Chapter 2

• Lyell's Point Of View
• "Alpha, guards are guarding the storage room. Five to be exact," Gemma, one of the gammas informed me through the mind link. I stood my feet on the oak tree and searched around the area.
• "Gemma, Torin, and Riaz, I believe you can take them down. Make it quick and quiet. And get me all information you can find in there."
• "Yes, Alpha," Gemma replied.
• "The rest of you should meet me at the front gate in ten minutes. And Riaz, don't touch anything I don't ask you to."
• "Not even pretty diamonds," he whined.
• "Not even those. We're here for business, not to steal. Don't touch anything unimportant," I warned.
• "Yes, Alpha," He replied grudgingly.
• "Good. Meet me at the gate in ten. Go," I cut them off and turned my attention to the guard at the front gate. I jumped down from the tree and landed stealthily on the ground.
• My wolf, Dex, has been pining since we got here. The air shifted a few minutes ago, a new scent perhaps? My wolf has not shut up since about it. It has us both on edge constantly. My wolf has no idea what it is but he is nervous, he is never showing emotion, not to me or anyone and it's really starting to agitate me further.
• "It's MATE! Mate is here! She's close, I can feel it! We must get close to mate... I've never smelt this before! It's her...we must get to her! Mate!"
• What he said made me freeze. Mate?
• Just as I was about to freak out, sniffing the hair like a fucking hound dog and barging recklessly into the palace grounds to look for proof, my beta's voice came through the mind link.
• "Alpha, we found something that might interest you,"
• Mate! Let's go see mate!
• Oh, for fuck's sake!
• "Alpha?"
• "Is everyone alright?" I say back, trying to get Dex's voice out of my head.
• "Yes, Alpha, no one was noticed,"
• "Good. You all come to the gate. I have something I need to find."
• "What is it, Alpha? We'll find it for you."
• Mate! She's close.
• I shut my eyes, trying so hard to keep Dex in control. "No, this is something I have to find myself." I said, my voice coming out thick as Dex tried to take over me.
• "Yes, Alpha,"
• I shut him out and climbed up the tall fence of the palace. I jumped inside and landed at the back of the treadmill. When I was sure the coast was clear, I stepped out. I walked further and a guard passed me by.
• "Who are you?" He demanded.
• I paused. The smell coming from him smelt heavenly. I sniff the air and it's coming from around him.
• "Are you deaf?!" He smacks my shoulder. I pulled him by his collar closer to myself and sniffed in his scent. He was in contact with her. Did he touch my mate? The thought of him touching her made my blood boil.
• He tried to smack my hand off but my grip was stronger. "Where is she?" I demanded authoritatively.
• "Who?"
• My wolf came out forcefully, my eyes turning red, "the girl you just touched! WHERE IS MY MATE!" I growled out to his face, making him lower his gaze, submitting to the authority of my wolf.
• "I don't know who you're talking about," he cried. I grabbed him by the neck and held him above the ground. My anger came off in waves. Dex was in control of my body.
• "S...she's..u..up th..there," he strained out, pointing up a vine wall.
• He is trashing at my hold and I release him, cursing at my wolf for doing whatever the fuck he wanted. I planned to come here and leave unnoticed.
• I rubbed my hand down my face and squint my eyes, my senses flooded with her heavenly smell. I need to see her. I need proof. I need-
• "Who are you?" I glanced at the lowlife on the floor who was gasping for air. Suddenly annoyed by his presence, I hit a weak spot in his neck and he fell unconscious.
• I jumped high and landed on the balcony of the building.
• I walked a few distances before I came across a hairpin. I picked it up and sniffed it softly.
• MATE!
• It's her!
• Could Dex be saying the truth? I have a mate in Raven Pack right now? Who is she? Is she younger? Older? What does she look like?
• I itch so much to find the answers to these questions. I squeezed the pin in my palm and turned in the other direction. My mate is no more here. I jumped down the wall and raced toward the direction of the garden. Yes! I can smell her. Her scent is even stronger.
• I halted at a right turn. I felt her presence. I turned right and took quite careful steps toward the stables. My heart was thumping wildly, Dex grew more agitated as her scent grew stronger and stronger.
• I got in through a small door and paused when I saw a feminine figure.
• IT'S HER! IT'S MATE! LET'S GO TAKE HER!
• No. I shouldn't be rash. Even though it was hard, I controlled Dex and approached her slowly. She suddenly turned to one of the stalls, trying to open it.
• "Shit, it's locked!" She cursed in annoyance, turning to another. She tried opening that one too but it was also locked. She was restless as if she was hiding from something. I sighted an approaching shadow. No, I must save her. Using my super speed, I ran to her and pulled her out through the back door. Her breath was shaky and her body was trembling.
• She raised her head to meet my gaze and just like that, I was frozen.
• I didn't expect it to be her.
• "So it's you," I said in disbelief.
• She batted her long eyelashes in confusion.
• It's her.
• Alexa.
• There's no way I wouldn't recognize those big, round, almost innocent beautiful eyes. They were the first things I noticed back then, and they are the very things captivating me now.
