MATES: REGRETS AND REDEMPTION

“I reject you as my mate.”

As I spoke out the words, his hands balled into a fist while staring at me with his piercing green eyes.

I knew he was angry. Who would expect to be rejected when you finally found your mate?

But I had to do this.

I had been in a relationship with my boyfriend Curtis since high school. We never thought about mating with other strangers, so we both decided to reject our mates when we met them, and then we could choose each other as our mate to spend the rest of our life together.

We had it all mapped out and I wasn’t going to give that up.

The man before me was silent but held his stare on me, though he was now feeling the surge of pain as the bond was being severed.

I knew how much it hurt. I staggered, suffering the same effect.

But I knew it would pass.

“Why?” He finally growled as worry and angry flashed through his perplexed green eyes.

“I am in love with someone else and I am not leaving him for someone that I don’t care about.” I sounded heartless but I needed to be sincere so that he understood where I stood with the mate bond. “I am not going to date you or get to know you.”

I scanned his face to notice his flawless chiseled chin and prominent cheekbones. He had thick lashes protecting his eyes and the most kissable pouty lips. His jet black hair fell over his forehead and eyes while the rest fell to the back of his head.

'Our mate is perfect! Why did you reject him?!' My wolf growled inside, not liking my decision.

'We met Curtis first. We love him, and you agreed to it too.' I reminded her.

The Greek god of a man smirked and got up from the table in the café. His powerful aura radiating in the building. Mixed with that was his intoxicating scent of pumpkin mixed with pine trees that was driving my wolf crazy and making her propelling me to run into his arms.

“I will let you think about it some more and if within three months you still feel the same, I will let you go.” Despite my hostility, his voice was calming. He walked away leaving his coffee and bagel untouched.

I watched him through the glass window as he got in his car and drove away. I felt terrible and guilty. At least the café was empty as we were closing up for the day.

After leaving high school, I left my pack to head off to college but decided that I missed Curtis too much, so I transferred to do online classes. This way I could still be home with mom and dad while I got to hang around my handsome sweetheart.

Mates were destined to fall in love, and to cherish and protect each other for their entire lifetime. It accompanied a supernatural pull that made mates irresistible to each other and fall in love. Our wolves are always quick to accept their mates but our human side might need time. Additionally, we experience human emotions and tendencies.

Even so, we can choose to accept or reject our mates. Rejection is done by making a declaration using the full names of the mate that is doing the rejection and the mate that is being rejected. In order to complete the rejection and fully sever the mate bond, the party being rejected has to accept the rejection.

My rejection would still be the same even after three months, so I hoped that my ex-mate wasn’t getting his hopes up.

My wolf has been quiet even since my attempted rejection of our mate. She was upset with me but I thought she already knew I wouldn’t accept him. I mean, she liked Curtis, so what was her problem?

We will heal from this and live our happy ending with Curtis Black. I am optimistic and I believe in our love.

Curtis doesn’t know that I have met my mate and I don’t want to mention it until the mate bond is fully severed. I don’t want to make him worry or feel insecure that my mate might steal me away from him.

I am currently working at the café in our town so that I can have time for my classes and training. Everyone in this pack is required to have some form of training for self-defense when rogues attack or in the event of a war.

After I got home, I showered and went online to the college portal to check on my courses and assignments. My phone lights up with a beep and I see a message from an unknown number.

-Unknown: I am glad that you got home safely. It was a pleasure meeting you today. I promise not to bother you too much but being able to send a message once in a while might actually help.

An assumption formed in my head immediately that this had to be my ex-mate.

I decided not to reply as I don’t want the bond to grow stronger.

He might think that he was slick, but I knew a man can be persistent when he wants a woman. I rolled my eyes and blocked his number.

I won’t allow him to get close to me or even be friends for the sake of my boyfriend and our relationship.

I sent Curtis a goodnight message before I went to bed. However, I spotted two red eyes in my backyard staring up at me when I was closing the window. I froze as they s*ck*d me in. My wolf stirred and purred like a kittycat. I gulped at the foreign heat that suddenly surged in my body.

“Sh*t!” I muttered as I saw a wolf laid down with his focus on me.

I could guess who it was. So, he was this determine, huh?

Shaking my head, I closed the window while ignoring him. I jumped into bed, crawling under the covers and praying to get some sleep tonight.

Who would have thought that rejecting someone could be this troublesome?

It took hours to fall asleep but when I looked out the window again, he was gone. I sighed in relief and then dozed off to dreamland.

He would not make me change my decision. Never!

-SIANNA'S POV-

Even now, three days later, I can still feel the turbulence in my life. My phone alarm goes off at precisely six in the morning, jarring me out of my euphoric sleep and forcing me to open my eyes.

For Tara, today was a noteworthy day. She has been contracted to provide catering at the Gear Pavilion, which will start at nine this morning. My suspicions that a specific someone engineered this scheme to put me in his orbit began to rise the minute that she told me about it. But I wasn’t going to bail on her.

Blindly, I stretched to the night table to take up the noisy phone to turn off the alarm when my hands brushed against something, and it fell to the floor.  

Abruptly, I jolted out of bed to check what could have fallen. Perturbed, I scrutinized the objects. I found a card and a stuffed pony of Princess Celestia from “My Little Pony.” I used to watch the animation as a kid, and this character was my favorite. I even u