Chapter 5

　　Erika's POV

　　It was a masculine and handsome face

　　with defined features. I liked his cleft chin. His brown eyes alarmed me the

　　most. At this moment, I forgot about everything that Charles had said during

　　the meeting. I was hypnotized by him and couldn't take my eyes off him until

　　Orsen tugged at my sleeves. I recovered myself from the stupor and averted my

　　gaze.

　　However, Derek walked directly at me

　　and didn’t stop until we were so close that I could feel his breath. I could

　　smell mint. Being stared at by a man so close to me made me feel uneasy. I

　　lowered my head and was about to step back a little bit. Because I could hardly

　　breathe.

　　Suddenly, he called me

　　"mate".

　　I lifted my eyes and looked at him in shock.

　　His mouth was already tightly shut.

　　But I heard it. Everyone heard it and their jaws dropped.

　　The single word froze me on the spot.

　　Sure, everything didn’t feel right today. I should’ve thought of it.

　　Suddenly, he reached out his arm for

　　me. I didn’t know what he wanted to do, but I hit his wrist with my elbow

　　before he could touch me. He grimaced and withdrew his arm. I took the

　　opportunity, stepped back, and got away from him until I felt safe.

　　The people present all turned around

　　and looked at me with their eyes wide open. Charles looked at me and mouthed

　　"What the fuck". Orsen seemed totally at a loss. As a new Beta, he

　　couldn't understand what just happened. Derek’s men were all alarmed at my

　　movement. They quickly ran in front of Derek to protect him and glared at me,

　　poised to attack me.

　　Derek soon resumed his serious look.

　　He flexed his arm that had been attacked by me, raised it up, and waved at his

　　men. At his gesture, his men stepped back immediately.

　　So he could still raise his arm after

　　the hard blow on his wrist. The change in his face also proved that it must

　　hurt badly. I thought he wouldn’t be able to raise his hand for at least one

　　minute so that I could get rid of him. But it didn’t seem to make a difference.

　　I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure

　　out the possibility of defeating him.

　　"Walk over and apologize for

　　your rudeness, mate," he growled.

　　"Should we get her, Alpha

　　Derek?" One of his men asked.

　　Derek’s face darkened. He glanced at

　　the people present and snarled, "Don't touch her!" He was not only

　　saying that to his men, but also to the members of my pack.

　　My heart sank. He sounded so

　　possessive and dominant, just like all Alphas. No, he was the most savage and

　　cruel Alpha that had ever existed. Being possessed by such a control freak

　　would be a nightmare worse than death. I would be trapped in his backward pack

　　forever. I would rather die than live that kind of fucking life.

　　Why did the Moon Goddess do it to me?

　　I didn't want an Alpha! While I always thought that I was born to be a fighter,

　　I happened to be the mate of a cruel and possesive Alpha. That was so unfair!

　　No, I wouldn't be his mate. I was not

　　some pushover woman who accepted her fate easily.

　　I took off my gloves, clenched my

　　fist, ready to summon my weapons.

　　"Erika!"

　　"What do you want to do?"

　　Charles and Orsen both changed their

　　faces when they saw my movement.

　　Sorry. I mind-linked them.

　　I threw a volley of daggers at Derek

　　and his men. Hopefully, my daggers could hit them. At least I could buy some

　　time to escape.

　　I turned around immediately and ran

　　in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. I ran to the forest, which I

　　thought was the safest place. It was like a maze and people unfamiliar with it

　　would definitely lose their way.

　　I heard people calling my names and

　　running after me. Charles and Orsen tried to mind-link me and asked where I

　　was. I didn't reply to them.

　　Soon, they lost trace of me.

　　I ran into the depths of the forest.

　　Thinking that I had got rid of Derek, I sat on a stump to take a rest, thinking

　　about what to do next. Was I going to be a rogue? I sighed.

　　While I was lost in thought, I was

　　alarmed by tiny footsteps. Someone was creeping on me. It must be a rogue. I

　　turned around without even standing up.

　　However, I was startled by what I

　　saw! About ten feet away, under a tall tree stood Derek. He stared at me

　　fixedly with half of his body hidden in the bushes, just like a predator who

　　was about to hunt. I looked at him up and down. No blood stains on his body. My

　　dagger didn’t hit him.

　　He noticed my gaze and sneered,

　　"Disappointed that I wasn’t hurt by you, right? I don’t want to get

　　violent. Walk over and I'll forgive you," he said as he stepped forward.

　　The next second, he was in front of me and looked down on me.

　　It seemed that a fierce fight was

　　inevitable. I stared at him fixedly, thinking about attacking strategies. Would

　　I have a better chance to win if I shifted into wolf form? I gave up the

　　thought immediately. Shifting into human form naked would only be much more

　　humiliating if I lost it. Honestly, my legs felt weak because I was pretty sure

　　that I had never met such a strong fighter.

　　I took a deep breath and clenched my

　　fist. I would rather die

　　than be his mate!