Chapter 55 Do you know why?

Chapter 55 Do you know why?
Leona

I woke up with my head pounding and sunlight hitting my face.

It had to be late morning if the sun was already up. I squeezed my eyes shut and rolled onto my side to get away from the light, wanting just a few more minutes to myself.

Then everything from yesterday morning came flooding back. That familiar ache spread across my chest again. I knew I had to get up and stop drowning in this misery.

I looked at the clock. It flashed 8:15 AM.

Damn. I slept for almost twenty four hours. No wonder I felt so hungry.

I got up fast and walked to the bathroom, but stopped in front of the mirror when I saw my face. My eyes were all puffy. I cried myself to sleep again.

It felt strange. There was this heaviness inside me, but at the same time, I felt empty.

I rejected Arel. Or I almost did, if he had not stopped me.

Did I really want to do it? I did not know.

I let out a long sigh before taking off my clothes and stepping into the shower. I was already late for training today, so I might as well enjoy the water and go straight to the daycare. Besides, after what happened yesterday, the training ground was the last place I wanted to be.

Once I finished my shower and my morning stuff, I put on my black jeans and a black shirt. Nothing said broken heart more than black.

I slipped on my sneakers and headed down to the kitchen, hoping there was still something left for me to eat because I was starving to death.

"Dad! You are still here?" I asked as I walked into the dining room. I felt surprised to find my father sitting at the table with the morning paper in his hand, drinking coffee like he was not in a rush for work. "Are you still on leave today? I thought it was just for yesterday?"

I tried to act like nothing was wrong, not wanting to talk about what happened yesterday. And I thought I was getting pretty good at hiding my pain.

"Yes, I am on leave the whole week. Someone from the pack needed help with something, and I am happy to do it." He smiled at me and went back to his paper. "Eat up. I made breakfast. You must be hungry."

My stomach growled right then, agreeing with him. He looked back at me and shook his head with a big grin. "Guess I was right."

My cheeks turned bright red as I sat down in a chair, my eyes going wide at the food in front of me. "Wow. Big breakfast."

My mouth started watering at the sight of omelets, bacon, and waffles. Then a wave of pain hit me. Omelets and bacon. I thought about him again.

I put some food on my plate as Dad stood up to get the coffee and pour some into my cup.

"Anything you want to talk about, sweetheart?" He asked, sounding way too relaxed.

I tilted my head to look at him with a mouth full of omelet and shook my head. "Noooing. Vad shud isay?" I said while still chewing.

"Manners, Leona. Wait until your mouth is empty." He laughed.

I playfully rolled my eyes at him and kept eating, hoping he would not ask me anything else. I ate in silence, and just as I was about to finish, someone knocked on the front door.

"Come in!" Dad called out. The door opened.

His scent came in like a wave crashing over me. It hit me so hard that I sat there frozen. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried my best to control my heartbeat, but any wolf could hear how loud it was pounding.

His smell got stronger as footsteps came closer.

"Good morning," Arel said in a low voice.

His voice wrapped around me and made my wild heart calm down. I closed my eyes and held myself back from turning around, even though Rain kept begging to see our mate. How could she forgive him so easily?

"Alpha, have a seat." Dad got up from his chair and motioned for him to take the seat next to me. "Eat something. I made more than Leona and I can eat."

When Arel took the chair beside me, the back of his hand brushed lightly against my arm as he slid into his seat.

"Is this a good time, David? I can come back later." He said it coldly. From what I could see in the corner of my eye, he was looking straight at Dad and did not even bother to glance at me.

Prick.

I pushed my chair back, making a loud screeching sound on the floor as I stood up. "I am done. Thanks for breakfast, Dad. I will see you later."

Dad just nodded. Arel did not move a single muscle, which made me even more angry. I walked to my father, kissed his cheek, and turned to leave the dining room.

I caught a glimpse of him for one second when I turned around. The nerve of this man. He did not move. He did not react. He did not even act like he saw me. His eyes stayed on the window behind Dad.

I slammed the door on my way out and walked to the daycare center, completely pissed off.

And nothing got better after that.

I saw two girls, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, looking at me. Thanks to my wolf hearing, I heard them whispering about what happened on the training ground yesterday. I wanted to ignore it, but my mood got the best of me.

