Queen of the Wolves

01

Amara’s POV.

[Flashback]

I walked out of the training camp, scanning the crowd for a familiar face. Finally, I saw Axel, my mate, standing tall and handsome in our school uniform. My lips curved into a smile as I closed the distance between us.

“Amara!” he exclaimed, his arms opening wide to hug me.

The sweet fragrance of his cologne enveloped me as we embraced, and I couldn’t help but feel safe in his arms.

“Is your training over? Why did you attend school? I know it’s hard to be a royal protector, and yet you keep going to class,” he lectured, his brow furrowed in concern.

I let out a small laugh, knowing how much he worried about me. “You know me too well. But, I can’t help it. I enjoy being around you,” I replied, a smile on my lips. “Just seeing you makes me happy and my tiredness disappears.”

For a moment, his frown disappeared, replaced with a smile of relief. He hugged me tighter, his warm breath on my neck as he spoke, “Okay, just don’t tire yourself.”

Silence engulfed us as we stood still, our eyes fixated on the heavens, where the fluffy clouds acted as filters, diffusing the bright rays of the sun and bestowing upon us a calming ambiance.

“Love, would you support me no matter what?” Axel’s sudden question caught me off guard, and I turned to look at him, trying to read his expression.

My heart skipped a beat at the vulnerability I saw in his eyes. I felt a pang of worry in my chest, wondering what was bothering him, but I knew better than to push him to talk. I would wait until he was ready to share. For now, I would just be there for him, holding his hand and supporting him through whatever he was going through.

“Of course,” I replied, laying my hand on his, giving it a squeeze.

A small smile finally graced his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you, and I’m sorry,” he said, the weight of his words hanging in the air.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Axel had been occupied with his duties, leaving me with little to no time to spend with him. To keep myself occupied, I took on distant missions, one of which was to guard the Alpha King. But no matter how busy I was, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of unease that lingered within me after our last conversation.

The moment I saw the Alpha King, I found myself overwhelmed by painful memories of my past, memories that I had buried deep within me, and I struggled to keep my emotions in check. But little did I know that the pain I felt from my past would be nothing compared to what was to come.

I was walking back to my quarters after a long day of keeping an eye on the Alpha King when I saw them – Axel and Rhea, the only daughter of the Wilson’s. My heart dropped as I watched them together, holding hands and laughing. But the final blow came when Axel leaned in and kissed her.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was as if my world had come crashing down around me. How could Axel cheat on me? How could he betray me like this? My tears flowed like a river, my voice cracking as I yelled his name with a depth of emotion that shook me to my core.

“Axel!” I shouted, causing them both to turn and look at me.

Rhea’s brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to place me, while Axel stood frozen in his stance.

His lips parted. “Love…”

But my eyes were ablaze, boring into him with an intensity that could rival the sun. The pain he caused was unbearable, and I couldn’t help but wonder if our love was just a lie. I thought he was mine. How could I have been so foolish to trust him?

“Who is she?” Rhea asked, her question sliced through the tension like a knife.

She clung to his arm, and I felt a sudden urge to rip her hands away. I had every right to, after all; I was Axel’s mate.

“No one,” Axel replied, his voice strained. “Uh, will you go ahead first?” I saw the pleading look in his eyes as he spoke to her.

No one?! Was that what I had become to him?

When Rhea left, Axel pulled me to the dark part of our quarters, where my worst fears were confirmed after I had caught him betraying me.

“No one?!” I screamed at him, the words tearing from my throat. “Fuck you, Axel! I’m your mate!”

I could feel nothing but a seething anger at his deception. He had cheated on me, lied to me, and in doing so, shattered everything we had built.

He stood before me, his eyes downcast and his hands fidgeting nervously. “Love, I can explain,” he said, his voice pleading. “Remember when I told you my story? That I want to be higher than the Hilton’s? I’m just using her to get a higher position. When I become the Alpha King, I will be as powerful as my cousin. I can take revenge. Please understand me.”

I shook my head in disbelief, tears streaming down my face. Despite his words, I couldn’t understand how he could betray me in such a way.

“You’re choosing power over me?” I scoffed. “You’re choosing your revenge, your greed, over your mate?”

It felt like something was blocking my throat, and I struggled to find the words to express my pain.

As he reached out to touch me, I stepped back, yanking my hand away from his grasp. My heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces as I stared at him.

“The choice is yours, it’s either me or those useless things,” I warned.

The light that once shone bright in his eyes fizzled out, leaving nothing but an abyss of nothingness staring back at me. In a sudden and shocking move, he cut our connection, severing the emotional ties that bound us, leaving me with a hollow ache in my chest and an overwhelming sense of abandonment. The brutal reality of his choice became a sharp and painful reminder that he had forsaken me for his own selfish desires.

“I, Axel Hawkins, reject you, Amara Dale, as my mate,” he declared.

His face was a mask, and I couldn’t recognize the man I had loved for years in the cold, distant figure before me. His gaze was blank, devoid of any love or affection that I had once known. The echoes of those words carved a new wound onto my already broken heart. I crumpled to the ground, my body trembling with sobs as I gazed up at him. But the man who looked down at me was no longer the same one who had once held me with tenderness and care.

How could he reject me so easily, after all we had been through? It was like he didn’t even care about me anymore.

“I thought you would understand me,” he spoke in a monotonous tone, his words ringing hollow in my ears.

I wiped away the tears in my eyes. “Is this it? Is this your choice? To choose a path that will only lead to your own destruction?” I asked, my heart filled with resentment. “Remember this, Axel. I will never accept your rejection. You will never find happiness.”

In the world of werewolves, the Moon Goddess had her own rules. If one’s mate didn’t accept their rejection, there would be no seal to mark their union official. The only exception was if one didn’t have a mate or if both accepted each other.

“We will both suffer,” I bitterly swore.

A mix of emotions churned within me as I turned my back on him. The weight of his rejection pressed down on me, like an anchor on a ship doomed to sink.

As I took one painful step after another, I felt as though my feet were made of lead. The mere act of moving forward seemed to take all the effort in the world, my body trembling with the effort of keeping my emotions in check.

The echo of my footsteps was the only sound that filled the emptiness around me as I moved further away. My heart, however, was far from silent – it raged like a tempest, drowning out all else with its sorrow.

I hoped with every fiber of my being that his plans for revenge would fail, that he would realize the mistake he had made in abandoning me, his mate.