His mate, my Doom

Corrigan's POV

"I, Corrigan Price, hereby reject you, Lucien Blackthorn as my mate."

I wake up suddenly from my dream, gasping. My palm finds my chest, trying to calm the heavy thudding. I kick off the sheets on my bed and stand, pacing the floor of my bedroom. It's dark but I don't mind. The dark is the last thing on my mind.

It's been three years since I rejected Lucien. Three years since I had watched him get exiled from the pack. Two years since I had stopped having dreams about him. Why is he back in my head now? I bite my lip, running my hands through my hair. Would he come back? Like he'd sworn to?

For your sake, I hope I die in exile because the day I return you will pay.

I shudder, trying to block out the thoughts of Lucien. It wasn't easy.

"Your wedding is tomorrow, Corrigan," I tell myself and I wince. I am engaged to Dante, the Alpha of the Black Crest pack. My pack. Tomorrow we seal the engagement. I try to be grateful. 

I'm becoming Luna. But all I can feel is dread. Nobody knows Dante as I do. Or knows the things he's capable of.

I lie on the cool bed, closing my eyes to sleep and I begin to drift off. 

I hear a soft voice in my head, it's almost imaginary...

I'm back, pet.

3 years ago

"Smile, darling. You look like a corpse." I heard Mum say through her teeth. I tried to widen my smile, forcing myself not to think of just how boring the entire thing was. 

The Full Moon fete was a long, week-long celebration of the full moon and as the daughter of the beta of the pack, it was something of a duty of mine to be there the whole time, helping in preparations, celebrations, and participating in everything. But when you had participated and helped and celebrated for eighteen years, everything seemed to bore you.

 I watched the dancing and the music from the platform I stood on, alongside my parents and the other members of the pack house.

Dante, the present alpha, sat beside his Luna, Anneliese in front of us. She was a year or two older than me and pleasant enough, without a single personal thought of her own.

 I suppose this was why Dante liked her. He likes women he can control and command. Smart-or not in this case, not smart at all-but not smarter than he was, never opposing him out challenging him, or confronting him when rumors began of his involvement-to put it mildly-with many other women. She was pretty to look at, with her blonde hair and baby-blue eyes.

I looked away from Anneliese to catch Dante staring at me, a speculative expression on his face. I shudder and look away.

He's handsome. In a plastic, soft-boy Ken doll type of way. I didn't have a type. I was more than content to wait for whoever the moon goddess had chosen for me. I have seen a lot of the other members of the pack live happily and never fall in love with their mates, so why should I be any different?

I look up to the full moon and close my eyes. When will I meet him, moon goddess? May he please be handsome. And kind...I'd love him but please let him be handsome. It would make it easier.

I open my eyes to catch my mum glaring at me. "Falling asleep during the ceremony, Corrigan."

I blushed. "I wasn't falling asleep. I need a bit of fresh air."

I stood up before she could object and hurried out of the pack house. I shook my hair free of its hairstyle and let it fall down my shoulders in dark red waves. I like the woods behind the pack house. It seems like a location straight out of a horror movie to some but to me, it's a sort of haven. In the full moon and underneath the stars, it looks beautiful.

I know I shouldn't be so worried about finding my mate now. I shifted first only a few months ago. But I'm worried. What if I become one of those she-wolves to Nate in their thirties? Or what if I never meet my mate? Or what if I don't have one? What if I end up like one of those she-wolves Dante plays around with?

My wolf, Crystal, becomes restless. It feels like she's scraping at the surface, urging me.

Run.

I look around. "Run where?"

Run.

I let the adrenaline course through me and I begin to run, my feet beating against the earth and the twigs and the fallen leaves. 

Urged by Crystal, I race through the forest, almost laughing out loud at the feeling of exhilaration coursing through me. I scale trees, going higher, from one tree to another.

When Crystal finally settles, I slow down, leaning against a tree and taking deep breaths. 

My heartbeat slows and normalizes and I look around.

A short distance away, almost half a mile away, there was a river. Someone was standing in the river. A male, naked someone...

Gasping, I hid behind a shrub. Crystal had chosen a nice place to calm down, I thought sarcastically. Just in front of someone who was taking a bath in the lake. He had a very strong back. Muscular and toned.

 The beauty of his back was further highlighted by the moon, making him appear dark and mysterious. Unbidden, my gaze trailed downwards from his back to his hands on a pair of male buttocks.

I've lived an extremely sheltered life, courtesy of my mum, so this was a new experience, looking at a man's behind. It wasn't an entirely bad experience...

"Don't. Move." I heard him call out. "If you run, I will chase you. And whether or not I put on any clothes is anyone's guess."

I gasped, straightening and turning to run. I couldn't let anyone find out I had acted like a pervert, ogling a male in the pack while he was naked. My father prized reputation. A lot. I ran as fast as I could, trying not to shift.

 It would be extremely painful.

 I would rip this dress into pieces

 I would have to explain to Mum why a dress she had imported from Italian designers was

ruined and

I would have to...

I felt a hand circle my neck and back me up against a tree with a heavy thud.

"You're quite slow." I heard a voice drawl. "And for someone who wants to hide in the forest you run with the force of an elephant."

I didn't have to look down at him to realize he had no clothes on. He had kept his promise. He hadn't put on any clothes. I looked up at his face. He had dark hair. Black. His eyes were gray and empty, devoid of emotion. I suck in a breath, waiting for it to be over.

He watched me closely, as though trying to examine me. I shifted uncomfortably. 

"That...what just happened was an honest mistake."

"Of course." He smiled sardonically.

"And I didn't mean to..." I swallowed.

"See me naked?" He completed, obviously enjoying my embarrassment.

I felt my face heat. "Do you mind taking your hand off my neck?" I asked, faking a smile.

"So fucking polite." He murmured. "You're the beta's daughter. Right? Corinne?"

"Corrigan." I corrected him. "And that is all the more reason why you should take your hands off me."

He was a warrior of the pack. He didn't seem like the gamma or even a visitor in the pack. I lifted my chin.

"Now," I added.

His fingers grazed my chin and my cheek. It seemed like a bit too soft a caress for someone like him. It was exciting to be touched like this. I felt Crystal become more restless and agitated. The pad of his thumb brushed my lower lip and I felt a shiver course through me. My eyes drifted closed.

"Corrigan." He whispered, good breath mingling with mine.

His lips brushed mine slowly like they were exploring. They returned more forcefully this time, urging mine apart and brushing his tongue against mine. I moaned, angling my head.

He seemed to snap out first, breaking the kiss first and leaning back, his fingers loosening around my throat. I stared up at him, my mind still hazy from the kiss. He stepped back, one step after the other,

turned, leaping into the trees and away. I let go of a breath I didn't know I had been holding and leaned back against the tree.

My fingers brushed the healing bruise on my neck from his fingers and I groaned. I had to get back.