Rejected (Werewolf Levi x Witch Reader Soulmate AU)

Chapter 3: Levi

Levi could do nothing but stare at her, wide-eyed and reeling. Mate. She was his. And he was hers. After all these years, he finally had a partner, a family. But...how was that possible? She was a witch, not a werewolf. This couldn't be right...

He had to get away from her. To think. To sort things out. But he was rooted to the spot, unable to even breathe.

Mate mate mate mate...

Her lips moved, saying something, but Levi couldn't process the words. All he could do was listen to the sound of her voice, flowing like the graceful notes of a lullaby, soothing anxieties he didn't even know he had.

Mate mate mate mate...

Levi mentally slapped himself, coming out of his shock just in time to hear her whisper, "You smell amazing."

His heart leapt at the compliment, but he shoved that feeling down, down, deep enough that it wouldn't bother him anymore. He quickly set the witch on her feet, then forced himself to let go, even though every instinct was screaming at him to hold her close, to protect her from the world. He took a step away, just enough that her scent wasn't so all-consuming.

He had to get out of here. Now.

"Tch," he growled. "Go home, you stupid witch." Then, before his instincts could tell him otherwise, he turned on a heel and walked away.

"Thank you!" her voice called after him.

He paused, and for a moment, he almost looked back at her. Hell, he almost ran into her arms and begged her to never leave his side. Before that could happen, he shook his head, banishing the urge. With an enormous amount of willpower, he put one foot in front of the other, and then he was walking away again.

"What a rude dog," he heard her familiar hiss. "Someone should've trained him better."

"Don't say that," the witch murmured, her voice carrying a hint of sadness. "Werewolves hate us enough already."

Levi kept walking until he reached the forest, and finally, finally, he could shift. He stripped out of his human clothes and packed them carefully in his bag before changing into his wolf form. Then he ran, sprinting to get as far away from the town as possible, away from her.

He tried to let the crisp forest air clear his head, but despite his efforts, he couldn't stop thinking about the witch. His mate. Actually, the urge might have even been stronger in his wolf form, where he was more in-tune with his animal instincts.

It was a disaster – a complete and utter disaster, in the worst imaginable way. Levi almost laughed at the hateful irony. After years of searching, of waiting, of wanting, he had finally found his perfect match – only for her to be something that he could never have.

By the stars, why did this have to happen to him? Why did his mate have to be a witch? They were just a bunch of snobby bookworms, and physically speaking, they were as weak as humans. Besides, he had never heard of a mating bond existing with a witch before. It shouldn't have even been possible, as the bond only existed for werewolves. Could she have wolf blood in her family? If so, it clearly wasn't dominant. In all the ways that mattered, she was decidedly not a werewolf.

Even if they set aside the innate differences between werewolves and witches, the fact remained that he was the pack Beta. It was his duty to partner with a strong, werewolf female, so that they could produce strong, werewolf heirs. But if he mated with the witch, would their children even be werewolves at all? In any case, their werewolf genes would be diluted, and they would surely not be strong enough to protect the pack in the way a Beta should.