MARKED

I could hardly breathe. 

I was already marked and claimed by another wolf? 

How? When? It made no sense to me! 

There was a loud uproar from the crowd behind. 

It was chaos. 

"What?" Ryan asked. 

I realized he was not even looking at the Priest but me. 

"What does he mean you are already marked and claimed?" He asked me.

"I have no idea what he is talking about," I replied. 

"No this must be a mistake," My father protested.

He walked up to the altar along with other high-ranking members of our pack. 

Ryan's family and pack members came to the altar too. 

"My daughter is pure and unmarked." My father defended me. "Ryan here was her initial mate but he rejected her. He is the only one that qualifies to be her mate."

"The girl is marked." The high priest said. "There is no mistaking it."

Then all eyes turned to me for an answer. 

"You believe him? I have never been mated to anyone!" I said in frustration. "Don't you think I would know that I was marked?? Plus I have no mark on my body." 

"She is a slut." Ryan hissed. 

I looked at him shocked. The smile he had was wiped clean.

"You and your father tried to drag us into a sham marriage knowing fucking well that you were already mated!" He spat. 

"Do not use such words on my daughter!" My father warned Ryan. 

"Am I wrong?" Ryan demanded as he turned to me, "You've been fucked and marked by another wolf and you dare come crawling back to deceive us? You just wanted to use us, didn't you?!How dare you, be mated to another wolf?!" He screamed at me. "I am your mate! You are my property! You are mine! You fucking whore!"

It was then he revealed his true self again. 

All those things he had said to me a few hours ago. 

The fake promises. 

They were all lies. 

He was equally a horrible man. 

Still the same monster he had been three years ago. 

My father turned to his wolf and then stomped his feet. 

"I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DISRESPECT MY DAUGHTER IN MY PACK!" He growled. 

And then my father's subordinates turned to wolves. 

Immediately, sensing the imminent danger, Ryan's pack turned to their wolves and were growling back at us. 

I don't know what overcame me, but I put myself between my father and Ryan.

"You are a coward," I told him and his face fell, shocked that I stood up to him. "You are nothing but a coward! I have no idea why the priest says that I'm marked.. But your actions have proved to everyone just how much of an asshole you are. You've not changed one bit."

And then I spat in his face. 

There was an audible gasp from the crowd.

He froze for a split second before wiping the saliva off his face. He growled menacingly and transformed into his wolf.

Knowing how close he was to me, I knew it was only a matter of seconds before he attacked me, and so I closed my eyes and waited for the impact.

 But nothing happened. 

I turned back, looking on in shock. 

A wolf came out of nowhere and tackled Ryan, both of them tumbled onto the ground. 

The wolf clawed at Ryan mercilessly. Blood splattered across the marble floor. I heard whimpering, crying even. 

Ryan shifted back into his human form and so did the unknown wolf. 

The man's back seemed familiar, like deja vu. Like I had seen him before, even though it made no sense to me.

He grabbed Ryan by his bloodied clothes and tossed him aside while walking back to the altar.. 

Ryan scampered away, like an injured rat.

The man turned and walked over to me. 

My head began to spin, I was having a migraine. Why? Why was this happening now? I had to put my hand on my head to ease the pain. 

He was a lot taller than I had expected. 

He had short dark hair, eyes as blue as the sea and a single earring.

He wore a dark colored tunic with a v cut, revealing parts of what looked like tattoos on his chest. 

He was huge, probably six foot three and well-built in the body.

He was perfection itself.

My heart started to race and I felt my wolf fighting inside. 

"HOW DARE YOU?" Ryan's fat he demanded his teeth frothing with heavy saliva. 

And then from nowhere, a large number of wolves howled in the distance. 

I turned around and saw about ten thousand sets of eyes in the dark. 

Even Alpha Erwin seemed terrified.

The unknown man turned to him and roared . "How dare your son lay his hands on my mate!?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another Bombshell. 

Everyone was talking at once. 

I felt my head beginning to spin again. If it wasn't for my aunt, I would have collapsed then and there. 

"Yyy….your ma…mate?" I asked. 

He barely spared me a glance, before turning to the wolves present. 

"Who are you?" One of the members of the wolf council demanded. 

He straightened himself. "I am Alaric Nightshade."

I heard people whispering and gasping, repeating his surname. Nightshade.

What's so special about it?

"Alpha of the Night water pack, the first of the twelve founding packs."

The entire hall went silent.This man was saying things that made no sense. 

But that isn't right. Everyone knew about the Night water pack. They were the last, not the first. Most people assume it was all a myth as no one had heard from them in over three hundred years. 

"Do you need proof?" He asked. 

His aura and energy were so powerful, I'm sure everyone could feel it. 

"Your pack has been in isolation for over three hundred years," One of the members of the wolf council stepped forward to speak, "Why are you here now?"

He turned to look at me.

My heart skipped. 

"I came for my mate." He said. 

I was lost for words. 

Everything was happening too fast. 

"Sybil, do you know this man?" My father asked me. 

I came crashing back down to reality. "No, I have never seen him in my life before." 

Alaric frowned. "What do you mean you have never seen me in your life before?"

"If you claim she is your mate," Another member of the wolf council interrupted. "Then where is your mark?" 

He rolled up his tunic and showed a half-black moon on his arm.

There were more murmurs. 

"How could you do this to me?!" Ryan, who had gained back his sense, demanded. 

"I did nothing!" I snapped back at him. "I do not know this man!"

He took my arm and his blue eyes were promising. "You remember nothing?"  

I swallowed and withdrew from his touch as if he had burned me because I had in fact felt something the moment he touched me..

"Sybil, are you sure that you have no mark on your body?" My aunt asked me breaking of the tension between us. 

"No," I said honestly. At least, I didn't think I would.

Then it hit me.

I had noticed something, but I didn't think it would be this!I shook my head again. "No."

"If you claim that she is truly your mate, then tell us where her mark is." Someone asked him. 

He made eye contact with me and my heart skipped. 

"Easy." He said. "On her left thigh…"

 Oh Goddess! It can't be!

My face went red as it dawned on me.I knew what he was talking about.

"In between her legs."