His Mate

Chapter twenty four

“No, no, what are you doing?” Aliyah screamed, “you got it all wrong,” she yelled seeing as life was draining from Gerald’s face. “He is not my mate!”
Edward glanced at her then with his burning red eyes.
Aliyah hastily tore away the scarf on her neck and showed him his mark that was sitting on her neck, glowing in red as ever. “He is not my mate,” she repeated, quietly this time.
Edward seemed to calm down then as his eyes changed back to blue and he let go of the almost dead wolf in his hand. Gerald dropped on the ground, whizzing as he fought to find air. Edward took his gaze back at Aliyah. “What happened, I thought you bragged about finding him tonight?”
“Then I am most happy I didn’t, if not you would have just killed him,” Aliyah replied in shock, staring at the still whizzing Gerald.
“Indeed,” Edward replied, not at all ashamed of himself for being so petty. He glanced at her and it was then that his mind calmed enough for him to realize that the tantalizing scent was coming from her. She always smelled sweet and tantalizing but tonight was on the highest almost like her sweet scent would lure the ants to her like sugar and bears to her like honey. He was in front of her in a nanosecond and his finger grazed the mark on her neck, “you smell…”
“Sweet,” Aliyah finished, she too realizing that the scent was coming from him. “How is that possible?” she whispered as she sensed her wolf’s excitement. Her wolf had been dormant all day, ignoring her to do whatever she wanted but right now, she could almost feel her jumping up inside her in her excitement. Her eyes went up at the man who was also going through his own faze of shock, “it’s you.”
“Impossible,” Edward murmured. He has lived long enough to know what was happening. He looked up at the blood moon and laughed mockingly, “do you hate me so much?” he asked it once more.
Aliyah looked up too, wondering who he was talking to. When she saw nothing, she returned her gaze to him, all the things she had been taught about nightwalkers flashing in her mind. The hatred, the fight, the killings, all of them, flooding her mind and at the end, she couldn’t believe that a nightwalker was her mate. She touched her neck, the mark precisely, “so this is supposed to be here?” she asked and Edward stared at her mockingly. Aliyah thought of her people, her kinds, no, they will never accept this, no pack will ever accept this. She shook her head and retreated from him. “No, I won’t accept this, my parents won’t accept this, my kind won’t…”
“Don’t bother going far!” Edward interrupted murderously. “I won’t accept this.” In a blink of an eye, he was holding her on her neck. “I want to kill you very, very, very much. I want to cut out every limp in you and peel your skin. I don’t mind feeding on you if I have to so stop talking about family not accepting. There is no way I am having a howler as my MATE!” he snarled, his eyes blazing red as he tightened his fingers on her neck. “Why wait till I find a mate, how about I just do it now.” He could feel the pain on his own neck but he didn’t mind. “I would rather die than have a howler as my mate, how insolent!” he yelled, the pain consuming him but he refused to let go.
A bite on the neck distracted him and he turned around to see that the young wolf has transformed. He was snarling at him, charging to attack him again.
“I can see you have a death wish young wolf,” he rushed him and before Gerald could attack again, he was kicked into a tree. “You are so weak and yet you dare challenge me?” Edward asked as he rushed him again, picking him up and flinging him into the sky, purposely delaying killing him and all without dropping Aliyah. Right before Gerald could hit the ground, he grabbed him, stopping the fetal blow that would have snapped the young wolf’s neck. He turned to Aliyah still in his clutches, “you are in your deathbed and yet you are thinking about someone else?”
“P-ple-as-se l-le-et h-hi-m g-go,” Aliyah pleaded, she could feel the air leaving her and also the whimpering of her wolf that was not because of pain but deject and disappointment.
Edward stared at her, he could sense everything she was feeling, both the pain and the sorrow. He wanted to relent but he kept telling himself that he shouldn’t, she was a Night Howler, his nemesis, how could he stand being mated to her? However, in the end he asked himself, was his hatred worth losing his life? Of course it was, after all, he fought her ancestors head on without a single thought of surrendering. A loud howl caught his attention and his fingers on Aliyah’s neck finally loosened and she dropped on the ground, coughing badly.
Edward stared at the wolf in his hand that was now covered in fear and sighed, now he has to pardon this one too. “Change back, now,” he ordered and dropped him.
Gerald quickly shape shifted into his human self, not caring that he was naked as he glanced nervously at the man in front of him.
“Ugh,” Edward cursed seeing his naked body but it wasn’t because of him, it was because he hated the idea of Aliyah seeing another man naked. Even he was surprised at his thoughts but he was already blocking Aliyah’s view of the boy with his body. “You blind my eyes,” he cursed and turned back to Aliyah who was still trying to fill her dry lungs with air. “How insolent, so weak, so little and yet my mate?”
He growled and turned back to Gerald, and with his hand, he signaled him close. “Go now, walk out of here and forget what happened in the woods.”
Gerald stood like someone in trance and without a word, he turned around and started walking away.
“Gerald,” Aliyah called, still coughing, “Gerald, where are you going?”
“Do not bother,” Edward said. “He can’t hear you.” He squatted in front of her, watching her, “no one can ever resist the compelling of an Original.”
Aliyah stiffened when she heard his words and turned to look into his midnight blue eyes.
Edward smiled, having sensed her emotion. “You don’t know who you are mated to, do you little wolf?” he reached forward and tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. “Perhaps it’s time for an introduction, right little wolf?”
“What-what did you just say?” Aliyah asked, sitting up, “how…” she paused when the loud howling came again. “What is going on?” she glanced up at the sky.
Edward looked ahead into the deep woods, “at the moment, your newly mated wolves are under attack.”
“What?” Aliyah could feel her heart beating fast. “How possible?”
“I saw the rogues on my way here, killed a few but wasn’t really into it. And right now, I can smell them, they are attacking.”
“Rogues, but why?” she glanced at him.
“Do I look like I care?” Edward asked with a raised eyebrow.
“But…” Aliyah murmured, “we have never have issues with the rogues before, why would they suddenly attack and on a blood moon night?”
Edward stood up with his arms crossed on his chest. He watched her, surprised at how she was worried about the information he just provided instead of thinking of the tiny bit revelation of his identity and how to get out of his clutches. “You do know how to worry about meaningless stuffs instead of your condition, don’t you, little wolf?”
Aliyah looked up at him. “Meaningless stuffs? My people are under attack and you call that meaningless stuff?”
“And I am here ready to kill you and you are worried about people being under attack. Tell me, when I am done with you, how can you help them?”
“You…” she paused, as if her mind had suddenly remembered something, “Gerald just now, what did you do to him?”
“I compelled him to leave, what do you think?”
“Wait, you said something,” she paused and his words came back to her as clear as day and she glanced up at him in shock. “You…”
“Finally worrying about the meaningful things, little wolf?” Edward asked mockingly, sensing every phase of emotion she was going through.
“You...who are you?”
Edward smiled and took a step closer; squatting to her level and making sure they looked each other in the eyes. “I am Prince Edward, the last remaining Original.”