One Mate and a Rejection

Chapter Two

That day after school I had been welcomed into my house with a lesson from my dad.

“You must learn the proper way to shift,” he had said,“The process will be very painful!”

I groaned and said,” No need! Jared will be with me, I’ll be fine.”

Dad had sighed and shook his head,” you don’t know for sure that he’s your mate, Emerald.”

“he is my mate!”

“all mates look at each other and just know! That hasn’t happened with you.”

“so we’re a little different. Tonight when he shifts, my inner wolf will finally realize that jared is my mate.”

“and if you aren’t his mate?”

“dad,” I said, looking into his brown eyes,” I am. I just know it.”

After hours of him, attempting to teach me the ‘proper stances’ and ‘comfortable positions’, I had enough and begged him to go let me shower.

He heaved a sigh but agreed.

I took a hot shower and made sure to be squeaky clean for tonight.

I picked out a pretty gold dress that was strapless and stopped just above my knees. For shoes, I chose flats of the same color because I couldn’t walk with heels. I let my wavy hair down and added a few curls. For makeup, I put on some lip gloss, mascara and gold eyeshadow.

All in all, I thought I looked pretty good.

A sudden text interrupted me from admiring myself.

I searched for my phone and found it on my dresser. The text was from Lisa saying,” good luck and text me as soon as you find out.”

I put the phone down as when felt something in my insides shift.

A sudden nervousness dropped over me. Fear bubbled inside of my body, and I sat down before I pass out.

What if everyone was right? What if he’s not my mate?

I couldn’t imagine the pain I’d go through, to watch him walk around with some girl.

I sigh.

I shouldn’t be thinking about this. Just a couple of hours ago I was more sure that jared is my mate than the fact that I’m alive!

I quickly deposed any trace on nervousness but it still left a trail. I sigh again and planted my best smile before checking the time.

Only a couple more minutes.

I headed downstairs to grab a cup of water. Mom and dad were sitting at the table, staring worryingly into each others eyes.

“Where’s Jason?” I asked.

“what? Oh, he’s at a party,” mom stuttered.

“would you guys stop?” I snapped,” everything will be fine.”

“Em, we don’t want you to be too sure, sweetheart,” mom said,” just keep an open mind,”

I nodded,” i’ll try.”

“you remember everything i taught you? In case you’ll have to use it tonight?” asked dad.

I rolled my eyes,” I remember, and i will have to use them. He’s my mate.”

“you don’t know that for sure, sweetie, just be prepared for anything, okay?”

“Okay, but I can’t wait to prove all of you wrong.”

Riing!

“I’ll get it!” I screamed, darting to the door.

I made sure to straighten out my dress and hair before opening the door.

“hey,” Jared said, flashing me a smile.

“hi,” replied, suddenly nervous.

“you look,” he muttered, looking me up and down,” amazing.”

I blushed, letting out a small laugh,” you don’t look so bad yourself.”

He wrapped his arms around me, capturing me in a kiss. He pulled back and muttered in my ear,” I don’t know how I’ll be able to keep my hands off of you tonight.”

I laughed and pushed him away,” let me grab my stuff.”

I ran upstairs and picked up his present and my jacket before running back down.

“ready?” he asked.

“as I’ll ever be,” I smiled.

He lead me into his car, opening the door for me.

“after you,” he faked a british accent.

“why thank you,” I replied and got inside.

He ran to the other side and got in too,” it’s cold tonight,” he rubbed his hands together.

I put them in my own and kissed them,” now?”

“all better,” he winked.

The last thing i saw before we drove away was the sight of my mother and father, watching us as we drove away.

“Where are we going?” I asked, about five minutes later.

He smiled,” wouldn’t you like to know.”

“yes, I would.”

“It’s a surprise.”

A couple of minutes later, we reached a palace-like restaurant, with giant gates that opened to let people in and a massive Statue fountain of an angel.

My breath got cut off short in my throat,” Jared,” I began,” this is, this is amazing. How did you-”

“My father is alpha, Em,” he flashed me a smile,” He knows people.”

We got out of the car, that got handed to a waiter passing by. He took the keys and drove it away.

Jared escorted me to the restaurant doors, holding my moistening hand the whole time.

The inside was even more impressive then the outside. The ceiling was high enough for an airplane to land in. Everything was decorated either velvet, black or gold. Beads skittered along the table cloth and curtains, giving it a unique foreign look. A waiter led us to our table, near the windows, at a very nice view of the back garden.

“I must say Jared,” I laughed to myself,” you’ve outdone yourself. It’s your birthday though, I should be taking you out, but-”

He shut me up by placing his lips to mine. He pulled back and muttered,” your here with me. That’s the best thing you could give me.”

