The Wolf's Claim

Oliver's P.O.V.

The day I died was the best and worst day of my life.

It was hard enough trying to breathe with what I had just witnessed. The way my fated mate had wrapped her arms around another male as she glared at me. The gentle kiss she had pressed against his lips as he assured her that he was okay.

I should have ripped his throat out when I had the chance.

Yet, I ran.

I ran to clear my head, to restrain my beast who wanted nothing more than to kill her chosen mate and demand answers from her, leaving her children fatherless. Had I not known what it was like to have a parent taken from you, I would have done it. But those doe-like, watery eyes watching from the sidelines as their father challenged me for the hand and heart of their mother made me pause.

It wasn't an option. She had chosen him, and they needed him. I was but a blip in the story of their lives, something unexpected and insignificant that popped up to cause a moment of chaos before fading back into the shadows to be forgotten.

I had felt the excruciating pain of what I had thought was her death a decade ago, almost killing me in the process. I had been so young, merely a pup as I had just shifted the year prior. But when I had felt that agony flooding through my young body, as if the Goddess herself was trying to rip my beast right from my flesh and soul, I had thought my mate to be dead.

The possibility of it being anything else didn't seem probable. How could something so painful and scarring be anything other than the death of part of my soul?

But it wasn't.

The silvery crescent moon-shaped mark on her neck mocked me as my fated mate remained curled around the back of her chosen one, acting as a guard between us as he regained his strength from the beating he had taken.

At first, I thought it to be fun. I toyed with him for a long while, knocking him down blow by blow with the strength of my Alpha bloodline. A warrior such as him was nothing more than a fly to be knocked from the air compared to my training and abilities.

But when he said those words, my composure had broken. "She does not want you here. Nyla is my mate." In the blink of a human eye, I had shifted, knocking him to the ground with my muzzle latched firmly around the soft flesh of his throat.

The small whimpers of my mate and her offspring burned as they reached my ears over the sound of my own snarling, my wolf demanding me to not cause our mate or her pups any more pain, something she had not been gracious enough to do for me.

After a long moment, I pulled back, still enjoying the taste of his blood as I looked up at her piercing blue eyes. Only they were not on me, her fated mate. They were on him.

The weak male clutched at his throat as the bleeding slowed from where my teeth had punctured his flesh.

Nyla turned, a flash of worry in her eyes as she scanned me over to ensure my health before glaring at me. "Just leave. You have done enough damage."

So, I did. I wasn't intending on leaving for good, just long enough to clear my head before I returned to demand her formal rejection in front of her pack and the Goddess. The ties still needed to be severed for good, and I was going to make damn sure that happened. The pull I felt for her would then be gone, and the pain that had festered deep into my soul all those years ago when she had marked him would be lifted.

For now, it was there. Burning through my veins as it burrowed deeper into my chest and my lungs, making it impossible to draw in a full breath. All of my training through the years had provided me with expectations for the kind of physical pain I could experience in battle, but neither the first nor the second time was I prepared for the soul-crushing agony caused by my mate choosing another over me. The force of it was too much for my beast, sending him recoiling into the depths of my mind.

The all-consuming pain and betrayal coursing through my body as I ran through the trees made it too easy for the group of rogues to corner me.

I was outnumbered, all alone as I sprinted through the thick foliage, my paws sliding against the rich, moist soil. The dirt kicked up around my legs as I dipped and dodged around the trees clumsily. I felt myself growing weaker the further I moved from my mate, the bond pulling against my need to escape the jaws snapping at my hind legs.

Four against one would have been child's play for me, had I been at full strength. But I wasn't. I felt like an adolescent again, weak and suffering from the selfish choices of my mate once more. My wolf moved further away from me as he took the brunt of the hurt as his soul was shattering from his mate's abandonment, leaving me to face my attackers on my own.

My paws dug into the ground as I slid to a stop only a foot from the edge of a cliff. Had I known this land, I never would have gone in this direction to be trapped by the steep cut-off that led down to imminent death.

But I was hundreds of miles from home, only here due to the bad luck of the mate bond sucking me in like a black hole. I had been fine on my own, running free for years without needing to come across another pack. My own pack was doing just fine without me and let me come and go as I pleased, allowing me to roam without the title of rogue.

Yet, a fateful stop at a small town had me trampling through the forest and into the unwelcoming home of my mate. A decision, I deeply regretted as I turned my back to the gorge, knowing there was no way for me to make it to the other side.

The wolves surrounded me, letting out barks and growls as they taunted me, faking a lunge in my direction and making my hind leg slip off the edge. My heart jumped to my throat as I regained my footing. I snarled as one of them shifted back to their skin before me.

"Well, well, boys. Looks like we got ourselves a runt." He mocked as he stepped closer. I let out another warning snarl, as he kicked a rock in my direction. "So weak for someone of your blood, Alpha." He spat the title like it was a poisonous word, but I had no time nor need to respond.

To my right, one of the rogues, smelling of rotting flesh from his matted fur coated in his recent feast, stepped forward. I turned my head at his sudden movement, leaving my other side open for the swift kick to my ribs that surely shattered at least one bone and broken several others.

"Where's your pack?" The human asked snidely as if taunting the fact that I was alone. He didn't want an actual answer. He knew I wouldn't be able to respond without shifting. "All alone, are we?"

Teeth nipped at my right side, taking fur and a small amount of flesh with them as I distractedly snapped my jaw at the wolf who had broken my ribs. They were toying with me. If I were further away, I would release a howl to warn my mate's pack, to ask for help.

But they had no obligation to me. I was merely a visitor passing through, and I had been asked to leave. Even if I did attempt to call for help, my attackers were too close. I would be presenting my throat to them like a hog on a spit.

The rock beneath my hind legs crumbled as they closed in further, leaving me no room to move to either side. My eyes flickered around the rogues as I continues to snarl with anger, foam, and spit dripping from my muzzle.

"A shame to have such powerful blood wasted in your pathetic veins." The human pressed forward, closing in on me and moving to the side just enough to give me an opening. I launched forward, pushing between the human and the center wolf, feeling the claws and teeth of the three shifted rogues slicing into my flesh.

It didn't matter where or how hard I kicked or bit at my attackers, they dragged me back down to the ground.

"Nice try," He breathed out roughly through the struggle of holding me down.

I could feel the blood pouring from my split flesh as my vision danced before me. Without the strength and presence of my wolf, I was prey to the torture that they deemed fit. Every hit, bite, and slash sent my way made my body weaker.

A heavy feeling landed in my chest, and my mouth filled with blood.

"He is weak. Toss him." The male ordered to his rogues.

I felt my body being lifted, but I was unable to fight back as black dots danced in and out of my vision and static filled my ears as they moved me.

As my body was thrown forward and began its plummet down to the bottom of the gorge, an angelic voice surrounded me.

'Not yet, my child. She is waiting for you.'