SIERRA

"Aww! Look at those mates. Don't they just look so cute. The Princess is so in love with her mate. It seems they can't keep their hands off each other. How romantic!" gushes Alexandria as she comes and stands beside me admiring the couple in front of us.

I am standing in the meeting hall, on the far corner of it. All my friends are now in the front row seats, being witness to their prince and friend getting claimed and I am all alone here.

Alexandria knows that the sight is hurting me as Fenris pulls in his new mate beside him to bestow a kiss in her hair, murmuring something close to her ears. His new mate blushes and he laughs as he tucks a stray strand of her hair behind her ears. They seem to be in their own bubble, not at all worried about the eyes of the fellow wolves and Alphas.

It is their mating ceremony, however, I heard that they've already marked each other and they look so happy with each other. So, in love. I am all alone without him at my side. I lost my chance of having a mate. A whimper escapes my lips but I cover it with my hands to avoid drawing more attention to me.

"You deserved it bitch. You made a mistake when you rejected him. You are just suffering punishment in the form of watching your own mate claim someone else," accuses Alexandria.

"She is far more worthy and better for him than you ever were." I turn to look at elder Raoul say those words calmly as he approaches to stand beside me.

"You really are a bitch, Sierra. You stole my mate's first touch from me when you claimed to be his mate and Luna and forced yourself upon him." I turn to look at A very as she glares at me, standing beside Aztec who is frowning at me.

Their accusations become too much and I cover my ears to block their voices. No! I was never power hungry. I was just stupid to believe that I was in love with Aztec. Tears of desperation, spill from my eyes but that doesn't stop the people around me from accusing me.

Shaking my head, I look at Fenris but he is too engrossed in his new mate. I whine at my loss and the pain in my heart leaves me breathless. As if sensing me, Fenris lifts his head up and turns to look at me, fiercely and then he growls at me.

"Escort her towards the exit gates. She is no longer welcome here," his words shatter my heart and I scream at the pain in my neck and my heart. I scream and scream until I am drenched in my own tears. I gasp for breath but find it difficult to draw in a breath. Darkness overwhelms and I lose myself into the sinking abyss.

I blink open my eyes and immediately sit up. Looking around myself, I let out a breath as I realise that it was a dream. A nightmare. It felt so real and so heart-breaking to watch him claim another. I whimper at the memory and feel wetness on my cheeks. Lifting my hand to my cheeks, I feel tears running down my cheeks. Giving in to the urge, I sob silently, covering my face with my hands and propping them on my knees.

"Oh, come on! Not again. It was just a dream Sierra. Why are you so upset over a dream?" Tatiana sighs dramatically as she pulls my hands from my face and pulls my comforter from over me. Handing me a glass of warm water, she walks back to her bed and sits on it.

I take a sip and feel only slightly better as the warm water chases away the chill of my nightmare.

"It felt so real. As if my greatest fear is breathing in front of me," I defend myself.

"Fenris will never claim another," she speaks with such confidence that I envy her, the ability to show such confidence in her best friend. I shake my head unable to say anything and she doesn't wait for me to reply.

"It is a Sunday today. I want to go into the human town. Get away from here for a while. I already got permission from elder Alarick. You are coming with me. So, go freshen up," speaks Tatiana effectively dismissing my dream. I let out a long breath knowing that she won't take no for an answer.

"Fine but we will come back soon after lunch," I demand.

"Of course. Just get ready, already! And yes, wear warm clothes. Wouldn't want to draw attention from the humans," she exasperates and I walk towards my wardrobe to pick out a sweater. Winter has begun and it has started snowing now. We werewolves can maintain our body temperature but the loneliness has started giving me a chill nowadays. I might as well wear a sweater to keep that chill at bay.

It has been a week after the elders disclosed about Fenris's princely status. I didn't tell anyone but the burden of thinking that Fenris will now accuse me of being a bitch has started taking its toll on my health. I sigh and close the door of my bathroom, smiling sadly at my life.

A couple of years ago, if anyone told me that I would reject the Prince of werewolves as my future mate, I would have laughed my ass off but now, it seems that my destiny is laughing at me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I lend a hand to Natalie as she lays on the ground, defeated and out of breath, after our sparring lesson. I have a good share of my wounds but don't want to show that it hurts, especially in front of my opponent. She avoids my hand and gets up on her feet.

"Good moves," she says somewhat reluctantly and walks away with a slight limp which she tries to conceal but fails. I let go off the stiffness in my posture and hold my wrist to my chest. Fuck! It hurts. The bitch spares as if she is fighting in a real war.

"She is so hot when she's fighting," exclaims Connor as he and Tatiana walk behind me to watch Natalie's retreating figure. I flip him the bird and shrug.

"Not when she's trying to beat the shit out of me as if I am her enemy and not a sparring partner," I say wiping the blood of my lips. My lips are swollen.

"Oh, come on. Don't be such a wuss!" He rolls his eyes at me.

"Don't you have the duty of shovelling the snow in the clearing?" I ask, trying to get rid of him so that I can whine in pain peacefully without being called a wuss. I defeated her but she pulled pretty good moves, herself. My hip, wrist and lips are fucked for a couple of days.

