AARON
"Why me? Can't the Beta do it? I'm not in the mood to drive." I groaned in my seat before throwing my head back on the headrest of the couch at the Alpha's office.
I know it was a lousy excuse and seemed disrespectful, but my Alpha knew me better. I just talked like this, but I would never defy his order.
"Aaron, stop asking why. You know the answer already." Clair answered annoyingly. She was sitting comfortably on the Alpha's lap, while the Alpha just looked at me, his lips pursing.
"I don't have a choice, right?" I closed my eyes. I knew the answer already. "Fine. But just so you know, I'm already starting to lose my patience with Janna. She fucking knew how to push my buttons. It's not my fault if I end up abandoning her somewhere if she continues to irritate me."
"Of course, you're not going to do that. If you leave her, you'll come back to pick her up, right?" My sister, the always goody-good Clair, would always make it a point to turn my words back on me.
"You know, my father only trusted Janna with you, Aaron. And he won't allow her to come here if it's not me or you picking her up." Alpha Jake said in a firm voice, his face void of emotions.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I shouldn't have saved her back then. Then maybe I'm free from this task." I snickered.
The Alpha didn't say anything back. He knew I didn't mean those words. I was just fucking pissed off at how big of a brat Janna has become.
But of course, my sister wouldn't let it slide and ended up throwing a pen in my way.
"Fuck! What the hell, Clair?" I jolted from my position and glared at her while rubbing the side of my forehead that was hit by the pen. I didn't see it coming since my eyes were closed.
"Take it back! Janna is family, and I don't like the way you talk about her!" She snapped at me, her eyes throwing daggers my way.
"Baby, calm down. He's just playing around. We both know he would never leave Janna alone to die or abandon her. Janna is safer with him than with anyone else." The Alpha's arms wrapped around Clair and pulled her closer to his chest.
"Thanks, Jake." I let out a deep sigh before standing up, placing my hands in my pocket.
As much as I hated this task, I felt proud to be trusted by the Alpha and his father when it came to their little brat. "I think I should prepare for the long drive. I want to go as soon as possible."
"You don't need to go now. It's late by the time you get there. You can pick her up tomorrow morning..." Alpha Jake was looking at me while his hands were still holding on to his mate.
"Nah, better to drive at midnight. Besides, I have things to do tomorrow with the Elite warriors. Your father won't mind, right?" I asked, my brow arched up.
"No. I told him you'd come either tonight or early tomorrow."
"Then I'll go now. We'll be back here by dawn."
"Thanks, man."
"No problem..." I turned around and was almost at the door when Clair called for me.
"Aaron..." Clair's voice was soft this time and made me turn around to face her. She was already on her feet and was walking towards me.
My forehead creased as I watched her open her arms, wrapping them around my body. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be that rude to you. And thank you..."
I chuckled and returned her hug before placing a soft kiss on the crown of her head, ruffling her hair as she pulled away from me. "You know, I could never be angry with you."
She smiled warmly at me before going on the tip of her toes to kiss my cheek. "I can't wait for you to find your mate, Aaron. I'm sure she'll love you."
"Yeah, right," I replied with a bored tone. "You're making it sound like I'm in a bad place without a mate." I chuckled without enthusiasm and turned on my heels, heading for the door. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
I didn't wait for them to answer as I went out of the office and out of the pack house.
The words Clair said were still ringing in my head as I slipped inside my car and drove off.
Maybe I was in a bad place.
I broke it off with Jenny this morning.
I didn't know how many times we broke up in the duration of one year, and all the time she would come crawling back in and I would let her. And the cycle just continues. But I knew the breakup today would be final. It has to be.
She's not my mate.
And no matter how many times I denied it, that I wasn't bothered by the absence of my mate, I knew deep inside I was longing to find her.
Seeing my Alpha and his Beta with their fated mates always left a pang of envy in my chest.
We all grew up together.
As Alpha Jake would always say, 'No one gets left behind,' but then, here I was, all alone without my mate.
