped the air.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Immediately my eyes caught a silhouette by the window.

Long ago, my trainer had told me I was too weak for the killings. He had called my mind my biggest weakness—the wild imagination it had wasn't the issue, it was the beauty in how it managed to transform those horrors of its imagination into reality.

If I could stop the killings, perhaps everything else would stop. My trainer had suggested that if there were fewer people killed, then there would be fewer horrors for my mind to witness and even fewer bodies to transform into physical form to visit me.

My room was cold, which was to be expected; there'd never been a time my room held warmth in whatever form whatsoever.

I placed the blade on the table and proceeded to remove the dress shirt I wore, leaving me in another shirt and my torn trousers. My hands went up to my hair and I yanked down the hair band, freeing up my blonde locks and they came down in all of their thickness and length, curtaining my face.

“Who are you tonight?” I asked the silhouette that remained motionless by the window.

When the silence remained, I felt my stomach tighten in suspicion of the person’s identity.

Tonight would be ugliness, I could feel it. I could taste it.

The figure turned, the rays of the moonlight settled on their face. I froze.

My sister, Sephora, stared at me with the same pain in her eyes as the last time I had seen her. The same pain from being stabbed, those eyes just before they’d shut forever.

Tonight my mind had conjured up my sister’s ghost to visit me. The sister I hadn't been able to save from dying.

Raw pain and anguish slammed into me, snatching away my breath.

“Natalie,” Sephora’s figure called out to me.

“You are not real,” I whispered, a tear falling down my face. “Please, not you of all people, Sephora, I beg you.”

Breakfast was sprawled on the table the next morning by the time I came down for it. An assortment of dishes lay arranged and everyone was seated, laughter and voices rang through the walls of the house ceasing when I appeared.

I balled my fist and said nothing, sliding into my seat.

“You look like you could do with some sleep,” My sister, Catherine said, her worried eyes resting on me.

I ignored her and poured myself a glass of red wine that was always left on the table for me. It was too early to be drinking but rather than be pretentious and take something like tea that I couldn't stomach, the wine did it for me. A little of its intoxicant heightened my sobriety. It helped to keep my mind at bay too, stopping it from teetering too close to the edges of the black chasm that snagged at me.

“You have the werewolf council meeting today, should you be drinking?” Marilyn asked quietly. She was the youngest of my sisters, our mother sat at the other end of the table simply saying nothing.

A year ago, my father and sister had died, killed in brutal ways I didn't want to keep remembering but sometimes it seemed like only I carried the grief with me. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that my mind was my impending doom, perhaps it had to do with the fact that in both cases, I hadn't done anything to save their lives.

I swirled the content of my cup. “What are they going to do, depose me for drinking?” I asked dryly.

Stillness settled in the air following my question and from the corner of my eyes, I caught Catherine sharing a look with Theodore, her mate who was seated next to her.

“Is there something I should know?” I asked, setting my glass down. A faint thud followed its contact with the table.

“Eat your meal, Natalie, and get ready for your meeting.” My mother spoke up.

I gave her a wary glance before picking up my drink once more. “I have no appetite.”

“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You keep starving yourself and now you are all bones, your skin has dulled as a result of you being outdoors all the time, your eyes are hollow, and your hair…”

I cut my mother off. “Can you not?”

“Natalie,” Marilyn called softly. “Maybe you should listen, maybe you should try more with your appearance. You are the Alpha of our pack and…” She shrugged.

Kate continued for her. This was an ambush, how grand.

“... And the members are going to continue to view you with belittling eyes when you do not put in efforts in how you present yourself to them.”

“I do not need this.” My chair made a scraping sound as I roughly pulled it back, getting up.

“Sit down!” my mother hissed.

I ignored her and walked off, the sound of her voice screeching my name reaching me even as I stepped out of the house.

The cloud seemed to have descended lower, blanketing the air for now. The air was chill, and I was thankful for my attire. My black boots shielded my feet, I wore dusty brown jeans and a black dress shirt. As usual, my hair had been put up in a tight bun, keeping the wild manes tamed and out of my face or touching my skin.

