Marked Mate

Taylor's pov

Taking a black scrunchie I tie my raven black hair in a bun but a few strands fall on my face being stubborn to go in the bun as the rest of my hair. I stand below the shower head. The pouring hot water on my body does nothing to soothe me. As I continue to clean myself, I am left with me and my lonely thoughts.

Today at my usual routine in the pups care, I had been told Tina, the head of the female pack doctors, got transferred to the Royal Alpha house because of Luna's pregnancy. Our Alpha is so protective that he demanded a doctor, that too a female doctor to monitor the entire cycle of pregnancy for our Luna.

The things we do for our mates.

Mate..I wonder when I will meet him. I mean I am waiting, still waiting for 4 years. My wolf couldn't sense him in this pack, to find him I had to leave the pack. I did at first when I was 19, but then the great war started so I had to rush home as per the order of Alpha. Thinking about him makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. I have not lost hope in finding him, maybe one day I will be blessed with a mate who understands me and loves me.

But the great war, the one between the rogues and vampires with werewolves was so intense and it had gone on up to a year. Rogues and vampires teamed up to fight all the packs. To defeat them all the packs battled side by side keeping any dispute between them.

Due to the war a lot of pups got orphaned so the packs established pup care in the packs. I volunteered to take care of them. I have been doing it for almost 3 years.

In this one year of war maybe my mate...

Don't go there

My wolf wined painfully.

Maybe he died in the war. You don't sense him right?

Lily, my wolf, whined again and shut the link.

Unfortunately the probability of that being my reality gave me an unsettling feeling. My breathing got heavy and my head felt like I got run over by a truck. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself. As I began to calm down, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Dull brown eyes with big tears streaming down. Am I crying?

Getting out of the shower, I dried myself. Putting on my pajamas for the day, I exited the closet.

We want mates. It's been awfully long

Lilly came back to my consciousness and sat down with paws on her head at the back of my mind.

I know. We will find him.

I assured her, but she remained silent.

If he is alive. I added with hope.

She didn't have to admit it but she lost her hope. The long deep howls in the middle of the night. It's like she is connecting to his wolf by sending him our longing howls. The thought of our mate being no more made her more devastated than I was. I can understand, for a wolf a mate is more than finding love, more than anything. They will be the other part of each other's soul.

If the Moon Goddess takes pity on us, she will send him directly to our arms.

She said going at the back of my consciousness again.

Looking at the mirror, I gently wiped my tears and put a bit of concealer around my eyes to hide my dark circles.

I haven't been sleeping enough lately. All the worry and stress of being mateless is finally starting to eat me. My lips were dry throughout the day, my hair losing its shine, and to add to that I began to lose good fat on my body and face which is making me look sick. Four years without a mate, I don't know how to do this anymore.

To get rid of these lonely thoughts, I try to count from 50 to 1 slowly. This is a trick that I learned from Tina. Other than being the head doc, she specialised in pups. One day at the pup care, one pup got into a fight with another one over some legos. He was so angry and tried to break the other pup's toy. Tina took him to the side while I calmed the other pup. She told him to count from 10 to 1 while breathing deeply. Whenever he is upset or losing his anger I see him do that. She is a great doc and the best person to be entrusted with the future Royal Alpha birth.

When I gather my thoughts I go down to the dining area of the beta quarters.

“Mom,dad”, I say, kissing their cheeks.

Sarah, my mom quickly embraces me in a hug and kisses my forehead. While Richard, my dad simply nods and goes back to signing some documents. As the Royal Beta, he has a lot of responsibilities. As our alpha is busy with his mate, my dad is more busy than always.

I could take the beta position from my dad as I am his only child, but a mateless wolf shouldn't be in charge. To do that they have to pass a series of tests that conform to the authority that their status does not affect their duty. I didn't want to take that nor wanted to become the next beta. So that leaves my father to bear the burden of choosing the next Royal Beta by a Royal Beta contest. All the eligible wolves who have the potential to be the next royal beta enter this contest.

Seeing the stacks of paper related to the Royal Beta Contest, I asked, “When will the contest start, dad?”

He replies without looking up, “All the planning and budget is being discussed so the contest will start in a good one week from now.”

“Do you want pumpkin or tomato dear”, my mom shouts from the kitchen. Dad shouts, “tomato”. He looks up to me and sets his glasses down. My hair at the back of my neck rises as the air changes to a chilling one. My dad has something to discuss with me but I get a feeling that he is reluctant to start the conversation.

To escape from his calculating eyes, I go to the kitchen to help my mother bring the dishes to the dining table. We have chicken soup with carrots and sweet corn followed by the egg rice with avocado pie as the dessert.

My mother makes small talk to bring the chill atmosphere down. “How is your day sweetie?”, she asks with a motherly smile.

“It's good. Tina got transferred to the Royal Alpha house. And we mostly spend our day making new schedules for the pups”, I say the half lie and half truth.

My mother clapped her hands once and said, “That's great. After the great war, having the hope of a future Royal Alpha calmed most of the packs”. That's right. To calm the packs and the wolves, Alpha had to give them a new hope that is The Future Royal Alpha. All the burden will be passed to this young pup and that is just how politics work. We can't do anything about it.

My father and mother gave silent glances to each other. I patiently waited for what they had to say. As no one said anything, I lifted up the spoon to take the gulp when my father's voice was heard.

“An Alpha needs a Beta to run the pack. Even the Royal Alpha..”, my mother trails off but stops.

“It's been four years, you need to plan something sweetheart.” I don't know dad. Nobody told me what to do when we don't find our mate.

I reluctantly nodded and went back to stir the soup. I could not say anything.

It's all the same crap, you shift when you are eight, so that your wolf has the opportunity to grow for ten years in physical form. And that one magical night on your birthday you meet your mate, your other half. Sure it took people some good months of searching to find them. But not one single soul told me what to do if we don't find our other half.

“You don't look healthy, sweety.”

Mom continues. I know mom. I know. I sadly smile at them.

Nobody speaks after that. This situation of me being mateless is affecting not only me but also my parents and potentially affecting the pack too. The dinner continues till we reach the desert.

“We are allowing only mateless male wolves to participate in the contest.”

He said after sipping his water. They are going somewhere with this. But I was confused as to why they would take this step.

My parents looked at me with a knowing sad smile and that's when realization hit me.

“So the winner of the Royal Beta contest will not only get the Royal Beta title but also a mate. One who isn't destined but made by marking each other. A Marked Mate.”