Chapter Two

Catherine’s POV

Is this finally happening?! Am I getting my one true mate after all these years of waiting?! Who would have thought that it was Kevin all along? The moon goddess has finally remembered me! 

I stood up excitedly and waited for him to walk over to me and claim me as his mate. He needed to mark me so that I will belong to him forever... but instead, he stood at the door, glaring at me. 

Glaring at me?

I started walking towards him, but he lifted a hand in the air. "Stay right there!" He ordered, and I was forced to obey. He spat, "I cannot believe that after all these years, it turned out to be you". He said with so much disgust and disdain. 

"I..."

He cut me short. "Let's get something straight here, I don't need a mate, I have already chosen someone for myself. And even if I wanted a mate, it wouldn't be you... a weak, wolf-less Luna? I will become the laughingstock of the entire pack."

Hearing my mate say these words to me weakened my body. I moved back and landed on the mattress. "I-I thought..."

"You thought what?! That I, Kevin, would want you? Don't be ridiculous! I don't need a fragile, twenty-three-year-old half-wit beside me. And if you dare tell anyone about this, I will kill you." He warned.

Just then, Rose came in from the hallway. "There you are, my lady." But she paused and looked confused when she saw Kevin towering over me. "My lord". She acknowledged him but he ignored her.

Rose sat beside me on the bed and wiped the tears on my cheeks with her sleeve. "My lord, please if you would excuse us". She requested from Kevin.

"With pleasure". He responded, but there was a storm brewing in his blue eyes. I could feel those dreaded words coming.

"I, Kevin Marshall of the Crystal-Cloud pack, reject you Cathrine Bernard as my mate forever and ever!"  

"No!!" I felt a sharp, unbearable pain in my chest and fell to the floor in a fetal position. I do not know what a heart attack feels like, but I am sure that the pain I felt was worse. My heart stopped beating for an entire minute. I could not breathe. I tried to draw air, but my lungs were constricted. 

I could hear Rose's voice from a distance but I could not open my eyes. How could he do this to me? Why am I not good enough? Why does everyone reject me? Why??

"My lady, my lady, please wake up." Rose's tiny voice came, followed by a light slap on my cheek.

I groaned and opened my eyes. I held my chest as another wave of pain hit me. The pain was still so strong, it felt as though my heart was going to explode in my rib cage! 

"My lady, you passed out. Should I call Sarah?"

"No,". I answered abruptly. "Let her be, I can't always depend on her. She is not going to stay with me forever." I grabbed my chest as the pain worsened. "Help me up," I said in a husky voice.

Rose held my hand and with some effort from my side as well, I got on my feet. I sucked in the pain as we went downstairs. Almost everyone had gone home. I went to meet Sarah who looked exhausted in her purple ball gown. 

When she saw me, she smiled tiredly. "Where have you been all this time, sis? I wished the earth could open up and swallow me all because of the attention from these snubs". She whined.

"I'm sorry, Sarah, I was held up a little bit. Let's go?"

"Please". She said with relief and took my hand. We both walked upstairs to my room as she preferred.

My mom appeared at the intersection between the hallway Sarah and I were in, and another hallway. She walked down to us and hit my hand away from Sarah's.

"Mom!" Yelled Sarah.

"Silence! You don't want her bad luck to ruin your marriage, do you?"

"Please leave us alone." Sarah dismissed her and we continued our walk. 

Our mother was relentless and pulled Sarah aside. "In two days, your chosen mate will come and take you away from here, be ready. And stay away from Catherine!"

The day finally arrived for Sarah to meet her mate for the first time. Our mom dressed her in an off-white flute gown. All the while, keeping me away because of my 'bad luck'.

We started the party, but this time, all the pack members were invited. I had on my favorite blue color. Alpha Philip and his associates were yet to arrive, so we waited.

From the other end of the large room, I saw the delta's daughter sauntering up to me. I wondered what that annoying tramp wanted with me. We never got along, courtesy of her always spreading untrue rumors about me. 

"What do you want, Melina?" I folded my hands on my chest as she approached. 

She pushed me. "I should be the one asking you, how dare you try to steal my mate?!" 

I looked around and saw that everyone's attention was on us. A scene was being created at my sister's ceremony and it was all because of me. "Melina, stop this drama. We'll talk later." I whispered to her, but she wasn't having it.

"Tell everyone how you tried to seduce Kevin into thinking you were his mate?!" Everyone around us gasped. Melina continued. "As if someone like you could have a mate. You've known Kevin throughout your life, yet all of a sudden, he turns out to be your mate?"

The pain from that night returned and before I knew it, I was in tears. "I wasn't lying, Melina, I promise. I felt the bond right before he rejected me"

"Lies!" She gripped my hair right in front of everyone and yanked it until I lost my balance and fell on the floor. "You're only saying all this because he isn't here to defend himself. The moon goddess would never give him someone like you for a mate. You are a cursed werewolf! As old as you are, you have never had a wolf. Then, tell me how the mating bond can be possible between the both of you?"  

I could see the angry looks being cast at me by everyone, but that didn't matter. All that mattered to me was my sister. 

I got up from the floor and walked towards my family. My mother and father glared at me with disgust on their faces. "Mom, Dad, hear me out, she is not telling you the truth! Why would I lie about the mating bond?"

But instead of letting me explain myself, my mom raised her right hand and slapped me across the face. "You have brought shame to our family! I regret having an abomination like you! With your lies, you have brought down the wrath of the moon goddess by lying against her! I warned Sarah to stay away from you because I knew you were bad luck to her! Now, you have proved me right."

My heart shattered completely. I moved back... "Maybe you're right, maybe I shouldn't be anywhere near Sarah." I walked away and slowly increased my pace until I ran out of the room, away from those judgmental eyes, away from the hurt and the pain... I couldn't take it anymore! 

Before I knew it, I was almost at the border of our pack. What is the point of staying? My parents think I'm a failure, my mate has rejected me, and the only person who cared for me, my sister Sarah, was going away to become the Luna of another pack. There is nothing left for me here, nothing.

"My lady!" I heard Rose's voice from behind me. 

I stopped abruptly and turned to her. "What are you doing here, Rose? Go back now!"

She caught up with me. "No, I will not leave you all alone, I shall follow you wherever you go."

"Rose, go home to your family." I tried to push her away but she is stubborn as a mule. Eventually, I agreed to her coming with me and we crossed the border together. 

"Do you know where we are going, my lady?" Asked Rose after a while of us walking together in the woods, late at night.

"I have no idea," I replied, breathing heavily.

"WHO ARE YOU BOTH?!" A terrifying masculine voice came from behind us, startling Rose and me. I stood frozen out of fear, as the voice continued. "Put your hands where I can see them!" 

I lifted my hands in the air, Rose mirrored my action. There was a shuffle of leaves in the bushes and a tall figure appeared under the moonlight. He sniffed the both of us and forced us to follow him. After a few minutes of being dragged behind by this stranger, we were thrown at the feet of another man. 

"Alpha, I found these girls lurking in the corner." Said the man who brought us.

"Get up!" The man ordered in the most powerful voice I have ever heard. I obeyed, and so did Rose. 

I looked up and caught sight of the man in front of me. His midnight-blue eyes stared back at me with curiosity, he had dark shoulder-length hair and was about 6'3. He wore an all-black outfit that seemed to match his personality. Behind him were two black cars and other men dressed similarly.

"Who are you?" He asked me.

"Sarah," I muttered. Rose nudged me gently but I ignored her. 

The man eyed me. "Sarah Bernard?"

"Yes. Sarah Bernard of the Crystal-Cloud pack, and I believe you are Alpha Philip, my chosen mate."