Cain's POV

I can't believe the circumstances I've been made to struggle with. I've always been excited to take on my rightful role as the alpha of our pack, Blue Moon. I've reached the age that I can take over, but my father and the council wouldn't let me become alpha until I find my mate.

I never cared about that, unlike my friends who were always so excited on finding theirs. I merely would congratulate them when they found their destined partner; but I don't fail to notice how they pity me for not finding mine yet.

Where is she? Is she even there? Do I even have one?

I take out my frustration by going on war with other packs, all of which I've won triumphantly. I had to prove how strong and capable I am, showing them all that I don't need a mate to soften me or become my weakness.

We all had gifts assigned to us at birth. Just some small benefits, that make us unique; and not anything ever deadly though. Although mine has helped me a lot during fights.

I need to go out today to help the workers with new tasks. They are helpful for maintaining the well-being of the pack, but they don't go to war, thus don't join training sessions. There are often newcomers we'd accept into our pack, most of which would become workers immediately. I'm not at the slightest bit excited for this.

As I tread along the grass towards the workers, I became lost in thoughts. I wonder about how to fight better, my next target for annihilating a pack, yes I'm cruel, and how to persuade my father and the council. I don't want to become a laughing stock to the other alphas from well-known packs.

Just then I smelt a whiff of chocolate and cherries. I don't think I'm even hungry, but I'm immediately attracted to the scent. I felt the need to find out its source. If it's food, it's gonna be mine soon. I smiled at my own selfishness, my mouth already watering, when I finally tracked it out.

I stop dead on my tracks. It wasn't food. The smell came from... a guy? Whatever may be the reason, this white haired male must be putting on a lot of chocolate+cherry scented perfume. He must be one of the workers, I thought, as I tried to grab his shoulder since he wasn't facing me.

He then turns around suddenly and our eyes meet. My wolf suddenly yells out 'MATE!' to me, but I guess he's as shocked as I am, thinking how he repeated quizzically, 'mate?' I can't believe it. I can't believe this.

The white haired guy just stared at me with a look that almost seems like it's filled with hatred. I groaned at my new discovery, and something must be wrong.. absolutely wrong. What's going on? I take a deep breath, and then say, "But you're a male?"

He replies "So what?" so bitterly that it slightly hurts me. Oh no I'm not letting this affect me already.

"This is wrong! It can't be right" I growled out, and immediately turn on my heels and leave the place. I'm so confused. What should I do? Do I talk to my mother about this? She's the one who always told me how I'll eventually find my beautiful princess who'd stay by my side. I'm embarrassed, to say the least.

I reach my room quickly and lock the door. I have to rest. Maybe I'm dreaming. I punch my face. Ouch. Oh am I supposed to pinch instead? Well it still worked.

What went wrong? I look down at my pants and pull the elastic waistband to my front. Yep okay I'm male. Wait why do I even have to examine myself? Sigh.. I'm getting lightheaded. How do I even explain this to mum?

"Mum, I finally found my mate today! You won't believe it! My mate turns out to be a charming white haired male! He's got beautiful green eyes and a slim figure! You'll like him!" ???

Huh??

Wait what??? Did I just define him as good looking??

Well he doesn't look bad. No. This....

I faint. As I slip into unconsciousness, I thought, 'And I was supposed to be a strong guy, here I am...'.

I definitely need to talk to my wolf about this too. Hopefully when I wake up it'll turn out to be a dream, yeah still hoping because this is too complicated. It just somehow pained me to see how much my unlikely-mate seem to hate me with that short interaction. This must be a confirmation that he's indeed my mate, thus I'm feeling the negative emotion. Even if it's a 'he' or a 'she', I guess no one wants to be hated by their mate.

Cecil's POV

I used to be in a lovely pack called Rosewood, before I came to stay with this current pack Blue Moon with my sister Lily. She's more of a best friend, and isn't my sister by blood. Her parents had died when she was just 1, and we took her in as family. They were a close family friend, and we treat her no differently than we would a family member. I was 2 years old then. We are pretty much inseparable.

Just seven months ago, on my eighteenth birthday, everything was going so well with my special day. We were having fun, laughing at some jokes my father cracked; when we suddenly got attacked by Blue Moon pack.

They didn't even have a feud with us. They didn't even give a warning. They just suddenly raided us, killing pack members, destroying houses, leaving us helpless as we tried to hang on to our lives.

They looked down on us as if we were utterly inferior to them, trampling on us like we were some pitiful insects. My parents shouted at me and Lily to hide away inside our house, and we only managed to do so when the front door broke down in a flash.

A tall man with dark hair stepped in with two other guys behind him.