I wondered if I would ever meet her.
I hope the Goddess wasn't punishing me for playing around.
The females I've been with knew what they were getting into. No promises, no strings attached. So it shouldn't be taken against me.
I only made one grave mistake.
I took advantage of Jenny and her feelings for me.
It was so supposed to be just messing around, to fuck up the Alpha's head because he was messing around with my sister.
But I got sucked in along the way.
And the next thing I knew, we were together.
I don't do relationships. But then I thought, why not give it a try? I knew it was wrong.
But I really did feel something for her, although it wasn't strong enough to make me want to give up my own mate.
Jenny is an amazing female. Beautiful and brave in every sense.
And I tried to return her feelings. I swear I did. I tried.
I never fucked or slept around while we were together.
In fact, I never fucked anyone for a fucking one whole year except her, even on those days that we broke up.
It must make up for all the floundering around I did, right? I hope the Goddess will agree.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Jenny at the side of the road, waving at me as I was about to approach the end of the border.
How did I forget that she was one of the patrollers manning the border tonight? And would definitely use it to her advantage to talk to me if she saw me passing by.
"What's up?" I asked nonchalantly as my car stopped where she stood.
I tried to act as if I didn´t care about how she felt right now. The more of an asshole I became, the more it would be easier for her to let me go.
She took a deep breath before speaking, "Where are you going?"
"Picking up the brat. Alpha's order."
"Why do you always have to pick her up? There are others who can do it." Her forehead creased as her arms folded over her chest. She didn't like the idea of me picking up and driving Janna back and forth, which I've been doing for almost a year now.
I knew that even if she didn't say anything, she was jealous of the time I got to spend with Janna. If she only knew how impossible it was to deal with the Alpha's sister.
I just shrugged my shoulder and said, "I don't know. Ask the Alpha."
"Aaron, can we talk again after you come back?"
"Yeah sure, I'll see you around at the training ground." I started the engine and was about to maneuver the steering wheel when her hand held onto my arm.
"Aaron, I want to talk about us." She swallowed hard, and I could see tears welling in her eyes.
This was it. She would try to win me back again, and I would be a total man whore because I would fucking let her in again.
"Jenny, it's over. Let's not waste each other's time."
"No. You don't understand. We'll talk when you come back."
I didn't have any chance to rebuff her because she had already stepped back, turned on her heels, and ran towards the post where the other warriors were stationed.
I pressed the gas pedal and drove off, reminding myself that she's not my mate.
She needed to move on and find her mate, and not waste any more time on me.
JANNA. In just over a month, I would be turning eighteen. If I had a choice, I would rather stay with the humans, but like what my father kept telling me, this was my fate, and I could never run away from it. My name is Janna Marie Galhart. I am a shifter. And so are my parents. But we live among humans. My father, Jason Galhart, was supposed to be next in line as the Alpha of the Black Shadow Pack after my grandfather, but he gave up his right to become the next Alpha to be with my mother, Jessica Sawyer, his fated mate. In the beginning, he tried to stay away from my mother because he already had a Chosen Mate, the future Luna of his pack, and together they had a son, my half brother, Jacob. But as much as my father wanted to reject my mother, he couldn't fight the pull of the mate bond. In the end, he left his Chosen and his son and ran away with my mother to live among humans. And because of that, my half-brother, Jacob, became the next Alpha. It was only a year ago when m
AARON They just fucking don't look good together. My anger was rising, but I blamed it on her. She was fucking wasting my time here when we should have been driving back to the territory. I wanted to take her away from her boyfriend, but my bladder was already bursting. So instead, I headed off to the restroom. As soon as I was done, I wanted to go to her immediately, but there were two females who blocked my way and started flirting with me. If this was another time, I would have given in since I was a free man now, but my desire to take Janna away from her boyfriend was stronger than my urges right now. But she was nowhere around the bar when I came back. Fuck! Why did I take so long in the restroom? Instead of speaking politely with those females, I should have shoved them away. I could hear my heart thudding loudly despite the booming music and restless crowd. I panicked upon not finding her. If I lost her and Michael took