I blushed and looked away, hiding his present under the table.

I picked up the menu and read all the foods they’ve got.

“see anything you like?” Jared asked, flipping through his.

“I like the steak, but the lobster looks really good.”

“than you have lobster. I’ll have steak and we’ll share.”

I grinned,” perfect.”

The waiter came back a couple of minutes later and took our orders.

“and what would you like to drink?”

“Coke for me. Lemonade for the lady.”

The waiter nodded and scribbled it down.

“alright, should take about fifteen minutes.”

“thanks,” said Jared.

“no problem.”

I watched the waiter walk away before turning back to Jared,” what time is it?”

“8: 02, bored with me already?”

I laughed,” never.”

He grabbed my hands and put them in his.

“four more hours.”

I nodded, swallowing back the sudden knot in my throat,” yup.”

“four more hours before we become forever mates.”

I nodded, once again. But before I knew it, I blurted out,” why hasn’t it happened yet?”

“what?” Jared asked, clearly confused.

“I mean us. Why haven’t we mated yet.”

“physically? I thought you wanted to wait-”

“no, not that. I meant, why haven’t our wolves connected yet?”

“Em, it’s just a long pro-”

“but why did Lisa and John just know, they officially mated when John turned eighteen, but they knew their mates. It took one touch and they knew.”

“we do too.”

“no we don’t,” I said,” w-we don’t know that.”

“but we will, soon.”

“I’m scared, Jared.”

“Me too Em. But I have no doubt in us. We are mates. I love you, do you doubt that?”

“No, I don’t. I love you too.”

He leaned in and gave my lips a peck.

“I can’t wait to prove everyone wrong.”

I nodded, suddenly refreshed,” me too.”

“what would you name our children?” Jared asked, about two minutes later.

“child,” I corrected,” we’re having one.”

“four,” he corrected back,” I want four.”

“one,” I pressed.

“fine, three.”

“no, that’s too much. How will I handle three?”

“fine, two. Boy and girl.”

“you can’t just decide the gender they’ll be,” I laughed.

“sure I can. I’ll give Y, you give X- how does it go-”

I smacked his arm, laughing uncontrollably,” no! You got it wrong.”

“But seriously, what would you name them?”

I shrugged,” Jerald. For the guy? Both our names put together.”

He nodded,” I like that.”

“And for the girl, I don’t know, Em...Emed?”

“no,” he chuckled,” that’s terrible.”

“fine, you think of something!”

“uhh, Jarem?”

“no.”

“Emerjed?”

“no.”

“Jaremrld?”

“no Jared, you suck!” I laughed out loud.

“whatever,” he dragged out the ‘r’.

The food arrived about a minute later. The scent filled the atmosphere and entered through my nostrils, sending me off into a yummy heaven.

“there you go,” said the waiter, placing two drinks and three plates on the table. One plate held lobster, the other held steak and the third had salad and bread,” anything else?”

“no thank you,” said Jared.

I dug into my lobster right away, trying to ignore the heavy feeling of Jared staring at me.

I looked up at him finally,” what?”

He smiled, shaking his head,” nothing.”

“tell me,” I whined, wiping my mouth with my napkins.

“its weird I guess, your beautiful to me even when you face it full of food and your eating like a man, I still wanna kiss you.”

I frowned, trying to hide a blush,” whatever. I’m hungry.”

He laughed, softly,” I said it’s beautiful. Just proves how whipped I am.”

I smiled,” you better be whipped. It’s easier you keep you in track.”

He cut off a peice of his steak and popped it in my mouth.

“good?” he asked, right away.

“Jared, I haven’t swallowed yet,” I snapped, through a full mouth.

He chuckled and waited for me to finish,” good?”

I nodded,” very.”

For the rest of the dinner, we ate, laughed and talked with each other. It was spend in blissful heaven and refreshing paradise. Simply the presence of one another washed our souls, leaving it fresh and spotless. The bright colors of the room matched with our happy mood, as we stared lovingly at each other. No matter what we did, whether it was talk, eat or laugh, our eyes remained pointed towards each other. As if a magnetic force kept them in line.

Not that I minded, his brown eyes brought on the images of pure and natural.

The sound of calm music suddenly entered our ears as we watched the couples gather around the dance floor, slow dancing.

One look into jared’s eyes and I knew what he was thinking.

I nodded,” yes.”

He stood up and took my hand, leading me to the floor. We melded with the other couples as he placed my hands on his shoulders and his on my waist.

“I can’t get used to how gorgeous you are,” he whispered in my ear as we slowly rocked, causing me to shiver.

