25. Once In A Hundred Years

**XANDER**

The world was getting ready for a new dawn as the faint rays of the sun started to come up as nature’s easel. The brilliant light was yet to be spread across the vast sky, but my human eyes could finally see the glimpse of this strange woman.
Black hair, grey-silver eyes, just like her wolf. Her tall stance indicated slight arrogance, but it was her fashionable silk robe that screamed of royalty. This female was no ordinary wolf of the pack. Perhaps, that tone came from being the higher echelon.
“My mate?” I enunciated archly. “You are mistaken. I have nothing to do with you.”
She dared to take a step closer and flashed the same coy smirk. “I have never made a mistake,” she said haughtily. “You are just being ignorant.”
My eyes narrowed in slits. I might not have been the official alpha yet, but the blood in my veins was that of one. And my wolf couldn’t stand a hollow pride such as this.
“I don’t know who you are but get the hell out of here before my wolf rips you apart,” I snarled low. If it wasn’t for Maeve, I might have just done that. But my mate was precious, and I was not going to expose her to the violence for no reason whatsoever.
“Is that how an alpha is supposed to treat his mate?” she quirked my brow smugly, looking behind to one of her men and then back to me. “I heard of your reputation, Xander. The would-be-alpha of the Night Pride, and yet you have no honor to speak for.”
Beside me, Blaize scoffed at her. “Woman, you deserve no honor.”
“Careful!” She roared at Blaize, and instantly her silvery wolf eyes glowed in defence. She then dragged her gaze on mine. “You might have the alpha blood in your veins, and so do I. I am the sister of an Alpha too. And I deserve every bit of respect you have just refused me.” The smugness in her tone evaporated into the morning air and replaced by a layer of venom.
“Who is the alpha?” I demanded.
“Kade of the Fire Hound Pack from the north,” she declared.
The name was not unknown to me. Having sat my with father’s relentless political sessions, I was well aware of the name and lead of the packs by now. By that knowledge, I knew that Fire Hound Pack was a glutton for power and territory. The alphas and betas hardly chose a mate without an arranged union, leading to the expansion of territory.
And why would my father exactly go ahead and make a treaty without my say so?
“I have heard of your brother in the Council,” I said distastefully. “One who completely disregard the Moon Goddess’s wish and tried to reform all the treaties and clauses for your pack’s territory.”
The female shrugged like it was the norm. “My brother believes in our greatness and potential to politicize the territories for our kind. It is beneficial for us.”
“Maybe for your pack, not ours.” I scoffed. “What is the meaning of your presence here?”
“Like I said, I am your mate,” she repeated again like it mattered to me. It didn’t. “Your father, the alpha, is quite eager to execute the treaty that establishes me as the next Luna of your pack.”
I have to give her credit for this. I mean, for a second, she masked her true intention of being a snooty she-wolf who thought she could even walk on water.
“I don’t know about anything. You should leave,” I said, ready to turn my back to her and ignore the way I should have done a long time ago.
“Maybe not,” she said hurriedly. “Every alpha has the right to take the decision on behalf of the pack members. And need I remind you that every wolf of the pack has to abide by it?”
A loud rumble roared inside my chest. The wolf had enough with this female and was ready lurch when Blaize equally caught my forearm. He hissed low of Maeve’s name, and as expected, my wrath soothed a little.
But it was still enough to break this female’s neck.
“Not when it involves a chosen mate,” I snarled through gritted teeth. Every inch of skin prickled with rage, wanting to get back to my wolf form.
“You have not found one,” she replied.
It was my turn to smirk and rub it on her face. “You are a little late, Janelle of the Fire Hound Pack,” I mockingly addressed her name, knowing very well that it would irk her even more. “I have already found my chosen mate.”
It was only then her eyes darted to Maeve who was well shielded behind Blaize and me. Janelle squinted her eyes, trying to make out her face and took a step forward. On instinct, I blocked her path and obscured her vision.
“You. Can. Leave.”
“You are lying,” she countered, but there was no conviction in her voice. And if I heard it right, it was trembling a little as well. Janelle glanced over my shoulder, at Maeve and then met my eyes. “Is she even marked?”
“None of your business,” Blaize clipped out on my behalf.
“It is my business,” she snarled, “…when I have been promised an alpha.”
Maeve strode closer as I quickly stopped her and tucker to closer to my proper. My wolf was always over-possessive about my mate, and on the face of a threat, it was no high alert.
“Mate is chosen by the Goddess. No wolf, alpha or not, would ever defy her wishes,” I told her. And then it was time for the final blow. My voice rose a few octaves higher to accentuate the sincerity of every word spoken. “Therefore, I, Xander of the Night Pride reject you as my mate.”
Janelle gasped a little, falling behind a few steps. The blow of my words hit her in full force as the hurt and anger etched all over her face. I would not have done it so crudely or cruelly, had she not overstepped her boundaries.
“Did you seriously…” she stuttered a bit. “Wait a moment.” Her eyes suspiciously scanned Maeve. “She…she is a human. Your mate is a human?” she asked incredulously.
“My mate is not your concern.”
Janelle raised her brows and broke into a fit of laughter. “Xander of the Night Pride, I don’t accept your rejection.” The laugh smoked into a malicious sneer. “And I am going to challenge that in front of the entire the Council. Not only your pack will pay for this betrayal, but you will be punished for this. You have risked us for what a…weak, pathetic human?”
“Run, wolf,” I growled. “Run far, far away. I don’t want to hurt you. But if you utter one more word, you wouldn’t return to your pack in one piece.”
The man behind Janelle growled, almost ready to explode but she merely raised a palm and began retreating.
“We will meet again, Xander. I promise you.”
It was not her vow; it was her threat.

