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Wylder placed Tiara on the bed and observed her like a creep. He knew the reason why she was in so much pain. It was the pain of rejection that she was hiding from everyone, but he couldn’t understand why she was in so much pain when she was the one who rejected him.

It was what he had learned from his mothers, who adopted him. And his mothers, Eden Miller and Arya Miller, were Sophia Haysbert, Tiara’s mother’s best friend for more than two decades.

Wylder ran his fingers through her dirty hair. He could bet that she didn’t take took a shower in the past couple of days because werewolves had a sensitive noses, and they could smell these small things. The way her hair was stuck to his fingers, Tiara didn’t even comb her hair.

He was about to remove his hand when Tiara grabbed his hand. “Theo!! Please don’t.”

Wylder’s expression changed when he heard her calling someone else name by holding his hand. He didn’t have to be a genius to know that Theo was her ex-mate.

‘EX. ' He couldn’t express his happiness at the thought that Tiara rejected her mate.

He was eight when he was adopted by Eden and Arya, and no one knew the back story of his life or even his real name before he was adopted because he never shared it with anyone. After all, it was a nightmare that he didn’t want to think about.

And since then, he had loved Tiara. He doubted that he even knew the meaning of LOVE at that moment. Neither did he want to find his mate, nor did he want Tiara to find her but their destiny had another plan; they both found their fated mate, only to get a bitter experience of their life.

Wylder pulled his hand from her grip before speaking, “It’s me, Ara. Wylder.” He whispered, not sure if she was listening to him or not.

He let her sleep on the bed while he sat on the sofa, watching her sleeping figure and recalled that seventeen years back, even her family members were sleeping peacefully until he heard a loud noise.

*

FLASHBACK

*

Wylder was just seven years old when he heard the loud noise out of his room. He quickly left his bed and opened the door to see what was happening outside, only to scream in horror when he saw a lot of pack members hitting his father, his stepfather, to be exact. His mother had told him that he was the result of one night stand before his mother found her mate.

The best part was that his stepfather wanted him even though Wylder wasn’t his.

“Why are you hitting my dad?” Wylder reached near the pack members, trying to stop them from hitting his father. After all, he was the Alpha of the pack. Why would they do any of them treat their Alpha in that way?

“Stop it!!” He screamed but was thrown away by the pack members.

“Mom!! Mom!!” Wylder cried, looking for her mother, who could stop all this. After all, she was the Luna of the pack, but what he saw next broke his innocent heart. His mother was standing up here, watching all this with the Beta of the pack with a smile on her face.

But he still ran up toward her to ask her to stop all this, “Mom, Mom! Please stop that. They will kill, dad.”

“Go and sleep, Wilfred (Wylder).” She said, ignoring her request.

“Mom, Dad will die.” Wylder cried, watching his father bleeding.

“He has to, sweetheart. Because he raped and killed Beta female.” Wylder couldn’t understand the meaning of rape, but he understood that the Beta female was no more, and as for everyone, it was his father who killed her.

“No. That’s not true. I don’t believe you.” Wylder screamed at her.

“I know that’s not true, but still, everyone believed it.” She smirked before threatening him, “Now leave before I end up killing you.”

Wylder quickly ran away from there to help his father on his own.

“Dad!! Dadd!!” He managed to reach near him and hugged his bleeding body tightly.

“Ru..run away, Son!!”

In the next second, he was ripped apart from his father. “Watch this bastard die!!”

“He has committed a grave sin by assaulting Beta Female and then killing her to hide his crime.”

“A person like him has no die to live.”

“He is shame at the name of Moon Goddess’s child.”

“No!! No!! No!!” Wylder kept screaming, but in front of his eyes, not just everyone killed him but ripped each and every part of his father in front of his eyes. He kept screaming and crying, but his voice died in between the sound of everyone cheering and demanding his father’s death.

“Dad… Daddy!!” He cried for one last time when the people holding him let him go, and he ran near his father’s head. “Dad..” he whispered in a low tone, and his heart was racing in his chest. He felt something was happening to him, but he couldn’t figure it out. The intense anger that he was feeling inside his chest because of everyone killing his father or for the part that no one heard his plea or over the part that his mother was involved in all this was something that he couldn’t control.

He wanted to kill everyone.

He turned his head and looked at the place where his mother was with the Beta and glared at them. He wanted to rip their head. Each and every comment that they said against his father was acting as fuel in his anger.

“Why is your illegitimate pup glaring at me as if he will kill me?” The Beta asked with a chuckle. Wylder narrowed his eyes, wondering how could he heard something when they were standing up on the second floor, but he didn’t care.

