Rejected by My Alpha Mate; Nyra's Awakening

Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Something Is Wrong

"I hate you so much, Adrian."

--

The words ring in his head over and over. He can see the tears, see the way she’s practically shaking with rage, and for the first time in years, he regrets the words that have just come out of his mouth.

For as long as he can remember, for whatever reason, Nyra Hale has always been his target.

He had never really cared about her being wolfless and all that nonsense that the others the bullied her for.

But for some reason, he had just always liked to single her out. The hate stares, the way she would snap back at him--it was thrilling.

She’s called him so many things over the years.

Selfish jerk.

Bully.

Bastard Alpha.

But Nyra has never once told him she hated him before. Never. And with the burning fury in her eyes, Adrian knows she means every damn word.

His wolf feels wounded at the thought of its own mate hating it. And suddenly, all his anger feels like ash.

Adrian faces her, his cheeks still stinging. "L-look, Nyra, wait, I--"

"Save it!" She snaps, eyes still blazing with anger and unshed tears. "If this is what being your mate is going to look like for the rest of my life, then I reject this bond!"

The bond feels like it’s on fire the moment those words leave her mouth. The Goddess still refuses to let the bond break, but it’s stretching painfully.

Adrian groans and bends over, clutching his knees. Beside him, Nyra also grunts in pain, but she still forces her legs to move despite the pain, without sparing a glance at him or Jason, who is still on the floor.

The moment she steps out, the door opens behind her.

John rushes in first, breathless, then Anna behind him.

"Adrian, what the fuck!?" John yells, rushing to Jason’s side. "He’s bleeding, man!"

Adrian forces himself to stand again, glaring at Jason. "And I don’t regret it one bit."

He walks toward where John is holding Jason up and whispers so Anna can’t hear, "Stay the fuck away from my mate, Jason. This is the last time I’ll tell you!"

He pulls back without waiting for a response, letting Anna drag him away before the fight can re-escalate.

Outside, he sees Julian standing by the hallway, staring daggers at him.

"I’ll send you an invoice for that table," he says coldly.

"Can’t you see he’s in pain?" Anna whines beside him. Adrian knows she’s trying to help, but right now her voice irritates him. He wants to tell her to just leave him alone and go back to her friends.

He swallows it down, refusing to admit the one thing he’s been afraid of these past few weeks.

He is starting to lose feelings for Anna.

Adrian doesn’t know how, or why... he just woke up one morning with the realization that he doesn’t love her as much anymore.

But he can’t leave her. He can’t. Anna is the only system he’s ever known, and Adrian is too much of a coward to confront something new.

So he chugs all these thoughts down and offers Julian an apologetic look.

"I’ll pay you back, I promise."

Julian scoffs and walks away without another word, leaving the both of them in the hallway.

--

In the guest restroom, Nyra stares at her reflection: the red eyes, the tear-stained cheeks. Her hands shake as she rinses her face and fixes her makeup, wiping away the smudged mascara.

"I won’t let Adrian ruin my night," she mutters to herself. "Not tonight. I’ll enjoy the party happily."

She fixes her light makeup, adds some concealer and highlighter like Elena showed her earlier, and she’s good to go.

As she comes out of the bathroom, she runs into Elena standing outside. She notices the redness in Nyra’s eyes but, thankfully, doesn’t ask questions Nyra isn’t ready to answer now.

"Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go back out there and dance. You look too pretty tonight to hide in here."

Nyra smiles and lets Elena pull her back to the poolside.

The moment Nyra steps back onto the dance floor, three familiar girls come up to her--Naya, Leah, and Lena. They had come up to her at the store.

"Hey, are you okay?" Naya asks. "We heard there was a fight..."

Nyra recognizes them and forces a smile. "No, it’s nothing... I’m fine."

The girls don’t press further, but they still pull her onto the dance floor. Nyra forces herself to move with them, laughing with Elena and her new friends, trying to forget everything that just happened.

From the other side of the pool, Adrian can’t stop himself from watching her. Despite Anna standing right beside him, his eyes keep drifting back to Nyra, watching her sway her hips with a new group of girls.

Anna is rambling about something, but Adrian has tuned her out. She scoffs and crosses her arms when she catches him staring at Nyra instead of listening.

Beside him, John nudges Adrian with a smirk.

"You’ve been glaring at Nyra all night, man. Jealous much?"

"Mind your business!" Adrian retorts, linking his hands with Anna’s. But somehow, his eyes still slide back to Nyra anyway.

--

Nyra has been dancing for hours. At one point, Julian goes to the restroom. Elena excuses herself briefly to greet some of her friends who had just arrived.

But Nyra stays in the middle of the dance floor, smiling and dancing with the other students, feeling freer now.

A group of juniors surrounds her. Drinks are passed around, the scent of booze and sweat mixing with pheromones in the air.

One of the juniors approaches Nyra with a colorful drink. "Julian sent this for you," he says calmly.

Nyra thanks him and takes a few hesitant sips. It tastes really sweet, exactly how she likes it. So she continues to drink it happily, dancing even harder now as the drink hits.

A few moments later, she starts to feel unusually hot, her head growing dizzy.

She tries to brush it off and continues dancing, but her vision suddenly begins to blur.

She excuses herself and runs toward the side when a junior rushes over, concern written across his face.

"Nyra? Julian’s looking for you behind the mansion. He said you weren’t feeling well."

"Yeah, I think I’m a bit dizzy." She looks around frantically. "Where is he?!"

"He’s inside." He grabs her wrist, leading her toward the back door. "Let’s go..." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

--

Moments later, Julian returns to the dance floor, scanning the crowd.

"Has anyone seen Nyra?"