One Mate and a Rejection

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

I was sick of it.

Sick of lying to myself, forcing to pretend I had no feelings for Emerald. I tried pretending in the hospital when I saw her, planning on acting as if I was confused on why she was there but instead I had weakly given in to the feeling that wrapped itself around my body in an unavoidable manner.

This was the same feeling I had today when I felt that sudden pull towards the forest. The feeling of her wolf near me just instantly stirred my separating wolf alive.

We didn’t even know each other that well.

I couldn’t help but run off into the woods, letting my wolf take over my thoughts and do all the thinking for me. Emerald and I ran for hours losing track of time but ended up back at the cliff. We each shifted behind a tree and I loaned her one of my shirts to wear.

My wolf growled in lust when I took her body in, wearing my shirt. It made my heart skip traumatically and I wanted nothing more than to bury my lips on her sweet soft skin and caress her like I had done in the car. I was so stupid to tell her I didn’t want her and I wanted nothing more than to take it all back.

We sat side by side, leaning on the biggest boulder, unsure how to contact physically with each other.

Were we friends?

I didn’t know, but I was sure she was thinking the same thing. A sudden fear hit me with a startling force.

Was I developing feelings for this girl? Would I grow to love her?

I wouldn’t... I can’t.

I’ve promised myself I’d never love again, not after the most painful type of betrayal.

Family betrayal.

Though I was glued to where I was, planted by the nature of mates.

I looked Emerald in the eyes, the moon reflecting her stunning emeralds, “I can’t seem to stay away from you” I decided to truthfully tell her.

She chuckled, “Ditto” she answered, though I couldn’t see her blush due to the fact it was dark.

“I wasn’t going to show up tonight. I didn’t like losing my common sense when I was near you but at the same time, I loved it”

“That’s kinda what mates do” she said. From her voice I couldn’t make out if she was being sarcastic or not.

“I don’t like it” I frowned.

She weakly smiled, “But at the same time you can’t get enough”

I blew out a huge breath of air, “Exactly”

We stayed silent for a moment, just listening to the hooting of owls and staring off into the distance.

“Tell me something” she muttered breaking the silence and resting her head on my shoulders, yawning.

“Like what?” I asked surprised all of a sudden. I focused on remembering to breathe and silently prayed in my head that my voice wasn’t shaky as I spoke.

She shrugged, “A secret. Something you’ve never told anyone before”

My first reaction was to refuse, push her away and close up my walls, but I found myself wanting to tell her about my past.

Emerald’s POV

I was curious for some reason. I wanted to just talk to him like we were talking now; I didn’t want this side of Blade to disappear. I didn’t want him to suddenly wake up the next morning and be the usual jerk-off like every other day. It felt nice pretending the world was perfect and we could be together with pack involved. I wanted to hear his voice stir me awake all night.

“Well...” he began like he didn’t know where to start. “When I was little, my mom ran away because after my dad his own pack, he became completely crazy”

I stayed silent and frozen, not wanting him to change his mind out of the blues and lock me out of his walls again.

“He had some of his men go after her. I remember, because I was eight and underneath his office table. I was stupid and thought we were still playing hide and seek, it turns out that he forgot about me after 10 minutes” I watched as Blade tightened his mouth, “He told his men to not kill her, but to make her life a living hell. A month or two later, she died and they didn’t kill her. She killed herself because she couldn’t stand it anymore”

I tried not to gasp but a small sound still managed to escape my parted lips. He pushed me away but I held onto him, refusing to let him shove me into the coldness. I held onto his shoulders and enveloped my arms around him tightly, “Tell me more” I whispered in his ear.

I felt him swallow a gulp, “The worst thing is, I never knew what they did to her that drove her into suicide. She had always been strong if she resisted my father for so long, she had to be! I try not to imagine it but sometimes I wish they could have just killer her instead of torturing her for so long. Sometimes I feel like my dad”

I sighed and pulled my arms loosely from around him, “How can you possibly feel like your dad if you’re this sweet?”

He chuckled sarcastically, “Sweet? I kissed you then told you I don’t want you and to add on, I slept with some other girl the next morning”

“You’re nothing like your dad Blade. Everyone makes mistakes. That doesn’t make them monsters” I explained.

“The thing is, after that I was too afraid to hate him and when he was killed by a rogue, I didn’t cry. It was after he died when I was 12 when I finally admitted I hated him. I was always too afraid to ever think it”

“He’s gone now and your mom is probably in someplace better” I told him.

“I miss her” he said, “I can’t even remember her face”

“You don’t have to remember her face to know that she’s happy now”

“How do you know that she’s in someplace better?” he asked.

I retrieved my arms from around him and looked him square in the eyes; “Because she gave birth to you, which makes her the best mother ever” He stared back, his golden eyes confused and shocked.

“I’d never guess you would say anything like that. I never thought I’d ever stop hurting”

“It will stop, trust me. Chubby, my pet hamster died when I was three and I cried for weeks but, now I’m over it” I said jokingly.

He laughed and pressed his forehead against mine, “Thankyou” he whispered. “I feel much better”

I smiled up at him, “Good”

He kept his eyes gazing into mine and mine into his, “What do we do about us?” he asked like he didn’t know where to go from here. I truthfully didn’t know the answer to that.

“I wish everyday can be like this. I haven’t felt this healthy in weeks” I stated.

“Yeah, my wolf is reconnecting with me”

“Mine as well” I answered back instantly.

“What if someday, someone found us like this?” he asked this time, his breath heating up my face.

I pursed my lips, “Then I guess they would tell”

“We’ll think of something. In the meantime, we keep meeting up like this to keep our wolves connected”

As much as I couldn’t wait to see him again, I agreed “Deal”

The next day I drove to school like usual, tired from the lack of sleep but other than that I was happy and the smile on my face never left.

