Chapter 21

Izabella’s POV

It had been a long week. My wolf was aggravated because Sean had been avoiding us. No, I didn't just assume it; I saw him turn and run the other way as soon as I entered the hall that had both our lockers in it. He even left his friends behind, and when they saw me, all their faces looked like they knew why he had left. Since my wolf tended to blame me for everything, even though she could see that I had not done anything to cause what was happening, she had not allowed me to shift all week.

"Ooo, someone's mad." Trent chuckled as I threw my bag onto the carpet and flung myself onto the bean bag chair in front of the TV before I crossed my arms.

"Yeah," I muttered frowning. He laughed.

"Sean?”

“I hate him.” The words did not hold the same venom or meaning as they used to, it sounded like a lie to myself and just made me want to tear up slightly.

“Well, you know, gaming is always a good way to ease up." He held out a controller to me.

I gave a thankful smile at his suggestion as I took it from him. We were going to play on different systems, Joe's pack house was big enough to have gaming rooms with multiple huge TVs and gaming systems in it. Galaxy never had that; it was going to be tough to get my pack to move out of the Inferno house when they were done rebuilding our houses.

“Hey, how come we've never met your pack's future Beta?" Trent asked.

"Oh, you've met him, he just doesn't act like he's a Beta... Actually, he doesn't act like he's anything close to a Beta." I said.

"He doesn't?" Trent looked at me raising his brows.

"Yeah, it's Corey." I laughed as Trent's jaw dropped with a gasp.

"Corey? A Beta? Sean's Beta? What? Are you serious?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said smiling.

“You’re lying.”

“Nope.” I laughed.

"Wow… well, I didn't see that coming." He mumbled. I laughed as we began playing Need for Speed. "Your pack's going to die, Izabella." He said.

"Hey! Don't underestimate Corey, he can be a really good leader..." I said before biting my lip, "When he has to..." I added. "Like, really has to." Trent laughed.

"I always thought Betas and Alphas were supposed to be close." He said.

"Yeah, so did we but Sean and Corey will never be best friends. Corey's too bossy, Sean's too arrogant." I said, "Hey! That's a cheat!" I yelled when he bumped my car out of his way.

"Don't blame me because you suck at a simple game of NFS." He said.

"Oh, I suck?" I narrowed my eyes. He was about to find out how pros play.

We played for a while and I beat him in most of the races, to which he replied he let me win like a gentleman was supposed to do. We paused the game as his phone began ringing and he pulled it out of his pocket, smiling as he saw the name on the screen. I raised my brows.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Just a girl." He mumbled as he tried to hide it while he got up to leave.

"A girl? Let me see –” I grabbed his phone, his eyes shot wide.

"No! Izzy! Give it back!" He tried grabbing it before he just tackled me. I glanced at the still ringing phone's screen as I made every move to dodge his hands from taking it.

"Oh my God!" I yelled seeing Hayley's name on it.

"Shut up and give me my phone!" He yelled trying to grab his phone but I pulled my hand down when he reached for it.

"You and Hayley?! And you didn't tell me?! She didn't tell me!" I practically yelled.

"Shut up! Someone's going to hear you, you psycho! Give my phone!" We were wrestling but he froze when I clicked 'answer' before putting it on speaker, he immediately stopped trying to get his phone.

"Hey, Trent." I could practically hear the smile in Hayley's voice and it made me smile.

"Hey, Hayley. Where are you?" He smiled. They both sounded happy, and he would deserve someone like her. She was an amazing person and so was he.

"On my way to the mall." She said.

"You're driving?" Trent's eyes widened.

"No! My driving's almost as bad as Izabella's." Hayley laughed.

"Hey! My driving isn't THAT bad." I frowned.

"Really, Izzy? You hit a tree when Cohen was teaching us on a wide-open space of tar. I don't even know how you found something to hit." She said. Trent laughed as I muttered for her to shut up, "Wait, don't tell me you're still playing video games at the house, you forgot?" Hayley said. I laughed seeing Trent's face drop. He definitely forgot.

"Oh, no-no, I was just leaving actually. Meet you there, Hayley." Trent grabbed his phone from my hand and hung up.

I laughed as he glared down at me.

"I am going to ki –” he began whilst glaring at me but he was cut off by a clearing throat. We both looked up at Sean.

"Having fun?" He asked glancing over us.

"Wha –? Oh." Trent said pushing away from me and helping me to my feet as he got up. He looked at me, "I gotta go meet... Yeah," I laughed, "See you later," he hugged me before walking out of the room.

Sean licked his lips looking around.

"You're always with him." He mumbled. I raised my eyebrows.

"He's my friend," I said.

"I'm your mate." He said.

"You walk the other way when you see me, Sean. I've barely seen you in the past week. Some mate." I said. He looked hurt and the part of me that was addicted to him, the mate part, was pushing me to comfort him but I just walked by him towards the door.

"It's not my fault." I heard him mumble. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, right. I left him in the room as I went to my room upstairs.

-----

I brushed my hair glancing at the clock against the wall. It was almost eleven and I was wondering where my Dad was. I hadn't seen him since I came from school. I wanted to say goodnight to him, but his room was empty. He must have been over at Galaxy since some 'complications' were causing the building process to slow down. Why they were still working late at night was beyond me.

I turned as my door clicked open and I bit my lip as Sean walked in. He looked like a mess. It reminded me of the library that night and it made me nervous so I got up and stepped away from my dresser somewhat.

"Sean," I said.

"You know, people seem to think there's something wrong with me, but I feel just fine, Izabella. Better than usual actually. I look that way too, don't I?" He spoke advancing toward me.

I furrowed my brows. "Um... I don't know... Why... Why are you here?" I asked.

"Can't I see my mate? Or are you too caught up in your affairs with Trent?" He said glaring at me.

"What? Why would you even –? Trent's with Hayley, he's my friend, I keep telling you that, Sean. I have no interest in him. Kind of like you right now." I said. He chuckled stepping closer to me.

"Me right now?" He asked. I tried not to swallow nervously as I looked up at him.

"Yes, you're different, it’s weird. And I'm sure I'm not the only one noticing that, I'm not the only one that doesn't like it either." I said.

"Nothing's ever good enough for you, is it? Unless it's Trent." He said.

"Sean..." I sighed tired of his accusations as I looked down, "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm tired." I mumbled.

"It's him. There's nothing different about me. It's Trent... But... I know how I can change that." He smirked. I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant but I was stunned by his shoving me against the wall roughly as he grabbed my wrist tightly. "And then you'll never be able to let me go." He said. What? My eyes widened as my heart picked up.

"No. Sean, let me go – I swear if you –” I tried to squirm out of his grip, "Sean, I told you, I don't want you to mark me yet –" I felt fearful at the fact that I could not get him to let me go, I could not fight out of his grip.

"You're my fucking mate. I'll mark you if I want to." He said, his eyes darkening.

"Sean, I'm not – I’m not joking! Get away from me!" I was beginning to panic as tears filled my eyes. My mom had said marking was supposed to be a special process as it was part of the process of officially accepting your mate. This wasn't; this was scary. "Sean, I’ll never forgive you for this. I’ll never trust you or like you," I said, my heart racing in my chest. He gave an amused breath.

"You'll get over it." He smirked.

"Sean, please don't –” I cried out when he bit my neck or rather ripped into it. I tried to get my wrist from his hands with all my strength, but it was no use; he was stronger than I was and I knew there would be no point because once his teeth touched my blood, it was done. He had marked me. And I hated him for it.