• She opened her mouth to talk but I covered her mouth with my palm. "You don't wanna get caught, do you?" I whispered softly in her ear and I felt her squirm against me. I smirked smugly at how much effect I had on her.
• Her big eyes glared at me. I'm sure if I uncovered her mouth, she would curse me out. When I was sure the intruder was gone, I let her mouth go.
• "Who are you?" She demanded, her voice laced with anger but her eyes held curiosity and I drank her up. Her expressions, her body language.
• Everything.
• "Who do you think I am?" I teased, putting my body closer to hers. She shuddered against my body, making tingles shoot up my arm and travel through my body. The mate-bond telling me she was the one.
• "I need to go," she tries to push me away but I held her in one place. "And how sure are you that wouldn't get caught?"
• She eyed me venomously. "I appreciate your help but I can do this on my own." She said, her voice coming out shaky under her breath.
• She feels the pull but she's trying so hard to ignore it.
• Dex is panting for us to mark her and I almost growl, demanding him to submit and not scare our mate.
• "Says the one who was trembling in fear a few seconds ago," I taunted and she glared at me.
• "I will not-"
• Faster than she could blink, I held her in my arms and she let out a quiet yelp. I took off at full speed and ran through the garden to the main entrance. I was so fast the guard didn't even notice me pass by him.
• I stopped in a forest a few distances away from the palace. I let her down and she rushed to a tree to puke out all the contents of her stomach.
• "Are you out of your mind?!" She fired, turning to puke again.
• YOU HURT MATE! Dex snapped at me.
• She turned to me to say something then she suddenly paused. Her eyes zeroed in on my arm and I looked down at it. I was injured and bleeding. Shit! I quickly covered it with my hand but it was too late.
• "You...your blood..it's...it's blue," she stuttered, taking a few steps back.
• "Listen to me-"
• "You... you're a half-vampire?" She asks, taking more steps backward.
• The expression on her face hurt me. She looked disgusted and repulsed by me.
• "I can't believe this," she said, laughing hysterically. "My mate is a fucking monster?"
• I frowned. "Monster?"
• She closed the distance between us and stood on her tippy toes to grab me by my collar. "I don't know what's going on in that little head of yours," she began, staring at me dead in the eyes, "but just know any relationship between us is impossible. I detest the likes of you and I would rather die than be mated to your type."
• Every word of hers was laced with hatred and disgust and they pierced my heart like an arrow. The woman glaring at me so disdainfully wasn't the Alexa I knew. She was different.
• There was no life in her eyes.
• Her innocent eyes were always full of sweetness and adolescent mischief was now devoid of everything but coldness.
• "Why is that?"
• "Because I hate the likes of you. I don't want anything to do with you nor do I want to be mated to you. In fact, reject me right now."
• "No."
• Her grip on my collar tightened as her brows knitted in anger. "No?"
• "If you want it that badly then reject me if you can."
• She can't do that.
• She is wolfless.
• A wolfless wolf can't reject her mate.
• "You can't." I said as a matter of fact.
• "Fine." She let me go. "If you don't reject me then I'll just go my own way." She said, turning to leave.
• "Where do you think you're going?" I demanded. She paused on her steps and turned to me.
• My eyes trailed down her body.
• Alexa.
• She's grown so much.
• I feel stupid remembering how I used to call her scrawny when we were young.
• She was in no way scrawny.
• She was different. Different in a good way.
• Why am I just noticing what she was wearing?
• Why was she dressed in this?
• "Away from you." She pointed threateningly. "Don't follow me if you don't want to bleed in more severe places."
• I sighted a log beside me and I took a seat.
• She tilted her head in confusion. "What are you doing?"
• "Sitting," I shrugged. "You told me not to follow you."
• She eyed me suspiciously before turning and stomping away.
• "Alpha, where are you?" Riaz asked through the mind link.
• "I'm fine. Everyone return to the pack. I have something to deal with."
• "Yes, Alpha."
• I laid down, supporting my neck with my arm, and closed my eyes.
• My ears perked up when I felt her quick steps in the leaf rustles. I opened my eyes and sat up. She frowned when she saw me.
• "Welcome back."
• She looked around quizzically. She turned and left in the opposite direction she first took. I waited patiently for her.
• "What the hell?" She groaned as she came back to the very spot from where she left.
• "You can't leave this forest without me," I told her. "Leave with me."
• "No." She deadpanned.
• "Why?"
• "I would rather die than follow you." She said with finality, folding her arms on her chest.
• "I really didn't want to do this," I said under my breath as I approached her. She stepped back fearfully as I got closer, "wh..what are you doing?"
• "Hold on tight,"
• "What do you-"
• I swept her off her feet and threw her over my shoulder.
• "You monster, let me down! Let me down, you dirty creature! Let me down!"
• "Stop wiggling around or you'll fall."
• "Let me down!"
• "Scream again and I'll spank you." I threatened and she went quiet immediately.
• Good.
• Nice and quiet.