JANNAI felt my cheeks starting to burn at his words. Did I really moan his name? I won'tdeny I was thinking of him, because who would I think of when he was the one beside me? And he was gorgeous and all, and yes, he was the one beside me. I have a valid reason, right?But I swear I did my best not to open my mouth, so how could it be possible that he heard me?I held my breath as I sank into my seat, wishing for the car to swallow me whole. There was no way I would admit to him that I was thinking of him.We drove in silence until we reached my home, and I left him immediately after I told him he
AARON Jason already knew we were home last night. I sent him a mindlink and told him Janna was drunk and I was already tired. He didn't ask more and just told me to make sure the front door was securely locked before he cut off the mindlink. And this was turning out to be more bizarre. Breakfast was almost done, so it meant they were awake for a long time before they woke us up. Weren't they supposed to be alarmed that their daughter was tangled up with a man on their sofa the whole night? I didn't have time to think more about this since I followed after Janna as she rushed upstairs. My eyes lingered on her round ass as she half ran and half walked along the stairs in those short satin shorts. "Eyes off my ass, Gamma!" She snapped at me without looking back. "Then stop swinging it in my face!" I snapped back at her. She stopped and turned around so suddenly that I almost slammed my head on her stomach. My brows furrowed
JANNA I went down to the dining room and found Clair, Beta Gavin, and Alia in their seats already. Clair said that Jacob was still on the phone with another Alpha and told her that we could start dinner without him. I didn't see Aaron, but I was too shy to ask where he was, not wanting to leave the impression that I wanted to see him. I sat beside Clair. I knew this was Aaron's place, but every time I visited for two days every month, Clair would let me sit here. I was placing food on my plate when Aaron's voice reached my ears. I turned slowly to see him frowning, leaning his shoulder on the pillar of the dining room entryway. "Should I feel bad that I'm the only one always discarded on the dining table?" "Excuse me? What do you mean?" Clair asked her brother, as all eyes on the table were now on Aaron. He shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest, but stayed on his spot. "First, Alia came, and I was thrown out of my seat. And then, now that Janna is permanent
AARONThe dinner went nicely despite the annoying start. Janna was in a chirpier mood after I lied to her brother for her. I don't know why I did that. I never lied to the Alpha and I don´t know if it would cost me something big later.But I don't think this was something I couldn´t handle.Michael might be able to get away from Jason and Jacob's wrath, but I won´t let him get away with it easily. I would come back for him, whether Janna agrees or not.After dinner, I just dropped by for a few minutes at the Alpha´s office to discuss my agenda for the week before heading back to my room. As soon as I was done with my shower, I dried off my body and slipped my sweatpants on. I was ready to retire for the night because it was a fucking long day already. And my body was aching for my own bed.But then it turned out to be impossible because I found Jenny sitting at the end of my bed when I came out of the bathroom. I forgot to change my lock code."Jenny. What are you doing here?" I aske
JANNA I didn´t know what happened, but when I saw Jenny behind him, all the braveness I felt just melted away. I knew I was pissed off at him, but the pain that crossed my chest was undeniably something else. This was all wrong. I was starting to get attracted to Aaron but he was in a relationship. I slammed the door closed and dove onto my bed, burying my face in the mattress while trying my best to stop the tears from falling down. I should stop while I´m still able to. But how would I do that?
JANNA I made my way to the training ground five minutes before six in the morning. Jacob wanted me to start training today, so I woke up early and slipped on my sports bra and my high-waisted running pants, and I pulled my black straight hair into a high ponytail. The training ground was buzzing with warriors, and I saw Clair and Alia at the other end, preparing for their own training. Jacob told me he would assign someone to help me out because I was just starting with the basics and couldn´t join Clair and Alia yet, since they have more advanced training now.