Chapter 1
Justin's POV
"Fucking hell, what is that god awful noise." Opening my eyes, I look over and realize my alarm clock is going off. 'Why am I so tired? Rhydian, are you okay?' 'Not really, I don't know what's going on, but I know something horrible or good will happen today. Just watch out today, please.' Agreeing, he went back into the back of my mind but never once stopped pacing. Standing up, I got dressed and headed downstairs. While I was making my way to the kitchen, I started hearing yelling and stuff thrown around. "Fuck, why people gotta be starting things so early in the morning?" Walking into the kitchen, I notice the pack slave was holding a pot that was dripping with water, and next to her was the pack slut Lucy. Lucy was soaked head to toe. Her makeup was running, meaning the slave poured water all over her.
'This is indeed an amusing sight.' My wolf started chuckling, and without meaning to, I let out a little laugh. Both their eyes jumped over to me, and one of two things happened. The slave eyes went wide with fear, and two Lucy's eyes lit up with excitement. "Justin! This slut over here poured dirty water all over me. Now my outfit is ruined." She rushed over to me as fast as those little feet in those six-inch heels could move. "Is that true? Melanie, is it? Did you pour filthy water over her?" Lucy scoffed but shut when I raised my hand. Melanie lowered her head, "Yes, Alpha. But only because she broke my father's necklace." She held up a necklace that had broken in the middle. It had a crest in the middle. It looked costly. "Lucy, did you break this?" Lucy's eyes were wide now. "No way in hell would I ever touch her or her cheap jewelry." 'She's lying. She did break it.' 'Oh hush, maybe the slave did and is blaming her.' My wolf shook his head and retreated into the dark once again. "Melanie, you lied to me. For that, you shall receive a punishment."
Drawing my hand back, I brought it down on her cheek before she even had time to react to what I said. The necklace went flying out of her hand as she fell on the floor. Melanie cried out, and her hands flew up to her cheek. I brought my leg back and kicked her rib cage twice. 'That's enough.' 'Fine.' I stopped and walked away, but turned around to point out one last thing. "Lucy, go change. And Melanie? If you ever lie to me again. I will destroy you." With that, I walked out of the kitchen and to my car. Driving off, I headed to school.
When I pulled up, I noticed my pack was already here. I guess I was the last to leave. A couple of seconds later, I heard an old pick up truck slowly pull in and immediately knew this was Melanie. All eyes went to her. As Melanie came out of her car, my wolf came forward. 'What is it?' "I don't know something about her is putting me off.' 'Stop it. You aren't allowed to control at school.' Nodding, he just sat there. As Melanie was walking up, some of the other slutty girls tripped her, and she would have hit the ground face first, but for some goddamn reason, I reached out and caught her just in time. 'Dude, what the fuck? I said not to ta-' He just growled at me, 'Mate.' 'What?! Oh fuck, no!' Melanie was staring up at me as were the other pack members surrounding us.
"Mate." Her timid voice just spoke up enough for everyone to listen. "I am not your mate." I released her, and she fell to the ground. 'What the hell do you believe that you are doing?' "You are not my mate and nor am I yours. I will never have a mate as weak and as low of status as you. My mate will be firm and strong, anything but you." I spoke each word with as much hatred as I could muster up. The only problem was my wolf scratching and banging as I put up a wall to silence him.
'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! SHE IS OUR MATE. YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE AND MAKE UP FOR IT! I SWEAR AS SOON I GET OUT YOU WILL REGRET SAYING ANY OF THAT!' I closed down our connection. He was beginning to give me a real headache. I watched as Melanie stood up, brushed herself off, turned around, and walked away. She got back into her truck and drove away. "Dude, was she your mate?" I looked over and saw the entire pack listening in, wanting an answer. "No, bro, I guess she's obsessed with me and thought I was her mate." They all started laughing, that's when the bell rung and everyone headed inside. I'll deal with her later one tonight.
