Three: One Sentence

BANE POV

One sentence. One sentence is all it took for my world to come crashing down around me. My eyelids flutter open, blinking against the sun, memories I don’t want slam into me.

“Peyton.” I whisper, testing her name out for the first time, loving the way it sounds on my lips. Of all the ways I envisioned this day going, this wasn’t how I saw it happening. Especially to her, the cute little brunette I’ve been harboring a secret crush on for the last few years, but never had the guts to act on.

No, this isn’t how I thought this day would go at all. In fact, in all the hallucinations I’ve conjured of this day, none of them included rejection. Not a single one. Instead, they started with me fucking her passionately, until she was a blubbering mess, and then fucking her again. None of them included this shitty, achy feeling sitting in my gut. How naive am I?

She didn’t give us the chance to enjoy it before rejecting me and running away. I swear she was happy, for a split second, until it faded into terror and fear. But it was there, I’m sure of it, like I’m sure of my name.

Her overwhelming emotions still cling to the air, mixing with her delectable scent. The most divine, heavenly mixture I’ve ever inhaled. And it’s gone. The jasmine and fresh raspberries are not a combination I’d think to put together, but goddess am I wrong. It’s erotic, tantalizing, and will haunt my dreams into my death.

“Bane!” Aaron, my beta and best friend, says, his footsteps close by. Not wanting him to see me face down in the grass, and I roll to my back, staring up at the sky trying to figure out what the hell happened?

My excitement from earlier is officially dashed, the giddiness I felt at returning home is gone. My wolf is curled in a ball, howling in despair, missing his mate. Our mate. Peyton Samuels. Goddess, she’s perfect in every way, always has been to me, and now she’s gone. She slipped away before I realized what her intentions were. I was too caught up in my secret prayers being answered.

“Bane?” Aaron asks, his shadow blocking the sun from my eyes, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Not when my heart is shattering into a million pieces. “What the hell are you doing? Cloud gazing? Your mom’s going berserk. You’re late to the party.”

“Get Corey and Sadie down here now!” I bolt upright, sniffing the air, trying to gather as much evidence as possible. His presence snaps me out of my pity party, and now I’m pissed. Really fucking pissed. Who the fuck rejects their mate without even giving them a chance? Seriously? Who the fuck does that? Apparently, Peyton fucking Samuels, that’s who. “And our best trackers.”

He stares at me, questioning my sanity, as I crawl around on the ground, with my nose down. This is easier in wolf form, but he’s out of commission. Peyton’s rejection won’t cause permanent damage unless I accept it, but fuck does it hurt. Worse than I could have imagined. I’ve never experienced my heart being ripped from my chest, but but I’m pretty sure this is worse. A lot worse.

Her jasmine scent tickles my nose, letting me know she’s been here. Another scent lingers, one I don’t recognize, but it’s distinctly female and….rogue? Is Peyton…gay? Was she out here meeting a secret lover?

“What the fuck are you doing?” Aaron asks, head tilted in absolute confusion. “Are you on crack? You are, aren’t you?”

“She rejected me!” I snap, glaring at my insensitive ass of a best friend.

“Who did?” Aaron asks, still lost, not understanding what I am saying. “You’re not making any sense, man.”

“She rejected me and denounced the whole damn pack!” I growl, my blood temperature rising the more I am forced to stew about the situation.

“Who?” His eyes widen, mouth dropping in an ‘o’ shape people make when they realize something. “Your mate?”

“Yes!” I growl, moving along the forest floor, tracking the Jasmine scent across the border. Where the fuck are my gammas and the damn tracker? If they don’t hurry their asses up, we’ll lose her trail.

“So, what are you going to do?” My best friend asks, his question a harsh reminder that my mate is gone. That the woman created to love me, only needed one sentence to destroy my life.

“What am I going to do?” I snap, turning, our gazes meeting, letting him know I mean business. My insatiable rage is needed to curb the hurt I’m drowning in. I need it like a person terrified of water needs a life vest. Goddess, does this hurt. “I’m going to find her, and drag her ass back home. Then I’m going to make sure this shit never happens again.”

“Then let’s bring our luna home.” He smiles, but his concern is potent. He’s more invested to bring her home than I am. A mated alpha without his luna is a dangerous creature, and hard to handle. The closer we get to her heat, the more destructive I’ll become, and it’ll be his job to keep me under control.

“Alpha?” Corey and Sadie, my gamma couple, break through the trees, a few trackers behind them. The tension is thick enough to cut with a knife, their glances darting between my beta and I, a million questions behind their eyes. “What’s going on?”

