Chapter 18 Justin's Truth
Justin's Point of View
Janet and I picked a meeting time, and we agreed to meet in one of my bars. I quickly entered my car, wanting to put an end to this once and for all. When I got to the bar, Janet was already seated, and she was dressed in a skimpy outfit which I guess was for seducing me.
I'd never had feelings for Janet, to me she was a disgusting creature who was willing to do anything my crazy sister asked of him. Janet was wicked, and one time during a game she took a narcissist test and it turns out she was 90% narcissistic. On numerous occasions, I've tried telling Amby to avoid her, but Amby insisted that she can handle their friendship.
Janet lifted her eyes the moment I walked in, and her lips curled into that fake smile she always used when she wanted something. I didn’t return it. I didn’t even try. I just walked over and sat opposite her, keeping my expression flat and cold.
“Justin,” she purred, leaning forward so I couldn’t ignore the neckline of her ridiculous ugly dress. “You look tense. Should I massage you?”
I gave her a hard look. “Let’s not waste time. What exactly do you want? Why are you targeting Lydia?”
Her smile twitched, like she wasn’t expecting me to cut straight through her performance. She crossed her legs dramatically and twirled a strand of hair around her finger,’ another habit I had grown to hate.
“You’ve been ignoring me,” she said.
“No,” I corrected sharply. “I’ve been avoiding you.”
Her eyes narrowed just a little, then she shifted her tone, softening it. “Come on, Justin… we used to have fun.”
I almost laughed. Fun? The only “fun” Janet ever had was manipulating people and lying to get attention. She was one of those people who thrived on chaos because order made her irrelevant.
“I’m only here because I don't want anyone to get hurt in my stead,” I said. “So state your point. Why are you doing this?”
Her lips tightened. “Fine. What is so special about your… little charity friend?”
My jaw tensed. “What friend?”
“Oh please,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Lydia.”
Just hearing her say Lydia’s name made my patience disappear. I didn’t like Lydia being discussed by someone with hands as dirty as Janet’s.
“What is special about her?” I scoffed sarcastically, trying to hide my smugness. “She's smarter than you!”
Janet leaned back, tilting her head like she was studying me. “You don’t think it’s weird? You keep chasing after girls who look like her. First that waitress girl last year, then that girl in-”
“Stop,” I said quietly. I knew what she was trying to do, and I refused to be a victim.
She smirked like she had just found a bruise and pressed her thumb into it. “Is that why you’ve been distant? Because of her? Justin, she’s-”
“Janet,” I cut in again, sharper. “This isn’t about her. This is about you and whatever fake closure you think you’re owed.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Fake?”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “We were never anything. I don't even talk to you.”
She swallowed hard. There it was, the reality she always tried to avoid.
“So you’re really done with me?” she asked, her voice surprisingly small.
“I was never with you,” I corrected, and furrowed my brows, wondering what she was on about.
Silence sat between us for a moment. She clenched her jaw, then scoffed bitterly.
“You know what? Fine. Run after your charity cases. But don’t come back to me when you realize they don’t want you.”
This seems like a good ending! Good riddance, my wolf murmured, and I couldn't agree less.
I stood up slowly. “Don’t worry, Janet, I won’t ever come to you.”
Her expression faltered. She was probably expecting me to beg her? Such boldness.
“And stay away from Lydia,” I added in a whisper. “If I hear that you tried anything again, anything at all, your friendship with my sister won’t save you.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you threatening me?”
“No,” I said. “I’m giving you the only warning you’ll get.”
I know that I shouldn’t have said Lydia’s name. I shouldn’t have let Janet see how protective I felt. But at that moment my emotions got the best of me.
Janet burst into hysterical laughter, and I stopped in my tracks. “Does she know? Does your father know that you've found your mate?” She asked with a menacing voice, and I froze.
I've never told anyone that Lydia is my mate, so how does she know?
I put on a facade, feigning ignorance. “What are you talking about?” I stammered, eagerly dismissing her.
“Oh, but I'm not. Once your father finds out that your mate is an orphan, he'd kill her to preserve your family's dominance!”
My heart stopped. Not slowed… not skipped… Stopped.
Hearing Lydia and mate in the same sentence out of Janet’s mouth felt like someone had ripped open my ribcage and poured ice into it.
But I didn’t let it show. Or I tried not to.
My fingers curled slowly at my side, nails digging into my palm until the sting forced me to breathe. I forced my voice flat, bored, dismissive, an imitation of calm.
“Mate?” I scoffed. “Janet, you’re delusional. And drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
But she just grinned; wide, slow, poisonous, like a spider that finally caught something thrashing in its web.
“Oh yes, I do.”
She uncrossed her legs and stood up from her chair with graceful arrogance, heels clicking against the marble floor of the bar as she walked toward me. She stopped only a foot away, tilting her head, studying my face with sick curiosity.
