CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
THIRD PERSON POV

“Would you rather me wear blue, or should I wear something different? maybe like white, or green, or pink, you know… to stand out?”

“Yes.” Blake answered her, and that was the moment she realized that he hadn't been listening to what she had been saying.

Because, yes to what? “... yes?” She turned around and looked to him, sitting on the chair.

His eyes glued to a paper in front of him that contained less than five hundred words, but he had been reading for the past one hour.

When he gave no answers, she rephrased her question. “Did you just say yes?” she asked.

He lifted his eyes from the paper finally and realized that he had given an answer that wasn't adequate to the question that was asked. “I'm sorry, can you repeat? What did you say?”

June sighed and crossed her hands over her chest. “You've been acting strange.” she said to him, genuinely out of concern.

But there was an undertone of anger to the question.

“So said my mom.” Blake replied and stood to his feet.

They were currently in his little office in the palace where he chooses to have only close family and friends’ meetings or private deliberation.

He got up and walked towards his table to drop the paper and pick another one. Deep within him, he knew that today was very slow for him, a bit too slow.

“It's not just about your mom. It's very obvious. I can see it. You're acting strange.”

“June, I'm just tired.” he replied to her. He wasn't in the mood to drag this topic out now.

“You've been tired for… I don't know…how long? When did you reject your mate again?”

When she made that comment, Blake rolled his eyes and dragged his palms down his face in an attempt to arrange his facial expression. “Look, I'm just very exhausted. I'm not about to have this argument again.”

“I think we should have the conversation because all you've been doing is avoiding it.”

“I haven't been avoiding it, June. We literally had this conversation the first time, second time. This is going to be the millionth time.”

“Because it looks like you're lying.”

He was surprised at her audacity to call him a liar. “How does it seem like I'm lying?”

“Ever since you rejected that matrix, you've been so disconnected from reality.”

“Well, is that supposed to be strange?” his response wiped away the emotion of anger that was boldly written on June’s face, and replaced it with utter shock.

But he wasn’t done speaking, “I am not a different entity from my wolf. And my wolf is grieving. Cut me some slack. My wolf is fucking grieving and the best I can do is try to move on while it whines and wails and digs burrows inside my chest and gives me this massive headache and some kind of subconscious fevers and chills…”

She interrupted him to input something, “I just…” but he didn’t let her finish.

“No… just cut me some slack, June. It's not an easy thing to reject my mate. You know it's not easy for me to just reject my mate and move on. My mate has been searching for her actively for almost two years now and I forcefully denied the bond. You should have an idea of how this feels, you have a wolf. The matrix doesn’t and she is feeling this a lot more than I am.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Don’t let your jealousy cloud you, you’re smarter than that. It's very obvious that matrix is supposed to experience this worse than anyone else does. So don't twist this around that way.”

“I saw your encounter with Adam.”

“What encounter?” she had to be specific because he and Adam meet frequently.

“You asked him to leave your mate alone.” Blake kept quiet because he didn't know where she was headed with it. So he let her continue. “Why are you so bothered if someone else goes for your mate? I mean, she's rejected, right? What do you need her for anymore?”

The wolf within Blake barked loudly. So loud that the sound vibrated in his core. It almost jumped at June and attempted to attack her for the comment she just made.

But Blake held back.

“I would prefer if she dies off, it's better for both you and me. If she's still alive, it's going to take a lot more work to get you and I to work out. But if she's gone, my wolf can begin to accept the fact that she's nowhere to be bonded with and I can move on. Adam is trying something that will keep her alive for a bit while longer. That was why I asked him to leave her alone.”

She stayed still as he continued. “That's one… And two, I would advise that you do not speak ill of Athena in front of me. I may ignore, but my wolf won't.” He concluded and sat down behind his table. Then picked the paper he was looking for.

June found his last comment very infuriating and walked out of his office.