My Long Lost Mate

The sound of raindrops filled my room and the cold breeze from my open window pierced through my body. I held out my hand to feel the water droplets touched my hand. Rain always made me feel so peaceful and calm, washing away my worries and fear for a moment.

When I was locked up in the underground room, the sound of rain was the only thing that I heard. It reminded me that I was still alive and accompanied me to bear the pain on my body. It gave me the strength to stay alive, to not waste my mom's effort for keeping me in this world. I know there must be a meaning to every soul that was brought to this world, and I will not give my life up before I found the purpose of my very existence.

Today was my last day staying here and I haven't told Sir Luke that I'll be leaving. I need to thank him for taking such good care of me these last few days. I walked out of my room to search for him. I think he won't be in his room because it's noon, and I know he is a busy man. Where should I go to find him? Maybe I should ask the people working here. I walked around to search for someone that I can ask but nobody's around. I keep walking around the house and found a garden. The garden was filled with roses, and the smell of roses roam freely in the air. Too bad I can't go out of the house or else I will get soaked.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I turned around and saw Andrew behind me, also staring at the garden. This guy always appears out of nowhere. "Luke's mother loved roses, so we filled the garden with roses," he said, smiling.

"I have never seen her around," I replied nonchalantly.

"Well, she's not here anymore," he held his forefinger vertically, pointing towards the air.

Feeling I've just asked something sėnsɨtɨvė, my mouth formed into an 'O' shape as in a knowing manner and I quickly changed the topic, "So where is Sir Luke?"

"Probably in his office," he glanced at me, a hint of amusement was seen in his eyes, "You want to meet him?"

I nodded, "I have something to say to him."

"Follow me," he said before walking away from the garden.

I followed the man quietly, though a bit disappointed that I have to leave the garden so soon. After walking a few distances from the garden, we soon arrived on a different building from the one I was used to. We were now in a three-story building that was mostly in the color white, making it looks very neat and clean. I saw a few people glancing at me but then look away when Andrew glared at them.

"How's your condition?" he asked without looking at me.

"What?"

"I heard you got attacked by Denise," he added,

"Oh," I said realizing his question, "I'm fine. Did Sir Luke do something to her?"

"Sure he did. She lost one of her arms and now she has to live as a servant," he answered me calmly.

I gasped, surprised by what happened to her. I know she attacked me but isn't this too severe for a punishment?

Andrew noticed my surprised expression and said, "Don't worry about it. She made a few troubles too before so we just punished her for her delayed punishment. Luke also has never liked her before so after what she did yesterday, it's the right time to dispose her from her position. That girl just added fuel to the fire," he patted my head, "You are such a worrywart."

"I still think it's too much," I frowned.

Andrew stopped walking and pointed towards a door. "There it is," he said, "Now, I shall take my leave. Have a good talk," then he walked away.

I walked towards the door he pointed to before and raised my hand up to knock on the door. Before I knock on it, the door swung open by itself.

"Hi," Luke smiled at me, "Come in."

I walked into his office and saw a pile of paperwork on his desk. Apart from his messy desk, everything in this room was very neatly arranged and mostly furnished with brown colored furniture. This room gives off a warm and cozy feeling despite the amount of paperwork stored in this place.

"Are you busy?" I asked him.

"Not really," he said while sitting on his sofa, "Sit here," patting the sofa in front of him.

"Do you want some tea?" he lifted the teacup that was placed on the table, pouring the content to the cup on his other hand.

"No, thank you," I replied.

He nodded at me, "So, what do you want to talk about?" he asked as he raised his cup to his mouth, gulping down the tea.

"I'll be leaving tomorrow," I announced, causing his hand to froze mid-air as he stared at me wide-eyed.

"What?"

"Thank you for your generosity these past few days. I don't know how to repay your kindness, but if you have anything in mind, I will do my best to repay you."

"Why?" he inquired, "Do you have any place you can go?"

"Yes. I do have a place in mind."

"Where?"

"A place my mom told me about before," I answered.

"Where, exactly?" He asked me again, urging me to tell him my destination.

"Somewhere in the southern forest," I said.

"And you want to go there alone?" he asked me again.

I nodded my head to him and he sighed, "No," he said with a stern voice.

This time, it's my turn to ask him, "What?"

"I won't let you go there. You can't even protect yourself and you want to go to the southern forest? You don't even know what's inside."

"But it's my choice whether I want to go there or not," I replied.

"Yes. I know I should respect your decision, but I can't let you go."

"Why?" I asked him questioningly.

"Because you are a very important person to me, and I can't let anything bad happen to you when I just found you," he said without tearing his gaze away from me.

What is he talking about? We have only known each other for less than a week, I doubt we are that close to each other.

"If you want to repay me, then stay," he said.

I stared at him with a frown on my face, "Sir, I can't stay here forever. I don't belong here."

"Why can't you?" he asked, "You can stay here for as long as you want, and I will provide you with everything that you need. Isn't this a better choice than going to a dangerous forest by yourself? You can live a comfortable life here."

"I want to live alone," I said slowly, and he looked at me with a hurt expression on his face.

Why is he looking at me like that?

"You don't trust me, do you?" he asked.

I stayed quiet for a few seconds and replied,

".. No."

"Violet, I won't hurt you like your family did to you. I know bad things happen to you yesterday, but I promise it won't happen again," He said.

Why did he insist on me staying here?

"I know you have been nothing but nice to me, sir. But I want to live alone comfortably, away from other people that could possibly hurt me. I don't trust others."

