Prisoner to My Mate

Anastasia

I wake up feeling excited because today is a special day. Today is my birthday – I’m finally turning eighteen. I quickly freshen up and walk downstairs, where mom is making breakfast in the kitchen. I’m sure she’s making my favorite. Mom and I don’t live in the pack house. We’re from the Dark Moon Pack.

“Good morning, dear,” mom says as I walk into the kitchen.

“Good morning, mom,” I say, taking a seat on the kitchen stool.

Mom is not my birth mother. My parents died after I was born, so I know nothing about them. She’s the only parent I have, so I still love her like I would my real mother.

“Are you excited to be eighteen today?” she asks, placing a plate of chocolate pancakes in front of me – my favorite.

“Thank you,” I say for breakfast. “Of course, I’m excited to be turning eighteen. If we were humans, I could finally leave your house so you couldn’t tell me what to do anymore.”

“Good thing we’re not then,” she grins.

“Even if we were, I could never leave you,” I say, pulling her in for a hug.

“I love you too, dear,” she says, hugging me. A car horn blares from outside. And that would mean my ride is here. I quickly kiss mom goodbye and walk outside to meet my boyfriend.

“You didn’t even touch your breakfast!” Mom says as I’m walking out.

“I’ll be late, bye,” I say and walk out the door.

“Hello, beautiful,” Matt says as I step outside. He’s waiting for me by his car.

“Hey, handsome,” I say, walking up to him. He pulls me in for a kiss once I get close enough.

“Happy birthday,” he says and hands me a box.

“Thank you! What did you get me?” I ask, excited to see what he got. I open it to reveal a pair of diamond hoop earrings.

“Do you like them?”

“I love them, thank you!” I say, pulling him in for a hug.

“You’re welcome.”

Matt is a human. As a werewolf, dating humans is wrong, but I don’t have a choice. Mom’s forbidden me from accepting my werewolf mate when I meet him, so I don’t have a choice but to have a relationship with a human. It’s the choice I have for some companionship and happiness. I don’t know why mom believes I should be with a human rather than my mate. I have tried asking her, but she has never given me a reasonable answer other than it’s the only way to keep me safe.

Matt drops me off at school. I go to the local university. Mom would never allow me to travel away from her. If she had her way, she would prefer I don’t go to school. She doesn’t believe werewolves have a need for education.

I want to be a reporter. And even though my dream may not come true because I am a werewolf, I don’t believe the knowledge I’m gaining is useless. Matt doesn’t go to college and doesn’t plan to. He’s from a wealthy human family, so his future is already determined for him.

I kiss Matt goodbye and walk inside to start my day.

***

“Are you sure you’ve thought this through?” Chloe asks while she lies down on my bed.

I got back from school a few hours ago. My best friend Chloe and I are getting ready for my birthday party at Matt’s house. Mom hates when kids dirty our house, so we’re having the party there. His house is also bigger, so it’s better.

“Yes, I have. We’ve been dating for two years. It feels right that I give myself to him.” I plan to have sex for the first time tonight with Matt. We’ve been dating since my junior year in high school. He’s been so patient with me and never once tried to force me or pressure me to give myself to him.

“What about your mate? How do you think he’d feel if you gave yourself to a human?” Chloe asked. She’s a werewolf like me.

“My mom’s forbidden me to be with my werewolf mate. And for all we know, he might have already slept with someone too.” I hope he has because when I meet him, it’ll give me a reason to be angry at him and, hopefully, easier to reject him.

“I don’t know why your mom forbids you from being with your destined mate. I know she says it for your own safety, but I’d rather be with my mate than suffer pain forever.”

A lot of werewolves don’t survive without their mate. Some die while others become rogue. Most live in excruciating pain without their mates for the duration of their lives.

“She’s my mom; she knows what’s best for me.”

“Maybe she does, but I still think you should keep yourself for your mate.”

“I know that’s what you think. But I feel Matt deserves a chance with me.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” she says, giving up all hope of convincing me.

I put on my outfit for the night – a pink sequin bodycon dress with black stilettos – and my make-up. When we arrive, the place is packed with teenagers. I feel like I’m late to my own party. We step out of Chloe’s car and walk inside. Once we’re inside, Chloe and I go separate ways, and I try to find Matt. I see him drinking close to the DJ with a couple of his friends from high school.

“Hello, baby girl,” Matts says, putting his arms around me and giving me a peck on my cheek. “You look beautiful as always,” he says, whispering into my ears over the loud music.

“Thank you,” I say, wrapping my arms around him.

“Come on, let’s dance,” he says, walking us to an area in the living room where people are ‘dancing’ so intimately they’re practically having sex with clothes on.

