The Rejected Quisling

AYSU

“I can’t do this anymore.” She looked away from the man speaking to her. Her focus turned to a black butterfly that was struggling to find its place. “I can’t be with you anymore. Day after day it gets tougher to be with someone like you.”

Aysu crossed her arms and with patience that surprised her, she asked, “Someone like me?” 

 The man lowered his gaze as though ashamed. With a murmur, he replied, “You know what I mean.”

Aysu knew. So did everyone in their pack.

But it seemed the man in front of her was respectful enough to keep certain words to himself.

So, Aysu helped him say the words he couldn’t. She slightly tilted her head after a small nod and said, “You mean someone who is cursed.” 

“I…”

Aysu smiled at his hesitation. But at the same time, she found it a little enraging. if she were in her impatient era at that moment, she would have shifted and shredded him into little bits. 

But her anger wasn’t that prominent. If she was feeling anything, it would be tiredness. Her soul was tired, so was her wolf. 

So, after a deep sigh, Aysu asked the man in front of her a simple question. 

“What are you trying to say?”

“I am rejecting our bond, Aysu.”

She returned her gaze to the butterfly that was now quite a distance away from her. “Was that so hard to say?” She loosened her folded arms and travelled her gaze to the loose sands of the ground. “Is that all you want to say?”

The man scoffed and Aysu found it more difficult to be standing there. “Aysu, how can you speak so casually?” He tried to hold her shoulders but she was swift enough to step back. Their eyes met and she saw how her movement broke the man’s soul. With a crack in his deep voice, he asked, “Do you think this is easy? Do you think I wish to reject you?”

“I won’t cry if that's what you are expecting.” Aysu hardened her jaws. “Why would I?” 

“We shared a bond, Aysu,” he almost cried.

“This is the fourteenth time I’ll be hearing that stupid rejection line. Don’t you think it will be dumb of me to be bothered by what you just said?”

His brows knitted to show that he was confused. Seconds later, he showed concern for her. “Aysu, what we shared was too special. Surely, it meant something to you. Surely…” He moved closer but she could not find the strength to move away or even closer to him. She looked away when the gaze in his eyes made to search her eyes for her true emotions. “... you are not fine with being rejected this way.”

“The bonds I shared with thirteen other people were also special. So, stop being a baby and leave before you irritate my soul.”

Mark Coleman, the Beta Wolf Aysu recently bonded with sighed again. But this time, he seemed fed up. “People are right,” he said, “you won’t ever be free from your curse. With this attitude of yours, you will die. No…” His fists formed tightly. “... you deserve to die.”

“Mark Coleman,” Aysu finally looked into his eyes with brazen coldness in hers. She cupped his soft cheek she loved playing with, “I wished myself death a long time ago.” The touch of death in her eyes intensified and her voice became a threat to her ears. “I won’t be surprised if I am already a dead soul.”

“Aysu…”

“Don’t make this hard for yourself, Beta Mark. I know this rejection is not your will. That’s how the curse works." Her shoulders swayed to the side. "It repels loved ones, and they become unfortunate if they try to be stubborn about the bond.”

"But Aysu-" He tried to hold onto the wrist of the hand cupping his face but she pulled back with a speed he couldn’t catch up with. 

"It doesn't matter if you love me more than the moon loves the earth. My curse will always find a way to ruin things."

"But I do love you that much. To me, you are supposed to be my one and only true mate. Don't you think this is unfair to me? Huh?"

“Let me go, Mark,” Aysu whispered into the night, and while the man wished to defy her words for a brief moment, he gave up his words, backed his steps and she began to do the same until she turned and faced the thick forest that bordered the city of the Tarmish Pack. 

"I, Mark Coleman, of the Tarmish Pack, reject you, Aysu."

As she moved, the breeze of the night walked with her and brought that statement into her ears.

 The firmness she displayed earlier collapsed faster than a castle-shaped stack of cards.

Then, her lips started to quiver. And no matter how hard she tried to kick them back, tears followed and the next thing she thought to do was to hide them from the universe.

So, she engaged her feet and raced towards the thickness of the forest. She ran until her entire being became one with the wind. 

She could have chosen to shift in the process. In fact, she sensed herself trying to communicate with her. But Aysu wished to be selfish. 

She was aware that her wolf was suffering a pain far greater than hers. But she was devastated as well and the only way she could temporarily heal was to find a distraction that would benefit her.

But it seemed the distractions chosen were not going to work. Because the more she ran, the more her memories sprang out of the mental box she stuffed them into.  

Every rejection she suffered from the moment she became old enough to find a mate started to play in her head. 

The sight of those memories soon became a burden for her pounding heart. Her heart immediately carried a weight she could not handle and she was forced to stop running.