CHAPTER [6] - I have a mate!

"You're telling him to marry Darren fucking Knight of all people."

No.

Darren Knight.

Hate and enmity welled up in his heart, fury itself burning him up, there was so much hate that even the tissues making up his organs were burnt, Hatred masquerades as an ointment to hurt when in truth it is no more than gasoline for the flames. Even for Damsel though others may say his doesn't run that deep, it really does,

he hated Darren, with all his being and more.

All his fucking life, He was told that Darren was the perfect heir, the uncomparable, the golden child of the city. And Damsel? Well, he was popular aswell.. in the opposite aspect of the spectrum. See, Darren was all the way up there, whilst Damsel.. He was just the problematic riff-raff delinquent that everyone kept an eye out for.

While numerous classmates and residents gathered around him like ants to a Nutella sandwich, Damsel was left on the side as the bitter lemon the ants desperately avoided.

Of course, it was understandable, Darren had been extraordinary since birth, but it wasn't fair for them to cluster closely around him like desperate fans waiting for their idol, after all what was so different about the two? Why was he treated so paralleled? They were both son of Alphas, they both went to the same schools growing up, so why?

Damsel grit his teeth, jaw clenched and all as he slammed his fist on the table next to his rest-bed, his nails dug so deep into his palms that you mightve even been able to see a trickle of blood slithering down. His stomach shifted uneasily as he released his hands but then coudln't figure out what to do with them, so instead they clasped and unclasped each other as if in constant need of touch and reassurance.

If only those warm hands from his dream were here to embrace  him, to provide a loving shield from everything being placed in his mind, he couldn't even think straight. He just missed the hug.

Now he had to even marry the bastard, you'd think marriage was about love, but this was different, this was a political marriage.

He knew what he was getting himself into.

By marriage, they didn't mean the 'living happily ever after together as they fall inlove',

no,

this political marriage meant that the MoonPrince pack had to ship resources to the other and lower their necks for these bastards. In other words,

Damsel was a fucking hostage.

Think of it as holding someone for ransom, it was the same situation.

He closed his eyes shut as he massaged his temples, biting his lips from letting out a scream and litting the whole hospital on fire, though the fire wouldn't even be able to be measured for the hatred that was growing in his stomach at this moment, he couldn't even disapprove or fight back, his hands were tied and his mouth was taped, he couldn't do anything. He felt his pulse pounding harder and harder in his temples.

It was like he had fallen right into their trap.

Carter may have said it was to close the war, but this was anything but fixing old mends,

this was them surrendering.

they had lost.

they really lost this time.

All because of Damsel.

All color drained from Damsel's previously red-tinted cheeks, and his eyes seemed like they had watched the body's soul leave right in front of them, his hands dropped to his sides mindlessly as if his joints and muscles had completely given up.

No way.

A thought flickered in his head.

His mate.

He'd never be able to meet his mate.

He never cared about the useless soulmate shit before, because it was just a privilege right in front of him that he could reach out to anytime he wanted; now that it was gone and out of his grasp, he finally realized how much he really yearned for his other half; how much he wanted to meet them and treasure them, how much he wanted to live a life in blissful ignorance where the other would pledge their life solely to him alone.

Never.

He refused to take in the words that filled the crippling doom of an atmosphere, his ears started ringing and he felt himself walking along a bridge growing thinner and narrower by the mere second.

"Mom.. this is a prank," He nervously laughed, his tone rid of any humor though. "Right? Right?" He held her arms again, putting hers into his as he tightly gripped them. Tell me this was just a long, horrible nightmare.

Cold sweat glistened on his furrowed brow. With hands clasped tightly in front of his stomach he constantly fiddled with his knuckles, weaving his fingers in and out of each other.

He was led to a corner of a cage, where he'd be given a life-sentence to excuse his selfish actions from before.

"I'm not marrying him." He spoke. "No, you can't force me."

"I'd rather fucking die!"

His whole life and future were thrown away by just a few words.

Was he worth so little that his own father would marry him off without wasting a breath, that his so-called best friend would just rush to get the news over and done with just so Damsel wouldn't cause a 'scene' ? The amount of pain and betrayal that parked at the entrance of his heart ate him up, how could his father give him such a long-awaited sign of affection and just throw him out not a second too late?

Was he just a nuisance around them?

That's right.

He was a fucking burden, always fucking everything up, always bringing trouble to the others over his unresolved childhood issues.

"No." Damsel shook his head slowly, his eyes rotten of any emotion, and his skin rid of color and pigment.

"NO!" He yelled, pushing his mother off of him in aggression, to which his father immediately cushioned her fall, he was about to start yelling until-

"I have a fucking mate, I'm not going to marry that son-of-a-bitch, I will never pledge the rest of my life binding my wolf to that asshat of all people-!"

"Damsel, stop being so narcissistic and self centered!" Matthew spoke up, "It's either you lose a mate, or everyone else in this already god-forsaken pack, are you seriously putting yourself over the 100 lives that you, yourself, put at risk because of your damned anger issues?"

Lose a mate?

Is it that simple for you?

Right, of course.

Marriages for humans are easy, you could just divorce if things don't work out, but for werewolves you were born for each other, it wasn't a marriage, it was

soul-binding, you could never return. The moment their wolves exchange their vows, is the moment their previous mate connections would entirely break off for good, mateless wolves would be driven to insanity whilst the traitor mate would still live on happily with a wolf that wasn't their other soul.

