CHAPTER SIXTY SIX - MARICELA
CHAPTER SIXTY SIX - MARICELA
I double over in pain. I scream out, shutting my eyes, but it does no good.
I know what’s happening.
I know exactly what this is.
That he’s with her. That he’s fucking her right now.
My tears stream down my face and that betrayal, it hurts worse than ever. I thought yesterday might have meant something, I thought last night meant something, I thought him taking me to meet his grandmother was proof that he was accepting our bond, that he was starting to accept me as his mate.
But this act, this proves it; everything I feared. Everything I’ve been pretending isn’t the case. That I’m a fool. A stupid, naïve fool.
I writhe on the floor, in absolute agony. There’s nothing I can do to alleviate it. Nothing I can do to ease it. My mate is cheating on me. And right now, while he’s chasing his pleasure, I’m the one paying the price.
Only, when it ends, that isn’t it. Clearly, they’re spending the day making up, reuniting. Over and over that pain wracks through me, telling me under no uncertain terms what they’re doing. That they’re in bed, fucking each other like they’re in heat. Apparently, he’s ignoring all his duties as an Alpha, as the Lycan King, and putting his selfish girlfriends wants above every single Wolf in this Pack.
When it finally does end, I can’t move, I lay there, slumped on the rug, panting, like I’ve been in an actual fight, and it takes hours until I can recover enough to even get up.
Only, I won’t stay here. I can’t. The thought of sleeping, of enduring those dreams of him after what he’s done? No, I need to stay awake, I need to burn off this anger and this hate. I need to beat my body into exhaustion. I need to beat this pain out of me.
I slip out of my room. There’s a pool in the basement. It’s not the best of solutions but I feel like I have a fever and at least the water will cool that. And on the plus side I doubt anyone will be going for a midnight swim, so at least I won’t have to put on a brave face, and smile, and pretend that I’m okay when I’m anything but.
By the time I get down there, I feel like my body is starting to come back to itself, that the residual tremors are easing. I get changed quickly, slipping into the water, shutting my eyes as that coolness eases the tension in my body.
He slept with her. He fucked her.
I can’t stop repeating it over and over. It’s like I’m torturing myself now. My heart hurts so much I think it might actually break, and I know my face is red from how much I’m still crying.
Everyone keeps telling me that he’s not arsehole I’m seeing right now, but deep down, I truly think he is. He is everything I believe him to be. And in truth I despise him, I despise my mate.
I palm my eyes, shake my head, trying to pull myself together. This isn’t working. Whatever Khloe and Ryker are trying to do, it’s not changing anything. Lia still has her claws so deeply into him and if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was letting him string me along just to ensure I leave and never come back.
And I should. I should pack my things and I should go.
I pause as that thought hits me. If I stay, I’m a fool. If I stay then any future pain, any future suffering is on my own head.
I have to leave. I have no choice. I’m not going to continue to play these games, to be strung along and made to look like a fool over and over and over again, desperate for any little scrap my mate throws my way. No, I am better than that. I deserve more than that. Far more.
As I swim over to the side, something grabs me. Something invisible wraps around my leg and in an instant, I’m pulled under. I gasp, flailing about but water rushes in, it fills my mouth, and I can’t breathe. I can’t even scream.
I fight to get to the surface but, as my face breaks it, I’m pulled back, deeper this time, so much deeper.