Rejecting The Mating Bond
Synopsis
Flora Argentine is the ReedStone pack’s loner. Everyone ignores her existence, but not because she’s some shy awkward nerd; her older brother is the Beta of the pack, and no one wants to cross her. But Flora is perfectly fine with everyone avoiding her. She leads a simple life without any complications or hardships...until she gets mixed up with Clay. Future Alpha Clay Scotsman is the most popular guy in town. The ladies love him, which isn’t a problem because he loves them right back. With the looks of a Greek god and a smooth-talking charm, he always gets what he wants...except Flora Argentine. One day he says to hell with it and comes after Flora with all the charm he can muster. And once he’s had a taste of her, he finds it nearly impossible to let her go. But Clay and Flora both know that they’re not mates, and Clay’s 28th birthday, when his mate will be revealed, is fast approaching. Will he leave Flora forever because of a bond created by the Gods? Or will he reject his mate to be with the girl he loves more than life itself?
Rejecting The Mating Bond Free Chapters
Chapter 1 | Rejecting The Mating Bond
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Flora’s POV:
I could feel his eyes on me, those gorgeous emerald-green eyes that shone like diamonds when the light hit them just right. I could almost imagine him watching me through hooded lashes as dark copper-colored hair fell onto his forehead like a silken blanket. Sometimes, when I was alone at night, I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through those silken strands, to brush them over those lips, which could tempt heaven itself to sin. But I kept those fantasies to myself. Because Clay Scotsman had a habit of tempting the female species into all kinds of sins before chewing them up and spitting them out the next morning.
But then again, those females he took to bed, humans and wolves alike, never once complained or got clingy. He had that effect on women, no matter the age. He always, always ended a relationship on the right foot. No hard feelings; no strings attached.
The tiny hairs on the nape of my neck stood at attention as I felt his gaze on me once again. My hand tightened on my pen, but I knew better than to let myself get distracted. Clay was nothing if not the most dangerous of predators. He had the scent of an Alpha, would become our Alpha as soon as Alpha Nicolas retired. And we could all feel it. The time would come soon enough, but for now, he was the Assistant Professor of Biology at my college, which was basically his side job when he wasn't training to be an Alpha and learning battle tactics.
About five minutes later, I felt his gaze draw away from me. I chanced a look from underneath my lashes, only to be met with piercing emerald eyes that made me draw in a breath. Damn, the guy was beautiful. No, not in a feminine way. Those cheekbones, those lips, that nose...they could never be feminine. But there was no other word that I could find to describe a man who was masculine beauty in its purest form.
Those lushly sensual lips curved up in a hint of a smile, as if reading my thoughts, and I instantly looked away, focusing on the paper in front of me. Damn it! If I kept this up, I was surely going to fail this test.
I would be lying if I said that I hadn’t missed him when he was away these past ten years training in Lindersay, the capital city for all wolves. All warrior wolves and future Alphas went there to train for their future responsibilities. It provided a training facility and a school for powerful wolves. My older brother, Riley, had gone there with Clay since they were the same age and my brother was the future Beta of the pack. Clay had been handsome even then; at least, that’s what everyone had said about the lean muscled boy of eighteen on his way to adulthood. But now that boy had returned a man, and he was even more handsome than anyone could’ve predicted, devastatingly so.
I must’ve been too engrossed in my fascination with Clay Scotsman because the sudden sound of the bell had me jumping a foot up in the air. Controlling my breathing by placing my hand over my racing heart, I looked around to ensure that no one had noticed my brief distraction. Luckily, everyone else seemed busy groaning over their test papers. Clay might distract everyone in the class with his beauty, but he was also a hard-ass professor who conducted his class with the strictest of discipline. And he gave extremely tough tests every week so that our minds remained sharp.
“Flora,” a single word cut through the indistinct murmurs in the classroom as my heart slammed against my ribcage.
“Yes?” I stood up on shaky legs, the nib of my pen digging into my palm as I stared into gemstone eyes. It was a miracle I hadn’t yet squeaked and made a fool of myself.
I couldn’t see the smirk on his face, but I was sure there was laughter hidden in his eyes as he took in my rigid shoulders and extremely carefully crafted poker face. “Collect all the papers and bring them to my office,” Clay said in a calm voice. Then he picked up the rest of his stuff and walked out.
As soon as the doors shut behind him, I scrambled to get my belongings into my bag before rushing from student to student to collect their papers. Several of my classmates gave me exasperated sighs and dramatic looks while some women gave me envious glares as I took their papers, but no one spoke to me directly. They were too scared of my brother to bully me, which was one thing I had always been thankful for. Even when he was away at Lindersay, I was sure he had his spies in place just so they could watch over me. I would never say it out loud, but I was really thankful for the small curtsey.