I ignore them, giving my attention to the trackers. “Which of you are my best trackers?” I don’t have time to be polite about it, not when Peyton is running around unclaimed territory without me to protect her. Despite my anger, and confusion, I still want the little minx to be safe. The trackers point to a scrawny teen, who can’t be more that sixteen, with preteen Bieber hair and a middle-aged man.

“Very well.” I nod, waving them over to where Peyton’s scent is the strongest. “Do you smell Jasmine?”

“Yes,” They nod, noses scrunching with distaste. “And a female rogue.”

“I don’t want you to focus on the rogue.” My instructions are stern, and a tad harsh, but I don’t have the time to give a damn. “Follow the jasmine. When you find the owner, do not engage. Track and report, do you understand?”

“Yes, alpha.” They nods, shifting into wolf form, sniffing the area before trotting along the border.

“You two.” I yell, calling the others, “same rules. Follow the rogue.”

They shift, catch her scent running in the opposite direction of Peyton, which gives me some relief. Not a lot, but some. My attention returns to my friends, who are silent, but it speaks volumes. It’s doesn’t take a genius to figure out the three of them are mind linking, Aaron filling them in on the situation.

“I don’t get it.” Sadie whispers aloud, and I swear if she wasn’t Corey’s mate, I’d tear her to shreds.

“What’s not to get?” I snap, practically gnashing my teeth, my wolf is rebounding and he’s pissed. Heartbroken and enraged, ready to demolish anyone in his way. Corey moves Sadie behind his back, his eyes flashing in warning. “She rejected me and ran.”

“But why?” She peeks around Corey’s arm, not dropping it, despite my warning. “Who does that? Who rejects their mate without even trying?”

“Peyton fucking Samuels.” Her name sounds bitter to my ears, but tastes so damn sweet on my tongue.

“Peyton Samuels?” Aaron and Corey’s ask simultaneously, their heads snapping to attention. Secret little grins paint their faces, like they know something about her I don’t. And I hate it. I hate it so fucking much.

“The same Peyton Samuels we’d always catch you staring at in high school?” Shit. I hoped they had forgotten about that, but being the ass hats they are, they never could. Damn them for being right. They’ve caught me checking her out more than once.

“I think they classify what he did as stalking, Core.” Aaron grins, having too much fun at my expense, and during my time of crises. “What’s weird is that you never talked to her. Not once.”

“You’ve never talked to her?” Sadie pipes up, getting into the conversation, stepping out from behind her mate. “Before today?”

“No,” I snap, feeling guilty enough I never had the guts to talk to her, I don’t need them reminding me. Maybe if I had gotten over my fear, she wouldn’t have run. “What would have been the point? I was going to college. So, instead she became a..”

“Fantasy?”

“Wet dream?” Once again, they’re not wrong. Peyton starred in more solo sessions than I care to count, including last night.

“Guys, shut the fuck up!” Sadie growls, snapping her fingers at Aaron and Corey who are acting like children. “We have a missing luna, remember? Your antics can resume to normal once we find her.”

She huffs, re-centering herself waiting on them to quiet before continuing. “Alpha Bane,” she’s soft and tender, easing me into whatever she’s about say, when I’d rather she rip the band-aid off. “None of this makes sense.”

“Tell me about it.” I scoff, biting my tongue before I become snarkier, my nervous energy making me impatient. Aaron notices too, his gaze darting to my bouncing leg with concern.

“Alpha, what exactly happened when you found Luna Peyton?” Sadie continues, not dropping the issue, and thank Goddess she doesn’t. Memories I’ve purposefully avoided rush back in, demanding I pay attention to the minor details.

‘Is this the Goddess’ idea of a sick joke?’ The questions stabs me in the heart. The apparition of her is so lifelike I’m forced to relive the trauma all over again.

Her work out clothes soaked through, the material clinging to her curves. Her hair in a messy ponytail, revealing her marking spot. The soft curve where her neck meets her shoulder, where my fangs will sink underneath her flesh, leaving behind my mark, so others will know she’s destined to be mine forever.

The next part of this horrid nightmare replays, and something inside me snaps. Peyton’s scared. Her fear visceral, and suffocating. Goddess, I had been too caught up in the moment to truly understand the implications behind her frantic stammering. “He already tried to kill me, what the hell are you going to do to me?”

“What?” All three of them demand, pupils begging me to fill in the pieces.

“It’s what she said, right before rejecting me.” I’ve been too shocked by the rejection itself, so caught up in my anger and pain, I didn’t stop to think about her. Or her reasons behind the suddenness. And for a second, I wonder if she was right to reject me.

“Who the hell would want to kill our luna?” Aaron questions aloud, his irises switching between their normal color and his wolf’s.

“I have no fucking clue, but we’re about to find out.” And when I find this fucker, I’m tearing his head clean from his body without remorse.