Equals in Rejection

AYSU

“Who are you?” The deep voice that found a way to breathe thick air onto the nape of her neck, was unlike any she heard before. But before she could briefly focus on decoding the potential identity of the man behind her, a sharp swing followed and she felt the deadlines of a dagger being pressed against her neck.

Aysu and her wolf quickly pushed themselves out of the state of quietude. After some stuttering, she replied, “I am Aysu.”

“Aysu what?” he demanded.

“Just Aysu.”

Dead silence followed and her heavy, probably reddened eyeballs moved to check if they would be able to catch a glimpse of the man. But she was just an ordinary werewolf, not an alien in a weird Hollywood movie.

Many seconds passed before the man spoke again.

“What do you seek?” He sure had an unusual way of speaking.

Aysu quickly decided that it would be useless to explain how she was following the voices of two men with the hope that she would find a solution that would remove the knife that had been stuck in her soul since birth.

“I am looking for Alpha Ximun,” she sharply responded.

“Who are you to search for him?”

“I am someone that needs his help.”

“What for?”

The man’s questions were a little off to Aysu. “Do you know Alpha Ximun?” she asked.

“Do you know him?” he returned her question.

“Are you usually this rude?”

“Have you forgotten that I have a blade to your throat?”

“Kill me if you want. I’ll be glad to die.” Aysu meant what she said. “But I will only let you do that after I meet Alpha Ximun.”

Aysu felt his grip loosen but that movement felt like a trap. So, instead of using some of the skills she learnt in self-defence class, she remained in that position and didn’t move until he let go of her hair and walked a few steps away.

Then, she turned so that she could put a face to the deep voice that could have made the forest tremble if it were a wolf in heat.

Once she looked up at the man, Aysu’s burdened heart forgot its worry and skipped a few beats. Her bluish eyes widened when she noticed the grimness that settled on the lips of the man. As though he was a university course she needed to study for, she intensified her focus and saw that his grimness added to his beauty instead of ruining it.

His grey, lengthy hair danced in the air and his loose, silk kimono managed to expose a glimpse of the sturdiness hidden beneath it. Aysu was almost distracted by that alluring sight if her wolf hadn’t urged her to stare into his eyes again. The narrowness of his eyes made it seem as though he was smiling, but there was an innate evil lodged within his green orbs that made her wonder if she should voice the thought that dropped in her mind after the study she just conducted.

Her wolf helped her reach a decision.

So, while they noted the amount of dark aura radiating from the man, Aysu closed her eyes for a few seconds and summoned some strength.

“You are him,” was all that dropped out of her mouth. He tilted his head to the right and the tip of his dagger glistened. Aysu narrowed her eyes and assured herself that there was nothing to be scared of. “You are Alpha Ximun, aren’t you?”

“What if I am?” His voice became more dangerous. “What do you want?”

“Are you him or not? I need to be certain I am speaking to the right person.”

Anger settled in the man’s eyes and he adjusted his position until his towering height was enough to intimidate her. Aysu was still holding on to some of her strength, so his silent threat did not move her.

“Aysu,” she never knew her name could carry so much weight, “go back to where you came from.”

His feet scratched the ground and he walked past her, not sparing her one more glance.

Aysu still wanted to be certain that he was really the man she was looking for. But since he was determined to shield his identity from her, she had no choice.

“I heard that it was your fifteenth rejection,” her voice filled the silent forest. “After a month, you will face death.”

With speed, he spun her to face him. The flared brows he carried on his face were enough confirmation for Aysu, so she decided to make sure she used that moment as a huge advantage.

“Who are you?” he asked, his hands almost crushing the bones of her upper arms.

“I am Aysu. And I just suffered my fourteenth rejection.”

His lips curled with disgust. “You are cursed as well?”

Aysu didn’t have time to waste. “Alpha Ximun, we can save each other.” If it wasn’t likely for him to cut off her hands, she would have reached for his so that he could feel her urgency. “Before a month ends, I can find someone to finalise the fifteenth rejection. Then, we can work something out. We can break the curse.”

Alpha Ximun peeled his hands off her arms. “What makes you think I want to do that?”

Her brows jerked. “You don’t want to be free?”

“How do you expect me to believe you, a stranger?”

“Don’t you get it?” Aysu raised her voice, she didn’t have all the time in the world. “We will both die a gruesome death if we don’t find a way to break the curse together. All you have to do is wait for me to be rejected one more time. By then, we will have the same number of rejections and we can-”

“Coward,” he whispered, his voice a sharper dagger than the blade he pressed to her neck before.

“What?”

“If your fate is to die a gruesome death, face it.” He looked into her eyes and she saw that his fury had multiplied. If he were to act, she could end up dead. “Why are you trying to rope me into that nonsense?”

“Ximun.” Aysu dared to bare his name. “Do you love living under such a cruel fate?”

“What?”

