Night and Neera: A Rejected Mate Story

Chapter 6: Your Little Bitch

When I was a little girl, a couple of years before my parents were killed, I remember a pack event -- a summer solstice picnic that ended in a run -- and seeing our Alpha and his Howl walking hand-in-hand. He was talking to the pack members, giving them his free hand for a moment as Night and Nerón followed behind. Alpha never let go of his wife's hand. Not once. He couldn't stop touching her. All Destined Ones had a close relationship, touch and scent being especially important to us, but Alpha seemed especially linked to his Howl, never letting go of her hand once in all the time I watched. 

And I watched for a long time. To this day, I couldn't say why I had followed the two of them so intently with my eyes, but I remember thinking the link between them was beautiful and pure and very, very real. It almost seemed to crackle in the air around them, and it was there in every quick glance and every longing look between them. They may have been Destined Ones, and therefore predisposed to be attracted to one another, drawn together, linked forever, but they also had come to love each other deeply.

How they raised Night in that kind of loving, openly adoring environment only to have him turn out to be a man who could humiliate and debase his own Howl was a mystery to me -- and most likely to our pack members. Even if Destined Ones didn't love each other, at the very least there was great affection, mutual respect and deep caring.

Now for the second time in two weeks, I was being dragged to the Den, but this time Night was leading me by the hand instead of my upper arm. And once again, this time I had no idea what was about to go down.

Maybe my execution? Could he actually do that to me, his Howl, his very own Destined One sent by the Forces? The thought seemed impossible -- yet so had his rejection of me, and he had done that without blinking. My thoughts kept circling wildly, yet my execution seemed to be his most likely course of action.

If he was going to kill me, though, he might very well have a revolt on his hands. If the bonds between Destined Ones were sacred, the bond between the Alpha and Howl were revered. I already knew from the silence following my rejection that the wolves weren't happy with him. Wolves are not quiet creatures in their joy and happiness; that there was such complete silence when he sent me away from him was telling. Nobody except Lindsay Morgan had been pleased with Night that day.

Now, if he was going to rip my throat out, I wanted Owena and Echo far away from here. They'd shifted right before they walked into the Den, just on my heels, and they were whispering together, as near to me as they could get. Probably trying to figure out how they could possibly save me if Night was about to end my life.

Unfortunately, if they attempted to stop him or in any way interfere with his decision to execute me, their lives would be forfeit. They would end up with their throats being torn out, too. No one could stand in the way of an execution unless they wanted to end up dead.

As Night continued to drag me toward the fireplace where the first scene of my humiliation had taken place, my eyes searched the room for Lindsay Morgan's sure-to-be-smirking face. Maybe she was hidden away, ready to make her grand entrance at just the perfect moment.

I declare my loyalty to Lindsay Morgan, and it is to her that I declare my allegiance and my devotion.

I know it was unreasonable to hate her, but I did. She knew she was not his Destined One, but she held Night's heart, so much so that he resisted the strong pull of his Howl.

So I state here and now, with all of our pack as witnesses, that I reject Neera Karis. I reject her as my Destined One. I reject her as my Howl. 

He had told every member of our pack that somehow, he did not feel anything for me. That there was nothing between us that he could sense, that I may have been any other wolf to him. Nothing special.