Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Jarek.

"Alpha, lady Keisha whose treatment was supposed to be discontinued in two months has suddenly started responding to treatment." Orion, my beta, said to me and I froze.

My heart began to beat frantically against my chest, and a strange kind of chill instantly enveloped me as I turned to glare at him. "What did you just say?"

"I said that I got a report from the hospital two days ago... from Lady Agatha to be precise, and it entails that Ms Keisha has suddenly started responding to treatment."

"Did you check with the hospital to see if she was lying? If she only said that so that we wouldn’t pull the plug on her daughter by the end of January?" I asked coldly and he shrugged, his face expressionless as he said;

"Yes, we checked. And according to the doctors. Ms Keisha might be fully recovered next month if she continues to respond to treatment at the rate at which she is presently."

My heart fell.

The fucking wench!

Goddess, I knew I should be happy at the news. That I should be glad that we could finally get to complete our rejection process. But something in me still felt torn. Something within me— maybe a deep dark side— didn’t want her to recover because I knew she wouldn’t simply walk off when she gets better.

She has always been a pest. A leech. One who usually derived so much pleasure from making my life nothing but miserable. One who would try to manipulate me into keeping her by my side even when I didn’t want to.

Five years ago, we’d been inseparable. She was the absolute sweetest thing to ever happen to me at the time, until she began to mutate— and I use the word ’mutate’ because that was exactly what happened to her.

Her father had been a hybrid in secret. A part wolf, part Lycan and it wasn’t until five years ago that the effects began to manifest in her.

She turned afterwards. She said she had depression. That she wanted to try to make peace with herself so she started drinking. Started whoring... and then at some point left me to be with Gerald. She came back eight months ago with a daughter— Gerald’s daughter, but somehow, due to how tricky she’s always been, tried to make up with me.

And I would’ve agreed easily if I hadn’t fallen for Leilani at the time.

I shook my head to rid myself of these thoughts and whispered; "Fine then. Let me know when she’s fully recovered."

Orion sighed. He hated her more than I did. He drawled; "Will you take her back?"

And as soon as I heard that, my chest exploded with rage. I quickly looked up at him with my nostrils flaring and spat. "No. Never."

"I wanted to advise you against it." He answered with a shrug. "She’s not Luna material... plus, you of all people, know how terrible she can be."

With that, he walked away, leaving me to my thoughts. My fists clenched as I watched him leave, but instead of being mad at him, I was mad at myself.

I was mad at myself because of all the times that I let Keisha walk all over me in the past. I was embarrassed and pissed that she would go out there, cheat, and return to me smelling like another man, but I would still take her in.

I hated that I loved her so much, I lost myself because of her.

And I hated that she’s the reason my wolf became feral.

The reason I could no longer shift under the full moon like everyone else does, in fear of not being able to revert to normal.

My cell phone rang and I glanced at the screen just then to see that it was leilani. A sudden warmth spread in my chest. But I didn’t pick up. I couldn’t. I simply let the phone ring for a long time and then switched it off.

I couldn’t talk to her like this. I couldn’t burden her with my problems.

A strange headache split the back of my skull and I groaned, setting everything down to rest my head on my table.

It was one of the symptoms of having a feral wolf. And I knew... I just knew that I couldn’t be with Leilani like this.

—

Leilani.

The rest of the week happened in a blur. CUSP got launched. My parents and Gavin wouldn’t stop calling. Kael and Zevran became a constant thorn in my flesh; And Jarek... for some reason became even more distant.

He was hardly in his office whenever I checked. He hardly picked up whenever I called. He was radio silent for most of the week, and to top it all, when he finally came to work on Friday afternoon, he’d gotten another scar on his face, one that now ran from one end of his nose to the other.

I froze upon seeing him, my heart racing when I noticed his bloodshot eyes.

"Jay?" I called out to him softly, and when he turned to me, I could swear that I saw unrecognition flash in his eyes before it slipped away.

He sighed. "Sweetcakes!"

It’s been ages since I last heard him call me that. My heart felt heavy, my emotions choking me as I pulled him into a hug. He didn’t resist but he didn’t hug me back for a few— too long— seconds.

And then he broke. Like he completely undid right in front of me. His body shook with raw emotion, his chest rising and falling as he pressed his head into the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent.

And under his breath, he kept mumbling over and over again; "I missed you. I fucking missed you. I missed you so much."

Tears gathered in my eyes as I held him close, listening to him ramble on and on about something I could hardly understand. I do not know for how long we stayed there like that but I knew that soon my legs began to feel weak. His weight on my shoulder felt like it was crushing me. I whispered; "Are you okay?"

But he didn’t respond. I was met with silence.

"Did you get into a fight?"

"I would never get into a fight, Sweetcakes." He answered softly before leaning away to clasp my face in his hands. He stared at me softly for a moment too long and muttered; "I’ve just been having a very bad week."

For a moment, he looked like he was about to say something else. His lips moved but no sounds came out, and probably after deciding to settle on something else, he drawled; " Keisha has suddenly started responding to treatments."

I frowned. "Who is Keisha?"

"My mate."

My entire body froze. That was the absolute last thing I’d expected to hear him say. Goddess, I wanted to smile at the great news. I wanted to be happy for him even though I had zero idea what he was talking about, but I couldn’t bring myself to.

Jealousy like no other slammed straight into me and I dropped my gaze, balling my hands into tight fists as I counted one to five in my mind and looked back at him. "I didn’t know she was hospitalized."

"She has been hospitalized for about eight months now. She’s been in a coma."

Now, that made me stunned. My mouth instantly went dry. I stuttered; "S-she has been sick w-way before I came into the country?"

He nodded.

"Why did you never tell me about it?"

"Because it didn’t matter." He answered softly. But there was something in his eyes, something that made me realize that he wasn’t joking about this at all.

Something that seemed dark... cold. It made me a little nervous.

I wanted to ask him about it, I wanted to know why he looked so... disheveled. But just as I opened my mouth, ready to speak, Yvette rushed over to us, her newly dyed red hair gleaming under the lights as she rushed out;

"Alpha Frostclaw, there’s a woman at the reception asking to see you. She said her name is Agatha!"

Jay froze. And I couldn’t help but watch as his face went ashen.

He quietly stormed away from us and just as I was about to follow him, Yvette called out to me. She said; "There’s a man waiting for you at your office, Ms Sinclair. It’s Alpha Stormborn!"

And as soon as those words were uttered, my blood ran cold. I frowned, turned away from where Jarek was headed and marched over to my office.

Lo and behold, when I pried the door open and stormed in, I found Zevran sitting casually on my chair with a bouquet of pink carnations in his hands.

He looked up at me with a small smile. His voice not above a whisper as he drawled; "I’ve been waiting for you, mate."

I froze.