Chapter 4

ARIELLA. "This shouldn't have happened," Eli said as he fixed himself. It was deja vu, only this time I agreed with him. This shouldn't really have happened. "I can't believe this." He got up and looked at me. "Let's just forget this?" "What? Eli, do you understand what you're saying? We're mates now. I don't think we can just ignore it." "Then what are we going to do about it?" I shook my head. "I d-don't know." He sighed. "Our packs won't like this at all. Uncle Ross won't approve of this. And I'm sure your father will feel the same." "Yeah... This might even start a war between our packs," I said, scared of what might happen to us next. "This is really troublesome. My girlfriend will turn eighteen next month, but now that doesn't mean anything anymore." Hearing that made me feel worse than I already felt. "Then you shouldn't have brought me up here in my room! You should have controlled yourself better! This is all your fault, Eli!" He glared at me again, then shook his head. "Look, I apologize if I acted out of character. But let's just be clear. I didn't do that on purpose, Ariella. Something must have come over me. There's no way that I have feelings for you. You know that, right? I'm not even sure if we actually got mated just like that." That felt like a slap in my face. "Wait, what are you even saying? Are you denying what really happened?" "Why? Did you really expect me to think that we are mates? Something must have happened because this is impossible. Come to think of it. Maybe you did something for this to happen, right? Knowing your family, you'd probably planned this since you knew we would coming here—" He wasn't able to finish his sentence because I came forward and slapped him hard on the face. I was seething with anger over the pain that stabbed me in my chest. It was the pain of seeing him so disgusted that we became mates. And he had to deny it this hard. He held onto his face where I slapped him, unable to believe that I actually hit him. So when he glared back at me, I slapped him again, causing both our wolves to writhe in pain. Both of us clutched our chests in pain at the same time, indicating that this was something that would happen between mates. Eli laughed at that in frustration. "So this is how it feels. It really is painful when mates quarrel." He was talking about how as I hit him, we automatically felt pain probably coming from our wolves. "This would become a nuisance in the future." "Nuisance? This is more than that, Eli. This will change our lives... for the worst." "I already told you, I don't think we actually became mates. Something must have happened." "Oh yes!" I exclaimed sarcastically. "You're blaming me for this, right? That I'm the one who did this? Oh well... Maybe I did this to spite you so you'd feel pain every time we argue. It doesn't matter that I feel the pain too, right? That's how you think of me, am I correct?" I was so mad that I could hit him a thousand times more right now. I didn't even care if our wolves would cause me to writhe in pain again. I was just so angry at Eli right now. "You're so offended by something that I didn't even do to you," Eli told me. "If people don't trust you, maybe there's a history to it." This conversation was taking a turn in the worst possible direction so I had to take a step back. "Say what you want to say about me being the daughter of a cheater, Eli, and I won't care. But before you accuse me of anything, ask me first if I ever wanted to become your mate. Are you forgetting that I have a boyfriend and he's just outside?" That seemed to get through him. "Enough, Ariella. I don't want to argue with you anymore." I scoffed. "What, did you finally realize that denying this won't lead us anywhere?" "So what do you propose?" he asked. "Tell me your plan before your boyfriend breaks the door." I paused as Kayden's voice from outside the room got louder and louder. "We have to cut the mating bond," I told Eli. "But I don't know how to do that." "So do I. I don't know anybody who has cut their mating bond with their mates because this normally doesn't happen." "I'll ask my friend, Emma, if she knows something. She's a witch so she probably knows a spell or two to break this. Ask your girlfriend too. She might know someone who didn't end up with their mates." Eli looked at me with a weird expression. I wanted to think that he was offended that I was now showing overzealousness on the idea of getting rid of our mating bond, but I bet he wanted this more than me. He totally disliked me, after all. I bet he would rather die than be with me for the rest of his life. He looked so disgusted by the idea that his mate was the daughter of a cheater and it made me so mad. "I will. But we have to do something about our wolves in the meantime. We would be in constant pain if we don't do anything about them." "Oh right. Then what do you have in mind? Everyone now knows what happened here." We looked at each other expecting the other to have a solution, but I didn't have any. "How about this? Tomorrow morning, I'm going to reject you in front of everyone at the council office. That way our packs won't get involved in this anymore." I had a hard time responding to his 'solution.' I agree with what he thinks is what needs to be done, but I also feel doubtful about his plan. Besides, that doesn't solve the problem with our wolves. "Can we really just do that? Won't we get into trouble?" "We have to try. Unless you want me to actually become your mate?" "No. Absolutely not. I love my boyfriend. He's the only mate I want to have." "There you go. I feel the same way, Ariella. Any more concerns? If there's none, then I'm going to proceed with my plan for tomorrow," he said and left the room. Just like two years ago, he made it look so easy to drop me. Back then, it was so easy for him to let go of me when my father got involved in that cheating scandal. And now, despite the enormity of this problem, he had no trouble leaving me here alone to suffer. He never changed. He was still the same, self-centered boy that I had made the mistake of getting close with. The stress from everything made me slump to the floor, exhausted, but I heard Kayden's voice calling me and there he was, standing in front of me fuming and teary-eyed. "Ariella! What exactly happened here? What did you do with Eli?" He was shouting but I couldn't even stop him from doing that because he had all the rights to do that. "That prick just walked out and didn't even answer my questions so tell me! What the hell happened here?" "I'm sorry, Kayden. Eli and I... We just got mated to each other." Kayden didn't respond to that. I cried and cried as Kayden started yelling like a madman causing people to rush towards my room. Feeling embarrassed, I got up and went to close the door before anyone could barge in. I saw Kayden sitting on a chair and he was acting weird. His body was shaking for some reason. When he spoke again, he spoke in this somber tone that sounded like it was from a different person. "Is this it?" he asked me softly, his hands in his pockets but they were shaking. "Are we breaking up now, Ariella?" "What? Kayden, we don't have to break up! Eli is not interested in becoming my mate! In fact, he's going to reject me." "I'm sorry, Ariella, but what's the point of us staying together if your soul already belongs to another man?" I didn't know how to answer that because it hurt like hell hearing that from him and knowing that it was true. We just looked at each other, both already looking defeated. I could tell that Kayden was devastated by what happened, but it was also weird how he looked frightened for some reason. Maybe he was afraid that his father might get disappointed in him. That's possible since everyone had expected Kayden to become my mate by this time. But the thing is, something tells me that how Kayden was acting was a different issue altogether. Well, I don't know anything anymore. "Kayden... Please..." I was pleading with him not to do what I knew was coming next. But he just shook his head and then walked out of the door. "It's over for us now, Ariella," he said before leaving me. His words cut like a knife. I wanted to just disappear, but then the door opened again, and this time Father showed up. He was looking at me with such disappointment in his face. "Is it true, Ariella? Your mate was Eli?" he asked me in his authoritative voice. I nodded. He shook his head and got out of the room too. I didn't know what to do. Everyone seemed like they wanted to be as far away as possible from me. I feel like I can no longer endure another day here in our town. My phone on the bedside table rang so I reluctantly answered the call. It was Emma, my one and only friend. "Hello? Happy birthday, Ariella! How's the newly mated vixen?" she said in her cheerful voice, but I had other things to say to her. "Emma, can you help me get away from here?"