“If he will have been born with his father’s ability, then by now, he would have done already, but he is useless, and I had to use him as bait to fool Alpha.”

That was it. He ran up toward them to kill both of them. At the same time, his whole body was burning in anger, and he was feeling an enormous amount of pain, the pain of losing his father, the pain of betrayal, the pain as if someone was trying to break his bones and wanted to come out of his body.

“I will kill you both.” He said while coming like a growl from his throat.

“What the… what is happening to him?” The Beta asked in shock, unable to understand how a boy of seven years old could growl like a wolf. He watched in shock when Wylder’s bone started cracking, and his body started shifting. “Who is his father? With whom did you sleep and give birth to a freak like him?” He asked in horror, holding Wylder’s mother's hand, who was equally shocked.

“Step away!!” He used his Alpha tone; after all, the Beta was the younger brother of his father. Wylder ignored his command as his mind was focused on the pain that he was feeling as he was shifting for the first time. But his so-called uncle, or say, Beta, didn’t dare to come close to him.

“After killing you,” Wylder spoke in a voice that he himself couldn’t recognize.

“Control him by using your power.” The Beta spoke again, on which Wylder’s Mother used a spell on him only to see that it didn’t work on him.

“I can’t. Deal with him.” With that, she disappeared from there the moment Wylder shifted into a black werewolf with blue eyes and lunged at her to kill her. Wylder’s wolf looked at his other prey and lunged at him to kill him in the same way that everyone did to his father. The moment he was done ripping his head, a lot of pack members came over there, watching the black werewolf in shock and fear. They walked toward him to attack him. That was when Wylder’s wolf let out a warning growl, and his body started shifting again, but not into a human form, but into the bigger and more dangerous form of a werewolf.

The werewolf who was standing before them on his four paws was standing on two feet. He growled at them angrily before jumping from the second floor to run away from there instead of fighting with everyone.

When Wylder opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of the forest, naked, and his body was covered with blood. He couldn’t recall what exactly had happened after feeling extreme pain in his body. All he remembered was that he had lost control of his anger, and someone else had taken control of his body.

He couldn’t recall what he did in anger, but the memories of everyone clearing his father brutally was clear in his mind.

He looked at his hand and body, which were covered with blood. He couldn’t help but cry, thinking how everything had changed in his life all of a sudden. He was supposed to celebrate his eighth birthday with his family, and now, he was sitting here alone in the middle of the forest.

His father was killed, his mother disappeared like a ghost, and he… he shifted at the age of just eight years.

‘With whom you slept and gave birth to a freak like him?’

More tears rolled out of his eyes thinking about those words.

‘Are you there? My wolf?’ He tried to talk with his wolf if he had one, which he was positive that he had.

He didn’t get any response from the other side.

“This is our land, Kid.” Wylder heard and quickly stood up on his feet in an alert position, watching three people. He didn’t sense them coming. He couldn’t understand how his wolf didn’t pick their scent or hear the sound of their arrival.

Wylder was ready to run away from there when a man blocked his way and held him.

“Leave me!! Let me go!!” he screamed, ready to run away from there. He wanted his wolf to come forward again and save him, but it looked like he wasn’t there at all.

“Ssshhh!! Calm down, kid.” The man said in a soft tone and knelt down to reach his height. “I mean no harm, okay?” he added in a low tone, but Wylder looked at him with frightened eyes. “You don’t look in the right state.” He muttered, looking at Wylder’s condition.

“Where are your parents? Are you lost in the middle of the forest?” He asked again, but Wylder didn’t open his mouth to answer his question.

“Let me go!!” He demanded, struggling in that man’s grip.

“Sorry, I won’t. You will get yourself killed. Come with me until we find your parents or you decide to open your mouth.”

“No!! No!!”

“Relax!! I won’t hurt you. I have two granddaughters of your age.” That man spoke and unlocked his phone to show Wylder the pictures of his granddaughters, and that was the first time he had seen Tiara for the first time with red hair and beautiful emerald-green eyes. “One of my granddaughters is not comfortable in front of a camera. So, I really don’t have many of her pictures.” Logan Haysbert spoke and finally found a picture of Liara as well, in which she was reading a book wearing her red glasses.

“Now, be a good boy and come with me!! You look tired and hungry.” Logan spoke, and this time Wylder didn’t fight with him because “So, what’s your name, kid? So that if anyone comes looking for you, then I can let them know that you’re here.”

“Wil..” Wylder didn’t want anyone to find him, so he lied, “Wilder.”

“Wilder? Strange name. Do you know the meaning of your name?” Logan asked to help him feel comfortable.