“I hope you never will,“I whispered back, placing my head on his shoulders. He kissed the top of my hair and laid his head on mines.

We soon lost ourselves and found a cloud that we claimed as ours. Our love floated around us, providing us with everything we need. I could have stayed there forever.

Gravity, I suddenly thought, Jared is my gravity.

He’s the thing that’s holding me down to this planet, never letting me fly away and get lost.

He’s my gravity, my angel and my mate.

I couldn’t have asked for anything better, and I couldn’t imagine anything more romantic.

I felt jared’s warm lips touching my earlobe, filling me with passion and desire.

“your my mate,” I muttered,” you have to be. Theres no one better for me out there.”

I felt him smile against my skin,” there’s no one out there better for me either.”

“How much do you love me, Jared,” I asked, suddenly overwhelmed with Curiosity.

He laughed,” what kind of question is that.”

I shrugged,” I’m Curious.”

“well,” he said, spinning us around,” it can’t really be put into words.”

I smirked,” so show me.”

His finger came under my chin and lifted my lips to his. My arms came around his neck as I fell deeper into the kiss. He bit my lip, asking for entrance that i gladly gave.

We explored each others mouths for a couple of minutes, filling each other with love, passion and desire.

I pulled back, feeling breathless,” you must really love me.”

He chuckled, placing his forehead on mines,” more than I love anyone else.”

We headed back to our table after the song ended.

I looked at the time.

11:55

“Jared?” I asked, suddenly panicking.

“yeah?” he answered, his eyes twinkling.

“we have to leave. It’s almost twelve and we need to get ready.”

He looked up at the clock, his eyes widening.

" Shit, i shift at twelve right?”

“no, my dad said you find your mate at twelve. A couple of minutes later you’d shift.”

“Still, we should leave. I don’t wanna take a risk.”

I nodded and watched as he called somebody for the check.

Fear bubbled inside of me again. The possibly of him not being my mate still haunted me. No, I can’t let it get to me. He’s my mate. I’ll prove that in a couple of minutes.

I looked at the clock again.

11: 57

I reached for Jared’s present under the table.

Maybe I’ll have time to show it to him.

I felt someone approaching our table and looked up to see Jasmine from our school. The new girl.

“jasmine,” I greeted,” what a pleasant surprise.”

“hi,” she said, but she wasn’t looking at me, instead she was watching Jared.

I felt my body immediately tense up.

As I picked up an empty plate from the table to give to her, I watched with the corner of my eye as Jared handed her the check, and their hands made contact the same time the clock struck twelve.

I watched as both their eyes widened as they discovered what would truly break what’s left of me.

The plates in my hand slipped and fell into the ground, shattering into a million pieces, and as did my heart.

“We’re-” Jasmine gasped out.

Mates.

They’re mates.

I ran out of the restaurant, leaving my purse and Jared’s present behind. My heart was lost somewhere inside. I was sure I’d dropped it, with all my other organs.

I slipped out of my heels and threw them out, running and running until I couldn’t run anymore.

I opened my tear filled eyes.

This is a dream.

A horrible dream. It had to be!

But it wasn’t. And my organ-less head brought me to none other than the forest, were danger awaits my virtue.

But I couldn’t bring myself to care. I envied danger at the moment, because of it’s coldness and the ability to just not...feel.

I feel to my knees, my once beautiful dress wrecked with mud and rain.

The pain was unbearable, simply crushing. My breathing came out in gasps and chokes. The feeling of betrayal gnawed at my insides with claws as sharp as knifes.

This must be what it’s like to physically break a heart. Or worse.

My world clouded around me in splotches of dark paint, melting and becoming nothing but a blob.

His brown eyes haunted me. They reminded me of the mud I was laying in. Sometime between and hour or two, I had stopped crying. Instead, I felt my body go into shock.

I no longer felt the pricking rain as it poked on my skin, as sharp as needles, or the fierce, harsh coldness that felt as if it could rip apart my skin.

Inside, my blood had turned dirty and dead. Everything squeezed against itself, until exploding into small puddles of pain.

It felt as if bombs were exploding, every second. The rain fell down harder and harsher, and as if hoping to wash away my pain, I laid deeper into the mud, and closed my eyes.

I immediately sprang up, guarded and looked around.

Those eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes.

It was as if they were glued to the insides of my eye lids. I saw them whenever I blinked.

I let out a sudden scream, releasing my body from the shock it’s in and crying until I had no more tears. In a distance, I caught sight of a house.

A big wooden house, surrounded by black and brown, blurred by my tearful vision.