My horse was ready for me and I felt my wolf’s disappointment when my hand reached up to caress the white stallion. It was more of jealousy at the love I had for my horse too.

‘I would reach there faster than the pitiful thing and once they see me, they would be too shaken to defy you.’ She said, I rolled my eyes. “How very humble of you, now shut up.” I swung on top of my horse, settling myself atop him before squeezing it with my calf, a gentle instruction to move and immediately, he sped off.

At least an hour had gone by with me riding aimlessly through the forest, my horse indulging me and I finally led him back to town and toward the meeting hall with the council.

“Let's get this done with,” I said more to myself as I rubbed the horse’s neck before patting it and heading inside.

On the round table were important figures of the Mystic Hollow pack — my pack — and a few visitors from the neighboring packs that were interested in what went down in the Mystic Hollow pack as they thought it directly affected them but they hadn't been here when our pack was attacked by my uncle a year ago and my father was killed, how convenient that they had stayed away when the main war had ensued. Left to me, I would have scraped the whole council into nothingness but doing so would give them more vile things to whisper about me and I’d heard enough —

I wasn't fit to rule.

I wasn't the true Alpha.

I had deliberately not saved my sister, Sephora.

I was going to lead the pack to destruction.

I was stained with blood.

I had no heart.

And on and on, the tales about me rolled into an infinite reservoir to be picked up and reused over and over again.

Everyone stood up when I stepped inside, bowing down to me, but the reluctance in that simple act was obvious. I ignored it and sank into my seat at the head of the table.

“Sit,” I said lazily.

I refused to meet Kate’s concerned eyes from my side, with Theo once more seated next to her. After being mated a few months ago, they were both merged at each other’s hips now and a small part of me found that irritating.

Theodore was the son of Augustine, the Beta of our pack, and it made sense for them to be mated—but I didn't like the new addition to our family. It had always been me, my parents, and my sisters… and my uncle, Silviu, the bastard who had killed my father.

Augustine cleared his throat. “Thank you for joining us in this meeting, Alpha—”

“Did I have another choice?” I snapped before I could stop myself.

An uncomfortable look passed through the council members and a small cough escaped someone, but other than that no one said anything.

“Go on,” I said to Augustine, annoyed. I wanted to be anywhere else but here.

“It's been a year since you ascended the position as Alpha following Sephora’s unfortunate death at your sister’s pack, may the Goddess be with her spirit. In the time since your ascension, there truly have been doubts concerning your leadership, especially as in the start you made it clear it wasn't what you wanted but we, the council members, have stayed solidly behind you and quelled every talk concerning you…”

I didn't need him to give me a rundown of something I had witnessed, but I let him; I could tell he was leading somewhere, a place I wasn't going to like.

“In the year of your rule, you have kept to yourself and refused to mingle with your family members nor members of the Mystic Hollow pack, Alpha. We have tried to encourage you to do so in hopes of you meeting your mate. The pack needs a male leader who is willing to take a stand and be by your side. Silviu is still out there, who knows what he has planned in hiding? Who knows when he would strike?”

I clenched my jaw and pressed my finger into the inside of my wrist until I had to take a breath to quiet the whimper that threatened to escape me.

“The pack does not need a male to defeat Silviu. I shall do it myself when the time comes!” I spat.

“Alone?” one of the men from a neighboring pack asked. “It is a sign of weakness if a pack has just one unmated ruler and a woman at that,” he scoffed, shaking his head.

I wanted to laugh. The misogyny was glaring from them, but I wasn't surprised by it.

“The council has decided that instead of continuing to force you into a position you obviously abhor, it would be best if you stepped down by your volition and went on to live your life as you see fit,” Augustine finished.

This time, I was seized by shock. Were they being serious now? They wanted me to step down simply because I had no mate? I knew it ran deeper than that and the extent of their contempt of me for the first time wrung my insides.

“And who shall take my position?” I asked quietly.

Another round of that uncomfortable look was shared and finally, the voice I never expected to speak did.

“I shall,” Catherine said. “I am willing to take up your position as Alpha female and Theodore will ascend with me as Alpha.”

Harsh laughter bubbled in my chest; my own sister was going to overthrow me.