The Rejected Alpha's Vengeance

[HUDHAYFAH]

"You–" Hudhayfah tripped over his words as he looked at the woman before him. He had been hoping that she really was the person he was looking for but as he looked at her and the discomfort that had suddenly perched itself on her face, he knew she hated it.

"Are you done?" Farida asked boredly.

"But… why are you in Sicario then?" Hudhayfah asked and Farida sighed. They were currently on one of the benches in the Sicario field where parents would sometimes sit to check on their kids as they ran across the fields and the set-up parks.

"I needed a place to live and Sicario was taking in strays at the time. Can we please not make a deal out of this? How about I tell you who your mate is and then you don't tell a soul who I am or that I came to seek refuge in Sicario?" Farida stated.

It was more of a question with an offer that she knew Hudhayfah wouldn't ever be able to refuse. And even as Hudhayfah looked at the woman, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her to get her into this particular state.

Most people who came to Sicario under the refugee program always had their memories wiped, but Farida had kept hers. That in itself put her in grave danger, but where she was, offering the healer an offer Hudhayfah wouldn't refuse.

"How should I know you will be telling the truth?" Hudhayfah asked. Farida was a creature of the old religion, and it was something that would be useful to many, including the bastards they were hunting.

So, if she let Hudhayfah see into her memories, surely there had to be a reason for it, otherwise she would have chosen to not give into Hudhayfah's request for her hand, right?

She had to have known Hudhayfah was hoping for more but perhaps fate was a bitch as usual, yeah? Maybe this was her chance at a normal life and she wanted to keep it as sane and as simple as she could when she still could.

"Because you are seeking your mate, the man you met at Halloween seven hundred and forty-five years, nine months, three weeks, and three days ago," Farida stated casually and Hudhayfah stepped back.

"What?"

"We can play this game or we can give each other what we want. Your choice. As it is, I have nothing left to lose, but if I tell you who your mate is, even the few friends you gathered will abandon you.

"You will be alone, despite working tooth and nail to keep the people you care about closer. You have always been alone Karim. We both know you got close to the Greysons because they were the easiest way to forget the pain from years ago.

"So, which one will it be?" Farida asked and Hudhayfah stared at her defeatedly. He had been certain that he had covered his tracks so well. He was sure that nothing would ever stop him from getting to his goal.

Hudhayfah had made himself believe that it was five hundred years only because he couldn't stomach the pain of not being able to see his mate for over seven hundred years.

It was a pain he was never able to live through and he tried to swallow it by keeping up the hopeless hope that maybe, just maybe if he said it had been five hundred years, he would find women to understand him.

Besides, he didn't want to seem like a hopeless loser who was looking for a mate he had only ever seen once. It would break his already fragile heart and he couldn't take that. He wouldn't be able to make it all make sense.

"Fine. I won't say a word. But please don't lie to me," Hudhayfah pleaded with Farida who sighed at how little faith Hudhayfah had in her. On one hand, she couldn't blame him. The man had been waiting for many years and never got answers.

However, on the either hand, it was a bargain that they couldn't break, because they would both hit each other and that wasn't what they were hoping for.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Time and tide were their enemies in every way, because despite the years that had passed, the memories had stayed. The pain had lingered on for too long; it was a part of them, and they didn't know how to function without it.

Maybe this was their chance at a new normal.

"He is one of them, Karim," Farida sighed defeatedly, looking everywhere but at the healer she had promised to give answers to. The statement itself was as vague as anything could ever be and it held no answers for the whaler.

"What does that mean?" Hudhayfah asked his desperation, surfacing once again. He had tried his best to get to the sewers and now here he was, a little too close to the truth that he was hoping for.

"The people you hunt so dearly. The people you and your friend group hate with a passion. Your mate is one of them," Farida said and Hudhayfah let out a lonely laugh. There was just no way the universe was this cruel to him, right?

"My Perihan?" Hudhayfah asked, his voice shaking as he tried so hard to imagine anyone else that they were hunting or even Anyone that he and his friends were doing their best to hunting.

The more Hudhayfah racked his brain and tried to find an answer, it was still the same and boy did he hate that possibility. Everything all came down to the one family Hudhayfah had sworn to burn to the ground without thinking twice.

"Impossible," Hudhayfah said as if that was supposed to make his life a little better. That family was a menace to society and his Perihan surely couldn't be that, right? His Perihan couldn't be the monster that that family was, yeah?

His Perihan couldn't be one of the people who had made the little girl he cared for go through so much, yeah? Surely the universe wasn't that harsh to him, right? He had been a good person all through.

Hudhayfah had followed every rule in the books. He had done everything right and never ever let herself get angry no matter how tempting it had been. Surely that couldn't sum up to this cruel fate for him, right?

"You were the one who asked for a starting mate, remember? When you were down with the fever eight hundred years ago. You begged for a strong mate, and at the time, that family was the only place to get what you wanted.

"If you want to blame someone, blame your prayers Hudhayfah. Your prayers led you to this point. Your prayers were answered and you got one of the strongest. You had been hurt and angry at the time.

"You wanted the pain to stop. You wanted someone who could defend and fight for you if you were too weak to defend yourself like that time. You wanted the best of best, an untainted one, didn't you?

"Well, your prayers were answered at the time. He is one of them, Karim. He is your answered prayer, if you must… I have to go now. I gave you tour answers, I hope we never meet again," Farida said as she started walking away.

However, Hudhayfah stopped her with his magic.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"