MATED AND MARKED

Zuri was breathing raggedly when she could feel the pleasure she rode mixed with the pain from the mark on her neck. She gasped and moaned at the same time, all the while trying to endure the pain that kept twisting her insides, as Alpha Xaden's canines dug deeper into her flesh.

"It hurts…" Zuri was breathless, she wanted to push him away from her, but their bodies were quite slick, as a layer of perspiration covered them after the deed that had been done.

However, Alpha Xaden growled, he gathered her arms above her head and deepened the mark, as if he couldn't care less about her pleas for him to be less brutal with this mating and marking process.

Zuri could only grit her teeth and accept her fate. This was expected, the pain was not something that she had never heard of, but this was beyond anything that she had ever felt.

Not even the beating from her father…

It felt like an eternity had passed before Alpha Xaden finally deemed it was enough. He released both of her hands and moved away from her neck, before he pulled out of her.

Zuri felt beaten and used by the time it was finally done.

Alpha Xaden said something when he got off the bed and cleaned himself, but Zuri was too spent to grasp what he was talking about. Sleepiness engulfed her and she felt this darkness shrouding her, swiftly pulling her away from reality.

But the next day, she couldn't find Alpha Xaden. Or the next day. The third day wasn't any different either.

"It has been a week," Zuri muttered to herself. "Where do you think the Alpha has gone?" She asked one of her personal maids, who was assigned to help her.

"I don't know, Luna," Esther replied, but she looked nonchalant. She couldn't care less about the new mistress that she served. "The Alpha must be busy. He must have something more important to handle."

"More important than his mate?" Zuri's brows knitted together.

"Probably," Sarah muttered under her breath. She lowered her head to hide her defiant gaze.

Both of them, like the rest of the omegas, didn't like this luna and Zuri was not a fool to not notice that.

However, she was not in a position to confront them about it.

"You can leave," Zuri said. She didn't want to make them stay even a bit longer if they didn't want to spend a second with her. She knew how it felt when someone didn't want to be in your presence and she had mastered that pretty well.

The two of them didn't need to be told twice, as they immediately left the room, leaving Zuri alone with her own thoughts.

It was only after a month that Zuri finally managed to get a hold of Xaden. He just returned from a long campaign to hunt monsters on Mountain Ave and nobody told Zuri about this, even though she was the luna of the pack.

By this time, the wound on her neck had almost healed and she was bearing Xaden's mark.

"Where have you been?" Zuri asked when she saw Xaden enter their bedroom. She looked at the alpha, trying to hold back her emotions.

Xaden glanced at her briefly and then walked away, he didn't even say anything or give her any explanation for his disappearance.

However, Zuri held his hand to stop him from leaving, she used her body to block him from going out of the room, standing right in front of the door.

"What do you think you are doing?" Xaden growled. He disliked this kind of act, as if he couldn't topple her over easily.

"We need to talk." Her voice was tight.

"I have mated and marked you, what else do you want?"

"Explain to me why you left me alone in your pack for a month without any explanation."

"Everybody knows where I have gone. What else should I explain to you?"

Everybody knew, except Zuri, his mate. Therefore, the alpha didn't believe that she didn't have any idea where he had gone.

"No. I don't." Zuri said the truth, but it sounded like a lie. "I don't know. Nobody told me."

Xaden scoffed. His handsome face twisted, he looked at her with disgust. "What a little liar you are." He walked away from her, but she grabbed his hand again. In return, he pinched her wrist, which made her hand turn numb.

"Let's be honest with each other. Why are you treating me this way?" Zuri felt this lump in her throat.

"We both know that we don't want this union," Xaden said darkly. "Don't even think you can gain anything from this union," he said under his breath, holding Zuri's hand too tightly, which made her uncomfortable.

"If you don't want me, you should tell them." Zuri tried so hard to hold back her tears. His words were so hurtful.

"Don't try to be smart here, you know that's not possible." Alpha Xaden glanced at her with disgust. "Let's be clear here, I don't want you. You are not the one I desire."

That was it.

Zuri had been warned that she was not desired by her own mate. Alpha Xaden was the alpha of the Blackthorne pack, the biggest pack in Celeste kingdom, while Zuri hailed from the River Creek pack, the richest pack, the pack that shouldered the economy of this kingdom.

Therefore, the union between the two packs was keenly awaited, as their marriage alliance would strengthen the kingdom, since Alpha Xaden was part of the royal family. He was the king's younger brother.

But, the problem was, Xaden had met his destined mate. She was an omega. Someone, who was deemed unworthy of Xaden, as it would ruin the royal bloodline to have an omega's blood mixed with them.

That explained why the servants didn't like her from the get go.

"If you don't want me, just reject me."