Chapter 67 Let Go
Simone Pov
I watched Calix cross the finish line three lengths ahead of everyone else and felt pride surge through me. That was my future Alpha. That was the man I was going to marry. That was everything I had been working toward.
The crowd was going crazy. Keane students were screaming and chanting his name. Even some Silverthorn students looked impressed. Calix was magnificent. Powerful. Perfect.
I pushed my way through the crowd toward the field. I needed to get to him. I needed to be seen with him. I needed everyone to know that we were together. That he was mine.
"Simone wait," one of my cheer squad members called after me. "We're not supposed to go on the field yet."
"I don't care," I called back. I kept pushing forward. "That's my future Alpha down there."
I finally broke through onto the field. Calix was standing with his teammates. They were congratulating him. Slapping his back. Celebrating the win.
I ran up to him and grabbed his arm. "That was amazing," I shouted. My voice carried across the field. I made sure everyone could hear me. "That's my future Alpha everyone!"
Calix turned to look at me. His expression was not happy. His jaw was clenched. His eyes were hard. "Simone let go."
"What?" I said. I kept my smile in place. "I'm just celebrating with you. We should celebrate together."
"Let go of my arm," Calix said. His voice was cold and dangerous. "Now."
"But Calix," I started to say.
He yanked his arm free so hard I stumbled backward. I almost fell but caught myself at the last second. The force of it shocked me. The anger in his movement scared me.
Everyone was staring now. His teammates. The crowd. The cameras that were filming everything for the school news. All of them watched Calix reject me publicly.
I felt my face heat with embarrassment. But I recovered quickly. I smiled brightly like nothing was wrong. Like he hadn't just humiliated me in front of thousands of people.
"Sorry," I said loudly. "I got too excited. My bad."
I walked away from the field with my head held high. I kept my smile in place. I waved to people in the crowd like everything was fine. Like my heart wasn't pounding with rage and embarrassment.
But inside I was seething. How dare he. How dare Calix treat me like that. I was trying to help him. I was trying to show everyone that we were together. That we were a unit.
And he rejected me. In front of everyone. Like I was nothing. Like I meant nothing to him.
I made it back to my squad and they all looked at me with sympathetic expressions. They had seen everything. They knew what just happened.
"Are you okay?" Maya asked quietly.
"I'm fine," I said. My voice came out sharper than I intended. "Calix is just focused on the competition. He didn't mean anything by it."
But even as I said it I knew it was a lie. He did mean it. He meant every bit of that rejection. He wanted me away from him. He wanted everyone to know we weren't together.
Because of her. Because of Maddie. Because he was still hung up on that worthless white wolf who didn't deserve him.
I pulled out my phone and texted my father. "We need to move faster. Calix just rejected me publicly. If we don't expose Maddie soon I'm going to lose him completely."
My father texted back quickly. "Patience. The plan is already in motion. By the end of the week Maddie will be exposed and Calix will have no choice but to come to you."
"It better happen soon," I typed back. "I'm running out of patience."
I put my phone away and looked back at the field. Calix was walking away from his teammates now. He looked angry. Tense. Like he was barely holding himself together.
Good. Let him be angry. Let him be tense. Soon he would understand that I was the only logical choice. The only safe choice. The only person who could give him the future he needed.
Maddie would be exposed. Her secret would be revealed. Everyone would know she was a white wolf. And Calix would be forced to choose between his responsibilities and his feelings.
And I knew which one he would choose. He had to choose responsibility. He had to choose his pack. He had to choose me.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Maya asked again. "That looked really rough."
"I'm fine," I insisted. I fixed my smile. "Calix is under a lot of pressure right now. He's team captain. He has the weight of the whole school on his shoulders. I understand why he reacted that way."
"Still," Maya said. "He didn't have to be so harsh."
"It's fine," I said firmly. "Everything is fine. Now come on. We have a routine to perform at halftime. Let's go practice."
I led my squad away from the field toward the practice area. But my mind wasn't on cheerleading. My mind was on Calix. On Maddie. On the plan that would bring them both down and lift me up.
My eyes were cold steel beneath my bright smile. Nobody could see how much rage I was holding inside. How much I hated being humiliated like that. How much I wanted to make both of them pay.
Calix for rejecting me. Maddie for existing.
But I would wait. I would be patient. I would stick to the plan. Because the plan was good. The plan would work. The plan would give me everything I wanted.
I just had to hold on a little longer. Just a few more days. Then the obstacle course would happen. Then Maddie would be exposed. Then everything would fall into place exactly as it should.
And when it did I would be standing right there beside Calix. Where I belonged. Where I had always belonged.
Even if I had to destroy everyone else to get there.