Well...that is until the car behind me kept coming too close to my rear.

“Get off my butt!” I yelled glancing through my review mirror at the man behind me though he just smirked and turned to the next street. “I hate people!” I yelled to myself, frustrated.

As usual, Lisa and John were kissing as I arrived to school.

“Hey!” they yelled simultaneously when they heard my car and broke apart.

I exited my car and shut the door, “Hey guys”

“Whoa, you look much better” John commented.

I laughed, “Yeah, well I finally got some sleep”

Lisa eyed me up and down knowingly like she knew I had more to spill.

John nodded his head and instantly turned into ‘Mother mode’, “What the hell happened to you last night? Lisa and I spent hours looking for you!”

“Yeah, one of my cousins went to the hospital and I went with them”

“What the hell, so you couldn’t call us?” he asked.

“I’m sorry” I whined, “and if it makes you feel any better, I’m grounded for three weeks”

“Good!” he snapped, “You deserve it”

Imagine if John gave birth to me...wait that’s just wrong.

“Cut her some slack!” Lisa said, jumping in. “She really really loves her cousin” she said batting her eyelashes at me.

She was so going to get it, “Thanks Lisa! Shut up please”

John grimaced and looked between Lisa and I, “Girls are so creepy, but next time you give me a scare like that I’ll lock you up with Lisa’s dad in a golf shop” His arms wrapped around me as we embraced in a big hug. From the corner of my eye I could see Blade staring in our direction with an annoyed look.

I giggled lightly and pulled away from John who gave me a kiss on my forehead which therefore caused Blade to scowl even more.

As we all walked away, Lisa hit John in the arm, “My dad isn’t that bad!”

John covered his arm in defence, “Well you’ve obviously never been golfing with him on Sundays”

Blade and I ignored each other the whole day, frightened that someone from one of our packs might become suspicious and start to ask questions. During second period, I got called down to the office.

“Ooooh” someone said from the back of the classroom, “You’re in trouble”

I looked up to see Mark and rolled my eyes. Really mature.

I headed to the office but I was getting nervous as I took a step closer. Why would they need me? I thought to myself. I haven’t done anything. Unless the glass beakers that Blade and I were asked to get all broke.

Then they should have called Blade out too.

When I reached the office, Ms McMillan told me that there was someone waiting for me outside. I headed out doors and caught sight of Jason’s car.

“Hey” I greeted when he exited his car, “What’s up?” I asked curiously.

“Is there something that you’d like to tell me?” he began.

Panic bubbled inside my body as I thought of everything that I could have possibly done wrong.

Sneaking out when I was grounded.

Meeting with an enemy.

Spending a night in the hospital with an enemy.

Kissing an enemy.

Meeting with him secretly every night.

Lying about everything else.

If none of these were bad enough then I don’t know what was.

“Nope. Why?” I asked trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Emerald, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to be honest with me”

“OK” I muttered drawing out the word.

“Where were you really?”

“Last night?” I asked, a little too quickly, “A-At home. Sleeping”

“No” he shook his head, “No, the night before that”

“The hospital, I-I already told you this remember? I got grounded – ”

“Who were you with?” he cut in.

“What are you, a detective?” I taunted with my arms crossed.

“Answer me Emerald” he demanded.

I opened my mouth to spill out more lies, “I was with a friend, she got sick – ”

“She? What was her name?”

“L-Lauren” I spluttered.

“I’ve never heard of this friend named Lauren” he said.

“We recently became friends – ”

“If you’re so recent then why did you stay the whole night with her?”

“Because...” when I had nothing else to say I turned the questions on him, “What do you want Jason?”

He stared at me hard, “I went to the hospital this morning and they said there was nobody there the time you were in except for an old man, some toddler and Blade Russell”

“So what?” I shrugged.

“So...there was nobody there by the name of Lauren so who were you really with? I doubt it’s the toddler or the old man” he mocked.

“What the hell are you suggesting?” I raged.

He took three steps towards me, “Who were you with Emerald?” he snapped right in my face.

I looked him straight in the eye, “Seems like you already know” I spat.

He tensed his jaw, “But I don’t want to believe it, so who were you with?” he asked again.

“Do you want the truth or another lie?”

“I wanna hear the lie first”

I licked my lips, “I wasn’t with Blade Russell”

He nodded, his palms coming up to his chin, “Why?”

“You said I can tell you when I’m ready. I’m not ready to tell you – ”

“I’m done waiting Emerald!” he roared, “I’m done! You think I’m stupid? You look like hell right after you shifted with no mate and you get worse and worse and then all of a sudden you spend the night with Blade Russell,” he spat his name out, “in the hospital and you look healthy again! Better! And not to mention you visited the hospital too and he took care of you like you were some sort of fairy or something. I saw the way you two looked at each other when I dropped you off, remember? I was there!”

“What do you think is going on?” I just had to ask him to see if he could connect the dots.

“I don’t care what I think! I don’t want to believe any of this is happening!” he screamed.

“My enemy is my f*cking mate! You happy?” I finally blurted out.

I looked at his face which didn’t change. He wasn’t surprised.

He knew already.

“My mate is the enemy of the alpha pack! I’ve been looking like a ghost because my wolf wants to be with him but can’t! Our wolves are separating and that’s why we both went to the hospital. Without me there, his wolf would have fully separated from him” I silently said.

He stayed silent for the longest time and like a click, it was like his brain had finished registering all that and he just nodded. “All I can say is don’t betray your pack. Not even for your mate” With that he left me stranded there while he drove away.

Tears began to stream down my face just like the night Jared broke my heart.

I was alone.

I ran towards the bleachers and cried until my face began to sting and when my tears were all wasted and I had nothing more to give, I stared blindly across to where a group of red tulips surrounded a white lily.