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“When were you going to tell me?” Maeve asked. Her voice was shaking, having encountered all that unnecessary tension.
I tried to take her hand in mine. “Maeve…”
“Don’t Maeve me, Xander!” She jerked away, stumbling a few steps back before regaining her balance. “All that crap about Moon Goddess, mate and god knows what crap you fed me. Your father has already found someone for you!”
Fates! “I had no idea he would do it this sooner.”
“Sooner?” Maeve yelled disbelievingly. “Oh, my god. You knew about it?”
“Please, it is a little complicated.”
“The hell it is, Xander. Everything is complicated about you because you don’t tell me the complete truth.”
How could I make her understand about every intricate detail of our lifestyle, which was so different than humans? She was slowly getting adapted into my life, into the norms we considered normal, and everything turned upside down because of that female.
“You are my mate;” I said slowly, clearly. “I am not lying about it.”
Maeve crossed her arms in front and stood her ground. “What about Her Highness of stupid-ass pack?” she spat.
The realization hit me in full force. Maeve was jealous. My mate was jealous of another female!
Fuck!
It was true that she did not vocally declare my feelings as official, at least not the way we shifters do. But that flash of green envy in her eyes was enough to warm my wolf’s heart.
“I don’t know but I will handle it,” I promised. I strove over, closing the gap between us and kissed the top of her forehead. “Please, just calm down and let me explain.”
Sighing, she dropped her hands and nodded.
“Every alpha needs a Luna to rule over the pack, it’s a requirement,” I went on. “Since I didn’t find you sooner, my mate, an arranged marriage was fixed behind my back. I swear by the Goddess, I have not hidden anything from you.”
It seemed like my honesty did reach her heart.
“What’s going to happen now?” Maeve asked concernedly. “She’s going to tattle in front that council?”
“I am afraid, she is. But it doesn’t matter. I have found my mate long before she came into the picture, that means, this arrangement is null and void.”
Right then, the doorbell rang and interrupted.
“Wait…I think it’s Blaize.”
I sent him for something important, hoping he would be useful. When I unlocked the door, he quickly strode in with a slightly worried expression.
“What do you have?” I demanded. Maeve came closer, positioning to my left.
“Janelle was right,” Blaize muttered. “The union is arranged by the alphas of the two packs and in the presence of the Council Members. They assumed that…you’d concede with the clauses.”
Fuck.
“It doesn’t not matter now,” I said, shaking my head. “I will just have to appear before the Council and announce that I have already found my mate. There is no precedent that overshadow the will of the Goddess. And no wolf would ever cross that line.”
I did not want it to happen so soon, but desperate times called for desperate measures. If I let Janelle have a free pass, she might as well walk all over me. And then my pack would have to suffer as well.
My wolf would never let it happen.
Blaize scratched the slope of his jaw, glancing between Maeve and me. “Not offence but Maeve is not exactly a shifter...”
“She is a psychic,” I cut him off. “That means Maeve comes from the bloodline of the witches.”
Technically, she was a supernatural being.
“If you say that in front of the Council, and you will practically sign up for her death.”
It wasn’t Blaize’s voice. Our eyes collectively flew towards the door where she stood nobly in her pearl-satin attire. Her grace and beauty completely defied her withering age.
“Esmeralda?”
“Hello, Xander,” she smiled warmly and slowly walked into the house. Her icy blue eyes briefly took in the surrounding. “I am afraid I am not here for a social call. Blaize has filled me in about your mate…so I had to rush in here as soon as possible.”
I exchanged a look with Blaize.
Why was everyone talking in riddles and not getting to the point?
What was I missing here?
“Thank you, Esmerelda. I would have needed your help anyway. But why can’t we tell the Council that Maeve is a psychic?”
Esmeralda inhaled sharply, looking straight at her.
“Because according to the legends, *a psychic is born once in a hundred years. It is only her blood and her sacrifice that can restore the ultimate power of the witches’ community. But sadly, that power is nothing but destruction.”*

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