A Stranger To Yourself (Previously I Curse You All, To Hell And Back)

Chapter 1 - The Cliff

⬆️ a picture of what imagines the mating cliff looks like in MY head (though your imagination is probably much more creative than mine) 

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CHAPTER 1 - The Cliff (Edited) 

Gazing up at the stars, I sighed. The night was like every other night. The clouds were slowly darkening from the fading sun as it left and hid, descending behind the horizon as the moon readily received its place in the sky.

I'd always thought the sky looked better here. I'd missed this sky, having been away for so long.

A Luna, I marveled inwardly, I'm really going to be a Luna

Flashback

My mother and sisters had always told me that there would never be any chance of me finding my mate. Meeting your mate had always been a sacred ritual, performed in different ways depending on who your supposed "other half" was.

Whenever the subject was brought up, they would end up listing reasons that were part of the usual "Why Katia's not good enough for anything" speech. So when our pack's priest had come to our door and announced that I was to meet my mate at The Cliff of the Decided, they had all gone ballistic.

"How the hell is she meeting her mate before I am?!" My sister Kira had practically roared at the door once the priest had left.

I had to stifle a giggle at that but of course, she'd caught it. Marching over to me, she'd said, "You think this is hilarious, don't you?" Her sardonic gaze had made me waver, the small bout of confidence I'd had at hearing the news fading. Her lips twisted into a cruel smile, shifting to a satisfied smirk as she finished her sentence "Well, you're going to get rejected anyway."

My mother and other sister Kayla had nodded along in agreement, always ones to agree with anything negative that was said about me.

That night, I'd gone to the cliff as the priest had instructed. When I'd arrived he was just finishing up with the pre-ceremonial prayers. I caught a glimpse of a dark form in the trees on the other side of the woods.

My mate.

The priest motioned us both over.

I walked at the exact same pace as my mate, looking forward at the priest like we were supposed to. We met in the middle and finally looked at each other. To say I was shocked was an understatement, I looked at my mate and saw:

The one, the only, Alexander White.

Standing right in front of me.

The priest payed us no mind as he got into his wolf form, the sound of the reinforced fabric stretching filling the silent night, as he ran into the forest so that we could either reject or accept each other in the eyes of the moon goddess and hers alone. He looked at me in so much confusion which morphed to anger and anger to disgust and hatred.

"You cannot be my mate. It's impossible! You aren't my mate!" He'd screamed at me, disbelief and disappointment lining his features, cutting me like a blade. "What was the Moon Goddess thinking when she made you my mate?!"

I cowered back in fear and he suddenly came to a stop, looking at me with menacing eyes. He jabbed a finger in my chest and said, sternly, clearly and as cruelly as ever:

"I, Alexander White reject you as my mate, Luna and over all anything. For this lifetime and the next as long as the world is spinning I will never, ever love you."