CHAPTER 1

Kavi's POV

"I reject you as my mate"

He said with a smirk but the little jerk of his body made his pain clear.

"You can't do this to me. This is not supposed to be like this. Mates are blessings."

She cried holding onto her chest and fell on her knees. Her friends rushed to help her while shouting profanities at him. He just laughed in reply.

I slowly walked past them with a blank face looking at the floor. But my mind focused on her erratic heartbeat. I felt her pain in my chest which almost choked me. My mind concentrated on her heartbeat to heal her pain. I need to first experience their pain to heal it. I could only give temporary relief. She has to go through the pain of bond severing.

Oh, I am not a witch but a healer. It's one of my many secrets. No one knows that I have the power of healing abilities. But I will help people who need me the most without their knowledge. The reason is I wanted to be invisible. Because not all Pack will have a healer wolf. And it's kinda rare to be blessed/inheriting with those powers. I entered the class and took my usual right corner seat where no one else would sit next to me.

I am Kavithanjali. Everyone will call me Kavi. And I'm 16 years old. Thank the Moon! I didn't find my mate yet. I hate this mate theory. And I hate men more. I respect a few men but that didn't alter my hatred towards them.

Everyone thinks I am an average student in the school. But it was my cover to not attract any attention. And I am well masked myself into my usual unattractive outfit. And trust me, I have no friends in the school. This is a private school for werewolf of our Mountain Shadow pack. Every pack has its school to condition the pups according to their pack rules. And if werewolves want to do the degree, we have to go to human's colleges as most wolves don't go for colleges. The day passed with the usual classes. I ate my home-packed lunch under my favourite lime tree in the back yard of the school campus. I have a special pass to skip my physical education class which happens to be the last class. Just one more month to end this torture. I started walking towards pack hospital.

No worries! I am not sick. My mom, Anu Radha is the pack doctor. You might think I would have got the healing abilities from her. But, no. She is not a healer. She studied medicine and working here for the past seven years. And I got the special pass from her stating I need extra care as I wasn't able to shift after the age of twelve so I am basically a human in front of my pack mates. And that's a fat lie which no one knows including my mom. And that's my excuse to train alone in the woods. Once in every year, I will go to the northern region where a pack of werewolves live in their wolf form and they were so animalistic and will kill without any mercy. I am training my wolf with them as they were the most powerful werewolves in their wolf form. I will stay there for a month during school vacations.

And that lie is a gateway to learning human's martial arts. I learnt karate and kickboxing. I never went to the competition with human as my wolf strength would overpower them. Also, I learnt to use the pistol and learnt archery. That helped me a lot to build a strong self and also a great opportunity to learn human's lifestyle. Befriending a human other than one's mate is a punishable offence as it might lead them to danger. So I had no luck with human friends too.

I opened my mom's office and smiled at her. She was drowned in her work that she didn't even sense my presence. I frowned as her wolf should have sensed me already. I sat opposite to her chair.

"Hi, mom. How was your day?"

I asked happily. She is one of the few people I speak with less filter. She looked up at me and frowned.

"Hey Kavi, As usual, hectic with yesterday's rogue attack. Why are you here? Aren't you going to Kalai's shop? Or do you need money from me? "

I sighed.

"I have an hour before the work time and thought I could drop by here to see you. And you have kept enough money at home for this whole month."

She gave me a small smile and busied herself into some x-ray examination. I rolled the paperweight which earned me a glare from my mom. I let out a deep sigh and got up from my seat.

"Bye, mom"

She nodded without even looking at me. Great! My wolf let out a low growl in my mind as she never liked disrespect. And she knew not to let out any wolfish sounds which might reveal my secrets. She is my only companion for my lone self. But she understands me and supports me in whatever I do. And she is a really very good girl to obey me and she never took advantage over my human side.

It's not that my mom doesn't love me. She loves me but she doesn't want me near her even after a lot of my efforts. And I understand her reasons and stayed away as I don't want to hurt her anymore. And that's the reason she engages herself in work from the dawn till midnight. And I would only see her once in a while like this visit.

I plugged my earphones to my mobile and made sure the volume is in one as with my enhanced hearing, my ears would bleed with the noise of higher volume levels. Right before I open the door, the door opened and Alpha Vinodhan walked in. I looked down at my feet which would look like I am bowing my head. The forty years old Alpha gave me a mean look and walked up to my mom's table and occupied the seat I occupied earlier. He is one of the men I hate, for not treating she-wolves equally and there is only minimal defence training for a she-wolf which would never help in a real battle. And I knew he personally thinks me as the weakest excuse of a wolf.

"Have you tried it again?"

