CHAPTER NINE
“Did he like your gift?” Charlotte asks while I eat the pancakes I made for breakfast
“I don’t know if he liked it or not.”
“Why,” Charlotte asks, and I tell her what happened when I gave him the gift.
“I think he liked it but was too proud to tell you.”
“You really think so.”
Charlotte is about to reply but stops when we hear laughter coming from the living room. We don’t have to wait long before the people laughing walk into the kitchen.
Theo and Scarlett are dripping with sweat and laughing about something Scarlett said. They must have gone running in human form. I watch as my mate’s face brightens up while he is talking to Scarlett. This is not the first time he is smiling while talking to Scarlett, but it hurts like the first time he did. He takes two bottles of water out of the fridge and hands one to Scarlett.
“Thank you,” Scarlett says and takes her time to collect the water from Theo’s hand. She made sure all her fingers touched his. I can’t believe this woman.
“You’re welcome.”
“So, I will see you later after I shower,” She says, batting her eyelashes and makes sure to prolong the word shower. Is she trying to invite Theo to shower with her? The nerve this woman has. I can feel Eva getting angrier the more this woman stands here and throws herself at our mate.
“Yeah, I will be waiting for you in my office once you are done,” Theo says, and they walk out of the kitchen.
The whole time they were here, they acted like Charlotte , and I was not here. I can’t believe this. This is beyond embarrassing. This is humiliating, and the fact that I can’t do anything about it makes me angry. I didn’t even know I put my hand in a tight fist until I feel Charlotte ’s hands trying to remove my hand from the tight grip. I can feel myself on the verge of tears, so I quickly run out of the kitchen and into my room so that no one would hear me. I don’t even know why I am crying. I cry too much because of him. I am starting to hate my mate with all the pain he keeps causing me.
Later in the day, while walking around the territory. Scarlett walks up to me and pulls me into a hug. Why is she hugging me?
“I want to say goodbye; I know you did not like my presence here, and that’s fine. You will be gone soon, and I will take your place.” She says, whispering into my ears. I remove myself from her grasp. What is wrong with her?
“I don’t know why you are telling me this.”
“I am telling you this because I might be saying goodbye now but don’t worry, I will be back.”
“And how is that any of my business.”
“Oh, it’s your business because you might be his destined mate, but I will be his chosen mate, Goodbye again,” She says and walks away from me.
I can’t believe she knew I was his mate all along. Her words make me feel she knows the state of my relationship with Theo. It makes me wonder if things would ever change between Theo and me.
The next couple of days, I ignore Theo like he is the plague. I don’t want to speak to him or give him a chance to say something that would hurt my feelings. I also expected him to shout at me for my behavior during his birthday party, but unlike him, he did not. I think he was too busy spending the next day with Scarlett to remember how much I embarrassed him the night before.
I am about to step out of the house to meet Charlotte when I bump into him walking in. I walk past him like I don’t see him, but I fail in my plan.
“Hey,” He says, grabbing my arm to stop me.
“Yes,” I say, hoping he won’t make me cry today with his words.
“Have you been avoiding me?”
“No, I haven’t” I lie through my teeth. I avoid eye contact with him and try to steady my heartbeat. I can’t have my heart giving me out like last time.
“That’s a lie; I can hear your heartbeat increase.”
Oh no, I really thought if I avoided eye contact with him, I would be able to steady my heartbeat from increasing while I lied.
“I don’t know why my heartbeat increased, but I am not lying.”
“Really, then look at me and tell me you are not avoiding me.”
“I don’t think I need to do that, and why would you even think I am avoiding you, to begin with,” I say, trying to change the topic.
“Because I barely saw you all week.”
“We hardly see each other”
“Yeah, but I feel this week was more than normal.”
“Really, I don’t think so.”
“Are you angry with me?” He asks out of the bloom. Yes, I am because you keep hurting my feelings, I wish to say, but I lie again like I have been doing throughout our conversation.
“No, why would I.”
“Because my beta seems to think so.”
“Really, and why would he think I am angry with you” I keep pretending like I don’t have a clue as to where he is getting all these ideas about how I feel towards him right now.
“I think Charlotte told him, and if Charlotte did, you must have told her, so why are you angry with me.”
He seems to care about the fact that I am angry at him and have been avoiding him. I didn’t think he cared about me at all; maybe I was wrong after all.
“Oh,” I say because I don’t know if I should tell him why or not.
“So what is it,” I am about to speak, but someone cuts me off.
“Alpha king, a man claiming to be a member of Alpha Scarlett pack, is at our northern border. A warrior says behind me. The mention of her name makes my blood boil. I hate that woman with every fiber in my body.
“Why didn’t you mind link me?” Theo asks, annoyed that the warrior left his post.
“I tried my king, but you blocked off the connection.”
“Oh, that’s true” Theo must have blocked off his mind link connection to concentrate on our conversation. I am shocked he is so focused on me today. “You may go back to your post; I will be there shortly.”
“Ok, my king,” The warrior says and walks away.
“You were saying,” Theo says, and it takes me a minute to come back from killing Scarlett in my head.
“I was saying…….”
“You are jealous” He cuts me off before I can speak
“What,” I ask, confused as to what gave that out.
“You are angry with me because you are jealous of Scarlett; I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
“No, I am not” How does he know I am jealous of Scarlett. I didn’t even say anything.
“Yes, you are, and don’t you have any shame?”
“Shame?” I asked, confused with what shame has to do with being jealous
“Yes, shame. Don’t you have any shame for yourself? You are jealous of a woman being with your mate that wants nothing to do with you. Isn’t that pathetic” He says, shocking me with his words. I can’t believe he is making me feel worse about being jealous of another woman because of him. What kind of mate says these types of words to you? He is supposed to tell me that there is nothing to worry about instead of calling me pathetic.
“Why would you say something like this to me,” I ask, feeling my voice a little shaky. I can feel the tears building in my eyes, but I hold them in. it’s bad enough Scarlett believes he will make her his Queen and now this.
“Because it seems you have forgotten your place. You are my destined mate, but you will never be my chosen mate,” He says, with venom dripping with every word he says.
Scarlett was right, she is his chosen mate, but I am only his destined mate. Theo will never want to be with me, and it’s just a matter of time before he finds a way to dispose of me. I can’t hold the tears any longer, so I quickly run away from him. I don’t think I can spend another second close to him. I wish right now that I didn’t have a mate.