Chapter 2 - Nicolas

It's a beautiful morning. I've already gotten my three children up, dressed and fed. The older two are headed for school by bus, and the youngest dropped off at daycare.

I was told of the children that were liberated last night, but thankfully, I am not on task for those.

Alpha Three was in charge of that mission, and I know she will need me today. My heart aches a bit, knowing what I'm going to put her through, but she needs me to help her sort out her feelings and repressed memories. I'm sure she had a rough night.

As I'm on my way to the local coffee shop, my instincts kick in that I'm being followed. I immediately follow the procedure and contact the Delta team I'm assigned to.

"Gamma One to Delta Four, I'm being followed."

"Understood, Gamma One. I'm getting you on camera now. Betas in your area are being notified."

I pulled my senses to just watch around me while I continued to walk normally. I could feel someone about 5 stores ahead of me, closing in.

"Delta Four, I have one person coming towards me..."

I was cut off by a shooting pain on the back side of my right shoulder. Obviously, the man coming toward me is not working alone. Within a few heartbeats, I realized I could no longer mindlink, and I was falling to my knees.

I had been shot by a tranquilizer dart, and if it was strong enough to immobilize me this quickly, it was strong enough to kill me. Only certain chemical mixes will work on wolves, and of those, just a few work on Mahani.

My thoughts immediately went to my children. They had just lost their birth parents, and now they would lose me too! I need to keep my head until help arrives. Staying alive for the next 20 minutes became my top priority.

Even though my senses were now paralyzed, the man approaching me stood out simply because we'd met before.

***FLASHBACK***

"I'm sorry Alpha but I have a mate out there and until they reject me or I am older, the matebond won't allow me to take another."

He didn't want to hear that but I wasn't interested in him anyway. I preferred females.

"You are truly saying NO to a Blood Alpha?!"

"I'm sorry, Blood Alpha, but the answer is no." I said politely but firmly.

My own Blood Alpha was not here but the Betas on this mission were and I was ushered out of the room quickly. I could hear him and his brothers yelling at the Betas. He didn't take the news well.

***END FLASHBACK***

We all knew that Alpha was close to being an Archfiend, but he hadn't stepped over the line yet, so there wasn't anything we could do but watch him. That was 4 months ago, and he had seemed to move on to others.

Since his brother was now picking me up and walking away with me, I knew I was in trouble. My eyes were open, and I could see and register everything around me, but I couldn't react or let my people know what was happening.

A human woman had stopped when I went down on the street. He told her that we were meeting up, as I hadn't been feeling well. She believes he was taking me for medical treatment.

The irony is that without medical treatment, I am going to die. I'm sure the dart was grabbed quickly and removed before she saw it. It didn't matter though, the dose they gave me was too high.

I was put into the back seat of a car roughly. I could only see the back of the front seat, but it was only seconds before we were moving.

After what felt like an hour but was truly only a few minutes, the car stopped. I was again roughly grabbed and moved into a van. I was tossed onto a mattress that took up the whole back of the vehicle.

I instinctively knew what was coming and why I had been given such a big dose of the drugs. He needed me conscious but unable to fight back as he was going to force a matebond by raping me while giving me a mating mark. This was a bad move on his part.

While this practice is banned through most packs, the Blood Alphas still get away with doing it. But this Alpha did not do his homework because anyone who has studied the Mahani knows we can prevent a forced matebond from forming. It's one of the many powers we have.

I feel myself starting to fade out, but I know I have to stay awake for this nightmare. I can easily stop the bond by just chanting in my head, 'I reject you'.

As I feel the Alpha start to rip my clothes, I start the chant, forcing myself to stay awake.

I reject you.

I reject you.

I reject you.

It was getting harder to do as the pain hit and my emotions at what was happening spiraled out of control, but I knew help was on the way.

I reject you!

I reject you!

I reject you!

I need to think of my children and my mate. Oh no! My mate! She's going to be in so much pain over this! Please be strong, love!

I REJECT YOU.

I REJECT YOU.

I REJECT YOU.

The back doors suddenly ripped open. The Alpha's brothers attempted to tackle the Betas as the Alpha marked me.

I REJECT YOU!

I REJECT YOU!

I REJECT YOU!

"Why can't I feel the matebond!" the Alpha screamed in my face.

"Because he rejected you." the Beta stated before pulling him off me and easily knocking him out.

"Hold on, Nicolas! The medical team is on the way!"

Inside my head, I'm crying while still chanting. I'm going to live another day, but the damage that Alpha just did is going to last a lifetime.