My wolf exclaimed 'mate' but I didn't know why. I scanned the scene- my mother and father facing the dark haired man. He was well built, but I couldn't detect his facial features clearly from where Lily and I were hiding. He spoke calmly to my parents, "Which one of you do I kill first?" and from the sensation I felt upon hearing his voice I understood that he was my so-called-mate.

But I couldn't really care about that. I just wanted to bolt out of my hiding spot to try and save my parents. How could he even plan to kill my parents? What wrong have they done to him, or anyone in general? They were the kindest people I've known. As I tried to run out to them Lily had grabbed me tightly on my arm. The look of fear on her face made me realise that I could make things worse, putting her life in danger as well.

I managed to calm down and watch the scene as my father kneeled down and begged him to spare their lives. My mother was already in tears. It broke my heart to see them like that. I felt so incapable. When the man said he could just kill my mother, my father growled out with rage, protective towards his mate, his eyes glowed and his fangs showed as he took a stance immediately shielding my mother with his body.

The man just laughed. He called my parents pathetic. After a few seconds passed he just said how it was so clear that my father's weakness is his own mate, my mother. He continued by saying that if he were to ever find his mate that he would most likely reject her because he didn't need her.

That hurt. I didn't notice my falling tears until Lily softly nudged me. He hasn't even met me yet but his actions, his words; they were enough to slice right through my heart. I guess Lily realised what was going on with me. She and I were so close that we would be able to understand each other easily. Furthermore she had a special gift, that enabled her to feel other people's emotions. Not only that, but she's able to toy around with other's mental vulnerabilities.

I watched the man slowly going towards the door when he suddenly sniffed the air. Did he notice my scent? I started to panic, but to my surprise smoke started coming in through the door. It must be from the houses they had unfortunately burned down. He then exited our house.

My mother collapsed in father's arms as she sobbed and the sounds of all the misfortunes and pain continued on in our pack. Howling of wolves declaring their loss, footsteps rushing about to help others. We went out to see the damage and help out too. It was terrible. I learnt later that the man who had come into our house was the leader and the soon-to-be alpha of Blue Moon pack.

It just became my worst birthday ever. Lily and I huddled together with mother and father before we went to bed. I told them about the newfound problem with my meeting of my given mate. Their eyes held sadness, and I cried freely that night. They cried with me too. At least I've got a loving family, but I won't tolerate what we were made to go through. Especially with the rage I had inside towards my given mate.

A week later I decided to leave and move to Blue Moon pack to get my revenge. It might not be easy, but I plan to crush that dark haired guy and let him experience exactly the pain he had given me. Besides it's not easy to live on far from a mate when you've discovered one. I need to reject him first and break our bond. Lily somehow convinced me to accepting that she's coming along. And it eased our parents's concern about me going alone.

And that was how it went. It's been a few months already. I've easily adapted to the life of a worker here, as how we were called. We just mainly do tasks that help out with the management of the pack. The members are pretty nice to us. I've been observing my target for awhile now. I learned that his name is Cain, and that he isn't the alpha yet because they expect him to find his mate first. Ha!

He's been out annihilating packs a lot, and I am a little glad that he didn't completely destroy mine. That only makes me feel angrier too though, for he's belittling us to the point that he just pitied us. But if not my parents and everyone else would be gone too. Lily can't bear to lose another family. I won't let her. That drives me even angrier. I'm not gonna let him go easily.

I learnt this morning that Cain is coming today to help the workers with demonstration of new skills and tasks. How great. I'm sure to surprise him, as I dressed up in my work clothes in front of the mirror. Lily came and frowned.

"Why do you really have to do that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Don't pretend to not know. You're using your gift everyday and have been deceiving everyone since the day we got here! Even in front of the Alpha, it was a miracle he didn't notice you were using your gift. I was so nervous, you know that. Do you really have to do this?"

I smiled as I replied, "Oh come on, I've already explained this many times. Yes it's necessary. It helps me, and will help me out big time today."

"Cain is coming today?!?" Her eyes were wide. She was clearly shocked.

I hummed nonchalantly as a reply, as I once again activated the power of my gift.

"Ta-da! Do I look good sweet Lil' ?" I asked her with a wide grin.

She just shook her head slowly as she smiled and said, "You always look good Cecil, whether as a boy or as a girl."

That warmed my heart. Yes my gift allows me to turn into a male version of myself. It's pretty unique, and I never thought how useful it'd be. Here in Blue Moon only Lily knows about it. To everyone else I'm male.

Even as a male, I got similar traits and looks pretty much as my normal body. White hair, green eyes, pale skin, only that my hair is shorter as a male and I'm a few inches taller as well.