It was a question directed for me. And that's the same question he asks whenever we meet. If only my mom is not a dedicated pack doctor, he would have kicked me out of the pack long back.

After all, who would want a werewolf without shifting abilities?

"Yes Alpha, I tried. But I couldn't shift"

I said in my usual low toned voice trying hard to sound sincere. He nodded with thinking.

"Shift!"

He used his Alpha tone on me. I acted like flinching but it never affected me. My wolf snorted at my acting. My grandpa was an Alpha of a small pack at his younger age. Then he merged it with another small pack and gave up the title to the young alpha. So I think his bloodline in me, is not making me get affected by Alpha's orders, though my mother is his younger daughter. Alpha Vinodhan frowned and looked at my mom who is having a frown as well.

"She smells like a wolf but why is she not shifting into a wolf, Anu?"

He asked my mom.

"Maybe her wolf needs time, Alpha. Her grandparents' death affected her wolf more."

My heart skipped a beat when my mom mentioned my grandparents. Alpha noticed it and looked at me with pity. Alpha perks - Sharper senses! I nodded my head and turned around to walk home.

I locked the door and used my wolf speed to go upstairs in a flash. I had a nice warm shower and got ready in a pale green t-shirt and black jean. I look decent but not attractive; just the way I want to be. I rechecked whether I am wearing my moonstone pendant and made my way out.

I work more like a partner in 'New-tech park' owned by my mom's friend. The shop sells products and services related to the computer. There are only a few employees there. I knew to assemble and dismantle any type of computer and my interest turned to software. I have created and maintain a few websites of our kind. I have been creating a pack-wise database app for top-level ranks to access the details of every wolf of the pack. Secretly, I am creating this app to ensure any clues about the monster so that I could kill him as I planned.

Usually, I would just write the program and ensure it's safety and efficiency. Kalai is the one who goes to different packs to explain the pros and cons of my apps and make a contract for the same. From security based app to games app, I have created twenty-five apps so far and all apps were successful in the market.

The most hilarious app is the one I created out of boredom for children though I made it useful for parents. It was a complete guide for a kid in the werewolf world. It would be so comical yet nice as I animated the werewolf origin and also it would be like an indirectly teaching app through stories and poems.

Kalai will give sixty per cent from the earning to me which made me maintain a decent bank balance. My mom earns more than enough but I want to make my own money. And I use a half portion of my earnings to pay for the entrance of fighting tournaments. It's a fight held by rogues in a free land where we fight to the death or till submission. And that's where I use my knowledge of martial arts and also my wolf's ability to beat the hell out those rogue wolves. I never shifted to wolf form as I wanted to keep my wolf as my secret. Anyone can use masks there. So no fear of revelation of identity and I am a star there in the name of 'Black mask'.

The fights would be held on Saturday nights. Few teen pack wolves will come there to have fun and all illegal things like betting, drug dealing and smuggling would happen there. And no one knew my little sneaking away from our pack land. It's not that our border patrol is bad; I am so good at sneaking. And I would run my way back in my wolf form to let my wolf part have fun. I would give her complete control and enjoy her hunting and chasings from the back of our mind.

I walked into the office and found my boss bargaining with one of our regular customer. I greeted her and walked inside And plopped on my seat to continue my coding for the new app I am developing. Kalaiarasi, my the shop owner, walked towards me. She is thirty-five years old lady who is happily mated and blessed with a daughter. Unlike me, she is a very friendly type who gets along with everyone in a matter of seconds.

"Hey honey, How about some coffee? I have prepared a few promotional posters and messages for this application. Let's review it over the coffee."

She patted my head lovingly. My wolf purred at the affectionate gesture. I nodded my head and walked with her. She poured the coffee from the flask into two cups and gave me a cup.

"Thank you, Mam"

She sighed and shook her head as she wants me to call her by her name but I never obliged.

'Don't get close to anyone. Don't let anyone get close to you.'

I chanted in my mind ignoring the eye roll from my wolf.

I knew my behaviour is affecting her too. But it's the best way to survive in this world without any heartbreak. We reviewed the posters and I made a few changes. She hugged me and said bye. I patted her shoulder awkwardly. It's our regular routine. I reached my home and ate the leftovers and went to my room to finish homework.

After an hour I decided to go to bed. I removed my brown cosmetic lens and placed it safely in its box. The reflection of my bright purple eyes brought me many unwanted memories. My mom has a fair skin unlike me. But it only made my life easy. No one will give a second look at seeing my dark complexion. I braided my hair and went to bed but sleep is far away from me. Around one in mid-night, I heard the sound of car pull over followed by the front door opening and closing. Then I heard the sound of some program telecasting on the television.

Mom is home!

With that thought, I drifted off to sleep.