The Rogue Alpha’s Claim

“You whore, what were you doing with my mate?”

“Excuse me?” Ariel eyed the newcomer, but she still maintained a distance from her. She had learned her lesson, and she wasn’t going to engage in any girl’s fight, especially with a werewolf.

“What were you doing with Toby?”

“Toby?” Ariel broke out into a short laugh. “I think you are mistaken; we are just friends, and I am with the alpha.”

“I don’t care; stay away from Toby, or else you wouldn’t like what I would do.” The lady bared her teeth, showing her canine in a bid to scare her, but it takes a lot to scare Ariel, and she watched as the woman left.

“What was that about?” Ariel turned to the crowd that had gathered to witness the showdown, and they all shrugged.

“I think she is Toby’s mate.” A lady spoke, coming to stand in front of her. “She is new here, and she doesn’t know much about us. She must have smelled the gamma’s scent on you and thought you were together.”

“That is messed up. Why would Toby have to choose her out of everyone? It was obvious she didn’t want to be here.”

“We don’t have a choice about who-” The lady stopped talking as a different voice hushed in the mindlink.

“You were going to say something.”

“No. Toby could have really liked her, and he didn’t want to lose her.” She replied, and Ariel shrugged.

“Who am I to go against the ways of love?”

She continued helping them in the kitchen and even helped to prepare lunch, taking some for herself and Kane. But she was already bored out of her mind, and with nothing to do, she decided to take some lunch to Kane.

If he wasn’t so busy, they could stay and chat.

She packed his lunch in a thermos, cutting up some fruit for him and arranging it in a cute bag she had seen, and she was walking to meet him.

She stood in front of the door and reached up, connecting her knuckles with the door and hitting it. When no answer was forthcoming, she prepared herself to knock again when she heard his voice.

“What?” The coldness of his reply startled her, rendering her speechless, but she regained herself.

“I brought lunch.” Ariel replied, and she tried the door handle, pushing it in, but it wouldn’t budge.

“There will be no need for that. I am busy right now.”

“Oh.” Ariel deflated like a punctured balloon, and she stood there waiting for his footsteps. But she heard none, and she turned her back, dragging her feet back to her room.

With nothing to do, Ariel could only hop from one app to another on her phone.

She should have stayed with her job.

Hell, everyone had a job they were doing here, but she was only leeching on them for free, and it was not settling well with her.

It was in that position that she slept off, her back flat on the bed and her phone on her stomach. She only shifted when she felt hands on her, tapping her.

“Ariel?”

“Hmm.” She groaned, turning to curl herself on the bed.

“I am back.”

“Hmm.” She couldn’t care to stand up, as she was still reeling from the fact that he had ignored her earlier today.

He couldn’t even open the door.

She raised her head to look at him, and he was whistling happily as he changed into his clothes, and she got even more angry.

Was he not going to address his behavior earlier?

A few minutes in, Kane was seated on the sofa, eating the meal she had earlier packed for him, his eyes glued to his iPad, and the anger continued bubbling in her, threatening to spill.

She wouldn’t take it any longer; she needed to leave.

“Excuse me, please.” She stood up and was walking out the door before he could stop her.

“I can’t wait to find my mate.” She remained still as she heard the voice of one of their packmates. “I can’t wait to meet someone with that instant connection and chemistry. Goddess knows that I am tired of this life; I just want a man to sweep me off my feet and love me unconditionally.”

“Girl, don’t put your hopes high. I have heard of mates that reject the bond, and you don’t want to experience that.”

“I know, but the rejection is like one in a thousand or even ten thousand. I am allowed to dream.” The blonde sighed, and they all nodded in agreement.

“Do you think Ariel is the alpha’s mate?” Her breath hitched up as she heard her name, and she was leaning as close as she could without getting caught.

“I don’t think so; the alpha can’t even wear her mark. Honestly, the alpha is too good; he doesn’t want to tell her because he is afraid it would break her heart.”

Ariel stood there, frozen in disbelief at what she had just heard, and the word kept echoing in her head. She made a u-turn, heading back to her room, and she sat up on her bed, pulling out her phone and searching for what mates meant.

She had always thought it was just a word for your partner-a short form of soulmate. She had admitted that she found it romantic whenever she heard them refer to their partners as mates, but never in her entire life did she know it held more meaning.

“Be calm; I will not overreact.” Ariel was saying to herself as she looked up on the search engine. “No, no,” Ariel yelled, her eyes moving from left to right, but none were giving her what she wasted.

She attached the keyword werewolf to it, holding her breath as it loaded, and the first meaning she saw had her eyes bulging out, and she swallowed the saliva that had pooled in her mouth, trying to keep calm.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

She cleared her throat as she began to read out loud. “Mate. A predestined partner for a werewolf, selected by the moon goddess, it is characterized by an irresistible pull towards each other, sparks whenever they touch, and good sexual chemistry.”

As Ariel read each line, it felt like she was reading her doom.

Why the hell did no one think to tell her about mates? Not even the person she was sleeping with or the ones she called her friends?

Her finger tightened into a fist as different scenarios began to run through her head, and she began to compare their relationship.

She wasn’t even from the moon goddess; there was no way the lady was going to predestine someone for her, so that was off the list.

Irresistible pull? She found him attractive, but she wasn’t sure it could be talk or an irresistible pull, so that was also off the list.

She had never felt sparks whenever they touched, but they had good sexual chemistry; however, it was one out of four, and it led to a glaring conclusion.

She wasn’t his mate, but it only seems to beg the question.

Who was his mate?

Was he toying with her until he found his mate? It all made sense now; that was why he was still a virgin. He was keeping himself for his mate, but someone else-she-came to the picture, and he couldn’t control himself.

The fucker.

He had the guts to play with her heart. Giving her fake promises while his heart belonged to another?

She wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Kane!”

She was bouncing off to his office, meeting or no meeting; he was going to tell her the truth or she was going to force it out of him.

“Kane!” She pushed the door open, and thankfully it gave way, and she stormed it, seeing him on his desk.

She was frozen for a moment, his sweet smile dazzling her, but she shook her head, focusing on the goal at hand.

“How dare you call me your love, promising me sweet nothing when you know you have a mate somewhere? How dare you lie to me?”