Her gown was long. Its silk fabric covered her legs and slid to the floor. Her face was still covered with the veil, but I could still see those familiar hazel eyes that made me recognize her as my mate.
She moved in the evening, walking fast across the trees, and not even sparing a moment to stop. I heard the laughter of her gentle voice. She paused and looked at me, calling me to chase after her. To find her, claim her, and make her my own.
I followed with a smile on my face. My boots thumped softly against the ground as I tried to keep up with her pace. She giggled as she continued to move further from me. Googlᴇ search novel{f}ire.net
I was still determined to reach her. Suddenly, the space around us closed and I leaned closer, holding her hand gently in mine. Then, I whispered to her, "I’ve finally found you mate."
She turned her face away as if what I said was a negative thing. I could no longer hear the giggles or see the brightness in her eyes. I brought her hand to my chest, allowing her to feel my heartbeat and know that I yearned to find her.
Unexpectedly, she pulled her hand away. And before I could utter another word, her eyes became glassy with tears and she hurried away from me.
I stood confused and called out to her, but she didn’t look back. Then, I realized that I just lost my mate. I ran after her, trying to get back to her, but she refused to stop and listen to me.
While panting, I paused in the middle of the forest. My wolf felt hurt. He whispered dejectedly, ’mate’. With one swift transformation, I changed to my wolf form and howled loudly to the moon, hoping that my mate would come back to me.
It was a dream. I woke up sweating and breathing loudly.
"Mate." Was the only thing I kept whispering to myself as I sat erect on the bed.
As my tongue moved in my mouth, I could still taste the liquor I had taken yesterday evening. I stared outside, faint morning light had begun creeping inside the room.
"Morning already," I groaned and stood up from the bed, ready to attend to pack duties.
The pain of what transpired between me and Clara still burned in my heart. I had tried my best to remain strong. I knew I had to forget about my pain by finding my own mate. The woman I rejected.
Lycanthia was my pack. I had returned to it during the late night of yesterday. My beta had informed me of how there was a stockpile of duties to attend to, and I couldn’t miss it by being in Veilwood.
But before I left, I assigned work to my men. All of them had to work hard to find the woman for me before sunrise. I gave them the descriptions and all the necessary information.
I groaned in annoyance as the atmosphere became clearer. Not one of my men had brought back news about the task up till now. I slumped back into bed and remembered the dream, how she pulled her hand away from me. I sighed loudly, what if I find her and she doesn’t want me anymore?
"I’m sure she’d want us." My wolf, Leo, responded inwardly, as he had been yearning for his mate. He was extremely angry the day I rejected her.
A knock sounded on my room door. I pulled a shirt and wore it before opening the door.
My beta, Sam, stood in front of the door. He held a paper in his hand.
After exchanging greetings, he handed the paper to me.
"During the night, we did our hunt for the girl." Sam said to me.
I looked at the paper, it contained the names of houses that they had conducted their search in. Veilwood was a small pack, and it wouldn’t be hard to search through in a night.
He continued with his hands tucked into his pockets. "I’m sorry, but the team couldn’t find anything matching your description."
"What? That can’t be!" I exclaimed, refusing to accept the fact that my mate could not be found. "Intensify your search." I commanded Sam as I paced about the room.
"But Alpha, your description is too vague." Sam said. "We found a lot of women with hazel eyes, but none of them had the peculiar scent."
My wolf stirred as he heard that he was able to find some women. My mate could be among them, maybe it was only me that could recognize her scent.
"I brought some of them that agreed to follow to the pack, just in case." Sam announced.
"Good." I muttered and followed his lead as he led me to where the women were.
They greeted me as I walked towards them. Some of them winked at me and threw flirtatious glances.
"I’ll make a perfect wife for you, Alpha." One of them said, and I looked at her in disgust.
My wolf wasn’t stirred by any of them. None of them had the peculiar scent that I picked from their mate, and their behaviour didn’t seem like the one my mate had put up.
"No wonder they had agreed to come. They obviously thought I was searching for a wife."
I ordered Sam to dismiss them and returned back to my chambers, rubbing my head worriedly.
Afterwards, Sam entered the room.
"Intensify your search." I ordered him.
He nodded in response and brought out a letter from the middle of the stack of papers in his hands.
"I forgot to tell you about this, alpha." He said as he gave the letter to me.
"What is it?" I asked before accessing the contents.
"The alpha of Veilwood has requested your presence."
I then looked at the letter and read through it.
"Did he say what the problem was?" I asked, knowing that he hadn’t called for me in a long while.
"Alright. We’ll go there soon." I said and dismissed Sam. He left the room, leaving me alone.
At this point, I was almost losing hope in finding my mate. I constantly blamed myself for not asking her to show me her face.
I also pondered on why the alpha of Veilwood wanted to see me. I hoped I had not caused problems by searching through the females in his pack.