Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 50: Levitating.

Leilani.

I didn’t want to see him. Hell, I didn’t even want to talk to him. But seeing him standing there, looking so dejected and utterly helpless pulled at the strings of my heart.

Jarek may be a jerk right now but for the past four years of my life, he’s been my anchor. My help. My saviour.

He had saved me from my abusive family; And without asking for anything in return (well he did ask me to work for him) he pulled me out of the dark place I’d been stuck in for years. He gave me a new life, education, a job and all the power which I now possessed.

I turned to him slowly, my heart a tornado of conflicted emotions. Right now, I didn’t want to cry. I tried so hard to keep my tears at bay. But when he stepped closer, cupping my face with both of his hands, I lost to the war raging in my head.

"I’m really sorry, Sweetcakes. I was stupid... I still am. And I should’ve thought about what my actions would do to you before I did them."

"Jay..."

"I’m sorry," he continued, interrupting me. And I couldn’t help but melt into his touch. I closed my eyes, letting his heat flood through me as he continued to speak. He said; "I knew about everything your family has put you through. I knew about everything Chalice has done to you in the past. I, of all people, know you have a murder allegation still hanging over your head, one you still haven’t been able to clear off... one that was committed by the same Chalice. Yet, despite everything, I allowed her to come between us."

"Did you sleep with her?" I asked suddenly, because despite what I tried to say to myself, despite the truth I tried to hide, I was still curious.

And jealous.

And hurt.

He froze. A frown slowly crept up his face and something akin to disgust washed over him before he quickly schooled his features into one of his usual aloofness. He spat; "No."

"She gave indications that you did."

That had Jarek’s jaw dropping. He scoffed. "I would never. I’m not that horny. I’ve never even experienced rut before."

Now, that made me chuckle through my tears. I shook my head at him, ignoring the way my chest still felt tight, and the way it still proved difficult to breathe easily.

A moment of silence passed between us, and finally, I shimmied out of his hold, turning to the door without inviting him in.

He rushed out; "I did it because I was stupid."

"You’ve said that before." I muttered, turning to flash him a small smile. "And I agree."

"Don’t quit!" He continued again, looking more desperate than pleading. "I asked her to forget about the job. I didn’t employ her, so don’t leave."

Something about his words stuck to me. I slowly lifted my head to meet his gaze, my eyes thinning as I regarded him quietly.

"You knew she wasn’t ’good enough’ for the job from the onset, why did you offer to give it to her in the first place?"

Jarek dropped his eyes, and suddenly, he could no longer look me in the face. The almighty Alpha Frostclaw soon began to fidget, fiddling with his fingers as he muttered;

"I didn’t know how to face you after the last time we had dinner together, and I wanted to stop thinking about the kiss."

That didn’t make any sense.

It sounded... foolish.

I folded my arms across my chest, staring him down with equal amounts of anger and confusion as I asked; "How does that make any sense?"

Jarek, looking flustered, chewed on his lower lip. His eyes snagged on everything around but my face. He drawled; "I felt bad for kissing you."

I froze.

He felt... bad?

Not happy, not shy, not confused; But bad?.. Bad?!

My throat felt tight. My heart plummeted, going to settle at the base of my stomach like a nausea-causing bile.

"You regretted it?" The words escaped my lips before I could stop them and Jarek froze, as if lost for words.

Then suddenly, he sighed. Deep. Long. "I didn’t, but thinking about it now, I feel like I crossed a line with you that I shouldn’t have and I am sorry. I should never have put you in such a position. So I brought in Chalice because I was scared of the awkward tension that that kiss we shared would cause. I am sorry again." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

That stung. It sounded vaguely like a rejection. My heart constricted within my chest as I looked up at him through blurry eyes.

And then finally, something clicked at the back of my skull:

He likes me. He cares about me... but he doesn’t see me the way I see him.

To him, I’ll always be his kid sister.

The charity case. The one he could care for but never love. Because I didn’t deserve it. Because everyone knew that I wasn’t Luna material— and he does too.

This realization made tears burn in my eyes. It hurt me more than I cared to admit. But I nodded slowly. Quietly. Tears filling my eyes at the thought of what I had just lost... what was never meant to be mine to begin with.

But this exact reaction from me must’ve probably been what he was looking to avoid. So I straightened my back and smiled. "It’s fine." I said, even though everything in me screamed otherwise. "It was a spur of the moment thing, and you shouldn’t have let it get to you so much."

His face fell. "I came at you." He argued.

"And I kissed you back!" I responded, my heart squeezing in my chest. "We’re both adults so it’s our fault. No one should be blamed."

Jarek sighed but I didn’t miss the sadness in his eyes or the way he still couldn’t bring himself to look at me.

"We shouldn’t let it affect what we have." I said finally.

"We shouldn’t." He agreed. And with that, he planted a kiss on my forehead and walked away, leaving me standing there, my emotions scattered all over the place... and tears streaming down my face.

Watching him leave felt like a knife was twisting deep into my chest. But I managed to turn and walk into my house, only stopping midstep when I felt something at the back of my head.

A pain. A very sharp pain.

I winced, dropping my bag abruptly to hold both sides of my head as if that would stop the pain. But it didn’t. It felt like something was tearing through my skull. Like my head was splitting into two.

I groaned loudly as I crashed to the floor, thrashing wildly when more pain tore through my skull. Cries of agony slipped past my lips and then I vaguely noticed that the tears in my hands no longer hurt before everything went black.

Before the world dissolved into nothing.

My pain became nothing but white noise at the back of my skull.

And for a moment, I felt like I was levitating.