Chapter 2: The Weight She Bore

 

Sireen’s POV

I do the next most sensible thing.

I run away from Trevor, the kiss, and everything that just happened. I knew that being in my halfling state, I would be weird, maybe even disgusting to look at, but I thought Trevor understood me. I thought that we could put certain things behind us since the moon goddess wants us to be together. I remember the look on his face when he saw me shift, and I break into silent tears.

I run, but Camilla finds me. In all my best hiding spaces, she still finds me in the middle of overgrown weeds at the back of school, sitting with my legs curled up.

She gently settles in beside me. Her fingers patting me as I cry.

“I don’t know how Trevor would do that,” I say under my breath. “He is my mate Camilla.”

If Camilla is shocked, she doesn’t show it. “What exactly happened?“

“We kissed, and he said he wanted to see my wolf, so I shifted.”

“Oh, Sireen! You know what it’s like when you shift. I don’t think you should have just let him talk you into shifting,” Camilla says softly, and I shake my head.

“He is my destined mate. Of course, I should show him my wolf.”

“Well…” Camilla starts to talk, then she hesitates before continuing. “I wasn’t going to tell you this because I don’t want you to freak out, but if I don’t say it and you hear it from someone else, I don’t think I’d forgive myself.”

My tears seize at that. “What is going on?”

Camilla takes a deep breath, locking eyes with me like she’s trying to comfort me.

But why?

She answers my inner question. “Trevor took a video of you while you were shifting, and he uploaded it on the internet. It’s everywhere.”

I fall and feel a vivid sense of disappointment in the pit of my stomach. My cries worsen as my wolf whimpers, craving her mate’s comfort.

Why would he do that to me?

“I want to see it,” I say with conviction, sniffing my tears.

“I don’t really think that’s a good idea.” Camilla disagrees, her worry evident on her face. It had me wondering, just how terrible would my mate actually treat me. It can’t be that bad, right?

“Camilla, I need to see it.”

After a moment of silence, she slowly pulls out her phone and unwillingly unlocks it before handing it over to me.

The video was exactly what I had expected, just without the kiss, like Trevor didn’t want the world to know he had been kissing me. But that’s not what breaks me. Trevor hadn’t hid the fact that he had been the one to post it. And with him being the Alpha’s son and all, it was unlikely anyone would do anything about the video.

It feels like he wanted me to know that he did this, and that is what breaks me. At least it is, before I see the caption where my mate calls me a “disgusting beast”.

So, instead of sitting with Camilla in her comforting arms but pitiful gaze, I stand and run off, telling her I need to be on my own after handing her back her phone.

I run and let the wind bite on my skin to bring me a little comfort, but my comfort is quickly taken when I am around people again since I have to go through the school premises to get home.

Whispers again.

Whispers of how I killed my twin brother, how my parents must be heartbroken because of me, how I was a mutt, and how Trevor could never want to be with me. Panic sets in, and as much as I want to cry, I can’t. Not in front of these people.

I try to run, but I bump straight into someone’s very solid body, and I land on the floor. I look up to see Trevor standing right beside Kristy, her arms draped on his waist.

Jealousy almost blinds me.

Here I was, thinking that the video was the worst that could happen.

“I should have figured you couldn’t do much better than the ground.” Kristy starts. “But I really have to ask though, what exactly happened to you to make your wolf look like that?” Her voice drips with disgust.

“It was really terrible.” Someone in the crowd says, and everyone laughs, but my eyes are on Trevor. Surely, we couldn’t have shared a moment that deep, and he would suddenly not want anything to do with me, right?

He wouldn’t even look at me, eyes fixed on Kristy instead.

Everyone talks around me, and my eyes drift to the floor. Seeing that they are no longer getting a reaction out of me, some people gradually leave.

“Let’s go, babe,” Kristy tells Trevor.

“I’d catch up. I need to talk to her first,” Trevor responds, and hope flares up in my chest, having me look back up at him.  

An obviously pissed Kristy glares at me before leaving.

Trevor moves towards me and squats, but his tall frame still hovers over me. I reach out for him to hold him, to know that this was an elaborate game of some sort, that he hadn’t spoken because he didn’t agree with everyone else, but he swats my hand away.

“I know you're naive and foolish, and I don’t know what you expected this conversation to be about, but I at least wanted a lesser crowd before this happens.”

Confusion settles on my face before realization sets in. “No! Trevor, please. You’re not breaking our mate bond, are you?” My voice shakes, panic riddling me powerless.

A lazy smile plays on his lips. “I have to. You can not be my Luna after what just happened. I need someone deserving on my side.” He gives me a once over in my obviously not presentable state before adding. “And you are not that.”

It seems like he’s not done talking me down as he continues.

“You killed my best friend, murderer. I do not understand how you envisioned for a second that I’d want to be with you in any way,” he grounds out, the pain of losing Kyle apparent in his voice.

“He was my brother too,” I cry, feeling my eyes well up in pain instantly. “I would have never deliberately done anything to hurt him.”

He violently shakes me, and I don’t understand how those were the same hands that were so gentle with me. “Look around, Sireen, no one wants to be near or cares about you. Everyone around you might end up dead, so I’m just going to save myself.”

His words slap me across the face, hard, and I close my eyes and let it burn. Until he speaks again.

“I, Trevor Anderson, reject you, Sireen Diaz, as my fated mate. We are done here.”

Trevor’s face twists in pain as he stands, but that doesn’t stop him from leaving me on the cold floor with sorry stares.

I truly break apart now, feeling like I’m being turned and twisted from inside. A pain as blinding as the one I felt when I’d lost Kyle overwhelms me, and I feel the world spinning around my head, going in even more circles with every step he takes away from me.

Right before I collapse, one last thought flashes through my mind, and it is that if I had just sat with Camilla, I could have avoided this entire bitter agony.