Chapter 3

I couldn’t even answer, so I ran back to my room to hide out until dinner. Here I was being the coward I have always been. I should've just stayed away but the knowledge was hard to ignore. Later, there was a knock on the door. Jax opened the door, but he acted as if he didn’t know how I was going to act.

“Can we talk now?”

I nodded and he shut the door behind him. He came over and laid on the bed next to me.

“What is going on?” he asked again.

But there was no easy way to say this. In this reality, we were mates and now the entire world was crashing down. I wasn’t mature enough to make these kinds of decisions. One mate? Now two? Not to mention the king that wants me.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Having him next to me was enough to calm me down as our wolves were connecting with each other. Our senses knew we belonged in each other’s vicinity.

“Try me.”

I sat up and looked down at him. His blue eyes could be the calm to every storm if I allowed him to fully love me. And just like that, I learned to trust. I opened up. I told him everything and he just sat up and listened without making so much as a face. I didn’t even realize he was resting his hand on mine. But like every calm before the storm, it never lasts for very long. I was a hurricane.

“Are you taking any drugs? Because it sounds like you are…”

I fell back, frustrated. I mean, what was the point? It didn’t matter if they knew or not. It hadn’t happened because I didn’t go. But it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t ever happen.

“Just forget it. I am not coming down for dinner, so just leave,” I said.

He tried reaching for me, but I didn’t allow him to. I wanted to go back to hiding out and never having to show my face again.

“I’m sorry. It just sounds insane. How do you expect me to believe anything as crazy as that?”

In anger, I rose and walked over to the door and opened it. I didn’t want to hear it. It was just too much to handle. But who would believe me? Who would listen?

“Ryleigh, don’t kick me out,” he pleaded.

But even as much as my wolf whined that maybe it wasn’t a good night, all I knew was that I had to stay away and ignore every man until I figured things out for myself. I’ve spent a long time watering a plant made of plastic. I’ve spent a long time substituting honesty with sarcasm. There were a lot of things left unsaid and my feelings were brushed away. I always relied on a man to make the first move or to determine how my life was supposed to go, but not this time. I needed to find my own footing and rely on myself.

I had a second chance and I had to do it right. I knew I had to start now and keep away from all men. I was unmarked and my mind was made up. I put on some workout clothes to burn some steam off.

I reached for the door and darted towards the back door so that I could go unnoticed to the battlegrounds. It was wolf instincts to want to fight. We were possessive and hot-headed. I remembered the days my Dad used to take me out to teach me self-defense even though I’d most likely never use it. I slammed my fists into a punching bag so hard that the echoes could be heard throughout the grounds. Sun was setting, and my fists were raw.

“You're hitting with the top of your hand every other hit, which is why your wrist is probably hurting you.”

I heard that voice and just couldn’t seem to turn around. It was that voice that made every bad thing just disappear. If I turned around, I would break down. His death was something I struggled to get over and was almost my future.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

My wolf was screaming and itching to run to him, but things were complicated enough.

“I know you’re here because we’re mates,” I finally said.

The gulp in his throat was confirmation. His erratic heartbeat showed that he wasn’t sure how to handle this either. I mean, who would after finding out that I was supposed to marry the King? The king who doesn’t know anything anymore.

“Technically, you’re my second mate,” I continued.

He walked closer to me, grabbed my hands, and placed them in a fighting position.

His touch.

I came undone. My body slumped down, and the tears flooded out.

“What’s wrong?” he asked again.

I felt his arms around me, holding me, and now I was an emotional mess. Flashes of him dying to protect me now entered my thoughts. Knowing that there was nothing I could do but live and breathe made me feel worse. But I was an adult, and I couldn’t run away.

“Why did you have to die?” I screamed, still crying, clutching my stomach thinking of the children we had and the ones we would’ve lost. But of course, he didn’t know what I was talking about. Jax didn’t believe me when I told him, so I didn’t expect anyone to.

“What is going on here? Why is she crying?” Jax spoke up.