It was the fourth period, and I started to get a bad feeling. Something was happening. I stood up and walked out of school. 'Get home now.' That was the only thing Rhydian has said to me since I opened the link back up. 'What's happening?' No response. I guess he was still mad at me. Whatever, I jumped into my car and went back home. Rolling up to the house, I looked around for any movement. I saw nothing. Not even the birds were singing. Where did Melanie go? 'Did she come back home?' Rhydian grunted in response. Going up to the doors, I noticed that her scent was faint.
When I walked in, I noticed a piece of paper folded up on the table. 'What the hell?' 'Read it.' As I picked it up, my heart dropped. "No, no, no, no. She couldn't have. No way." Sprinting up the stairs, I rushed to her room. It was the final one in the hall cause no one wanted to be near her. Tossing the door open, I was overwhelmed with her scent. Or lack of one. She left all the draws open, some empty, and no clothes were hanging up. "Fuck fuck fuck." She was gone. My mate was gone. And with that final realization, I knew I made the biggest mistake of my life, and I would be paying for it for the rest of my life.
Melanie's POV
"Fuck." Groaning, I slammed my hand down on the alarm and got up. Moving to the bathroom, I was looked straight at my reflection. Dark circles under my eyes and a slight bruise on my arm. The pack decided to let me clean until three in the morning last night when finally, the Beta grabbed my arm and forced me into my room. He was friendly but still an ass hole like the rest of them. Getting downstairs, I started making breakfast, knowing that most of the pack will be heading down soon.
Once all the food is on the table, I started cleaning all the dishes when someone decided to hate me. The Pack slut Lucy walked in. "Hey, bitch. It looks like you need a hand." I knew that she wasn't going to offer, she'd never willingly give a hand with anything. "I'm fine, Lucy, thank you." She scoffed. "You shouldn't act all high and mighty. You are just the pack slave." I know this dumb bitch. "Hey, look at me when I'm speaking to you!" She gripped my shoulder but accidentally grabbed my necklace, which happened to be my father's necklace. Before he died, it represented our family crest. She spun me around and ended up catching the chain and ripped it off. She broke the last thing I have of my family. "You bitch." She took a step back. "Excuse me? What did you call me?" Maddy was on the surface. She wanted blood. "I said you bitch. Or do I have to spell it out for you?" She reached back, ready to slap me, but I was quicker. I dodged her slap and took the pot I had in my hands and turned it over on her head.
I was effectively pouring out all the soapy water onto her head. An evil smile was on my lips. I wasn't listening to Lucy whine until I heard a voice that stopped all my body movements. "Is that true? Melanie, is it? Did you our filthy water over her?" "Yes, Alpha. But only because she broke my father's necklace." I lowered my head in submission, and I raised my hand, showing him the broken necklace. Glancing over to Lucy, I saw that she had a little bit of fear shown in her eyes. She knew the truth, but obviously, she was going to deny it.
Lucy is trying to get me into trouble. "Lucy, did you break this?" Immediately Lucy was shaking her head. "No way in hell would I ever touch her or her cheap jewelry." There was not any sound in the kitchen. Please believe me. 'Calm down, Melanie, he should know who is speaking the truth.' Maddy was trying to calm me down, but I knew he wasn't going to believe me. They never do. It's always my word against theirs. And no matter what, they were right. "Melanie, you lied to me. For that, you shall receive a punishment." Fuck me.
'WHAT?!' I couldn't react fast enough, because next thing I know is I'm on the ground holding my cheek. My necklace got knocked out of my hands, and both of my hands were on my face. That hurt like a bitch. But that's not where it stopped. I felt two hard kicks to my rib cage. That put me on the ground gasping for air and tears streaming down my face. No intent on stopping them at any time. He started leaving, 'Thank god that over.' Then his footsteps stopped. "Lucy, go change. And Melanie? If you ever lie to me again. I will destroy you." His booming voice hit me deeply, sending shivers down my spine and throughout my whole body. 'Fuck him. Melanie, I need you to leave this place.' 'I know, Maddy, I will soon. If something else happens today, I will. I promise.' Nodding, she slowly crept to the back of my mind.
