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Part Three- Chapter 46

"In a way, I was incredibly proud of her (not that I had any intention of letting it show while I was beating the crap out of her)."

-Meg Cabot.

DARYA P.O.V

Sitting alone in a bar, I was tracing my index finger on the glass rim of my Pomegranate Martini. I had been dancing for the last one hour and now, I was tired.

One week had passed since my birthday and each passing day, I have been trying to heal my broken heart. My wolf has retreated to some corner of my mind and shows her presence only when something irritates her.

Day by day, I could actually feel my strength deteriorating.

My family had been surprisingly quiet on the topic. They know Quillon and I were over because I told them that. Other than the surprised looks, nobody had anything to say.

I told Sel in detail what happened. I told her that Quillon doesn't love me and she just hugged me while I cried pathetically.

The only good thing that happened this whole week was that I finally joined a cooking class. I think it's time I start learning cooking because it will help me to feed myself.

As I thought about my previous attempt at cooking, I cringed.

I don't know how everything went wrong between Quillon and me. I was happy with him. Incredibly happy but then everything went downhill, just when I thought I was at the top of the world.

He doesn't love me.

It hurt even to think about it. I couldn't stay with Quillon after knowing that his feelings to me weren't the same. I could be some sacrificing queen and say, I am happy with his friendship but how long would that keep me happy? Eventually, I would start craving for me and I didn't want Quillon to show some compassion after feeling sorry for me. It would have made me feel pathetic!

I couldn't settle for anything less than his love and since I am never going to get that, I think it's better if I just stayed out of his life. That is better than him being sympathetic to me.

"Nursing your broken heart?" an unknown voice demanded and I turned my head to look at the dark haired male sitting a stool away from mine. He was truly good looking with thick black hair, foggy eyes and charming smile but he was still no match to... Why am I even going there?

"Something like that" I replied to the human after taking a sip of my martini, which had a sharp and bitter taste.

He smiled and took a sip of his own drink. It was then I noticed the glittering gold ring on his ring finger. He was either married or engaged.

"Why? You are doing the same?" I asked when he didn't say anything.

"I had been through a similar experience once" he said calmly.

"Your wife?" I asked.

"Fiancée"

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking" I said quietly.

"Let's just say I was struck between a rock and a hard place. I thought what I was doing was the right thing but it hurt both of us a lot" he said with a shrug and I stared at my drink, thinking that his situation was similar to mine.

"You got through it?" I inquired.

"Yes" he replied sincerely and I blinked, wondering how they got through it. "Now, we are going to get married" he said with a genuine smile and raised his glass. He loved his fiancée, it was visible through his eyes and I wondered how it felt to be loved like that by a guy.

"How did you get through it?" I asked, desperately wanting to know how he found so much happiness even after everything.

"By beating the shit out of each other" he answered seriously and my eyes widened before I laughed loudly.

Just then his cell phone, which was placed on the counter, started ringing and I looked at the screen which had a photo of a beautiful girl with ebony hair. "That her?" I asked him and he nodded.

"I have to take this" he mumbled before leaving. As I watched his retreating back, I realized that we did not even exchange names.

Whoever he was, he made me feel better.

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That night, I was racing through the woods in my wolf form. I couldn't sleep one bit at night these days. It's the time when I am alone and all the time I spent with Quillon keeps playing in my mind like some movie.

Later, I found a quiet place in the middle of the woods and sat there.

I woke up when I heard growls of other wolves. Opening my eyes, I looked at the newly shifted pups who were playfully brawling. When they saw me standing up, they stopped and ran away.

Sel connected with me through the link at that moment and asked me to come home.

Thank-fully, Betsy was the one who had cooked breakfast today. After breakfast, Duncan agreed to drop me to the farm.

Before leaving to the farm, he caught Sel in his arms and kissed her sweetly.

"Why are you kissing her? She is my mama" Lorcan said with a pout and my body shook in silent laughter. He always has a problem with that!

"Oi... If I hadn't kissed your mama you wouldn't have been here" Duncan replied straightly and I burst out laughing, while Sel and Lorcan frowned at him.

"That is just gross Duncan" I said shaking my head.

"Hey, at least I am not showing affection in front of the camera" Duncan said smugly and I blinked in bewilderment.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, my eyes flickering to Sel, who was trying to hold back a grin.

"Wait a minute" Duncan said and dashed towards his office. While he returned, he was holding a magazine in his hand.

Duncan placed the magazine on the table and pushed it towards me.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open when I looked at the cover. Duncan and Sel laughed out loud when they saw my reaction.

There, in the cover page of that weekly magazine was a photo of Quillon and mine wolf, with the title: THE MATING SEASON IS HERE.

The photo was taken by that stupid photographer the morning after Quinn's birthday. I was sleeping, on the ground with Quillon atop me. The position in the photo was totally misleading, if you get my drift!

"THE FUCK!" I shouted in outrage and Sel stopped laughing but Duncan went on like a hyena. "THE FUCK IS THIS? HOW DID HE GET TO PUBLISH THIS?" I demanded. This was one of the popular magazines of the country. Anybody could figure out it is Quillon and me in it because we have the rare wolf color.

"Mama, Daroo said fuck! But you said there is no such word" Lorcan complained while Sel glared at me.

"MATING SEASON? IS HE FU—"

"Darya" Sel snapped.

"FU-FU-FA—"

"Freaking" Duncan supplied coolly.

"FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" I all but roared, clenching my fists. "How dare that bonehead publish this? And that too with that title" I snarled shooting daggers at the title written in bold white letters. "What is his name? I am going to kill him" I growled flipping pages and found the article in the 22nd page of the magazine. There was another photo of us, looking at each other's eyes.

I remember that moment. I can't believe that fucker had captured that too. It was a five page article with photos of four other different species of animals, all in more compromising position than us.

"Patrick Liebmann" I read the name through clenched teeth. "You are a dead meat" I hissed and walked out of the house holding the magazine in a tight grip.

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