Free Web NovelChapter 49: Torn Apart
"Is that so?" Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Lucas, I find that very hard to believe."
"It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not!" Lucas said bravely, but I noticed that he didn’t even dare to look me in the eyes. Weakling.
I clenched my fists, ready to step up to sock him in the jaw at any second. However, the moment Blaise’s hand found the small of my back, I felt the anger seep away from my body in an instant. I turned to look up at him, but Blaise did not meet my gaze. He maintained the stare against Lucas, his lips tilting into a charming but sinister smirk.
"And who are you to tell me that?" Blaise said with a tut, scoffing. He suppressed a laugh of disbelief, his fingers drawing circles on my skin through the fabric of my clothes without even looking once at me. "I am the pack’s beta. Who are you to say anything about my mate?"
"Your... mate..." Lucas stumbled back, his words caught in his throat.
"So the rumors are true, then," another said from the crowd.
"This new girl... she really is the Beta’s mate!"
"Isn’t she Alpha Damon’s mate though? There was a ceremony and everything. It seems like she’s the Alpha’s fated mate too..."
The whispers only grew louder and louder. Beady little eyes pierced through my very soul, attempting to rip me apart just to examine every inch of me. I clenched and unclenched my fists, torn between wanting to bury myself in the ground and not caring about their words.
I was proud to be Blaise’s mate― that same pride didn’t bring over to having everyone know that I am Damon’s fated mate as well.
Blaise, however, was every bit unbothered. He pulled me a little closer into his embrace, an unspoken act that I belonged to him. The rumors and murmurs about me being so-and-so’s mate didn’t matter― he had his mark on my neck and I had mine on his. There was only one fully mated pair, and that was us.
Not Damon and I.
"Beta, this is―"
"I don’t want to hear anything more about this topic," Blaise said, effectively cutting Lucas off mid-sentence. "Whether you like it or not, Harper and I are already mated. The Moon Goddess herself put us together. Unless... you would like to question the Goddess’s decision?"
Lucas pursed his lips together, his head drooping as he stared at the floorboards beneath his feet. With such a clear order, he had to shut it unless he wanted to risk getting kicked out of the pack.
"Yes, Beta."
"Well, go on then," Blaise said. He made shooing motions with his hands. "Get back to whatever you were doing. Nothing more to see here."
The crowd dispersed just like that. Some braver wolves still threw their heads back to give me nasty stares, ones which I returned with a poisonous glare of my own.
Once we were alone, Blaise led me to a quiet corner.
"Are you hurt?" he asked. "You felt so... so..."
"Angry?" I supplied. freewebnovёl.ƈom
Blaise shrugged. "I was going to say frustrated."
"I―" I stopped myself short, not knowing if I should tell Blaise the full story.
In truth, I wasn’t even sure where the frustration came from. The sudden boost in strength and reflexes? The fact that I will never be able to tear myself apart from Damon because his mark is permanently carved into my flesh? Or maybe because Elijah landed in such a bad position all because of my selfish desires.
What do I even say?
I raised my gaze, meeting Blaise’s eyes. A part of me wasn’t sure if he could be trusted. Me suddenly gaining the perks of a werewolf wasn’t something to their advantage entirely. After all, that would make me harder to control, as compared to when I was a human. However, if the pack beta’s mate was someone stronger, it could also mean the pack’s prosperity.
Decisions, decisions.
However, thankfully, there wasn’t a need for me to decide immediately. Blaise placed his hands on my shoulder, soothingly rubbing. His thumb grazed my skin where his mark was, sending a delightful shiver down my body.
"It’s alright if you don’t want to share," he said with a smile. I couldn’t help but notice that it wasn’t one that reached his eyes― I didn’t need the mate bond between us to know his disappointment in my reluctance.
"Maybe one day, Blaise," I said. "There’s just something I need to figure out for myself first."
He nodded understandingly, not pressing any further.
"Actually, Harper, there is something I need to tell you," he said. "It’s regarding the talk with Damon earlier."
My heart instantly plummeted down to my stomach. "What did he want?" I asked.
Blaise’s lips were pressed tightly into a straight line, which obviously wasn’t a good sign. My mind began to race with all sorts of possibilities.
Was it even possible for Damon to demand we break off our bond? As far as I understood, it was impossible to break a mating bond once it was completed. The only way to do that would be death. If we weren’t fully bonded, a rejection from the person who marked the other would be enough to call it off― the mark would become ineffective afterward.
In other words, the only way I would be free from Damon was to have him reject me himself.
"Why have you not left yet?"
Blaise and I turned our heads at the same time in the direction of the speaker. A scowl immediately found its way onto my face when I realized who it was.
"I was just about to set off. Just saying my goodbyes," He said. A chuckle slipped from his lips. "You’re not that heartless as to disallow that, right, Brother?"
"Set off?" I echoed. Panic brewed in my chest. "Goodbyes?"
Blaise winced. "I didn’t want you to find out this way."
"Find out what?" I asked. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Blaise has been assigned to the borders," Damon answered instead. I was met with his cold eyes, gray and soulless as he stared straight into my own. "He will be gone for some time. You, on the other hand, will be staying here in House Sirius until his return."
