His Rejection

Tara's POV

I used to dream that I would meet a prince. Some handsome guy who'd sweep me off of my feet. My mate.

Now, you can't blame me for being so naive. I had grown up surrounded by mates, happy in their own little world. I had always been told that when I would meet my mate, when our eyes would first connect, it would be love at first sight; God, how wrong I was.

My mother always told my siblings and I that our mates would love us no matter what we had done in our past or what we would do in the future. They would be connected to us forever.

A little bit cliché, I know, but to a five-year-old girl, this sounded so magical and romantic.

My sister Wren found her mate at the fragile age of fifteen, and he at eighteen, though he loved and cared for her with a gentleness that I hoped my mate would have when we met. It was still a big blow when Wren had to leave to his pack, as he was third-in-command. My only sister, gone.

I was closest to Dean, my oldest brother, so of course the fates decided he would find his mate next. He loved her so much, he only had space for her in his life, and we drifted apart.

My other brother, Greg, was a year older than me. We hated each other our whole lives. Him, because I had taken his place of the baby of the family. He resented me. He bullied me as a young child, and, as the years went on, the bullying worsened. He got his friends involved, and next I was the laughing stock of the pack.

I wasn't the only one bullied, no, there was a group of us. The nobodies of the school. My best friends; Samantha, Waverley and Kim. They got me through the worst of times.

I wasn't just bullied just because of Greg. I was also bullied because of my weight. After Dean found his mate, it felt like I had I lost a part of myself. So, I ate, to feel something, I ate to fill that gaping hole inside of me.

When I looked in the mirror, I felt disgusted. I was huge. I had a double chin, my hair was always greasy no matter how many times I washed it, my face was covered in acne, and, to top it all off, I had hair the colour of carrots.

Despite all of this, I still expected my mate to love me...