An hour or so goes by, and the party is going great. All my friends, both humans and werewolves, are here. Matt left to do something, and it’s been a while since I saw him. I decide to look for him around the house, checking in all the rooms upstairs in case he falls asleep while looking for the bathroom, but I don’t find him. I almost gave up but remembered I didn’t look in his parent’s room. Matt usually locks his parent’s room during parties to avoid anyone going in to have sex on his parents’ bed.

I don’t knock on the door before entering because if it’s open, only Matt will be inside. I’m not wrong. What I didn’t think about was if Matt would be having sex with someone else.

“Matt!” I shout, shocked he would do this to me. I can’t believe he’s sleeping with another girl on my birthday. At my birthday party! How could he do this to me?

“Ana, it’s not what you think!” Matt says, climbing off the girl. I don’t recognize her.

“It’s not what I think?” I ask, feeling my voice c**** because I’m about to start crying. I was going to give this man my virginity tonight, and instead, I found him in bed with another woman. I feel so foolish.

“It’s not what you think; I can explain,” he says, walking toward me, trying to touch me with the same filthy hands he had on that girl.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” I say as tears flow down my cheeks.

I won’t waste another second in the room, turning around and running away before he sees me crying. He doesn’t deserve my tears. I hear him calling my name, but I act like I can’t hear him and keep walking. I don’t stop walking even when I get outside. I don’t want to be anywhere near him, so I keep walking until my legs can go no further.

I walk for almost two hours. I’m sure my mother and Chloe are worried sick about me. I don’t know how far away I am, but it must be far because I can’t mind-link Chloe. I decided to start walking back the way I came. All I see around me are tall trees, and I think I’m lost. I continue walking, hoping to find somewhere I can charge my phone or run into someone who will lend me theirs. I feel tired, so I decide to take a break beside a little pond.

I didn’t realize this would be the biggest mistake of my life.

While I’m trying to get comfortable beside the pond, I hear ruffling in the woods. I take in their scent, and I immediately know they are rogue. They smell horrible and look almost dead.

Three rogues appear in front of me, and that’s how they look – dead. I quickly shift into my wolf form and get ready for attack. My wolf is a beautiful white named Eva. I can feel her getting ready to rip these rogues into shreds with her sharp teeth.

“It’s been a while since you let me out,” Eva says.

“That’s because you refused to talk to me for two years.”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“I can’t believe you stopped talking to me because I started dating Matt.”

“As much as I would love to argue with you, my precious human, we have company, and it looks like they’ll kill us any minute.”

“Later,” I say and try to focus our attention on the threat at hand.

I’m not the best wolf at combat, but I’ll never back down from a fight. As feisty as Eva is, she won’t either. Three rogues circle me, and the one on my right attacks first. He tries to grab my shoulder with his teeth, but I move away before he can. I thought I was getting the upper hand until I realized I’d been snagged by the rogue on the left. He catches my left shoulder in his mouth while I try to pry him away with my claws. I don’t have enough time to claw the rogue off when the one in the center attacks me. He captures my paw in his mouth, and as its teeth pierce my flesh, a painful scream escapes my mouth. I sink my teeth into the rogue’s neck and fling him away. I’m able to fling him into a tree, and he loses consciousness.

One down, two to go. Or so I thought. Suddenly, more rogues appear from the woods. I haven’t even gotten this rogue off my shoulder. How am I going to fight all of them?

I can see my death flashing before my eyes, but I won’t back down. I’ll fight for my life until my last breath. I use my paw and teeth to remove the rogue from my shoulder. He or she was there for a while, and I could feel pain in my shoulder. I fight as many rogues as I can. I think if I survive this, I deserve to give myself an award. I feel like they’ve torn every part of me, but I won’t back down. I can’t. If I do, they’ll eat me. I’m about to attack another rogue when the most intoxicating scent drifts through my nose. I can’t identify exactly what it smells like, but it’s a mixture of the forest when it rains and sand during high surf. It smells divine. Eva suddenly starts becoming distracted from the threat in front of us and focuses on the scent.

“How can you be focusing on that right now?” I ask. But Eva ignores me and tries to find where the scent is coming from.

Two rogues put me down. My little conversation with Eva left me distracted, and it’s going to get us killed. I try to pry them off but fail miserably because I’m badly injured. I can feel myself slowly slipping away, but I hold on until it seems all hope is gone.

Suddenly, the mystery scent becomes stronger. The largest wolf I have ever seen in my life appears. He’s the most beautiful wolf I’ve ever seen. He’s as dark as the night sky. He growls, and the ground beneath us shakes with how powerful he is. He is an Alpha.

The rogues quickly release me and run for their lives. They actually run away. I try to stand on my paws but fail. I’m badly hurt. The Alpha takes a careful step toward me, and Eva starts dancing in my head. I wonder why she’s so happy. We were saved, but I still feel like we’re going to die. Only when Eva speaks do I fully understand.

“Mate.”

Before I can process the word, I start to feel dizzy. The last thing I see is our mate changing to human form before the darkness takes me away.