AN UNWILLING SACRIFICE

Christopher

My heart fucking hurts.

What else could I expect when my mate just rejected me to be the Luna of the pack? And the blubbering idiot who was smiling hand in hand with my mate was the Alpha and my best friend.

I had a lot of hope for this fucking Blood Moon event. I would finally find my mate. Someone whom I would love and give the fucking world. I was happy when I found out my mate was Marlene. It was meant to be as easy as breathing to be together, we were already fucking anyways. But what Marlene didn’t know was that I was already in love with her, deeply, utterly, stupidly in love with her. Completely consumed by the very essence that is her existence. Alpha Darius didn’t value her, he would never love her. He simply found her the most convenient option since she was strong.

For so long now, Marlene and I had this thing where she came to me whenever Alpha Darius wasn’t treating her right, me. We would have a good night and I would take care of her. She said I made her feel special, seen, for her other qualities and not just her strength and beauty. Nobody could be able to treat her like I do to see past the fact that she was a quote in quote bitch.

In the heat of the Blood Moon event I smelt her, and I just knew that it was destiny. I was already damn well obsessed with Marlene and so I knew how she smelt like. But knowing she was my mate, everything smelt divine, fucking delectable, my sense of smell was heightened, more than it had ever been in my life. She smelt of warm amber, vanilla bean but there was something different something sweet. It was a subtle hint of wild lavender. Her scent was soft, and purely feminine. The scent that usually lingered on my pillows long after most of our nights together.

“Mate! Mate! Must meet Mate,” my wolf Hunter panted in my head like a fucking Chihuahua. No doubt already drooling. I couldn’t blame him though she had been making me drool far longer than before I even found out she was my mate. I marched forward, only one destination in mind when there was a ruckus, everyone moved forward at once, and I was parted from my mate.

What a spectacle it was, Alpha Darius rejecting his own mate. It was a public show. I couldn’t blame him though, Ayla was weak, and pathetic she was not fit to be a Luna. I felt a pang in my chest. I would never have rejected Marlene if she was not strong enough. Fuck no! I’d rather like to think that I’d protect her with my last dying breath if I had to.

“Get to mate!!” My wolf’s chant brought me back to reality. I had a mate to hunt. The decisions Alpha Darius made was none of my business. I was only there to support him, too pledge my loyalty. Besides he knew what was best for himself and best for our pack. I caught a whiff of her scent and this time I made sure that I didn’t lose it.

Something was wrong. The closer I got the faster her steps became like she was avoiding me. My wolf growled with irritation in my head and I was only motivated to move faster. When we got to an empty corner, she was trapped between me and a barrier. I dragged her into my arms and hugged her tight, taking a deep inhale of her intoxicating scent.

“Sweetheart why did you avoid me?” I asked, my voice muffled by her hair. Marlene pushed me away from her and I frowned in confusion “what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Stay away from me Christopher” she said.

“I am your mate” I replied “I will do no such thing” I added and she scoffed “oh please Christopher be for real” she said began her face morphing into a distasteful look. “I do not love you. I don’t even want you” she said. Each hurtful word felt like a knife piercing through my heart. I could even hear my wolf whimper. Maybe this was my karma.

“Don’t say that” I replied and she rolled her eyes. “I really have to spell this out to you huh?” she asked and when I did not reply she continued. “Alpha Darius rejected his mate, and that means I still have a chance to be the Luna of the pack” she said. In this moment, she looked at me like an entirely different person, the monster everyone said she was.

“You are really going to do this to me, after everything?” I asked broken, and for a moment her eyes softened. “I’m sorry” she said before her eyes hardened again. “I Marlene Norris, reject you Beta Christopher Blackwood as my mate”. I felt it when our bond shattered. It was painful, not just the bond had been broken but my trust, my heart. My wolf howled in agony. A stray tear leaked from my eyes. I never cried, no, not even when the rogues killed my younger brother but this was a whole new level of agony.

“Don’t ever speak to anyone about this Christopher, or I swear to the goddess treason or not, I will kill you myself.” And with that she was gone.  I stood and watched her go to Darius, I witnessed their kiss, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

I returned to the pack house. Now I felt pity for Ayla, given the fact that she was a weak Omega, the pain form the rejection must have been a thousand times more painful for her. This was unbearable, the fleeing of a permanent hole engraved in your chest.

“Christopher”

I bowed my head in submission, Alpha Darius father was still the Alpha until he finally transfers leadership to his son by blood oath. “W-was m-my s-son able to f-find h-himself an m-mate?” He coughed out. Alpha Gerald, Alpha Darius father was getting sicker as time passed by. He had never been the same ever since his wife was killed by rogues. The same rogues that killed my younger brother, Evan.

“W-ho is it?” he asked

“It’s Marlene Alpha” I forced out the words feeling like I was biting on lead. His father looked pleased. “Bless the moon goddess” he said. “Go fetch them for me” he said and I bowed.

“Yes Alpha”

It hurt seeing my mate with another man, it hurt when Alpha Darius asked me about my mate like she wasn’t clung to his arm like a Chihuahua, everything just really, really hurt.