Stacking the papers together, I walked out of the classroom with my backpack slung over one shoulder and the papers in both hands, muttering a thank you to one boy who'd held the door open for me so I could walk out. The boy smiled back and waved goodbye before heading in the opposite direction.
A bit startled by the unexpected help, I continued walking down the familiar hallway to the staff room so I could deposit the papers and make a run for it. No matter how big a crush I might've had on Clay, I found him ten times more intimidating. His charm did nothing to hide the raw power pulsing through his veins.
Since my brother was the Beta, I was kinda used to having that brush of power against my senses. As the pack’s future healer, I’d need to be in his presence more often once I turned twenty-one and officially started practicing my healing.
All the way to the staff room, I kept mentally preparing myself for what I’d do once I saw Clay, but it turned out, all that preparation was for nothing because the staff room was completely empty when I reached it. Placing the stack of papers on the desk with Clay’s name on it, I rushed out the door and breathed a sigh of relief…only to fall flat on the ground with my best friend on top of me.
“Ow! Dorothy!” I groaned when she finally got off my back.
“And here I keep thinking that you’ll be able to detect me someday.” Dorothy Summers, or Ruth as I liked to call her for short, smirked as she got back up and held her hand out for me.
“I do sense you, but that doesn’t mean you always have to sneak up on me in weird places!” I told her, exasperated, before taking her hand and getting to my feet.
Ruth and I looked like exact opposites of each other. While she had jet-black hair, dark brown eyes, and tanned skin courtesy of her Asian mother, I had honey blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and porcelain white skin that sometimes made me look like a ghost, especially if I wore all white. Dorothy was also about five foot, eight inches with voluptuous curves that made her the center of attention as soon as she walked into a room, whereas I was only five f00t five with a skinnier build than most wolves and no curves.
But the difference in our ethnicities didn’t matter because we'd been best friends for the past two years, ever since she and her parents moved to the ReedStone pack from a smaller neighboring pack that had been planning a major shift in location because some of their wolves had gone rogue. We had clicked instantly. Even though Dorothy was part of the popular crowd, she was an amiable person inside and out.
“Come on, let’s eat lunch. I’m famished!” she whined as she pulled me in the direction of the college courtyard. That courtyard was linked to the neighboring open forest, where we could go for a quick run if our wolf was feeling agitated or itchy.
Hand in hand, Ruth and I walked into the forest with our backpacks slung over our shoulders. We always ate lunch together next to this huge forest giant; it had an unusual outgrowth where one of the low branches touched the ground, creating a pleasant sitting area for us. It was a bit farther inside the forest, which was fine by us because we were wolves who could detect an unfamiliar stench from miles away and the soldiers of the pack were always on patrol duty, making sure we were safe from intruders or rogues.
We also went deeper inside the forest to avoid running into couples hidden behind trees doing what any hormonal juveniles would be doing. Since we were wolves, those hormones were turned up x10.
Today, however, as we neared our favorite tree, we caught a scent in the air that was awash with power and more than a little familiar. Along with that scent was the delicate undertone of another wolf; it too was highly familiar.
I didn’t know why, but my heart thundered as the two scents mingled with each other.
“Oh my!” Ruth whispered, raising her hands to her lips and ducking down low to the ground. I followed close behind as she pointed to a tree just a few meters away from our favorite tree.
There was Clay Scotsman, future Alpha and serial heartbreaker, standing fully clothed with his arms around a delicate woman. She was very much naked as they kissed under the canopy of the evergreen trees. But the other woman's nakedness wasn’t what had surprised me—we were wolves who could transform into our animal counterparts with ease, and nakedness wasn’t a new concept to wolves—what surprised me was the fact that he was kissing Ms. McKellar, our very strict and very disciplined principal, who was well into her forties.
Oh hell!
Chapter 2 | Rejecting The Mating Bond
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Flora’s POV:
“Oh My God!” Ruth whispered before shaking her head and pointing behind us towards the exit to the woods with her fingers. “Let’s get out of here.”
I nodded silently and both of us made our way towards the back on our hands and knees when suddenly, we were met with a pair of sneakers in our line of sight. Heart leaping to my throat, I followed the leg that bore the sneakers and looked up into the angelic face of Clay Scotsman.
“Up.” He said hoarsely and immediately, Ruth and I scrambled to our feet. “Good. Now, you ladies mind telling me why you two were pretending to not have seen anything when you clearly have?”
“We, didn’t see anything, I swear.” I said immediately, and when I saw Clay giving me an exasperated look, I added, “I swear on the honor code.”
