Wolf under an oak tree.

Once she unbuttoned the first three buttons, she pulled her shirt slightly to the left, and that is when I saw a tattoo that was done in black ink. The tattoo was of a beautiful wolf head with the letters ‘J’ and ‘E’ done in cursive, and at first, I didn't think much of it. I mean, anyone can get a tattoo done.

And this girl must be having a crazy obsession with Jace to get a tattoo done with his initials.

“You know, I think you should go and consult a good psychiatrist. Your obsession for being a Luna has squished all your brain cells.” I said in a serious tone, and her face turned red, and her eyes narrowed at me.

“This is not a fucking tattoo, you stupid human! How naive can you be? This is the symbol that you get once your mate marks you as his. To be more specific, once we have completed the mating bond.” she spat each word out. And it was like someone threw a bucket of cold water on me, I felt numb, but I can hear and feel everything that was happening in my surrounding.

My heart was yearning for an explanation, telling me that Jace would never betray us like that, but my brain was the only rational part of me at the moment. I could not take it anymore, this was the final blow to my already battered heart. I thought maybe I can talk to Jace about this, and we can try to fix this situation, but after this woman showed me solid proof, what should I be doing?

My eyes started to stink, and tears started to roll down my cheeks my hands were trembling so much that I had to form a fist to control them. This woman and Jace have played a sick joke with me, and this incident will haunt me for the rest of my life.

“Oh, how much more pathetic can you get?” the woman taunted me, which only fueled my anger even more. “You are crying for such a trivial matter? I didn't know how you believed that an Alpha would want you?”

That was it! I didn't want to hear another word coming out of her mouth, so I marched toward her and gave her a tight slap, and the sound of flesh meeting flesh resonated throughout the quiet forest area.

“How dare you!” she screeched, but I slapped her again on the other cheek so hard that her face turned to the other side, and without another word, I pushed her off my car, which made her stumble and fall on the muddy grass floor with mud on her cheek. I glanced at the plastic mud-coated barbie doll one last time, before I got into my car and reversed out of the drive, and headed home.

My eyes were constantly getting blurry with the continuous flow of tears, but I didn't stop the car, I continued driving before I arrived home and ran up to my room and banged the door closed, and slid down it, finally crying my heart out.

“I promise I will never leave you.”

“Till death do us apart.”

“I love you, Iris.”

“I like you so much, Iris.”

Jace’s words kept spiraling through my head, and I pulled my hair and shouted for him to get out. Were all those words just a lie? Was he just playing a very cruel joke on me?

“You fucking stole my heart and broke it into a million pieces!” I yelled at him, my heart was racing, and my entire body was warm.

“I hate you, Jace! I fucking hate you!” I pulled my hair, banged at the door, and screamed some more till my throat was dry, and I couldn't feel the pain. I felt numb, I felt empty, and none of my exes has ever pushed me to this state because I never truly believed them, but Jace, he was different, for the first I felt like true love exists, he made me feel like I was the only person that he would ever love.

I moved toward my bed and laid down near it, my cries have turned into hiccups, and my face was dry now, I constantly wiped my nose and curled myself into a ball, and closed my eyes to forget all the pain that I suffered till now.

Why did I even come here?

Why did I befriend, Walter?

With those thoughts, I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

“Aunty Ilis? Aunt Ilis wake up?” someone was gently shaking my shoulders, and I slowly opened my eyes to see that it was Beatrice. My eyes felt swollen, and my head was pounding from all the crying that I did, but I slowly wiped the sleep from my eyes and sat on the wooden floor.

“Hey, cupcake. When did you guys get home?” my voice was hoarse and talking felt like my throat was being rubbed on sandpaper.

“We came back a long time back. And we brought you dinner!” she said gleefully, and I smiled at her before I reached for the glass of water that was kept on my bedside table, and I drank from it to smooth my throat.

“Thank you, cupcake, that was so thoughtful of you.”

“That’s alright, aunty. But what happened to you? Why were you crying? Your eyes are red.”

“I wasn't crying, darling. I slept for a long time, that is why my eyes are red.” I told her, but she didn't believe me, and that is when something caught my eye. Beatrice had a plaster on her finger.

“What happened to your finger Beatrice?” I asked her while I took her finger to examine it.

“I accidentally poked my finger with that three-legged monster at the restaurant, and it is so painfully, aunty Ilis,”

“Oh, my poor baby. Can I remove and see it?” I asked her, and she hesitantly nodded her head, and I slowly removed the plaster to see that the injury was quite deep.

“This must have hurt a lot?” I asked her, and she nodded her head, but her face was showing me how painful it must be, and I gently took her finger to my lips and kissed it.

“Now it will all be better,” I told her and slowly kissed that area, and when I moved my finger, I was shocked.