The Mate He Hates

Alpha Edward’s POV

I stood there, stunned by his declaration. The words echoed in my mind, refusing to sink in. “What did you just say?” I demanded through gritted teeth, and the young man looked my way; his eyes blazed with anger. “You heard me correctly, Alpha Zach; that bitch was my mate!” He repeated his words, and I staggered back, shaking my head. “That cannot be,” I murmured in disbelief. Elisa was my mate; she was supposed to be my mate. That’s what the seer said. She said my second mate was the young girl who saved me, and once I marked her, I would regain the voice of my wolf.

I would have marked Elisa the day I saw her, but she was just fourteen, so I decided to mark her when she turned eighteen. On her birthday, when I arrived at their home, I felt a sudden aura the moment I stepped out of the car. Despite the quietness of my wolf, I knew the aura confirmed that Elisa was my mate.

When I walked into the sitting room and met Elisa, I felt a sudden pull toward her, compelling me to mark her. After marking her, I thought my wolf would start speaking to me immediately, but he didn’t, so I concluded that perhaps the mating bond hadn’t been completed since we hadn’t had sex.

I focused my attention on the young man, who was still staring at me with anger and pain in his eyes. “How dare you say she is your mate? What makes you think she is your mate?” I demanded; perhaps he was going insane.

“Because my wolf announced it to me, and Elisa’s wolf also announced it to her,” he declared, and my eyes widened.

“Tell us everything that happened,” Matthew demanded impatiently. The young man hesitated for a moment, glancing at everyone in the room before looking my way.

“I am not from here. I lived in Spain and had only visited my aunt when my friend asked me to accompany him to Elisa’s shifting ceremony.

Arriving at the ceremony, I discovered Elisa was my mate, and she also knew, but she pretended and hid away from me. I wanted to tell my friend about it, but I decided to keep it to myself and have a talk with Elisa.” He paused, hesitating for a moment as if trying to recall what had happened. “I was able to get her number and make a call to her. I told her I was standing outside their gate and that I wanted to talk to her, that we were mates, and that I couldn’t let her get married to someone else. Elisa agreed and asked me to come through the window.

Getting into her room, I realized she was already dressed for the wedding ceremony, which made my wolf furious…” He paused while an intense silence filled the room as we waited for him to continue.” I told her that I would not let her get married and that we were mates, but Elisa bluntly refused. She said she wasn’t going to call off the marriage and that she would get married to you at all costs. Her words made my wolf jealous and angry…” I noticed tears standing at the corners of his eyes. “I pleaded with her; I begged her to cancel the marriage, but she bluntly refused. Rather, she threatened me. She told me her mother was a powerful witch, and I was lucky she hadn’t told her mother about me because if she had, I would have been a dead man already. She threatened me to leave and never come back, saying that if I did, she would tell her mother about me, and I would be a dead man. There was no sign of remorse in her. We were mates, and yet I could sense that she was going to kill me once I left that room. I could see it in her eyes. She was going to tell her mother about me, and I would be killed, just so Alpha Edward wouldn’t know that she wasn’t his mate. When I realized it, I didn’t have a second thought about it when I picked up the flower vase and struck her on the head. She fell to the floor, and I hit her more times until I noticed she was finally dead. That was when I realized what I had done, but I felt no remorse about it. Even until now, I don’t regret killing her.” He spat with hate.

I went numb where I stood. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Everything suddenly seemed confusing. “I escaped through the window and traveled back to Spain. A few days ago, I returned to get something, and that was when Beta Matthew’s men captured me. I didn’t know how they knew I had killed Elisa because I told no one.” The young man spoke with no sign of remorse. He sounded as if killing Elisa wasn’t a crime but the right thing to do.

I turned to Matthew, who had a blank look on his face. “How did you find him?” I asked, still not able to believe what I had just heard.

“For the past few days, I sent some agents to look into the death of Elisa. They asked questions, and that was when one of Elisa’s friends told us that she had gone to the backyard to pick up a call when she saw him jumping down from Elisa’s window. She thought he was one of Elisa’s boyfriends who had come to say goodbye to her, but when it was announced that Elisa had been murdered, she knew he was the one who killed her. She told Elisa’s mother about it, but Elisa’s mother warned her never to tell anyone about what she saw. Elisa’s mother claimed that it was Amanda who had killed Elisa, and it should remain like that. That woman is evil. She was fully aware that Amanda was innocent, but she refused to speak up.” Matthew grunted, and I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could Elisa not be my mate? She was supposed to be my second chance mate. She saved me, and the seer clarified that the lady who had saved me was my second chance mate. Or was the seer lying?

I glanced in Amanda’s direction and saw her crying profusely. Our gazes interlocked, and I felt a pang of pain hit my chest. If all this was indeed true, that means Amanda was innocent, and I had inflicted pain on her for a crime she didn’t commit.

“All this is a lie; you all are lying to me.” I couldn’t bring myself to believe what I just heard.

“Really?” Amanda scoffed with anger as she moved closer to me, tears and pain filling her eyes. “Is it that you don’t want to believe the truth, which is right in front of you because you can’t accept the fact that you have been inflicting pain on an innocent girl? You tortured me for a crime I never committed.” She spat with bitterness. “I have been suffering for a crime I never did, and even though the truth is right before you, you don’t want to accept it!” She yelled while I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t accept it; there was no way all this was true. It can’t be true; they were all lying to me.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Turning to Matthew, I groaned. “This is definitely your plan to free Amanda, right?” I accused, and Matthew scoffed. “I think you should go visit your seer; she has a lot of things to tell you,” Matthew responded calmly, with no glimpse of nervousness in him. I had known Matthew for a long time now, and I could tell that he was so sure of all this. The look on Matthew’s face showed that all this was true, but how could I bring myself to believe it?

“The seer was clear with her prophecy. Her prophecy has always been accurate. Then how come Elisa wasn’t my mate? She was the one who saved me in the woods.”

“Elisa didn’t; she wasn’t the one who had saved you.” Elisa’s ex-boyfriend blurted.