“Do you find it fun to endure the worst pain in the world, rejection after rejection? If you do, I don’t. That’s why I risked my life to be here. That’s why I want to hope that I can be free of the damned curse that bound me right from birth. I-”

Tears filled her eyes, they choked her throat, but that sight didn’t move the man in front of her. “I just want to be normal for once.”

An exhale came from the man. It was loud, almost like a dragon’s breath. Then, he said, “Then die.”

“What?” Aysu couldn’t believe the man. She thought he would be able to relate to her pain. But, no. He was urging her to give in to the very thing that made her miserable for more than half of her life.

“If you wish to be normal, die.” He walked closer, perhaps hoping that she would finally be intimidated. “Do you seriously believe that crap about breaking the curse?”

“I just-

“If it was going to be that easy to break the curse, you wouldn’t be here speaking about trash.”

“Are you saying that the prophecy is wrong?” Her head danced in rebuttal. “I don’t believe your nonsense. I grew up learning that-”

“You grew up listening to what people around you uttered in stupidity.” He sighed and stuffed his dagger into its sheath. “I have no intention to do as you wish, Miss Aysu. So, I will walk away. Make sure we never cross paths. If we do, my blade won’t spare you and neither will my wolf.”

Aysu looked down at the ground. One would think she was cowering, but a look at her pulled fists will be enough to tell that her anger was building up. Even Alora was hyped to come out and make sure the man called Alpha Ximun suffered a cut or two.

When Aysu sensed the man’s feet walking away, she lifted her head and screamed.

“I won’t let you take away my chance to live, Alpha Ximun,” her heavy voice cried. “I don’t want to die!” Slowly, her feet turned until she was staring at the broadness of his back. “I won’t let you go, Alpha Ximun!”

Her threats were thankfully enough to stop the man’s tracks.

For some seconds, he remained in a spot and looked up at the brightness of the moon. Then, he faced her, and the innate evil she sensed earlier filled his eyes in a way that told her that danger was approaching.

But her desire to live was stronger than her fear. So, while tears threatened to display how disarrayed her soul was, Aysu remained in that spot and watched the man take slow strides towards her.

As he moved, he asked, “You want to live?”

“I do,” she replied, her eyes squinting. “More than anything, I want to live.”

“What is so great about living?” His hands gestured to add flavour to his question. His narrowed eyes added a gruesome touch to his words. “How can a cursed fool desire life? You should be preparing for death instead.”

“Trust me, Alpha Ximun,” her chin tilted to show the man that she would continue to stand her ground, “I have wished for death many times.”

“You should have let that wish come true.” He finally reached the place her feet were rooted. After a devious smirk pulled the sides of his lips, his right hand travelled to the base of her neck. “If you had just died,” his grip wrapped her neck, “I wouldn’t be wasting my time like this.”

“I am the only way you can live, Alpha Ximun,” she spat. “Do you truly wish to die?”

“Miss Aysu,” eyes closed, he sniffed the air around her, “you are from the Tarmish Pack, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Good.”

“Why is that good?”

His eyes opened and her heart knew that something terrorising was about to happen. “It means I will never see you. But,” his grip tightened but the cough she let out didn’t stop him, “before we part ways, I should give you a gift.”

Despite the great discomfort his hold was causing her, Aysu maintained a fiery gaze and said, “You should do us a favour instead.”

He scoffed. “I, Alpha Ximun…”

Aysu’s eyes bulged. “What are you doing?”

“... of the Night Crimson Pack…”

Aysu shivered. That was a rival pack. “A- Alpha Ximun. Wait-”

“... hereby reject you, Aysu of the Tarmish Pack.”

Logically, his words were not meant to have an effect.

But the curse worked in strange ways. Whether she mated or not, once she hears those rejection words, that was it.

So, that meant Alpha Ximun of the Night Crimson Pack had just ripped Aysu off her last chance to achieve a normal life. And since he was the only one that she could break the curse with, his refusal to help further meant that all she could do at that point was to wait for death.

But that fact was not what was in the depths of Aysu’s soul.

It was the feeling of being ripped from her inner self that caused her to fall to the ground after the man let go of her. While his sinister chuckle shifted the atmosphere, Aysu clutched her chest and suffered the pain of feeling her wolf being torn away from her.

That pain was the height of the curse. She had often heard people say that once all fifteen rejections have been filled, for all the days of the month she had to live, she would experience the feeling of her wolf tearing away from her soul.

If that was truly how it was going to be, Aysu wondered if she needed to even stay alive from that moment on.

So, while her soul cried for a means of soothing, her veiny face lifted and she looked towards the feet of the man that just stripped her of her last hope. She wanted to ask him to use his knife to end her ache, but all her mouth could do was scream and cry.

Soon, her entire body blended with the dirt of the floor, and her desire to leave that world became the only thing in her mind until her eyes closed and she slipped into frightening darkness.