Sacred Decree

•Chapter One• Life

Aubrielle

"Order up!" Sandy, the restaurant owner's voice rang out, followed by the noticeable sound of a bell. "Orders for tables one and six are ready."

After refilling the sugar containers, I set them aside and then hurried to the counter to pick up the order for table one. Once I had delivered that order, I returned to the counter for the other order. Setting the orders in front of table six's occupants, I received a wink from Evander.

Rolling my eyes, I turned and walked away with a shake of my head. Evander Nelix Ashford was a big-time flirt and an even bigger player. He flirted with any female, regardless of age. Every day he had a new girl on his arm and today's flavor was Sasha, a girl that was as easy as turning a knob.

Sadly, Evander was also the future beta of my pack. In a few weeks, our current Alpha planned to step down and pass the Alpha title to his son, Derriel Karl Fernand, and Evander would then become beta. I felt pity for the poor she-wolf who ended up as his mate.

I walked over to table three and began to clean it up. Taking the dishes, cups, and utensils to the kitchen, I returned with a wet cloth to wipe down the table. Once I was done, I turned around and my eyes landed on Evander long enough to see him blow me a kiss.

Completely ignoring him, I head back to the kitchen where I washed the cloth and hung it up. While Evander is very handsome and sexy, his type disgusts me. Every werewolf has a mate and those who choose not to wait for theirs are the worst as far as I'm concerned.

Every day I prayed that my mate was like me, he chose to wait for his mate instead of sleeping around with anything that moved. But I knew that the world we live in isn't perfect and rarely do we get what we wish or hope for. Wishes rarely come true, if ever.

Once upon a time, the moon goddess created all shifters, vampires, drow, etc. Out of all the creatures she created, werewolves were her favorite because they were the most loyal of all her children. All her children were granted soul mates, though werewolves mate for life, unlike other shifters. It was the greatest gift anyone could be given in my opinion.

But everything changed when were-kind grew arrogant, they began to feel they should be allowed to choose their mate instead of appreciating the gift given to us, our soul mate. Weres thought they should be like humans in that one aspect. After all, we were capable of falling in love just like humans. So what was the point of waiting for a mate?

Mate rejections grew in numbers seemingly overnight. But then so did Werewolf suicides. Those who were rejected suffered the pain of rejection which eventually killed their wolf soul. A rejected wolf soul can't live long without its soulmate, they usually die of heartbreak. For werewolves, our wolf soul is a vital part of our lives, and to lose that part is too painful to bear, eventually, it may drive us to end our life.

Unable to endure the loss of another of her children, the moon goddess used one of her vessels to convey her feelings and wishes to the council, which caused the Elders to pass a new law. This resulted in mate rejection becoming illegal, punishable by life-long incarceration, or even death, depending on the offense.

Due to the law, mate rejections have become a thing of the past, for the most part. Those foolish enough to reject their mate get punished or become rogues, hoping to evade punishment. However, that doesn't stop Weres from having promiscuous relationships discriminately before they find their mate. A fact that disgusts me.

"Aubrie," I felt a tap on my shoulder, causing me to jump and turn to look over my shoulder to see Sandy standing there.

"What's up?" I ask, eyes wide with surprise.