CHAPTER FOUR: REGRET

CHAPTER FOUR | REGRET 

AYA HAYES 

I don't know the pack we are but I know that they are extremely brutal. 

Dante and I weren't given a chance to explain how and why we came into their pack and apparently, we still brought slavers with us. 

They drag us to a cell after having their fill from torturing us before locking us up. Dante had already passed out and I was losing a lot of blood. My face is swollen so much that I feel pain when I breathe in and out. 

My leg seems to be fractured, my rib cage is probably broken and my whole body aches as if I just came out of a near death accident. 

It baffles me how I haven't passed out or died till now. 

I really wish I hadn't run away from him. If I had known things wouldn't work out well, I would have just stayed back and kept trying to convince my father till he bulged. 

The door to the cell opens, a guard handing me a cup of water. I don't take it because the moment I saw his gloved hands, I realized the water is most likely poisoned. 

He strikes me for refusing the water, proceeding to pour the contents of the cup on my head. 

The dam of tears I have been trying so hard to keep closed bursts open when the water comes in contact with my already bruised skin. 

I was right, the water was poisoned. 

“Leave." A voice orders, the dominance in it so obvious that even the deaf would feel it. 

At the sound of the unknown man's voice, my heartbeat accelerates, threatening to burst out of my chest. A whole zoo is released in my stomach, and that is all jumping around looking for the owner of the mouthwatering voice. 

The voice of my mate. My mate is here. 

“Yes Alpha." The guard says and walks out, glaring at me. 

Oh shit! My mate is an alpha. 

I hear the footsteps of my mate walking closer and he stops directly at my back. I don't see him since my back is turned and as much as I'm curious to know what my mate looks like, I don't turn around. 

I find it crazy that the moon goddess would set me up like this. I avoided a big fish only to meet a bigger fish on the way. 

“Turn around, you filthy rogue." My mate growls, his voice angry and harsh. 

I don't move an inch. He hasn't realized I'm his mate yet but once I do, he will and there would be no going back. 

My thoughts run thousands of miles per second as I try to come up with a way to get out of the hole I willingly dug myself. 

“Are you fucking deaf?" He asks, his hands immediately wrapping around my neck to turn me around himself. 

A shiver runs down my spine when his hands come in contact with my skin, sparks flying around my neck and moving around my whole body until my toes curl in satisfaction of the contact with my mate. 

I think he feels it too because all his movements stop and a gasp escapes his mouth the moment his hand touches my neck. 

His initial brutal hold is released. Instead, he takes me by my hands and forcefully turns me around until I'm staring into his eyes. 

I'm hit with the handsomest man I've ever met in my life. His forest green eyes stare at me in shock, wonder and admiration, assessing like I'm the most precious thing he has ever seen in his life. 

His admiration soon transforms into a frown, laced with confusion and annoyance and I silently watch as he has an inner battle with his wolf. 

He opens up his mouth to speak but I beat him to it. 

“I, Ava Hayes, reject you as my mate." I announce, staring into his eyes defiantly. 

I was expecting him to beg me, be sad or heartbroken but I never anticipated the reaction I got from him. 

He placed both hands on my neck, squeezing gently at force but increasing the pressure on it, his eyes promising to choke me to death. 

“No! I don't accept your rejection. You are my mate and can't reject me. You were made for me. I'm your second half. You can't live without me." He snaps through gritted teeth. 

My eyes meet it too, silently challenging him to choke me to death as he wants to, knowing fully well that no werewolf is capable of hurting his or her mate. “You can't do shit! I don't want you. I don't need you. I'm already complete. I already found my soulmate, I do not need you." I say the last few words slowly and in a calculated manner, wanting it to stick into his thick skull. 

As if on cue, Dante begins to gasp back to life, coughing out blood and groaning in pain. 

I struggle out of my mate's grip, rushing to Dante and touching his body to see what part hurts him the most.

“Oh, I see. This must be the ‘soul mate you were yapping about." 

Before I can reply, he picks me up like I weigh nothing, successfully keeping Dante out of my reach. 

My mate pouts mockingly, tsking in false pity. “It is quite sad. You will be losing a soulmate and getting a new one today." 

My eyes widens, my gaze flickering from him to Dante. “What the hell do you mean, freak?" 

“My name is Sebastian, Ava Hayes. Make sure you put it to your memory because that is the name you'll be screaming very soon. Get me a sword, guards." 

He doesn't let me go until some guards show up. He hands me over to a female guard, ordering her to not let me go for anything in the world. 

I watch in horror as a sword burning red as if it was brought straight out of lava is handed over to Sebastian. 

Sebastian plunges the burning hot sword into Dante's stomach.