Rejected by my mate

[Seline's POV]

"You have to take your drugs, Mom," I said, trying to help Mom in taking her drugs. She resisted for a while before eventually giving in as I fed her the pills. Even with many years passing by, it only seemed she was not ready to accept me.

It had been three days already. After the incident with me finding my mate to be the Alpha of Stone Creek wolves, Alpha Austin Cross, the man who had walked out of the room, leaving me shattered after the words he had uttered. I tried so much, hoping to forget the incident. I mean, he never wanted me. But it only seemed harder for me.

After I had returned and settled the rent payment, getting Mom her drugs, I met with Flora Hughes, my human friend who lived next door. I could say I wasn't much ready to accept things back then, even now. But with all that had happened, I saw her as a friend in the end.

I didn't even have to say anything; she could already notice from the expression I gave out that something was up. In the end, after she persisted so much, I explained the whole incident to her about my mate with Austin.

"But you can't give up, Seline. Just what if he really loves you?" Flora had said back then.

As I wondered if her words could be possibly true, was there any love in those eyes I had saw? The ones that were boiling with rage as they gazed at me. But it wasn't like that before when we met.

And so, I found myself clinging onto that little hope. That I can't just give up; I had to meet him again.

"Is he back?" a side of me wondered. He had suddenly disappeared after the incident, only for me to find out he had gone out of town, but rumors had he was returning today.

I hoped to confront him when he returns. "He's my mate..." There was no doubt, and I was his.

"I... I need some wine... Get me a wine..." I could hear Mom uttering in whispers, her eyes barely opened.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but you can't..." I wanted to say, she wasn't well, and the last thing advised is for her to take another wine.

"Why? Who the hell are you to tell me not to take one?" Mom yelled out loud, her hands pushing me as I stumbled backward. Only for her voice to catch up in her throat as she started coughing out loud.

"Mom," I said, making my way back to her as I watched her coughing blood out. My face paled at the mere sight.

"Mom... Are you alright, Mom?" I said, trying to help her up, but she only pushed me back further. "Stay away, you... You're not my daughter," she said, breaking down. Her voice cracked as she coughed harder. She tried sleeping, turning a gaze away from my side as she laid down on the bed.

She hadn't eaten much today as well. I caught sight of her drugs also; most of it was already finished. I had to get her another today.

I gently stood up, leaving a last glance at Mom. "Would things really be the same ever again?" I wondered. I left my mom's room, stepping out into the living room as water dripped down from the cracked ceiling. "It seems there is another hole again," I said, putting a bucket to avoid the water dripping on the floor anymore.

The ceiling had many holes in it, one that I wasn't able to fix. The apartment Mom and I stayed in was falling apart slowly; it was the cheapest I could find. But should I really be saying that, with the fact hitting me that I still found it hard when it came down to payments?

I picked up some dirty dishes from the table, as I took it to the kitchen, hoping to have it cleaned. My ears grasp on a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" I wondered. Was it Flora?

I made my way to the door and gently opened it, my gaze raising to meet who was standing right there. It was him, the landlord. But what was he doing here at this time? I mean, I had paid his money, so why?

"Don't tell me you aren't going to welcome me in now," he said. But I wasn't ready for any of his games.

"Why are you here? I have paid the rent, so..."

But even with my words, he only forced his way inside the home. His eyes scanned around the whole area. "It seems the holes in the ceiling are getting much now," he said.

But this was all because he wasn't having any of it fixed.

He brought out a cigarette as he turned to my side, approaching me. I retreated a bit backward. "You have a lighter," he said. The way he acted as though I had welcomed him inside the house.

"Please leave now," I said. But he only chuckled softly as he took a lighter I had placed on the table, lighting the cigarette. He took a deep drag, only to exhale out after. "And what if I don't?" he said.

Yet he should know better that things weren't the same as when he had confronted me back then. Yes, I was still weak, but I wouldn't be giving in to him easily.

He closed in the distance between us, and I knew this was my time to make him understand things were different, but the words he uttered after that brought my resistance crumbling down.

"And how is your dear mom?" he said. I knew attacking him or doing anything right now would risk where Mom and I would be staying.

"Was this how weak and helpless I had become?" I only wondered more. He placed his hand on the wall as my back pressed harder against the wall.