He sighed again and stared at me unwaveringly, "Then at least stay here for a month. You can see whether you can trust me or not. If I do something bad to you, then you can leave immediately. In the meantime, you can also train with my warriors on how to fight. Isn't it better to be prepared rather than going now?" he said to me almost pleadingly.

It is true that it's better for me to learn how to fight rather than being clueless about it. I'm risking my life by going to that forest now. But I'm a bit uncomfortable living here without doing anything.

"Then... can you give me a job? I don't like the idea of living here for free. I want to at least do something to help you," I said.

His face lit up after hearing my words. He thought for a few moments and said, "So you will stay if I give you a job?"

"Yes," I replied, "But after a month, I will leave."

He smiled at me and said, "Okay. You can start working tomorrow. I will ask someone to explain to you about your job."

...

After Violet left my office, I exhaled my breath, feeling relieved that I could convince her to stay for another month. I couldn't let her go after I finally met her. I will do anything I could to earn her trust and made her stay by my side.

The door on my office swing open and Andrew came in, "Can you at least knock?" I asked, annoyed at how he entered as if it was his own room.

"Nah," he said, " What did she talk about?"

"She said she wanted to leave tomorrow."

"What?" he stared at me with a surprised look, "You will let her go?"

"Of course not, stupid. I convinced her to stay for another month by giving her a job here," I explained.

"What kind of job?"

"I don't know," I stayed quiet for a few seconds thinking about what job I should give to her, "Maybe my secretary? That way I can stay with her all day," a big smile appeared on my face thinking about the idea I just got.

"You don't even need one."

"Now I do."

"I should have known when she read those useless books at the library," he said while ruffling his hair.

"What book?" I asked him.

"Some books on how to fight. You should've seen her punching and kicking air," he said while laughing.

"Oh. You came here only to ask that?"

"Oh, right," he said realizing his purpose, "Jack called me that they are coming back in a few days."

"Already?" I glanced at him.

"Yeah, she didn't take too long this time."

Jack, my Gamma, went out to accompany Maggie, the witch that has been living in my pack. She usually went out every six months to search for some herbs and items that she needed for her witchery. She has been helping my pack with some things in return for her safety.

"There are two rogues detected on the north border," the voice of one of my warriors was heard through the mind-link, causing a groan to escape my lips.

The rogues' attack has been happening more frequently these few days and it was starting to get on my nerves. I need Maggie to make some magic barrier around my territory when she comes back later.

"Kill one of them, and capture the other one. We need to get some answers from him. Don't let them run away just like last time," I ordered.

I stood up and took off my clothes, "I'll look around the woods," I said to Andrew who also heard what the warrior had just said.

"Do you want me to come too?" He asked while taking off his clothes as well.

"No, I'll go alone. You go check on the rogues," I opened the window and jumped out of my office. I immediately shifted to my wolf form, then proceed to run towards the forest.

Who the hell is controlling these rogues? What do they want from us? Werewolves hearts... I don't think there is any use of them when they are not attached to one's body. We can't let them get what they want. Maybe I should train all of my pack members so that they can defend themselves. Those rogues won't have much time in the border without getting detected so if they can at least defend themselves for even a minute or two, it will give enough time for the guards to arrive at the spot.

Should I send someone to follow the rogues? It will be a very risky act but it will give us some hint on who is their boss. If only they came out of their hiding and announced war with us, we can kill them off faster. Unfortunately, they are not that stupid.

Nothing unusual was seen in the forest so I went back to the house. But as I neared the house, I heard my mate's scream. Shit.

I ran at my quickest pace and saw a rogue dragging Violet out of the house. I lunged at the rogue and landed my body on top of him, using my weight to hold him down.

"Ah, is she your mate? Alpha Luke," he smirked, "You better do a good job protecting her," that was the last words that will ever come out of his mouth.

I growled and quickly tore his head off before he could shift. His body soon laid lifelessly on the ground. Violet stared at the rogue's dead body with a terrified look and I stepped forward towards her but then she stepped away from me.

"N-no," she said with a quavering voice.

I really didn't want her to see such a terrifying scene but I had no choice. What if she is scared of me now? I wanted to hug her so bad right now but I couldn't. I ran back towards the forest to shift back and grab the pile of clothes prepared on the ground. After I clothed myself, I went back to the house to find Violet.

I knocked on Violet's room, "Violet, can I come in?" She didn't respond back to me and I started to became even more anxious than before, "I know you are inside, Violet. Please, can you open the door for me?"

There was still no response, and I swear I could hear a sob from inside. "Talk to me, Vi. I can help you," I let out a little groan.

I heard a few small steps before she opened the door, letting me to take in her appearance. I went inside and close the door behind me. I held her hand and led her towards the sofa, she didn't say anything and kept looking at the ground while stifling her tears. I brought my palm to her cheek, raising it up so that she faced me.

"Don't cry, you are making me want to cry too," I said while wiping her tears away. She hitched her breath and stared at me with her glassy eyes, her brows furrowing together, "Did he say something to you?"

She nodded her head to my question which let another tear to fall from her eyes, "What did he say?"

"H-he said that... I will soon meet the same fate as my mom," she answered in between her tears, "They will kill me too. I-I'm scared."

I brought her body close to me and hugged her tightly, "Don't be," my hand patted her back softly, trying to calm her down. "I will be by your side. I won't let them lay their hands on you ever. Look who's dead now, it's them and not you."

She reluctantly hugged me back and cried until she fell asleep. I carried her to the bed and laid her down slowly. Her eyes were now puffy and dry tears stained her cheeks, but she still managed to look like a goddess. I stroked her head and kissed her softly on the forehead.

"I will protect you, fuċk these rogues."