It went so very well. The petrified and confused look plastered on his face as he met my gaze. He even seemed like he'd just seen a ghost as he muttered out the question that I'm actually a male. It made me feel so triumphant when I delivered the blow and made him run away. Well he wasn't exactly running but he might as well be doing so. The other workers shared confused looks regarding Cain's behaviour while Lily sent me a nervous smile with a thumbs up. I smirked at my little victory. But the bond pull also became a bit more especially since I took in much of his scent of chamomile tea and sandalwood.

This might be even harder than I thought. I have to hurry, but first how to torment him? I need to make a good long list. Haha.

Cain woke up 4 hours later after he passed out. He ignored everyone's greetings and went straight to the pack library. He needed answers, so he tried looking up to see if there had been similar cases before.

He wouldn't mind rejecting his mate all those times but he wasn't allowed to take over the alpha position until he brings his own mate before his father and the council. His efforts on making a name for himself didn't really help him out. Not entirely, but in a way it helped him to secure himself the ceremony to become the next alpha; but he had to wait for five years from the current year.

After an hour later he felt hopeless, not finding anything to help him clear his confusion. Just then Nathan, his close friend came and brought food. Nathan had a gift that enabled him to find out where others are in the vicinity. It was never fair to play hide and seek with him if it was his turn to seek.

Food wasn't allowed inside the library. But his rumbling stomach seemed to protest about the rules. Besides Cain was never the kind to care much about rules. "Hungry?" Nathan asked and Cain just nodded and started eating. "What were you doing here anyway? Something came up?" he continued and Cain wasn't sure about how to tell his friend the situation.

Clearly it wouldn't go well to try finding the white haired guy and bringing him to the council. Now that he thought about it, the guy seemed to know that they were mates. Was that why he looked angry?

So his mate didn't want him. He felt a pang of pain inside his chest. Now what happened to the rejection plan? He sighed deeply while Nathan coughed, bringing him back to reality. He was thinking too much that he must've made him worry when he wasn't responding.

"Say, Nate, what if I-" he was cut off by a soft chuckle coming from the library door. It was him. Cecil just arrived with Lily. "Bro what?" Nathan asked him but Cain looked extremely pale with wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth. Looking at the direction he was fixated at Nathan noticed two people coming in. A guy with white hair and a girl with brown hair. Confused, he just said, "A couple? They look good together don't they? Maybe they're here for a date." At this Cain frowned at him. He looked a bit angry and sad at the same time.

He clenched his fists and growled out, "I hope you both do know that the library is not a place for couples to have quality time."

"So what were you both doing then? There's traces of food too. Just because you're alpha doesn't mean you can bypass the rules. Oh wait, you aren't the alpha yet," Cecil said mockingly with a smirk.

Cain nearly lost it. He was trembling with rage and gritted his teeth. Just then Lily said, "Hey Cecil, don't be such a jerk! Guys we're sorry. We're here for a task, we're workers. And we're siblings, no quality time here," she laughed at the end.

"So his name is Cecil, and they were siblings, they don't look much alike," Cain thought to himself. He was somehow a bit relieved, but also still mad at the mockery and disrespect coming from Cecil.

"Whatever reason you're here for, don't think I will tolerate that amount of disrespect." Cain said and glared at Cecil, "Perhaps a punishment will be acceptable don't you think?"

At this Lily calmly took two steps forward, and she stared at Cain with glowing eyes. She always has Cecil's back. "So what are you implying? He spoke the truth, even if it wasn't with respect. The truth hurts no? I suppose we can take this to the council then? Let's see if they will tolerate the rules you broke, or care more about just some words that were spoken to you," she said, while pointing at the table with food traces and trays at the end.

They were taken aback. One moment she was all smiles and friendly and the next she looked deadly and dangerous.

Without another word they went on with their tasks as if nothing happened, and left again silently. Nathan asked, "Are you okay buddy?" Cain didn't answer. "Do you guys know each other?" Again he didn't answer and just shook his head as a reply.

Mostly pack members know each other well. Especially for the heads and leaders it is necessary to know everyone in the pack. But for Blue Moon there's always people coming, and also people leaving. They're hospitable towards guests and newcomers. They're therefore larger than the usual packs and it isn't strange to meet new people all year round.

"Shall we look into them?" Nathan suggested and Cain perked up. He knew for a fact that Cain was never the kind to act out the way he did. He's ruthless in his conquest of battles but he'd never scold anyone in the pack so suddenly because of such silly reasons. He knew there was something more to it, from how much he was affected from the moment he saw them.

Afterwards they were looking into the file databases of the workers. They couldn't find out much. Only that it hadn't been long since their arrival and that they came together. It was a hindrance to put in too much details about new members until they stayed for at least a year. Confrontation would be the last choice, and before that it would be to ask the workers. But that might become too suspicious.

They sighed at the same time. "Let's call it a day shall we?" Cain suggested. "Yea let's do that" Nathan replied.