I stopped walking and glared at them. "Is there something you want to say or ask?" I snapped. They both hurried away from me, embarrassed and scared that I caught them.



Arel

I stayed in my seat while Leona slammed the door behind her. My hands made fists, wanting to hit something to let out all these emotions building up inside me. I did not expect her to still be home when David told me to come over. He wanted us to talk here instead of at my office.

I had no idea what he was playing at, but I was not ready to face Leona yet after what happened yesterday.

"Why?" I asked David, looking right at him.

"I want to make sure the bond is still there. Otherwise we are just wasting our time if she was able to reject you." He said it in a low voice.

"It is still there." I dropped my head and let out the breath I had been holding for a while. "Did you find anything?"

He shook his head and let out a long sigh. "Nothing yet. The two journals I have are not finished. I think after the Luna died, no one bothered to write down what happened during those times. I will go through the others I have." He stopped talking and stood up, turning his back to me while looking out the window.

"Do you really think we need to find out? You said you are going to claim her either way."

"I do. But I want to be ready before that happens. And I want her to be ready too. This is not just about me and the pack. I will be putting her in danger as well." My voice came out cold.

He did not say anything else. We just sat there in silence until I broke it.

"Are you really okay with me having her, David?" I asked, my voice determined.

"She was fated for you. Just like I was fated for her mother. I only had Camilla for fifteen years. That is way too short. But I would not trade it for anything else. It was better than not having her at all." His voice cracked at the end.

That was what I was afraid of. You had fifteen years. But I might only have her for one year or two. I would do anything for those fifteen years. I put my elbows on the table and buried my face in my hands.

"We need to tell her now."

"No. She does not need to know yet. Not when I can not promise her anything."

"I respect your decision, Alpha. But this is my daughter we are talking about. I can not let her keep thinking you want nothing to do with her." His voice got a little louder. "You know how reckless she can be. She makes stupid decisions when she is hurt. The last thing any of us want is for her to run away."

You do not need to worry about that. My Beta watches over her.

"What about her pain? Did you see the hurt in her eyes when you did not even look at her today? You did not. Because you did not even glance her way." His accusations stung.

But I did what I had to do.

"I do not want to give her the chance to reject me," I answered coldly.



Leona

The day moved so slowly. It felt agonizing when you did not know what you were going to do next.

"I did not know there would come a time when I missed you. I was only gone for a few days, and it seems like a lot happened." A voice from behind snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned my head and saw Beta Finn walking after me. I rolled my eyes at him and kept walking.

"I did not know I was important enough to be missed," I said, my voice cold.

"What have you been doing?" He asked, speeding up to walk next to me.

I shrugged my shoulders before answering. "Nothing. Just trying to survive. Do you need something?"

"Am I being dismissed?" He sounded sad.

"If I say yes, will you go away?" I stopped walking and faced him, annoyance all over my face. "Look Beta, if you have something to say, just say it. Let us not waste time here."

"I heard what happened in the forest. You almost rejected the Alpha." He said it like he was accusing me of doing something terrible.

"Yes. And I would have done it if he had not stopped me."

"Why? I told you, you just need to give him..."

I cut him off before he could say more. "You told me what?" My voice got louder. "You told me to give him time. To wait for him. What about me? What do I do while he fucking takes all the time he wants? While he thinks about whether he wants me or not?"

I glared at him, my nose flaring with anger.

"Let him use me whenever he feels like it? Be his side piece? Flirt with me. Touch me. Kiss me whenever he wants. Fuck me when he needs to get off. That is all he wants me for."

I pointed my finger at his chest, my eyes burning with anger as I kept glaring at him. Rain whimpered in my head, but I pushed her to the back of my mind. She hated that I was angry at Arel.

"Stop defending Arel. He is not worth it. Your Alpha is an asshole. I do not deserve that guy. Do you know why? Because he is too fucking selfish to reject me even when he knows he is breaking me." I pushed him with my hands and then ran home.

I knew the words I said about Arel were true. But at the end of it all, I was the stupid one. Because even when I knew he was just pulling me in with his fake promises, I kept going back to him.