Chapter 3
Arielle's pov
Hours bled into day and days passed into weeks and still no sign of Damian. Damian still hadn't returned from wherever he had gone to.
I told myself that I wouldn't break. I swore I wouldn't fall apart because a man had left me out there in the woods, with nothing but the ghost of his touch and the taste of his lips but I did.
Infact, I didn't just fall apart. I shattered into a thousand irreplaceable pieces.
I stopped trying to pretend that I was okay. I stopped sleeping. I stopped eating. Every breath I took felt like a blade to my chest and for a moment, it was almost impossible to breathe.
And that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part of it was that no one cared.
They all saw the cracks in my armour and dug their nails in, prying it open as they wondered what secret I was covering up. And they didn't just mock me. They relished in my pain.
And at the helm of this charade was Vanessa.
“Aww, poor little Ari,” she pouted one evening, her velvety voice sending a shiver down my spine. “You look so dull. Don't tell me — you thought Asher would choose you? Well, how could he choose you? You’re a pathetic little thing?”
Laughter rippled through the pack members around her and my stomach churned.
She continued, her voice dripping with the venom as she spoke in a loud voice now. “I think you're cursed, Arielle. Asher doesn't want you. You even went straight into his brother arms and he didn't want you either. If that isn't a curse then I don't know what is.”
Another wave of laughter reverberated through the air but I didn't flinch. I refused to give in to her desire to see me break in front of everyone.
A smirk graced Vanessa’s lips and she took a step closer.
“Face it, Arielle. You were never going to have a mate. Not Asher and certainly not Damian. People like you are destined to die old and alone.”
She wasn't wrong but she wasn't right either. But her words cut deep, too deep I winced at the ache in my heart.
I stood there listening to the scornful laughs, hearing the whispering, looking at eyes filled with disgust and suddenly, the truth hit me square in the face. They were right. Maybe, I was destined to be alone.
Without a word, I turned around and walked away, hoping to escape in time but the sounds of their taunts chased me down the hall.
In the end, Vanessa was right.
I was nothing.
The week passed by in a blur and still no sign of Damian. As the days dragged on, so did Vanessa and Rowan's taunts and insults. I should've gotten used to it but now, I am getting sick of it.
After slipping out of the gown Vanessa had “spilled” her tea on, I sank to my bed, hugging my pillows, my eyes closed, wishing it was Damian.
Tears slipped down my cheeks and I whispered like I had been doing for two weeks since he left.
“Damian, please come back.”
“Arielle, those dishes won't wash themselves!” I heard a fist bang on my door.
I jolted at the sound, thinking it was mother not until I realized it was Vanessa.
“Get changed quickly and go clear the table. The maids are busy.” She said with a hiss before leaving, her footsteps disappearing into the hall.
I palmed my face and began to sob. So this was my life now. How could Damian use me and abandon me like I was nothing?
I was still lost in thoughts when a sharp feeling rippled through me.
It started as a tingle beneath my skin until it finally settled as a warmth in my chest. Suddenly, it descended into a familiar pull in my chest and I rose to my feet.
The Mate Bond!
“Damian!” I called out without thinking. I suddenly realized he wasn't here but the feeling, I pressed my hand to my chest, the feeling that he hadn't abandoned me made me come alive again.
A soft laugh escaped my lips and I sat on the bed again.
Damian was still out here. He still felt our mate bond. He still wanted me and feeling this bond now only meant one thing.
He was coming back.
For the first time in weeks, hope bloomed in my chest.
For the first time in weeks, I felt something other than numbness.
Damian had left without a word, but he was coming back. He was still mine and I was still his.
And when he returns, I would find him and demand answers. I would make him see that leaving me was never an option. And I would make him know that I was his mate.
One week later,
I was wiping the wet goblets and dinner plates with a neat towel when suddenly, the maids began to run out of the kitchen. For a moment, I thought there was a fire and jerked away but then I heard them whisper to one another.
“He's here.”
“He has returned back to the pack. The Alpha's son.”
“What?” I whispered.
“Alpha Damian has returned.” They said,
My legs moved on autopilot, running through the hall and down the flight of stairs. Damian, my Damian was here.
By the time I arrived at the drawing room, the place was buzzing with half of the pack wolves, their whispers filling the air.
I stood on my toes, trying to catch a glimpse of Damian but I couldn't.
A man leaned a bit to the left to whisper to his friend and I finally caught a glimpse of Damian.
He was the same as I remember — Broad shouldered with neatly trimmed black hair I remember running my fingers through, his glazing green eyes and perfectly sculpted body that demanded respect. His mere presence dominated everyone in the room. His storm-touched gaze dominated me.
My heart fluttered and I took a step forward. Damian was here. He was real. He had come for me.
I weaved through the crowd, ignoring the stares I got or the whispers meant for me. I didn't care. All I wanted was Damian.
“Damian!” I called out.
His eyes flickered to mine and my heart melted.
“Damian, I —” I froze midway when I noticed the cold look in his eyes. The same look he had on his face whenever he regarded the pack wolves – like they were nothing but pests.
“Damian?”
He opened his mouth to speak and everything was over before it began.
“I, Alpha Damian Blackwood, reject you, Arielle Slyden, as my mate.”
The pack erupted in gasps and someone in the background laughed. I knew who it was without turning back.
‘I, Alpha Damian Blackwood, reject you, Arielle Slyden, as my mate’
For a moment, the world spun as I recalled those words. Those cruel words that sunk into me like a blade, leaving a sting so painful I could barely breathe.
I tried to move but my feet were frozen to the floor. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out.
Damian just stood there, his stare blank as if his face was carved from stone. As if the night we had shared together was a mistake he was desperate to erase. As if I was nothing.
Murmurs filled the crowd as I stood there, unmoving.
I couldn't breathe. Hell, I couldn't even think.
Damian had returned after disappearing for two weeks to reject me.
“You are not my mate, Arielle. You never were.” He said plainly. “And don't think the night we shared together meant anything to me.” he said again, his voice, bone-chilling and void of emotion.
Bile clawed its way up my throat.
No. This couldn't happen.
My vision blurred with tears that rolled down my cheeks in unstoppable torrents.
I had foolishly hoped for his return. I had cried and prayed to the Goddess to bring him back to me and when she did, he rejected and humiliated me in front of everyone.
It made me realize that this wasn't the first rejection.
The first rejection had started the moment he left me alone in the woods.
Rejection — a word lethal enough to kill any man.
It seeped into my bones like poison whispering words to me that I was never wanted to hear at all.