Tiny branches cracked under his feet, disturbing the eerie silence of the forest. His trainers squelched with each step, soaked through by the wet, spongy moss, his feet freezing cold, but Felix didn't pause nor slow down. He only fixed the straps of his backpack sliding off his shoulders. It was light, very light - he only packed bare essentials to take with him. No matter how regretful it felt to leave behind all of his belongings - and, more so, his mother's belongings - back in the pack, he couldn't afford to let anything slow him down…
If he didn't get out of the forest, out of this place, before morning, it would all be over. He wouldn't get another chance to escape.
Somewhere in the distance, howling sounded out. Felix instinctively flinched, glancing back…
His foot got caught in a hole, and he fell face flat on the ground. A surprised, pained yell almost escaped his throat, but he clamped her mouth shut just in time. Ignoring the ache in his ankle, he scrambled back to his feet, brushed the wet, rotting leaves off his face, took a deep breath, and resumed his run.
***
It all started two months ago… Or perhaps ended would be a better term?
That's when his life, which had never been easy, completely fell apart.
On the day of his eighteenth birthday, he caught a whiff of a scent. Familiar, yet somehow new.
A scent of his mate.
Biting his lips to suppress the tinge of excitement raising within him, despite his insistence that he didn't care about the fated mates, he followed the scent like a threat…
"Is this a joke?" he couldn't help but voice his thoughts out loud as he arrived in front of the person the scent was coming from.
It was a joke. It must have been. Or else, was it some sort of cruel punishment? Because he was always so rebellious, saying that fated mates were bullshit and so on?
Felix had no idea what Moon Goddess was thinking, but one thing he knew for sure: there was no way he could ever be together with his so-called mate.
"I accept your rejection," he said, before the man in front of him so much as had a chance to speak.
The man, his… mate, Jared, the leader of the Moonhill Pack, raised his brows. "What? I'm not rejecting you."
"Yes, you are." Felix slowly nodded his head.
Of course he was! Even if he didn't quite know it yet.
"No," Jared's surprise turned into a wicked grin, as he stepped forward, toward Felix. "You're my mate. From now on, you're mine."
"…Yeah, not happening!" Feeling the growing pressure from the Alpha's presence, Felix turned around on the spot, and dashed away at full speed.
Damn! It! All!
His cheeks were burning, his whole body felt hot. Just because Jared got a bit too close. Cursed mate bond!
He ran out of the room, out of the building, out of the whole building complex, and deep into the forest. Only once he was so far away that he could no longer smell even a tinge of Jared's scent, did he finally stop. He leaned against the tree, and slowly slid down, staring at the moon as if looking for answers.
There was no way he would accept this bond. Yes, Jared was powerful. The leader of their pack, coming from a great bloodline. An Alpha among Alphas. Any Omega would love to be his mate.
Any Omega other than Felix, that is. Felix would rather his mate be a slug rather than Jared!
As for the reason, there were a few. First of all, Jared used to bully Felix when they were kids. Felix was quite sickly, tiny, and fragile back then, so he was mocked a lot for being weak. It changed once they became teens, and now Felix had earned Jared, as well as all the other Alphas and male Betas', respect, but no matter how good things were now, it didn't erase the past.
Second of all, Jared was a player - he had slept with plenty of Omegas and Betas already, and no matter what he said, Felix would never believe he would ever change.
And finally, perhaps the worst of all, Jared got along with Felix's dad, the former leader of the pack. He was his pupil, trained from the early age as his successor. And Felix firmly believed that no one who liked his father could possibly be a half-decent person.
…But it was still alright. Bond between mates might have been strong, but it wasn't unbreakable. Surely once Jared gave it some thought, and noticed Felix's constant defiance, he'd eventually give up and reject him, right? Right?
At least that's what Felix tried telling himself. He had to, or else he'd completely fall apart.
Feeling the coldness seep through his clothes from the damp moss he was sitting on, Felix slowly dragged himself back to his feet. Although he didn't feel quite like returning to the pack, it's not like he could stay away forever. What was he going to do, run away and become a rogue?
Nah, the situation wasn't that desperate just yet. As long as he didn't submit to Jared, he'd get by somehow, and find a place for himself in the pack. It wouldn't be easy… But when had his life ever been?
And there was still Tyler. While they weren't officially together or anything, things seemed to be headed that way. Although things were bound to get complicated, now that Jared was his fated mate, but things would work out in the end, Felix firmly believed they would. He wanted to believe.
He made his way back through the forest, dragging his feet, and climbed through the window back to his room - a large en-suite, one of the best in the pack. Spacious and comfortable, but oddly empty. He curled up on his king size bed, and quickly drifted off to sleep…
Off to yet another nightmare, not much different from his reality.