Chapter Three: My Mate

Not having enough time to fully prepare my escape, I open the only box I have with some of my most valuable possessions and take out the golden chain given to me by the only person who cared for me in the end. With a single tear rolling down my cheek, I place the chain around my neck and stare at myself in the broken mirror I had found one morning and snuck up here.

My eyes leaked with tears while my jaw from the hit Alpha Stephen had dealt me this morning began to turn black and blue from the forming bruise. My wolf was right, I couldn’t live like this anymore and had to at least try to escape, with a deep breath of air to help calm my nerves, I turn to face my door which had blocked many attacks and verbal assaults over the years and walk out into the battlefield, it was time to try and escape.

Due to the importance of the individual that was joining the Alpha for lunch, each person seemed to busily walk around the pack house ensuring all things were up to stranded that no one seemed to pay attention to little me slipping through and making her way down the steps of the lobby, my head low to not raise any suspicions, I always felt invisible after that day so perhaps I could use that feeling to my advantage.

With ease but fear, I managed to weave my way through the lobby undetected and slipped through the pack house door without drawing any attention to myself. As like inside the pack house, each person was too engrossed with ensuring the most beautiful decorations were hung from the trees, the lights were polished, and the driveway was swept that no one bartered an eye when I walked past them and headed towards the woods.

“We’re almost there Bridget, just head towards the border and run as fast as you can! I wish I could help you.” My wolf cheered in my head as I made it to a tree line that sat in front of the pack house and allowed me to begin to blend in with the trees, with her sentence and the memory of what led to her being unable to help me much in this moment, sadness fills my senses as I looked behind me, the pack house where some of my most painful memories lived got further and further away.

Taking a few more steps away, I look from side-to-side to ensure no one had spotted me walking alone through the woods before I took off running deep within the trees and closer to one of the borders. My legs seemed to send me faster than they ever had before, the smell of freedom was so close that my body wasted no time getting me over there, I wasn’t the fastest person due to years of abuse and the lack of food and nutrition that I needed but I didn’t care, could this day finally be the day I escaped the prison I had been locked within for years of my life?

The moment my eyes locked on the edge of our border, tears began to well in them, all I had to do was cross that border and I was free, free from the constant abuse, physical and not. Free from the memories of the past and all that had happened that led me to this point, I would finally have the power to decide what I did with my life.

“You’re doing it Bridget!” My wolf cheered also beyond happy that I’d done what she asked, and we were so close to achieving it, the little power that she could send me in that moment pulsed through my veins giving me the push that I needed to reach the border.

But as like all of my plans, an evil, bloodthirsty growl begins to sound from behind me, instant fear rumbles through me as I turn my head around and soon come face to face with one of the many border guards who watch each border and ensure no one comes in but in my case, nobody gets out either.

“Where do you think you’re going rat?” His dark and anger filled voice asks as I turn around to face him with such terror in my eyes, his steps forward slow and ready to pounce at any moment while my backwards steps riddled with fear as I creeped closer to the border and freedom.

My breath came out in fast pants as my entire body shook, I should have known this entire thing was going a little too well, nobody had caused me any trouble which was unheard of.

“What do you think the Alpha is going to say when he learns his pet rat has tried escaping?” The border guard continues to taunt me with a look of pure hatred in his eyes, this fact allowing a gulp to ripple down my throat.

But in that instant, the most mouth-watering smell began to invade my senses, such a sensation that caused my knees to grow weak and my heart to pound again but not in a terrified manner like I’d come accustomed to but instead, a feeling of anticipation and excitement filled me. The way my wolf began to react in my mind was also a feeling she had never got to feel before.

“He’s close!” She cheered in my mind also seeming to forget about the real danger that was facing us in this moment, the smell seemed to grow even thicker and engulfed me as though it was getting closer.

Turning my head to the side to face away from the dangerous border guard who should have taken all of my attention and over to the right of the woods that spanned for miles. At first, I didn’t catch sight of whatever it was I was searching for, but the moment a large man, his muscles bigger than I had ever seen which only grew more defined in the tight expensive seeming black suit. As my eyes climbed higher up his body, my wolf purred even louder in my mind as though she knew what was about to happen before my eyes locked on his, instantly, the world as I knew it melted away into black, all my attention was drawn to this man and his beautiful blue eyes.

The way the colours seemed to dance pulled me deeper into his spell, whatever trance he put me in was magical and one I never wanted to escape from. My mind which had been running with fear not moments before was calm and at peace, whoever this man was, he was something I had never met before. My wolf seemed to also feel this and soon said a word that made all of these feelings make sense.

“Mate! That’s mate!” She cheered in my head excitedly, but her comment and the way my body felt confirmed I had found someone who I believed I’d never get the chance to, my mate.

“Mine.” This handsome but mysterious man’s lips say as he took a step closer to me, this sending an even bigger rush of adrenaline through my body and a shiver to run down my spine.

But before I could dwell in his magical presence any longer, the border guard which wasn’t a part of our beautiful interaction growls right in my face fully snapping me out of the trance. Turning my head to look at this man, I find he was now right close to me, the time I had taken to look at my mate I had allowed this man to drew even closer to me.

“It’s about time we finally deal with the rat infestation.” He growled, his dark and evil eyes now locked onto mine, the peace feeling I felt from my mates' eyes was no longer at the forefront of my mind.

In a second, the border guard had swung his fist back and as like the Alpha had done this morning, sent a punch full of power and anger right at my face but this time, right on my cheek. I drop to the floor in pain and a little dazed for a moment but this man was not done, he also as like the Alpha, gets his foot and kicks me straight in the chest, my body flying from the force and smashes into one of the surrounding trees allowing even more pain to ripple through my already broken body.

What occurred next was something I was not expecting, the loudest but deepest growl I believe I had ever heard in my life rippled through the air with such power, I felt the ground begin to shake. Lifting my head up a little from the woodland floor which began to spin, the image of the man I now knew as my mate sprinted over to the border guard and began to attack.

Loud sounds of the man screaming and my mates' claws extending ripping him apart sounded through the area, his blood splattering everywhere as the attack continued. Holding my injured side in one hand, I pull my body to a sitting position and watch as the guard who had begun his assault on me, now dropped to the floor dead in a heap.

Once my mate was certain the man laying at his feet was dead, his head turns to the side and locks on little old me, pressed up against the tree, my face bruised and from the liquid I felt running from my lip, bleeding, staring at the scene with nothing but terror but also, deep gratitude, no one had ever stuck up for me, or that I could remember.

“I told you! That’s what mates do!” My wolf shouts in my head pleased that she could use this moment to confirm what she’d been telling me from the start was true.

But I had no idea who my mate truly was and what being mated to this man meant for me.