Chapter Two

SIENNA

I had found my mate in the most unexpected of places, and now I had to do something about it. The scent that was still in my nose kept reminding me of that but I was still rooted to one spot like a statue.

I was still lost in my mind thinking of the next step to take when I felt a tap on my shoulder, making me to come out of my mind and focus on my surroundings.

I looked in front of me and I saw Hailey staring at me with concern evident in her features. I blinked and blinked while trying to find something to say to her in order to assuage her concern so that she wouldn't worry too much, but she beat me to it as she spoke first.

"Are you okay? I called your name about three times and you didn't respond so I decided to tap you on your shoulder since it seemed like you were lost in thought. Talk to me. What is it?"

"I… I… I…" I was undecided about how I wanted to tell her what I just found out, so I ended up just stuttering as I tried to get my words together.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Her gaze on me was firm as she held my eyes.

"Yes." I looked her in the eye, determined not to let her see the conflict in them.

"Then talk to me. I'm listening."

I nodded my head as I decided to just tell her and get it over with. The sooner the better.

"I just found my mate," I started, then added, "I mean, I just caught his scent but you get the gist."

"Yes, I understand, and I am really happy for you!" she exclaimed with pure delight.

Her joy was infectious and that got me smiling almost immediately. "I never thought I would find him so soon and even in your birthday party of all places," I admitted.

"You still found him and that's all that matters."

"I don't know what to do about it, though. Do you think I should go and find him or just wait here until he comes for me?"

"Well, he is yours so you should go and claim him. After all, you have Alpha blood in you so you certainly aren't lacking in the confidence department," she said, hyping me up.

"Okay, okay. I will do as you say. I will go and find him and he will know that I'm his, as he is mine."

"Great! That's the spirit," she exclaimed, winking at me as I stood up from my chair.

I turned around, but not before waving at her. She waved back at me and I started my walk through the hall looking for the special someone whom that Moon Goddess had designed specially for me.

I was really happy that I had found my mate and my wolf, Bia too was not doing a good job of hiding her own happiness as she kept squealing and jumping inside my mind. Bia was normally a very quiet wolf and she didn't say much but I guess this case was an exception for her. She had just found her soulmate, after all so she had the right to do as she wished.

I walked down the length of the whole hall but I couldn't seem to find my mate. The scent was still there but it seemed faraway now. I was debating what next to do when I suddenly felt a pull. Immediately, I knew it was the mate pull, so I followed it, relying on my instincts as I walked outside the hall, hoping that I would find my mate there.

And I did. I knew he was the one as soon as I saw him, though he was standing with his back to me. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. As soon as he turned around and we locked eyes, realization dawned on him and he seemed to feel the pull too.

But he was someone I knew. I had known him since we were children and we were friends for quite some time before we just stopped talking.

The bond was pulling me in, making me to almost step closer to him and hold his hands or just establish some kind of skin contact with him.

But as I looked closer at him, I realized that even though he knew me from when we were kids, and he had also realized that he was my mate as I was his, he didn't seem to be reacting to the mate bond that much. Or at least, he wasn't reacting to it as much as I was. Maybe it was because of the Alpha blood in my veins but he just looked merely aloof to the whole situation.

So I decided to take the plunger and start up a conversation between us.

"Hi," I greeted, smiling.

"Hi," he said, returning the greeting and the smile even though his own smile was barely there.

"It's nice to see you, Jasper," I said.

Yeah, his name was Jasper. He was handsome, with brown eyes, sandy blonde hair and was a little over six feet tall. He was eye-catching but not in the obvious sort of way, but just in a laid back type of way.

After some moments of silence with awkwardness already setting in, Jasper said, "Yeah, good to see you too."

He didn't even accord me the privilege of using my name, but I knew he remembered it. There was no way he would ever forget it, since he had had a crush on me back when we were younger.

So I decided to cut straight to the chase. He was acting lukewarm about the whole thing and I wanted to know what his deal was.

"You know we are mates, right?" I told him.

"Yes, I know," he simply said.

"Then why are you not doing anything about it? It's like you are not pleased with the situation, if I am reading you correctly."

"Well, that's because I…" he started but before he could go any further, his phone rang, cutting him off, so he added, "I have to take this." He pulled the phone from his pocket and swiped the screen before putting it to his ear.

"Hello, babe," he said into the phone and my ears pricked at that.

Who was so important to him that he had to call her babe?

"Okay, baby. I will be home soon." Then he paused, listening to the person at the other end of the line. "I love you, baby," he finished and the shock that overtook me was out of this world, but I waited for him to speak because I didn't just want to jump into conclusions.

This time, Jasper didn't waste any more time before he spoke. "Look, Sienna," he started and I seethed internally since he was now bothering to use my name now when he hadn't bothered to do so before. "I can't be with you because I already have a girlfriend. Her name is Sandra. You might know her because we all attended the same middle school. That was her on the phone."

His words shook something inside of me and it was my heart. It was already cracking and it would soon break. That I was sure of. So he already had someone? No wonder he had been acting all distant since. He didn't care about me and he didn't care about the mate bond either.

"I… I… I…" I tried to speak but I couldn't because of the pain swirling around in my heart.

"I have to reject you," Jasper said.

"No, you can't do that!" I protested. "Second chance mates don't exist in our society and if I accept the rejection, it means I will be left without a mate forever. That's too callous!"

"I don't care," Jasper said coldly. "I, Jasper Manuel reject you, Sienna Coleman as my fated mate. And the sooner you accept the rejection, the better for you."

And with that, he turned around and walked out on me without so much as a backward glance.