"Fine. Fine. I will go. I just stopped by to watch her spar. She's damn good and you are probably the first junior to defeat her." He accepts somewhat reluctantly and my back straightens with pride.

He walks away and I am left with Tatiana. She seems to be thinking hard about something. It is a pretty big thing when Tatiana doesn't engage in a verbal brawl with Connor.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Lupe?" I ask loudly startling her. She shakes her head and motions for me to walk towards the infirmary.

"Elder Alarick has given me the permission to join Zion's pack a year early. I can leave anytime I want to," she says and I freeze.

If she leaves me, I'll be all alone with no friends. I don't want her to go but I don't even want to keep her away from her mate.

I clear my throat and squeeze her shoulder in support with my good hand.

"It is good news, Tatiana. You should definitely think about it. You should go to your mate." I say and try to conceal the tremble from my voice. If she realises that I don't want to be left alone without her then she won't go and I don't want her to suffer without her mate because of me. I know how miserable being without your mate feels like. So, I put on a bright smile and reassure her.

"Really? Elder Alarick lent me his phone to talk to my parents regarding the mating. My dad is a bit reluctant but mom says that once I reach Mystic Shadow, they will also come there and then we can have our mating ceremony there," she says enthusiastic about the mating ceremony.

"Oh, that's great. All the elders will have to be present for your mating. I will ask for their permission to attend your ceremony. I wouldn't want to miss it," I say, thinking that if I go there, I might meet Fenris and then I can ask him if he accepts me or not. That would just put me out of my misery or make me more miserable but I don't think about the latter possibility.

"Yes. I have already asked elder Raoul and he has granted you the permission to travel with them to Mystic Shadow," she says as we step into the infirmary. Caliana greets Tatiana.

"Congratulations, sister. I am so glad that you are my brother's mate. I wouldn't have thought of anyone better suited for him than you," she gushes as she pulls Tatiana in for a hug. Tatiana blushes and returns the hug with a small thank you.

"Hey Sierra. How are you today, dear?" Caliana asks me and hold up my wrist to show her the bruise. She clucks, shaking her head in disappointment and motions me towards a room.

"Whom did you spar with? The wounds look pretty bad," she says as she checks out my lips and my wrist. Rolling my tank top to reveal the bruise at my hip, I wince a little at the movement of my wrist. Caliana pushes off my hands and does the work of rolling the top aside and checking out the bruise there.

"It is a bad wound, Sierra. You need to rest a few days and not indulge in any more sparring. I have applied the cream to reduce the swelling but if it swells more than this, you are to come here immediately. You can just come at our cabin if you feel anything in the evening," she offers. I thank her and sit up in the bed.

"How is the mated life treating you, Cali?" asks Tatiana and I look at Caliana as her face turns a deep shade of beetroot. I laugh at her expression and tease her about how some male wolves were discussing about their sex lives a few days ago. She blushes more and then shakes her head.

"Lycidas is great. He looks after each and every need of mine. I am being pampered on a daily basis and I love it. It is good to have our space instead of just a room. Still, Lycidas says that we should go to our pack for the coming mating season. It would just draw too much attention from the single male wolves," she sighs and I frown. What mating season?

"What do you mean?" I ask since Tatiana seems to know about it.

"Mating Season, Sierra, is a period of the year when your wolf and the human body go into ovulation, at the same time. The mating season is a time span of around a month in which a female can go into heat at any time. After the full moon in the next week, mating season will begin, so Lycidas wants to spend my first mating heat in our pack lands, in our own house, instead of a place where there are too many unmated males around. The smell of my heat would attract lots of unwanted attention," explains Caliana. I don't understand many things but get an idea about it.

"Why now? I mean we females don't go through mating heat every year. My mom, aunts and the Luna didn't go into mating heat last year or any year before. Why is that?" I ask.

"Only a marked female will undergo the mating heat. After the birth of the first child, the intensity of the mating heat starts reducing. Eventually, after a decade or so, the mating heat becomes less in its intensity and the female also gets used to it. It never actually goes away but then it is known that we werewolves are highly sexual beings. Usually the males just lock up their females in their homes to avoid being seen and it is understood by everyone else," informs Caliana with a slight blush no wonder thinking about Lycidas. I just nod, taking in all the information.

"Wow! I didn't know the dynamics about mating," I laugh at my own words.

Fenris didn't mark me, neither did we undergo the claiming ceremony, so it means that I won't go into heat this year. I don't know why but this news doesn't make me happy. In fact, I feel sad that I am not marked by him. Shaking my head, I get out of the bed and straighten my clothes.

"Thanks for bandaging me, Caliana and please meet us before leaving the school," I request Caliana. In the past few days, Caliana has become a very close friend to me and I would definitely want to meet her before she leaves. Who knows if she comes back or stays there and settles for good as the future Luna? Tatiana is going so it wouldn't be a surprise if Caliana and Lycidas go too.

A small part of my nightmare is coming true, I realise as I walk back towards the meeting hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quyana!

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