I picked myself up and walked deeper into the forest, desperate to get lost or to get away from this agonizing reality. But it followed me wherever I went.

Love, love that was so large and pure, surrounded with colors of bright and happy, transformed to something not even I could identify.

Hate. That’s what it must be. The biggest and worse feeling in the world is hate.

Loathing and despair that shot into me, poisoning my body with something, it was hate.

Hate that shattered everything I used to be.

Secret Person POV

I was provided with entertainment by head cheerleader, Jessica Bolt, who was slowly taking off her thin, poor-excuse-for-a shirt and unzipping her jeans when I felt my breathing stop.

A sudden uneasy feeling draped over me, a sort of depressed feeling.

It only grew stronger the more I tried to ignore it.

“uhh, are you okay?” Jessica paused and looked at me with confused eyes.

“get out,” I spoke through gritted teeth to a now half naked Jessica.

“what?” she asked in her whiny voice.

“get. Out,” I repeated, taking a seat on my bed.

“But we aren’t even-”

“get out!” I yelled, using my alpha tone,” now!”

She scrambled to her feet and hurried to pick up her things before leaving.

I clutched my chest in Confusion.

What’s going on? This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me.

I felt like screaming.

Thrashing around and crying to let all the pain out. I tried to catch my breath but it slipped away too easily every time.

I stood to my feet and reached for the window. After practically tearing the hinges off, I jumped out the window and shifted into my black wolf.

I ran into the forest letting my paws do the thinking.

I had the sudden urge to go somewhere. I felt as if it’s the only spot where this feeling would go away. I ran and ran until I reached a cliff, where the sound of echoing misery filled the air.

I snuck from behind a large boulder and watched as a girl, probably my age, sat near the cliffs edge and traced circles on the pavement with her finger.

I wondered why she was here, and why was she so sad. I had the urge to hold her in my arms and rock her until she’s happy again.

I wanted to see her face.

The darkness masked both sides of her, making it impossible to catch a glimpse.

I watched with sudden interest as she brought her knees up to her chest and laid her chin on it.

I let out a small growl as I watched a tear slip to the ground.

My wolf was angered. Furious actually. He wanted the head of whoever caused her this pain. He wanted to rip apart their skin with his teeth and throw then in the deepest pits of hell where they belong.

But my human side was confused. Confused to ever be feeling this for a girl.

And she’s probably a human too.

The word mate echoed loudly in my mind. My wolf wanted to grab the word and explore it but my human side itched away, trying to dispose any idea of it ever being true.

I fought my wolf, mentally and demanded him not to think of such a thing.

I tried to force my paws to move, get out of here and hope to never see this girl again who has surrounded me with her masked beauty, but my wolf wouldn’t let me. He stayed put to the ground, watching with interest as the girl wiped away her tears.

I felt my human side giving in to my wolf and forced myself to snap out of it.

For some strange reason, this unknown girl has affected me in ways I didn’t know were possible.

And I didn’t even know what she looks like.

I heaved a heavy sigh and tried to get away from the pain that grew in my chest.

Was I...was I feeling her pain?

Mate. Mate. Mate.

The word repeated in my brain, causing my wolf to jump in joy.

No, I thought, this isn’t possible! I don’t have a mate!

A flashback of my eighteenth birthday flashed in my head.

’It was cold and rainy. The most cliche line besides ‘I love you.’ I had been confused and stupid, standing alone in the forest. I had looked into every girls eyes but none stood out. I had no mate, and I was about to shift, any second and possibly not survive.

I began to panic. My hate for the world for giving me such a tough role in life combined with my pain and resulted in anger. And that’s when it started.

My bones began to collapse on each other, sending jolts of pain through my body. The pain had been unbearable. Ripping apart my skin and breaking every joint in my body.

My bones shifted into their new places and for hours I lay suffering on the ground. And just when I thought I’d died, I opened my eyes and was welcomed by the suns rays.

I had survived.

Was I grateful?

No.

Did my hate for the world change?

Yes, and it became stronger than it’s ever been, because the world gave me no parents, no love and now, no mate.′

Was it possible that months after, I found my mate?

I should be happy, ecstatic actually.

But I wasn’t. Instead, I was angered.

And I want nothing to do with this girl, not after everything reality has put me through.

I deserve to be alone.

And besides, I’m too much of a player to stick to one girl, I’d just end up breaking her.

I waited behind the boulder for hours though, just because my wolf insisted on it. When when she stood up to leave, I hid behind the trees and followed her home, just to make sure she’s safe, ignoring the strong urge that came from my wolf to turn her face to mines and get a good look of just how beautiful she must be.