I thought Clay might be angry that I knew about the honor code but instead, he barked out a laugh and patted my head lightly, ruffling up my hair.
“Good girl.” He said, looking at me with eyes that had suddenly gone wolf. “Now get out of the woods.”
Ruth didn’t wait even a single second before she took my hand and we both sprinted out of the woods and into the clearing behind our school.
“Fuck!” Ruth cussed as she collapsed onto the ground. “Why is that guy so intimidating? Don’t you feel intimidated by him at all? I could hardly open my mouth in front of him.”
It was true, Alpha wolves, or even future Alpha wolves, had a lot of contained power inside them, which meant that normal wolves like us usually got really intimidated whenever we were in their presence. But, “Riley’s the beta, remember?” I reminded Ruth. Because of my brother, I was used to having that shove of power against my senses, even if it’s not such a vast amount, it still helped me build up a tolerance. Plus, my parents were two super dominant wolves as well. Having a houseful of powerful wolves could be a bummer sometimes, that constant shove of power an onslaught against your senses, but over time, it allowed me to build up a tolerance.
It was actually really shocking that in a house filled with dominant wolves, I turned out to be a submissive. Well, not exactly a submissive, since I was the future healer but healers are gentle and caring by nature, someone who is approachable by everyone in the pack, even the most submissive members.
“Fine, I’ll give you that.” Ruth patted the seat beside her and I plopped down on the ground and folded my knees up against my chest so I could rest my chin on them. “But what the hell is this honor code?”
“It’s something my brother and his friends came up with while they were in college.” I told her truthfully. “It’s when you catch a higher raking wolf in some kind of a compromising positing, you keep quiet about it. It’s got some sweet talk about them honoring you for your tight lips by being your guardian or something like that. It’s something like a favor for a favor.”
Ruth gave me a wide-eyed look. “Wow! We never had anything like that in our old pack.”
“Don’t get too excited, Ruth,” I shook my head. “It’s just some shit that they made up so they could hook up with anyone they wanted to without facing any serious consequences. Well...that’s before they meet their mates.”
“Well, that’s fucked up.” Ruth shook her head. “What if your mate’s a virgin who’s been saving herself only for their mate?”
I gave her a deadpan look to which Ruth burst out laughing. “Yeah, right!” She sniggered. “I forgot that for that you’d have to be younger than sixteen.”
“Those are rough two years.” I shook my head as I took my lunch box out of my backpack and offered Ruth a slice of my sandwich before digging into my lunch.
What Ruth and I were discussing wasn't an exaggeration. Wolves are very sensitive creatures that need the continuous touch from their packmates, which doesn’t usually have to be sexual touch, but wolves are also very sexually active in their juvenile years, especially the time from their sixteenth to eighteenth years. This period is usually called the Heat, but it’s not like someone can’t resist the sexual urges. They can but for that you need to have nerves of steel and a very strong determination to stay a virgin for your mate. And unlike what romance novels make it look like, wolves find their mates at or after their twenty eighth birthdays, when the wolf is mature enough to understand its responsibilities and it’s usually the male who finds their mates first. The females can’t usually sense who their mates are before the male has matured. Sometimes people have claimed that there was this spark, this chemistry that leads them to know beforehand, but that’s not true for everyone.
I sometimes feel like it’s an unfair advantage that the Moon Goddess had given the male wolves, but it’s not like we can do anything about it. What’s been set in stone can’t be changed. Just like the mating bond itself. Once you feel the pull of the mating bond, you can never look at anyone else. It does seem unfair to me, almost like an arranged marriage where you don’t really have a say in the matter and are forced to love the person who was chosen for you, even if said choosing is done by a Goddess. It felt more like a beautifully decorated cage.
When I told Ruth about my theory, she just shrugged. “I think you’re right about the part where we don’t have any choice, but it saves us a lot of work.” She said as she bit into her spring roll while offering me one of those crispy fried goodness. “No matter what happens, your mate will always be faithful, always love you more than anything in this world.”
“I guess you’re right.” I bit down on her spring roll, the spicy filling blowing my head off and distracting me from my worries for a brief few minutes while we ate lunch and talked about all sorts of things. Ruth’s mother, Armina Summers, was an amazing cook and it was no surprise that she often found that half the pack had invited themselves over to her place for lunch or dinner or for some snacks in between. But Auntie Armina loved feeding people, which was why she was always inside her kitchen, making up delicious snacks for anyone who wanted to drop by. I’ve never once seen her complain.
But even as thoughts of mates and Moon Goddesses swam through the back of my mind as I finished up my lunch and went back inside the building to head to my next class with Ruth by my side, I was unaware of the wolf that had followed us to the clearing and was keeping an eye on me all throughout.