Chapter 3

Alice

It was the fifth night that I was meeting Stefan in the forest glade and I felt that for the first time, life was giving me some of the happiness that had been taken from me after my father's death in that horrible war against the vampires.

I felt blissful, so I made a picnic for my mate to feed him as tradition dictated. When he arrived that night, he looked tense, but once he saw the surprise I had in store for him, he simply smiled and surrendered to the moment.

"You're a sweetheart, and you're mine," he said before carrying me and turning me sweetly.

That's what our meetings boiled down to, meeting, making love, and then letting our beasts free to play with all the energy of life. It was fun, but I wanted to be able to talk to him about what was going to happen to us. I needed to tell him who I was.

"I need us to talk about something—" Stefan wouldn't let me finish and put a finger to my lips.

"I don't want us to talk about anything; right now, what I want is to spend a few days of absolute peace before my father's burial," he told me tactfully. He gave me a gentle caress on my cheek to appease me, and I nodded because I respected his mourning. "I just want you to be mine no matter what; let's keep this private until that day. Swear it, Alice."

"I swear, I won't say anything until you do."

With that, he kissed me, and we spent a beautiful evening where we were simply one, but a part of me felt anxious because he hadn't claimed me yet, and Selene, my she-wolf, felt that way too.

I feel something is wrong; Dilon is upset about something and he won't tell me yet, Selene said as we arrived home.

The next morning, I woke up happy. I had spent a few days in the clouds, but I had to eat, so I had to go to the market. I got ready and realized that I felt very well, enough to not feel so cold, so I decided to go more comfortable and lightly dressed. As I was leaving the house, Bianca arrived with a basket of fruit.

"This is a peace offering," she said, looking at me with shame for having left me alone those days. "I had not been able to come earlier because I have been needed to arrange the Alpha's funeral and burial, but I have come to bring you something you will like."

When Bianca approached, she looked at me with surprise, sniffed deeply, then dropped everything and hugged me very warmly, which made me smile.

"Did you manage to change? Do you have your she-wolf?"

"I have my she-wolf," I replied happily, and she began to prance around contagiously.

It was amazing, and then her brother Teo showed up and joined the collective hug with ease.

"I don't know what we're celebrating, but I'm joining in," he said with a big smile.

"Smell it," Bianca instructed him enthusiastically. "Tell me what you notice."

Teo inhaled sharply, and then, in a way I never expected, his pupils dilated fully, and he looked at me with an expression of complete surprise.

"You're an Omega, Alice," he said happily, then frowned as you continued to sniff. "And you smell like someone else."

Bianca started sniffing and then frowned.

"That other smell, I know, but it's very diluted from the hot water bath you took, yet you haven't been marked," she mused in surprise. "Did you get tangled up with someone, Alice?"

Teo raised his eyes, and I turned red as a tomato.

I wanted to tell them what was going on, but I couldn't until Stefan went public. So, I just laughed and didn't answer them, shoved the basket of fruit inside the cabin quickly, and then walked as if they hadn't said anything.

Teo took my hand and looked at me seriously.

"Did someone hurt you?" He asked softly, and I denied it. He let go of me, but his serious expression was marked on his face.

Bianca walked over to me and grabbed my arm.

"We better go to the market, I think that's where you're going, isn't it?"

"Yes, let's go to the market; I have things to buy."

The tension was felt a little, but Bianca dissuaded it with her humor. However, the most curious thing was to see how many of the people who looked at me wrong had curiosity in their eyes. I took no notice of them and made my purchase. By the time we got out, we saw several cars passing by heading towards the Alfa's house, but the last car stopped, and a stunning redhead got out of it and looked at everyone with a certain haughtiness before going inside to order something at one of the restaurants in town.

"Is she the Alpha's fiancée?" asked Bianca innocently to Teo, and I looked at them with surprise.

"What fiancée are they talking about?" I asked carefully.

"The new Alpha has had a fiancée for a couple of years now. He promised one of the old Alphas who trained him that he would marry his firstborn daughter and make her his Luna. She is Circe, one of the most important warriors in the main city of the Eastern Pack, and she will be our future Luna. Alpha Stefan was waiting for her to begin the ceremony," Teo said calmly, and I felt my heart shatter.

They didn't notice my condition.

The only one who felt the pain was Selene, who howled with rage inside me and then hid in a hurry when she realized I wasn't going to go challenge the woman.