As I arrived at school, everyone's eyes were on my truck. It was an old Ford pickup. It used to be my fathers, so sorry I lied I had two things from my family. I sputtered as I pulled into a parking spot. 'Fuck them all. Head high, sweetie.' Maddy is the cause I'm still here. Walking towards the school, I had to walk through the Pack group, while in the middle of it, someone decided to trip me. Being the clumsy person I am was in face planting when someone's arms wrapped themselves around me. I felt sparks, Maddy was yapping all around. 'Mate, we found the mate. He can help save us finally.' 'What? This guy is our mate?' 'Yes, this is mate.' "Mate." I tried to say it quietly, so only we heard but considering that werewolves were surrounding us and they all have enhanced hearing, that didn't work out. Gasps rang out throughout the group. "I am not your mate." He let go, and I ended up on my butt.
'What?' Maddy stopped jumping around when she heard his voice. "You are not my mate and nor am I yours. I will never have a mate as weak and as low of status as you. My mate will be firm and strong, anything but you." 'NO! No, no no no, mate cannot do this to us. He was supposed to protect us from this place.' 'Maddy, look at who our mate is. It's Justin. He was the one that was hitting us this morning. He would never want us as a mate.' Maddy started whimpering and curled up in a corner. I could hear her slowly crying out in the back of my mind. That was the final straw. Standing up, I dusted myself off and headed back to my truck. Getting in, I drove back home.
*You all know what happens now*
I was running for so long I lost track of time. Looking down at my phone, it was about eight-thirty. Fuck man. 'Maddy, are you okay?' All I had in response was a whimper. 'Mate doesn't want us.' 'I know, it will get easier, especially since I left. He can't hurt us anymore.' She went back to her corner, and I continued to run. As I was running, again, I noticed something beside me was running alongside me. A wolf! I skidded to a halt. The other wolf ran ahead, shifted, and came out from behind a tree, wearing shorts. "Shift." I knew he was a high rank, not Alpha but maybe a Beta. I made a circle in wolf form, asking him to turn around. Sighing, he did, "If you run, I will tackle you to the ground." I huffed out and shifted, quickly I put on a sundress from my bag. "Okay, I'm dressed. Thank you for turning around." He turned back and looked me up and down. "What are you doing on the Midnight pack's territory?" What? What does he mean Midnight Pack? They are like four to five states from my pack... Holy shit. "You, you mean I'm on Midnight territory?" He nodded, looking very confused by my question. "Why are you running through our land? Which pack, you aren't rouge."
Sighing, I looked up into the mystery guy's eyes. "I am with Night Blood pack. I am running away. There they abused me for more than eight years, and I found my mate today. He ended up rejecting met today and that was the last straw for my wolf and me." His eyes went soft like he was sorry for me. "I need help starting over. Please, take me to your Alpha and allow me to explain myself." His eyes glazed over. He was mind linking someone. Most likely, his Alpha. "Well, it's your lucky day, you're gonna meet him right about...now."
He concentrated on something behind me. Turning around, I greeted a big grey wolf with piercing blue eyes. "Well, damn. I would have looked nicer." I attempted a joke, but the Alpha just huffed at me. He walked away, and then I heard bones reforming. Out stepped a tall ass man. Like Jesus, he was like 6'7. Fuck I'm only like 5'5. "Who are you and want do you want?" I got down on one knee and bared my neck to him. Showing him the respect he deserved. "Alpha, my name is Melanie Moon. I was with the Night Blood pa-." A growl cut off my talking, and I looked up. His eyes were flashing between his wolf and himself. "Seize this woman and throw her into the cells. Now!" The Beta even looked startled. "But, Alpha, just hear her out." His growling got louder. "It's alright, just take me there." I stood up slowly and barred out my wrist. The Beta walked up and bound them together with rope soaked in Wolfs Bain. "I am sorry about this." He walked behind me. "For what-." I was struck on the back of my head, as the world started going darker, I could have sworn the last thing I heard was. "MELANIE!"