Chapter 10 #2
I watched, fuming, as he approached the window and started fiddling with the lock. His wispy golden hair was held back by a thin headband, and he was in all-black activewear. He was ethereally beautiful in the dim light, his nose wrinkling in frustration before he slid the windowpane up.
He landed on the floor without a noise and straightened with a grin. I watched him pluck the knife from his thigh holster.
“What the fuck,” I hissed, jumping off the bed. I flicked on my lamp and glared at Jewel.
He straightened in a second, both hands concealing the knife behind his back.
I jabbed my finger in the air toward him. “Did you seriously break into my apartment with a knife?”
Jewel looked behind him at the window, then back at me. “No?”
“I can't believe this.”
He drew himself up to his full height. “I came to make sure you were all right.”
“You know I’m all right because of this bond you forced on me! Which is why I know it’s bullshit that you ‘just happened’ to come over here after you felt me getting my brains fucked out.”
“Who was it?” he asked, his face darkening.
I threw my hands into the air. “It is none of your business! Because I'm. Not. Yours, you fucking asshole! You had your chance years ago, and you screwed me over, so fuck off and leave me alone.”
I started pushing him toward the door. I wanted him gone.
“Wait. Are you alone?” He craned his neck to try and look around.
I planted my feet into the ground and shoved as hard as I could. He moved, like, an inch.
“Oh my god, you are. You were just baiting me, weren’t you?” He sounded way too delighted by this. “You’d go through all that trouble for little old me? Jade, I’m touched.”
“Touched in the head, more like,” I growled, puffing.
He moved another step toward the door. I wish I could say it was because of my efforts, but that was not the case.
I straightened, folding my arms. “It was hardly trouble. I had the picture on my phone already.”
“I knew you cared.”
“I don’t! I merely wanted to get back at you for going and fucking Casey literally the same day you promised not to!”
He straightened and gave a little sniff. “I did no such thing.”
“You’re such a liar!”
“Actually, no. If I recall correctly, I promised to ‘stop playing games’ with Casey. I played no games of any kind last night. I mean, you kind of walked into that one. Especially after I told you I was perfectly serious about him. Which I am.”
I ground my teeth together. “No, you’re fucking not.”
His face darkened. “I am, Jade. I want him, and you, and Hugo as pack. Everyone else can fuck right off.”
I stared at him, speechless.
He looked smackably smug.
A pack?
Permanent bonding for life?
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Jewel had the audacity to look hurt.
Hurt!
“Excuse me, that is a very rude response to me practically proposing to you.”
“Packs don’t work like that. This bond you gave me is temporary. You can’t make a pack any more than I could.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s what we have Hugo for, duh.”
“What?”
“Hugo can bond us all!”
“Jewel.” I made sure I was looking him right in the eyes. I spoke slowly and carefully so he’d understand, my hands illustrating the words. “Without two other alphas, the only bond Hugo could offer you is a dark bond.”
He beamed at me. “Isn’t it perfect?”
There was a beat of silence.
“A dark bond? You remember what that is, right? Coercive control?”
“Exactly. Don’t you see? I know you don’t trust me, but now I’m offering you Casey and Hugo as well.”
Excuse me?
Offering me Casey and Hugo?
Like a buy-one-get-two-free kind of deal?
“Plus, with the dark bond, you have a responsible alpha who can make sure I behave. I want a life with you, Jade.” He spread his hands wide, raising his eyebrows.
I laughed. A life? He couldn’t offer me that. I’d gone on that ride before, and all I’d learned was that I needed to rely on myself.
“No. You had your chance.”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Jade, you know everything I said that day was bullshit. I had Father breathing down my neck.”
“I don’t care!” I shouted at him. My nose was burning, and there was a lump in my throat now. “It was real for me! For six years, it was real for me, Jewel. I don’t care if you did it to save the fucking pope, you can’t just expect me to move on! Now, get the fuck out.”
He blinked, smile faltering. Then he cocked his head to the side as I pointed to the door.
“Get out!”
I shoved him again and thankfully managed to get him out of my apartment. Then I collapsed onto the couch, wrapping my arms around my knees. The tears came, hot and angry and messy.
Hadn’t he hurt me enough?
JADE
17 YEARS OLD
There he was.
Leaning against a pillar in the lobby of his stupid casino. He was on his phone—so much for my theory that it was broken. I’d texted him at least twenty times since last night. He’d been ignoring me.
“Jule! Hey!”
I was pretty sure he could hear me, but he didn’t respond.
I got closer, and he finally looked up.
My heart plummeted at the coldness in his expression.
“What?” he said dismissively.
“Um, what the fuck, Jule? It was fucking freezing last night, and I waited four hours for you!”
His face was blank, almost bored.
I waved my hand in his face. “Um, our date, asshole? Remember?”
“Why would I go on a date with you?”
I hesitated. His voice was wrong; it sounded flat and dull.
“It was your idea?”
He rolled his eyes.
“That was before I claimed my aura.”
His aura?
What?
That scent of merlot and plums was coming from… him.
“But you’re a beta,” I said.
This was not going how I’d expected.
I’d expected to come in hot, chewing him out for standing me up. He’d give whatever dumb explanation he had and apologise. We’d fix this.
“I was a beta. I claimed my aura last night. It kind of changes everything, you know?”
My eyes were stinging, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “But—you said—”
He had said he loved me, just two days ago. He shrugged.
“I said a lot of things. When I thought you were my best option.”
“Jule,” I said, my voice raw. “Stop.”
Thaddeus stepped up beside Jule. He looked at me in disgust. I’d never seen Jule with him, not outside of official events. It clicked what was wrong with Jule’s voice. He didn’t have his accent. I’d known he’d switch to an American one around his father, but I’d never heard him use it before.
“Who’s this?” Thaddeus asked.
Jule shrugged again.
“Just a beta girl I fucked.”
I took a step back, the words hitting me like a blow to the chest.
That couldn’t be all we were.
Everything he’d said to me had been real, hadn’t it?
It had felt real.
But now I was looking at the Jule I thought I knew, and he was like a stranger.
I wanted to scream, to shake him, to get him to admit that I hadn’t imagined the whole thing. I hadn’t. This wasn’t Jule.
I didn’t know why he was doing this, but maybe it didn’t matter. He was hurting me, and he knew it.
“I think you should go,” Thaddeus said. “You’re making a scene.”
I looked back at Jule, hoping for something. Any indication that there was a reason for this, that he’d find me later, that he was still in there. He was back on his phone.
“Do I have to call security?” Thaddeus asked.
I straightened, trying to hold together the fragments of my shattered heart. “No. I was just leaving.”
I turned around and walked away.