"It's so sad how the custom of legitimizing your mate has been lost," Bianca murmured with some regret. "In another age, a man would never agree to marriage except with his mate."

"We are in a difficult time; to preserve the continuation of the species and the legacy of the species, it was decided that if a werewolf gets his mate after marriage, she will become a formal concubine, and everyone must respect that," Teo expounded patiently.

I thought it was the worst rule in the world, but I didn't say anything; they kept talking about the benefits and inanities of that Council rule while my heart was breaking to pieces. Finally, Teo was called away, and Bianca went to finish whatever it was she was doing.

When I went into the cabin, I just wanted to die of jealousy.

That night I went on impulse to confront Stefan. Stefan, seeing my face, knew exactly what was wrong with me, so he said firmly:

"You are my Mate, and you can't be an insecure woman. Be content with knowing that it's just a deal that I'm going to break when the time comes, so stop thinking nonsense and better be mine."

He didn't give me time for anything else; he just kissed me, and I took refuge in the fact that we were mates and he was going to respect that. I trusted that he would do the right thing.

Two days latersquare, I realized that was not the case.

The late Alpha was finally laid to rest in the public square and we all went to pay our respects. Unfortunately, I couldn't get close to Stefan because of the crowds, but I was able to leave the flowers that the Alpha liked to smell because they reminded him of his old Luna. So I joined the prayers and chants that we made to the Goddess so that the soul of the old Alpha would ascend to her bosom and find peace.

It was part of a beautiful ritual, and then we went to take the Alpha's body to be buried in the family crypt. All the groups gathered to pay him a final tribute. They went from rank to rank; the first to enter were the Betas, then the Deltas, and finally the small group of Omegas. It was just at that moment that I approached to go in with everyone, but the head of the Omegas approached me angrily.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I have my she-wolf, and I'm an Omega; I've come to join the pack," I said calmly and matter-of-factly.

That made the rest of the wolves listen and start sniffing at me; some were amazed, some were skeptical and some, like the head Omega, were simply burning with rage.

"You're not a pure Omega, so you don't fit into this group," she spat bitterly.

"But it's just that—"

"It's that nothing; don't be insolent half-breed; how dare you dare to consider yourself part of a group if you have the tainted blood of those filthy humans?" She questioned him just as a group of the Elite came up next to Stefan to see what was going on.

"The leader is right; half-breeds don't integrate into groups, let alone the daughter of a human prostitute," one of the girls who had recently pestered me blurted out.

"We don't want half-breeds! We don't want half-breeds! We don't want half-breeds!" shouted the rest of the Omegas in a sort of chant, and I looked to my Mate for help.

This one came up to me and looked at me with anger that frightened me.

"Are you a half-breed?" he asked in disgust. "Why didn't you tell me you were a half-breed?"

"I was going to tell you, but all this happened and I—"

He wouldn't stop talking to me; he threw me to the ground with a meanness that broke my soul and at that moment, Teo and Bianca wanted to approach, but the Elite wouldn't let them.

"You're a filthy half-breed," Stefan spat and recognition at last shone in his eyes. "You're the brat my mother had mercy on and you didn't tell me."

"That doesn't matter," I said painfully. "We're mates; we're meant for each other."

A collective gasp was heard in the background, and a vein popped in Stefan's forehead.

"You leave me no choice, so I, Stefan Gray, Alpha of the Southern Pack and leader of the Elite, reject you, Alice Brown, as my mate and Luna of this pack," he said, and I felt a horrifying pain rise in my head. My wolf started to cry, and I couldn't hold myself, so I kept on the floor. "I want everyone in the Southern Pack to know: in my territory, I do not accept half-breeds; it is against nature. Species should not, and cannot, mix; to do so is synonymous with banishment. We are a superior race, and we cannot weaken ourselves by bonding with filthy humans."

I couldn't say anything; the shock didn't leave me. Then Stefan kneeled down and grabbed my hair tightly.

"Accept the rejection, and don't make me angry," he mused cruelly.

"I, Alice Brown, accept your rejection as my mate," I said through tears, and one of the threads that bound our bond snapped.

What was left of my heart had finished breaking. Everyone began to praise him while others looked at me with disgust, and he walked away from me as if I were the plague. My friends came to my aid immediately.

"I want to die," I said to Bianca between sobs.