He would lose his mate, entirely.

His mate would die.

"Matthew- Calm down." His mother tried to calm the boy. "He's just overwhelmed-."

"No! I'm sick and tired of your ungrateful ass walking around like you're the goddamned victim, You're an alpha for fuck's sake so start acting like one!"

Ungrateful?

Like I'm the victim?

Damsel's words yielded back into his mouth, leaving his mouth completely opened where the words before were supposed to come out, he stared at his best friend, who's face was red and raging, not stuttering over a single word.

Matthew right now looked like a raging bull seeing red, clenching his fists tightly with his eyes red from tears. His jaw was clenched and it was immediately apparent just how livid he was.

"How about instead of getting pissy and bitchy about not getting attention and actually start contributing to the pack. Get your fucking shit together! Is it you controlling your body or your goddamned wolf?"

I'm not the one controlling my body anymore?

"I'm so fucking sick and tired of you and your antics." Matthew finally delivered with a rushed tone, running a frustrated hand through his hair as if trying to calm himself, he scoffed to the side.

"I'm fucking tired of you."

The moment those words ran out of Matthew's mouth was the moment Damsel realized he'd misinterpreted his actions, his words, his expressions for so many years as if he'd been speaking a language Damsel couldn't understand. The friend he considered his closest since the moment he was born, had all those thoughts buried deep inside the darkest corners of his heart, containing them and hiding them for all those years just to put up with Damsel's 'selfish' antics.

"Is that what you think of me, Matthew?" Damsel said with a sad, soulless smile, he bit back his quivering bottom lip, and he could feel tears brimming at the corner of his eyes. "You've just been,

"Putting up with me?" He let the words fall ever so quietly, it was in such a hushed tone like Damsel was scared that if he said them loudly, he would believe them more.

His heart broke.

And at that moment, pent-up anger and emotions clogged up Damsel's mind.

He was blinded by a five-course serving of rage that tasted bitter, yet surprisingly satisfying.

First, you tell me to bind myself to another, much less someone I despise with my core, Second you tell me, that all I have to do is just lose one mate, that all i have to do is get rid of my only second half, and just let them drive themselves into depression to kill themselves because i'm selfish? then third, you tell me you never fucking liked me, that you were only in my life because you wanted the rank that came with accompanying me?

Damsel held it back as long as he could, the small bottle of water that was his patience filled with no time, almost instantly even. The cap couldn't possibly hold the amount of rising tides coming forth like a tsunami, and soon?

Damsel let go of the force holding the cap.

He reached out.

The tubes that chained him down snapped.

"DAMSEL!" His mother shrieked.

He went to punch him in the face.

When his fist came in contact Matthew was far too distracted to see it coming, he fell to the ground wailing in pain. As Damsel tried to shake the aching after taste, upon the taste buds of his hand. Much like coffee, its bitterness drew Damsel in to take another sip knowing he would be more awake than minutes before.

At that moment an alarm set off in the hospital, causing the security guards that had apparently been standing leisurely outside on their lunch break to flood the room with their blue uniforms.

Damsel knew he should've put an end to it, apologize before he made it worse, but he just didn't have it in him to stop, he couldn't stop himself. The way Matthew spoke with such hate, the way his face delivered his thoughts and feelings even though he'd stayed poker throughout their other 17 years.

And when he was talking about losing his own mate with no restraint.

mate.

It rung in his head.

Want mate.

Like a siren on a police car.

Find mate.

Pushing through every other content in his head.

mate!

When Damsel is triggered, it is so very hard to have self control, He's doing the actions, he knows he's doing it, it is his behavior but it's as if the gas peddle got stuck down and in that acceleration, in that momentum, the steering wheel gets all jammed up too. It's all fight or fight and it's so disappointingly primitive but he can't override it unless he has a friend to help me, to guide, to release that emotional pressure so that he can take back the steering and make good choices.

That friend, was and has always been Matthew,

but now there was no one but himself in the car that he called his body.

It's supposed to be only him, but the way he moves, it never feels like its truly him in that moment, he would never jump onto someone like that, he knew himself better than anyone else.

But why was he always someone else in these fights?

It was like he was completely dissociated from reality, like he was watching himself from someone else's pov in the room, he saw every single detail like he was really a third person watching himself in the room, but he couldn't recognize himself. That wasn't him. That wasn't him punching the boy like a bag.

One guard grabbed my left arm and I whirled to land one solidly on his jaw, right below his ear.

He went down. Two of the other three held 'Damsel's' arms while another punk hit him in the stomach twice. He was like a wild lion on the loose in a zoo, surrounded by guards to take him down, yet none standing a chance against the wild animal. Damsel kicked one of the ones holding his arm solidly in the midsection, which knocked the breathe out of him. He bent over but didn't fall. When Damsel kicked the guy in the gut, he pushed the others back and and they all went down.

Somewhere along his fight for freedom, Matthew had gotten up, he was desperately trying to scoot away from the flaming hulk that was his wolf-controlled alpha.

One of the guards was on all fours, and Damsel kicked at his chin and landed a hard one on his head. The other was up and ran at the dissociated boy to tackle him. Damsel of course,stiff-armed him and pushed him to the ground. While they were regaining their balances,

A voice was quick to shake the room.

"Ereloc."

His father boomed, making 'Damsel's' body stiffen and freeze within a second. His looming figure towards the source of the voice, with his eyes dark, his iris completely flooded.

This isn't me.

This is-

My wolf..?