The Chosen Alpha (Prequel to The Female Alpha) novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Reality

Mink’s P.O.V

No. NO!

This cannot be happening and especially not not…not here!

Ruksaar chatted on beside me without a care in the world as we both walked briskly back to our hotel. She was blissfully unaware of the turbulence that was going through my mind as I balled my hands into fists, my claws slicing out to pierce the delicate skin of my palm. The wounds would heal even before they were formed and I wished with all my power that my mind could work the same way.

But his image was now imprinted in my mind and it’ll stay right there until the day I die.

Mate.

The bloody word tasted like poison in my mouth and I tried to suppress the shudder that rocked through me, but to no avail. Wide almond shaped eyes the color of topaz, with more gold than brown; they were eyes of a cat. His hair had been a dark shade of brown that almost appeared black. I could picture it in the sun, however, with a brown tint to it. It would be soft to the touch-

I reined back my thoughts with violent self-control. I hadn’t needed a mate for over a hundred years and I certainly didn’t need one now.

All shifters have several potential mates that they meet at varying stages in their lives. We don’t find two potential mates at the same time and even if we do, the first person we lay our eyes on will be the one we recognize as our mates, hence nullifying the effect of our second potential mate. Different shifters also have different lifespan. So if a mate dies, the partner will still be able to find another mate for however long they remain alive. Shifters are usually paired with other shifters, but having a human as a mate isn’t unheard of.

My mate seemed to be just that. Human.

“Jiji! Have you heard a word of I just said?”

Ruksaar’s irritated voice snapped me out of my trance and I realized that we’d already reached our hotel and were now nearing our room. Dear God! How could I be so preoccupied with some man that I’d completely lost track of my surroundings?

Thankfully, Gujarat no longer hosted any predatory shifter packs, just some non-predatory ones like a herd or two of camels and a few deer packs further down towards the border Gujarat shared with Maharashtra. It meant I could get my guard down once in a while but not to the point where I lose sight of reality.

“Sorry,” I apologized to a grumpy Ruksaar. “What were you saying?”

“I was saying,” she gave me a pointed look before continuing, “that we should just go back to Jharna.”

“No.” The answer was immediate and it was out before I could stop it.

“But what’s there to see, anyway?” Ruksaar argued. “Mouri no longer exists and this place had been rebuilt from scratch. I don’t think you’ll even be able to find ghosts if you stood in the middle of the desert in the dead of night!”

Was I really just thinking about having cubs? And what would I leave them with except for nightmares and demons? I was in no way ready to be a mother and neither did I want a mate! It’s funny how my thoughts have started to change as soon as I had seen his face. I didn’t know the man; he could have a family of his own for God’s sake! How could I even begin to imagine a future with him, let alone have cubs with him when I didn’t even know his name?

Mother Nature was playing a cruel joke on me. That had to be it.

I was finally paying for my sins, for taking all those innocent lives when I’d burned down my entire village. There had been about two hundred people in that village then; including women and children…and I’d taken everyone’s lives.

I turned my head toward Ruksaar to find her dozing off peacefully beside me; her hands were on top of her stomach and her black hair was scattered across the pillows like a halo around her. Ruksaar is only fourteen years younger than me and she is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a family. To think that I almost didn’t go back for her…

I turned my head away and rubbed at my eyes with my fingers. Being back here had been Hell for me. That fateful day kept playing on repeat over and over in my head, making me restless and anxious.

Why wasn’t I at peace with my past? Why couldn’t I just move on and just be rid of all these memories?

My mate’s face came to mind at that instant and I almost laughed at the irony. The same place that I’d cleansed of all life at one point in my life was now giving me a reason to live on. I’ve lived for over a century, been to thousands of different places, seen a thousand different faces…and yet, it just had to be here that I find my mate, just when I thought I no longer needed one.

Yeah…Mother Nature was indeed playing a cruel game with me.