Chapter two: The Rejected and The Ruined

Lila's POV

From time to time, I looked from right to left, awaiting the feeling I expected to feel when I met my mate.

“I want to meet him, whoever he is.”

“That's not possible, She can't be my mate.” I turned around at the sound of Beta Jace's voice as he moved to the center of the hall. The second light was visible on his forehead.

My father's beta is my mate, and I didn't suspect all this while. I closed my eyes to see if I would experience a change in my body or hear the voice of my wolf speaking to me, but nothing was happening to my body, and I didn't hear the voice of my wolf.

How could this be?

I opened my eyes to see the disgusted look on my mate's face as he glared at me with anger in his eyes.

I was focused on experiencing the changes I would feel in my body when I met my mate and didn't pay attention to his earlier words.

Did he mean it when he made that statement?

“I, Beta Jace of the Nightshade pack, reject you, Lila Winters, as my mate. I heard Jace's words of rejection.” The whole pack was dead silent, waiting for my reaction and for me to accept his rejection of the mate bond.

I was still wondering why I didn't feel any change after meeting my mate. Was I cursed? I think the pack members are right in calling me the Alpha's plague.

From what I know, no one has rejected a mate in the Nightshade pack, in all the years of my existence in it.

Or was it done in the other packs? I thought again and shut my eyes. How real was this curse?

My Father rose to his feet and walked towards me. Lila, my dearest daughter, the whole pack is waiting for you to decide.

“Would you accept or reject him?”

I closed my eyes in thought. What's the essence of being with someone who hates me? Especially when the essence of the mate bond didn't cause any significant change in my life. I am still wolfless and weak.

I opened my eyes, my face expressionless as I accepted the mate bond rejection.

“I, Lila Winters, the Alpha's daughter of the Nightshade pack, hereby accept the mate bond rejection from Beta Jace. From now on, we are no longer mates.”

I was expecting to feel the pain of rejection but still felt nothing.

Suddenly, noises filled the hall. I looked up, expecting to see the hatred and disgust on the faces of the pack members, but I was wrong when I saw blood and people screaming in pain as they fell to the floor dead.

“Lila, run and save yourself.” I heard my father's voice before he shifted to his wolf form to save his pack members from the enemies.

I just stood there in shock with my mouth agape at the sudden change in the atmosphere. Was I cursed and a plague to the Nightshade pack and my father? Why would the enemies suddenly attack immediately after I accepted my mate's rejection?

All these thoughts were running through my mind and I was oblivious to the killings around me.

The screaming sound of my mother's voice brought me back to my present surroundings, causing me to turn back around to see what had transpired. I saw an arrow being shot at my father by a fierce-looking man he was fighting with.

My father fell flat on the floor, wounded and bleeding profusely as he changed back to his human form. I ran over to him, crying profusely as I held his bloody body. He was barely breathing.

“Dad… Dad. Please don't die and leave me alone.”

Tears were streaming down my face as I held his body close to my chest.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, his eyes reflecting the pain he was feeling, and then he said to me with a voice full of pain.

“Save yourself, Lila, run and save yourself from him.” He warned me before losing consciousness.

I tried checking for his pulse but felt nothing.

“No ,....no, he can't be dead.” Why is he not healing like a wolf usually does when wounded? I was still in shock, checking for a pulse, when I noticed the silver bullet shot at his heart and the smell of wolfbane mixed with his blood.

It turns out my father was shot with a silver bullet and wolfsbane, two of the most dangerous weapons to kill and weaken a werewolf from healing.

Crying at the dead body of my father, I looked around for my mother and Beta Jace but couldn't find them anywhere in the hall. Some pack members were still fighting the enemies to defend their pack and save their lives.

Where could my mother have gone? Where was Beta Jace when my father was being shot and killed? Why was he not protected by the pack guards and soldiers? He is the Alpha of the biggest pack in the werewolf kingdom. And he was killed and left here like an ordinary wolf with the lowest ranking.

I was angry and pained, with tears streaming down my face. My father, my world and number one supporter, is dead. I killed him with my curse. The pack members are right about me. I am indeed the Alpha's plague.

I stood up and made an effort to run for safety and yield to my father's last warning to me. As I ran towards the entrance a muscular hand suddenly grabbed my waist, taking me by surprise.

I struggled to free myself from his grip, screaming and crying for him to let go, but his grip became tighter, causing me pain in my waist region.

Who could this person be? Is he trying to save me from running away, or am I being captured by the enemies? I was wondering to myself.

Who could this person be? I twisted my body amidst the pain I was feeling from his tight grip to look at the face of the man holding me by the waist.

And stare at the cold and angry-looking face of the man I saw kill my father. That was the last thing I remembered before I lost consciousness…