radicalducati The Real Mate
The Real Mate
The world around me blurred as he scooped me into his arms, his hold firm and unyielding. I struggled against him, but it was like trying to move a mountain. His grip was solid, careful but unrelenting, as if he were carrying something fragile yet priceless.
“Put me down!” I demanded, my voice sharp with frustration.
“Not a chance,” he said, his tone calm but with a finality that brooked no argument.
The wind whipped around us as he carried me effortlessly across the rugged terrain, his movements smooth and deliberate. There was an aura about him—an intensity that made him seem larger than life. The sharp angles of his jaw, the golden gleam of his eyes, the controlled power in his every step—it was overwhelming, and completely unlike Jason. Jason’s confidence had always carried an edge of arrogance, but his was something deeper. Something raw.
“Who the hell are you?” I snapped, hoping to mask my unease with defiance.
“Sam Blackwell,” he said simply, his voice steady. He glanced down at me, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. “I’m the Lycan Prince. And I’m your mate.”
My breath caught, and for a moment, the only sound was the distant crash of waves. Lycan Prince? The stories of Lycans were practically legend—ancient wolves said to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than any shifter alive. I had assumed they were nothing more than myth.
“A-nd I’m your m-mate?” I repeated, my voice barely audible. My mind raced to make sense of his words, but they only raised more questions.
“Yes, you are my mate,” he said, his voice softening slightly, though the firmness in his tone remained. “The one the Moon Goddess chose for me. And I’m not letting you go.”
I shook my head, the sting of Jason’s rejection still fresh in my heart. “You’re wrong. Jason is—was—my mate. And he rejected me. The Moon Goddess doesn’t just hand out replacements.”
His jaw tightened at my words, a muscle ticking beneath his skin. For a moment, he didn’t speak, as if weighing how much to tell me. Then he exhaled, his golden eyes locking onto mine.
“Well, that explains it,” he said, his tone laced with irritation, though it wasn’t directed at me.
“Explain what?” I asked, struggling against him again, though I already knew it was pointless.
“Why are you here,” he replied. “Jason severed your bond. He didn’t just reject you—he broke it. That’s why you were able to feel this connection to me.”
The weight of his words hit me like a physical blow. Severed? Broken? Was that even possible? The mate bond, the one thing I had dreamed about my entire life, was supposed to be unshakable. Eternal.
“But bonds aren’t supposed to get broken just like that,” I whispered, my voice trembling.
Sam nodded. “It does. It happens when your mate rejects you. And when it does, the Moon Goddess makes a choice. She gives you a second mate.”
I stared at him, my mind spinning. A second mate? Everything I thought I knew about my world, about the way the Moon Goddess worked, seemed to unravel in an instant.
“That’s me,” Sam added, his voice unwavering.
I didn’t know what to say. My emotions swirled in a chaotic storm—relief, disbelief, anger, confusion. Jason’s rejection had left a gaping hole in my chest, and now here was Sam, the freaking Lycan Prince, telling me that the bond I had lost had been replaced by something entirely new. Does that mean I'll soon be a Lycan Princess?!