“You think I didn’t notice?” she whispered. “The way you look at her? Like she’s oxygen. Like she’s the first thing that’s ever made you feel alive.”
A muscle in my jaw twitched.
She smiled wider. “You’re not as emotionless as you pretend to be. I know everything about you.”
I said nothing. I couldn’t. If I spoke, I’d tear her throat open with my bare hands.
Janet leaned closer, her perfume so thick and cheap it burned my nose. “It must be humiliating,” she murmured, “that fate paired a man like you, with someone like her. Is that why you've never told her?”
My wolf snarled so loudly inside me I nearly lost control.
“Janet.” My voice dropped, deep and warning. “Walk away. Now. Don't do this.”
But she only lifted her phone. That one action made my stomach twirl uncomfortably.
She unlocked it with her thumb, tapped something, and then held the screen up between us. A picture. No, pictures of Lydia and me.
“Lydia walking out of my car the day I’d driven her back to the orphanage.
Lydia stalking Harridan in high school while I watched.
Lydia in the pack’s marketplace, smiling, holding a small basket of fruits. She had lost a bet and was compelled to follow me.
Lydia looking bright… fragile… beautiful.”
My vision darkened at the edges.
“How did you get these? When?” I asked, with a low and deadly voice.
Janet shrugged innocently. “A girl has to have hobbies, especially for the man she loves.”
I reached for the phone, but she pulled it back, eyes flashing with triumph.
“You know…” she started softly, “it’s so funny how you think you’re in control. But you’re not. All it takes is one message to your father… and she is gone.” She tapped her phone with manicured nails. “Poof.”
My chest tightened painfully. My father was a ruthless Alpha. If he found out my mate was really an orphan, a girl with no lineage, no pack history, no political value… He would erase her existence like dust on a table.
Janet leaned in again. “Should I send it to him? Or not?” she asked sweetly.
My entire body went still.
“Janet.” My voice was strangled. “Don’t you dare.”
“Oh, but why not?” she teased. “You rejected me, Justin. You embarrassed me. Replaced me with her.” Her smile dropped entirely, replaced with an ugly twist of her mouth. “This is what happens when people forget where they belong.”
She took a step back, lifting her chin.
“Here’s what you’re going to do if you want her alive,” she said, with a soft voice. “You’re going to stay. Away. From her.”
My blood turned to lava. “And you think I’ll listen to you?” I hissed.
“Yes,” she whispered, eyes gleaming. “Because if you don’t, your father will know everything. And when he does?” She made a slicing gesture across her throat. “Lydia dies before she even understands why.”
I took a step toward her, but she quickly hid behind a chair like she knew I was seconds from snapping.
“Touch me,” she warned breathlessly, “and the message goes out automatically. Scheduled.” She lifted her phone again, showing a timed message draft with my father’s name at the top. “Isn’t technology wonderful?”
My wolf slammed against my chest, howling with rage. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
All I saw was Lydia’s face; her soft smile, the innocence in her eyes, the way she trusted me, so easily… too easily.
Janet’s voice pierced the haze. “You’ll end things,” she said. “You’ll stop seeing her. No calls. No texts. No secret meetings. I want her-” she jabbed a finger at her photos “...completely, painfully, utterly out of your life.”
Every word punched through me like a blade.
Janet slowly lowered the phone, her expression satisfied. “Do that… and I won’t have to send anything. She stays alive. Simple.”
I felt my throat tighten, a mixture of fury and helplessness burning like acid.
“You’re pathetic,” I whispered.
She smirked. “Call me what you want. At least I’ll survive.”
She approached again, close enough that I could see the reflection of my hatred in her eyes.
“You want to protect your little orphan?” she murmured. “Then protect her. Stay the hell away from her.”
She grabbed her purse and strutted toward the exit, tossing her last words over her shoulder.
“Two weeks, Justin. If I even see her near you within that time…” She tapped her phone without turning back. “…I press send.”
The door closed behind her. And silence crushed me.
I stood frozen in the middle of the bar, every vein in my body pulsing with suppressed rage. My lungs refused to work properly, and for the first time in years, my wolf wasn’t snarling. He was begging.
“Don’t leave her. Don’t lose her. She’s ours.” My wolf howled in pain.
But if I didn’t… she’d die.
I pressed my hands into my hair, tugging hard, trying to breathe around the agony tearing through my chest. There was no choice. Janet had trapped me. And Lydia… Lydia would suffer the consequences without ever understanding why I disappeared.
A tremor went through me. I leaned against the wall to steady myself.
“She’s my mate,” I whispered to no one. “And I have to stay away from her.” My voice cracked. For the first time in my life…I felt powerless.
And it was the beginning of the longest, coldest two weeks of my existence.