“No.”

“It means ‘Wild Animal’ or hunter.”

“But isn’t a werewolf a wild animal?” Wylder pointed out, making Logan realize that the kid was educated. So, there was a low chance that he would be a rogue.

“They are. But right now, you’re in the human world.” With this information, Wylder’s eyes widened. “As I said before, I won’t harm you, but your name… hmm!! You might need to change the letter of your name if anyone asks you about your name.” Logan suggested this because he wasn’t sure for how long the kid was going to stay with them, and if he was going to stay for a long period, then his name would get a lot of attraction.

“Instead of using ‘I’ in your name, tell everyone that it's ‘Y .’Wylder, okay?” The kid nodded his head and looked behind at his past from where he ran away. He wasn’t sure whether it would return back to his future or not but at that moment, he didn’t want to return there.

Logan sent one of his men to get a couple of clothes for Wylder instead of taking him home naked because he knew his devil grandson, Calvin, and granddaughter, Tiara, who loved teasing others while he gave cookies and sandwich that he had with him to him in case he was feeling hungry.

After a couple of hours, they reached Haysbert Mansion. Logan could bet that kid with him was tired and feeling sleepy, but he had kept his eyes wide awake and was sitting in an alert position.

“Tee!! Tee!! Stop running.” He heard a loud sound when he was walking inside the Mansion with Logan and observing everything curiously. That was when he saw a young woman running behind a girl of his age with a plate on her plate.

“I don’t want to eat broccoli. I want pizza.”

“This is pizza.”

“With broccoli toppings. Not happening, Mom. You can’t trick me now.” Tiara complained, and her eyes landed on Logan. “Grandpa!!!” She ran toward Logan, and she didn’t miss seeing a boy with grey eyes and silver hair beside him whose eyes were on her. “Who is he?”

“Your new friend. And guess what? He is also a werewolf like you. Did you tell me that you want one because Lee doesn’t play with you and Calvin (Tiara’s five years older brother) isn’t of your age?”

“Wow!!!!” Tiara squealed loudly because she wanted someone like her between the human friends. She looked at Wylder with excitement, “Hi, I’m Tiara.” She said, forwarding her hand toward him for a handshake.

“Wylder. My name is Wylder.” With that, he grabbed her hand instead of handshaking with her.

“You held my hand.” Tiara pointed out.

“Didn’t you forward your hand toward me to hold it?” Wylder asked innocently. While hearing his question, Tiara giggled softly.

All of a sudden, he heard the sound of her cries. It took a second to open his eyes and he took a moment to realize that he had fallen asleep on the sofa.

Wylder rushed toward Tiara and found her hiding her face with the pillow and holding it so tickly that even her knuckles had turned white.

“Ara!!” He softly caressed her blonde hair, which she had colored to hide her red hair. Tiara’s whole body was shaking as she cried hard. “Stop crying, sweetheart!!” He whispered calmly, but deep down, he wanted to find the reason which caused her this pain and fix that problem, even if it was her ex-mate.

“Tiara!! Please stop it.” He muttered, forcing her to turn around and look at him. “Stop crying,” he added, wiping her tears and finding her opening her bloodshot red ears, which was the result of her cries. He couldn’t help but wonder how long he was out. And since when was she crying?

“I’m sorry, Theo,” She whispered, looking at him and raising her hand toward him.

“I’m not Theo, Ara. I’m Wylder.” He muttered in irritation before hugging her just like she wanted, holding her in his arms and caressing her back. “I’m so sorry for not becoming the mate you wanted.” She mumbled, resting her head on his chest.

‘Hold on! What did she mean by that? Is she regretting rejecting him?’ He wondered. ‘She better not.’ he added, but at the same time, if she wanted her ex, then there was nothing he could do about it.

“Please don’t hate me. I’m selfish, but I’m selfish for you.” She slurred.

“Now, sleep, Ara!!” Wylder said and caressing her back. He kept holding her in his arms for a couple of minutes until she started snoring slowly. He decided to escape from her hold once she was asleep, but in the end, she again held his hand.

“Don’t go.” She whispered, looking at him. Her eyes were full of hurt when she spoke that.

“I won’t.”

Tiara sighed in relief before closing her eyes and sleeping peacefully this time. Hours passed, and this time, she didn’t cry or sleep talked. At the same time, Wylder didn’t sleep like the previous time, but he observed her face and played with her hair, even caressing it gently from time to time.

A part of him wanted her to cry as much as she wanted to, only to make sure when she was finished, she would never cry for the same reason again.

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#TBC

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A/N: Thank you for reading :)