"I still have my offer standing if you are ready. I am always ready to welcome you. To my bed, that is," he said, chuckling softly as he redrew himself back a bit. I found myself letting out a breath.

He walked a distance, checking the window view. "It sure is heavy rain today," he commented, inhaling another puff before throwing the cigarette on the ground, stomping on it.

He then turned his gaze back at me but this time approaching the doorstep instead.

"Think about my offer harder. This will be the last chance I say. I'm sure you don't want to lose your mother. Be my concubine; that's quite little enough that you could do for your poor mother," he said before making his way outside, shutting the door behind him.

If only I had enough, I would have left this place. But even with the little amount I worked my ass off for, I still couldn't afford any other apartment other than this one.

My mom coughing in her room snapped me from my thoughts; her illness was only getting worse, and I also had to help her get some medication today.

I checked the clock; it was already getting late. I had to go get them now.

I returned to the kitchen and hastened in washing the dishes. Done with that, I went back to my mom's room, slowly opening the door as I caught sight of her already asleep.

I knew she was just trying to hold it in as much as she could, but it must be hard. The fact that she was sleeping left a slight sigh from me. At least she was able to sleep.

I picked up the umbrella and made my way into the heavy rain. People were rushing to get back home.

I walked some further distance until I arrived at the place where I was to get the medication.

My eyes caught sight of two children having fun in the rain as they chuckled out loud, in laughter, playing tag with each other. Moments like that had turned into just dreams for me—something that was never meant for me to have back then: fun.

I paid the man after getting some of the medication I could afford. I still needed to get some groceries, but gazing at the money in my hand, I doubted it would be enough for that. It only seemed I had to starve for now. I was planning on doing some other jobs mixed with my bar work, even though I wasn't sure how to work things out yet. But that was the only solution I saw if I wanted things to keep on moving. I couldn't stop buying medication for Mom, nor could I stop buying food. This was the only solution.

Would Zane allow this? I wondered more.

I took some steps further but paused when I gazed upon him—Austin, standing some distance away.

My legs hesitated to move at that moment as I couldn't look away. "A... Austin..." my mind whispered over and over again, until finally, those frozen legs moved, hastening toward him.

I called out to his name louder as he turned, his eyes narrowing the moment they met mine.

Arriving at his side, I let out a deep breath from the heavy run. "What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"I wanted to talk. You can't just walk out and say we aren't mates," I said, only to watch him turn his gaze back to some men and women, ones that I assumed were his pack members.

"You need to leave now..." he said, grabbing my wrist and leading me to the side. But I only removed my wrist from his grasp.

"Why?" I questioned. "Just because I am a hybrid doesn't make me any less of a wolf. And as your mate, I have rights."

I watched his jaw clench, the same raging eyes returning. "You just don't get it, do you?" he said, grabbing my hand again. This time, he forced me to move. "Let... let me go..." I pleaded, my voice almost echoing out loud as he released his grasp on me.

"You need to leave now!" he yelled. His words were slashing through me, and I almost stumbled back, my legs staggering. "I can't..." I said. "We are mated, so I just can't leave..." I continued, my voice seizing when our gaze met.

"Fated," I heard him scoff, brushing his hair with his hand and chuckling softly. Then he held my hand back, and I could feel his grip tightening by the second.

"Don't you get it? I don't want someone like you as my mate. And even if we are fated, I can do much better than you. You get that?" he said, loosening his grip on me. I stepped back. Could I have been wrong? Was Florea really right?

"But..." I wanted to say, only for his words to silence mine. "And how can you even dream of me as your mate?" he said. "You are nothing but a low life. A poor girl barely trying to help her sick mother. You don't even have a proper place to sleep, and yet you dream of having me, The Alpha of Stone Creek, as your mate."

My face paled as I was lost for words at that moment. I crumbled to the muddy ground, the heavy wind blowing the umbrella off my grasp, and rain fell, drenching my clothes.

So this wasn't about the fact that I was a hybrid. The truth was that I was nothing and had nothing. I was still the same girl trying to make her way in the dirty gutters.

"It's best we don't cross paths again. And just as I had said, forget we ever met..." he said as he walked, leaving me.

My tears, which had seized all this while, poured out. My hands sank into the mud as my vision blurred from the tears that splattered, mixing with the rain.

"Why? Just why?" I questioned further. This was just the truth I should have accepted for so long; why did I hope things would be different? "My mate just rejected me." That was the only truth.