ONE

The rain pounded against the cracked window of Elara’s cottage like a drumbeat matching the raging storm in her chest. She sat at the edge of her bed gripping tightly in her hand the old bed quilt. A heavy breeze passed, slapping the creaking windows against the wooden wall of the cottage, Elara rushed to the window, closed them shut and bolted it with a sigh.

She walked back to her bed and sat down but stood up immediately and began pacing. Her candle was running low, she neither had another one to replace it nor the time to rush to the storage in the main house to get another one.

Exhaling deeply, she dragged the quilt off the bed and dabbed the sweat off her forehead. The weather outside had nothing against the heat burning up her body. Exhaling again, she dropped to the bed, clinging closely to the edge.

Almost immediately, a slight knock came on the door. The knock was faint but it was one Elara was already familiar with, rushing off the bed, she opened the door.

“You said you’d be here before 7, this is a few minutes to twelve midnight, Sean. I was beginning to get worried.” Elara shouted to the man dripping wet on her floor.

The man shook off his hair and combed it backwards with his fingers as he walked to stand in front of the candle. “Sorry, love. I was busy.”

Elara wiped her wet hands on her jeans as she moved to stand in front of Sean, “so busy that you forgot how to use your phone. I left you series of texts and calls.”

Sean sniffled. “Yeah, I was that busy.”

“Then I suppose what you wanted to talk about wasn’t that much of an emergency.” She crossed her arms against her chest

“Not really, but it's more important you hear it from me than to find out about it yourself tomorrow.” Elara dropped her hands to the sides and inched closer to Sean.

“What are you talking about, Sean?”

“It’s Farah. She’s my mate. We found out four months ago and we are getting married tomorrow. I didn’t want to burden you with the news till everything has been finalized. That is why I am telling you now, but henceforth, I don’t want you calling or texting or waiting for me to come to you. That can’t happen anymore, I have found my mate.”

Elara blinked rapidly as though to clear the confusion clouding her brain. “Wait… Farah…how?” Tears began to well up in her eyes as she moved closer to Sean. “You don’t have a mate. We didn’t get the mate bond, that's why we have each other, that’s why we are together.”

Sean sighed loudly and slicked his wet hair back. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you about this. You always do this thing where you spiral and grasp at things that are not there.” He moved backwards, away from the dying candle. “Elara, you have to understand that this isn’t my fault. I thought I didn't have a mate but I found Farah, thanks to the moon goddess, and that has been the greatest joy of my life. Maybe, if you open up yourself to the world, you’d find your own mate, well, that is if you are not too weak an omega to have a mate. I doubt the moon goddess would want to make anyone your mate, I know she wouldn’t want to curse anyone with that.”

Elara gasped and staggered backwards, clutching her chest. “Sean…” her brows narrowed as she looked up at the man she once knew. The man whose lips only knew kind words.

“Why? Why would you say such to me? Have I been a curse to you, all these years together and you think I am a curse?”

Sean shrugged, “I mean, you are the last ranking omega without a wolf. Farrah is without a wolf too but she is strong enough to have cubs, healthy cubs at that. But you? You are too weak to manage yourself not to talk more of carrying cubs in that frail body of yours.”

“Is that what you think of me?” Tears began rolling down her cheeks as she spoke. “You think I am weak, that's why you have been cheating on me for the past four months! You have been lying to me all these while, assuring me that we are going to elope together while planning to get married behind my back!”

“I wasn’t lying to you or cheating on you. Don’t you get it? You mean nothing to me so how does that count as me cheating on you? You are just a weak and shameless whore who has been spreading her legs for me to fuck her as I like.”

Taa!

The slap cut through the storm loudly. Sean carried his cheek in his hand as Elara ran backwards in defense till her back hit the lifeless door.

Sean’s eyes darkened. “Have you asked yourself why nobody loves you?” He whispered in a low voice as he slowly walked towards Elara till he was crowding her. His body pressed against her small frame flat against the door.

“Have you ever wondered why your own mother despises you? Why she loves your two younger siblings but hate you? Why your father look the other way when the neighbors hit you and spit at you? No? Well I will tell you; it’s because you are a worthless excuse of a child. Not worthy enough to bear the mark of a real werewolf. Where is your wolf, Elara? Where is it? The moon goddess hates you too. That's why she cursed you to be without a wolf and a mate.

You are worth nothing, Elara. You should be thankful to me for the time I gave you; four years. Wasted four years on you out of pity but now I know you never deserved it. You know, even if I never found Farah, I would have continued to fuck you how and when I want till I found a woman worthy to carry my cubs, never had I imagined taking you back to my parents.”

Elara choked out a loud cry as she pushed against Sean's large frame and slumped to the battered wooden floor. Tears rolled down her face uncontrollably and she sobbed into her palms.

“I trusted you, Sean! How could you lie to me? You promised me, you promised that we would leave this place and find a better place to raise a family. You lied!”

“That’s on you for being foolish.”

Elara jerked up from the floor as she tried her best to wipe off her tears but they kept streaming down and stood toe-to-toe with Sean. “On the moon goddess’s name I curse you, Sean. May your life be filled with sorrow and pain.” A heavy breeze rushed into the cottage, killing off the little light left on the candle covering the room in darkness as the storm continued heavily outside.

“You will know no happiness for the rest of your miserable life. And when you begin to question the misfortune that befell you, you will remember this day but it would be so late for you because you will be weak and dying in your childhood bed.”

Sean tsked and crossed his arms. “Yeah, it doesn’t work like that.”

Another round out cry choked out of Elara and without looking back, she threw the weak cottage door open and ran out into the storm.