Regretted Rejection : Wrath of the Moon

Bella was sitting in a cafe, sipping hot coffee, as she worked on her laptop. She was auditing the reports sent to her by one of the clients. No human who saw her would be able to guess that she was a vampire. After all who would guess that a 80 years old vampire could drink and eat like a human.

Technically speaking she should not be able to drink coffee easily. In fact she should have hated the taste and texture of a coffee. However, she actually preferred the taste of the coffee compared to human blood. She was the only one of vampire species who preferred to live off the human food instead of the human blood. No one knew how it came about. Even Bella herself was in the dark about this unique condition of her body.

Deep engrossed in her work, she was

smiling lightly. She looked like a fresh faced, 20-something girl, when she smiled. Her smile could easily captivate hearts of people and make them fall for her. She suddenly heard the phone ring and saw the Caller ID. It was Maya who was calling her. She had fond memories with Maya and had a good friendship with hers over the years. She picked up the call and put the phone to her ear holding it in place with her shoulder. She continued typing with her hands as she talked.

"Hello, little pup.” she drawled with a smile. She loved to tease Maya.

"Hello, Batwoman." Maya shot back.

Hearing the nicknames took Bella back to the day when she first met Maya. The otherwise calm lady, Maya, was easily riled up when she called her a little pup. Challenging Bella to a match, Maya had beat the living daylights out of her.

It took Dylan broke up their fight. He had to explain that Bella wasn't being derogatory towards werewolves but calling her with a cute nickname, as ut was her habit. Only then Maya stopped fighting with Bella and apologized sheepishly. The incident, though embarrassing, had led to them forging a comfortable friendship with each other. Later Maya also gave her a nickname of 'Batwoman' because according to human folklore vampires can turn into bats and she was a woman. Bella felt it was quite lame.

"Batwoman? You there?" Maya asked concerned, when she didn't hear anything for some time. "Yes. Hey, How are you? How did you remember me after such a long time? I was sure that you had forgotten me after you became a Team Leader." Bella replied, the smile still lingering on her face. "Okay... First of all, I am quite well and I hope you are the same. And secondly, I didn't forget to connect with you. You just became too busy jetting around the world solving your client's business problems. How is your work going on by the way?" Maya asked.

"It is what it is... Sometimes it's good and sometimes there's no work. It is one of the downsides to opening a business consulting firm and having to stay on the down low in popularity.” Bella replied. She had to stay out of business circles. Because if she became well known, then she wouldn't be able to explain how she didn't age at all.

"How would you like to handle a firm at CEO level? No need to search for clients while worrying about safety.” Maya asked.

The offer sounded quite tempting to Bella. If she had permanent work then it would be best for her. Also if there's no need for obscurity then she could easily use her knowledge to full extent and bring the company to a grand stage. "What's the catch?" Bella asked cautiously. She knew that there was no free dinner in this world.

"You will be reporting to me. I am the current owner.” Maya replied.

"Is that it?" Bella asked a bit relieved.

"Also a few years down the line, you will have to train a child in business matters.” Maya replied. "What? No way. You know I don't interact with kids.” Bella denied vehemently.

"Bells... It is my nephew. And I promise that you will only have to teach him after he is 18 years old.” Maya cajoled her a bit.

"It is still too young for me." Bella replied morosely.

"Come on Bells... I promise you won't have to interact with him unnecessarily and I will never ask you to babysit him when he is young.” Maya tried once again.

"You promise?” Bella asked.

"Yes, I do." Maya replied.

"I don't know, Maya. Let me think about it." Bella said with slight hesitation.

"You can also mess around with Ryder." Maya threw her little bait.

"Ryder? He is also there? That ungracious wimp, that toad of a vampire, that disgraceful being, that... that..." Bella muttered angrily.

"He doesn't know that you are coming. Don't you think it will be a nice surprise for him, if you come to stay here?" Maya asked, reeling in her bait.

"Oh... He doesn't know, does he? Of course, I must give him a grand surprise. Alright, I accept your offer Maya. However, remember your promise. No requests for babysitting will be entertained.” Bella said and disconnected the phone promptly.

Maya glanced at the phone a smile breaking out on her face. Xander was sitting in the same room with her. He could hear both sides of the conversation due to his werewolf hearing power. He was shocked when the vampire named Bella started cursing at Ryder. He raised an eyebrow in inquiry when the call was over.

Maya smiled and said, "Bella and Ryder are actually mates. However Bella is Ryder's second mate. He lost his first one in his early years as a vampire.”

"Then why doesn't Ryder accept Bella?" Xander asked puzzled.

"A vampire's mate is also his chosen unlike ours where we are paired by the Moon Goddess." Maya explained.

Xander was even more puzzled than before and it showed on his face.

"Bella is an anomaly. She is a vampire through and through however she eats like a human and she found her mate like a were-person.” Bella explained further, "When Ryder chose his first mate, he promised her that in this lifetime she would be his only partner. He remained true to that word until Bella came along. She took one look and one sniff of Ryder and proclaimed him as her mate. Ryder, however, is a simple vampire and he refused to accept Bella as his chosen one. He is confused when around her and feels as if he is betraying his first mate.”

"But... How did Bella know that what she was smelling was the scent of her mate?" Xander asked. "How do we know that what we smell is the scent of our mate?" Maya questioned back.

"The wolf tells us.” Xander replied.

"Yes, the wolf tells us. But there are also other signs like desperate need to mate, unable to stay apart for long durations, the pain in the heart when we are away for long time, dreams about the mate, etc.” Maya explained calmly.

"Right. Those signs... she felt it?" Xander asked.

"She felt it, she feels it, she would keep feeling them until there is a natural progression of their relationship.” Maya replied

"Oh.. I get it." Xander replied and then fell in deep thought.

Maya got busy with the reports of Council work and didn't pay attention. Xander was remembering the time when Maya and he stayed away from each other. He was also reminded of the fact that Maya and he still hadn't mated. His wolf was pining for Maya's wolf. Sometimes he just wanted to take her forcefully and say to hell with consequences but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to hurt Maya ever again. His whole body shies away from the thought of hurting Maya.

He glanced at Maya thoughtfully, 'Does she ever feel the same? Does she feels the desperate need to mate with me? Will our relationship ever be able to be normal?" After staring at Maya for some time, he left the room to get to the training field. It was time to get back to his work.

As soon as Xander left, Maya looked up and thought to herself, "I feel the same need but how do I convey it? What if the repressed memories of trauma surface when we are mating? Will we ever be able to become a normal couple?" A silent tear rolled down her left eye.