Chapter Three

Sheila looked as though she was in shock as she stared daggers at me. “You will pay for this,” she mouthed as she chased after Arrow.

“Thank you.” I hugged Darren. He wrapped me in his arms. “I will always protect you.” He rested his chin on my head.

“So, what was that about anyway, Arrow got really mad.” I snickered thinking of Sheila’s shocked face.

A couple of weeks passed by. Darren and I were a real couple now. He walked me to and from every class. We had promised each other if we weren’t mates, we would go back to being best friends. I hoped we were mates. His Birthday is next week, I was going to throw him a party, but his teammates had beat me to it. The party was taking place on the day of his eighteenth birthday. I was excited but nervous at the same time. I wouldn’t know if we were mates until I turned eighteen. I wouldn’t turn eighteen for three more months.

The night of the party arrived. Darren had picked me up. As we drove, he held my hand. He was now officially able to find his mate. I was nervous. He kept reassuring me that everything would be fine.  We got to the party a little after six. The party was in full swing; the music was blaring, and everyone was dancing. When a slow song came on, Darren led me out to the dance floor. We danced together, swaying gently to the music. When the song ended, Darren went to find us some drinks.

While I waited, I talked to a couple of people, and danced a bit with a couple of girls who were from a different school; but after the fourth song, I went to find Darren. I asked around but nobody had seen him in a while. When I got to the backyard, the pool was full of wolves. Some were swimming naked, some were splashing and jumping in the water. I saw a small changing room off the side of a shed where I assumed the pool supplies were kept.

“Hey, if you’re looking for Darren, He went in there.” I had never seen that girl before. I felt eyes on me, what was happening? I felt as though I may throw up from my nerves, I knew something wasn’t right. I saw the twins in the pool watching me. Creepy.

As I approached the changing room, I could hear moans coming from inside. I opened the door. My eyes widened and I felt bile rising up in my throat. Darren was inside with his dick buried to the hilt in some girl. I stepped back as the disgusting smell of sex hit me like a ton of bricks. I stepped back to get away from them, I turned to run but came face to face with Sheila.

“Oh, poor little Rina, Didn’t Darren tell you he found his mate?” She said with faux sympathy. She sneered at the hurt on my face. “By the way, did you meet my cousin Bianca?” she waved to the girl who had told me where Darren was. I could hear Darren shuffling around.

“Rina! Wait! Rina, please, let me talk to you!” Darren yelled as he tried to pull up his pants. His mate looked pissed that I had interrupted them.

I didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I turned and took off running towards the street. I had to get out of here. I couldn’t stay here in this pack another minute.

As I ran, I looked over my shoulder. Nobody was following me, why would they?

I didn’t stop running until I reached my house. Mom was working late trying to get the colors right for the twins’ cake, and dad was running the security detail from his office.

I ran up the stairs to my room. I grabbed some clothes and threw them in my duffle bag, I grabbed my phone charger and my laptop, stuffing them into the bag along with everything else, I grabbed my bank where I kept my savings. I had saved up two-thousand dollars from various jobs at the bakery and birthdays. I dumped it out into my bag. I threw on a pair of sweats and a black hoodie. I looked around one more time before I headed out. I shut the door behind me, I had written a note a long time ago; I dropped it on my bed so my parents would find it.

I looked around to make sure no one would see me; I took off straight for the tress. I ran into the woods, I didn’t care where I ended up or what happened to me, death was better than the humiliation I had suffered. As I ran, I heard howls in the distance. Probably some wolves out for a run, I told myself. I kept running, I had almost reached the border when I ran into a brick wall. I fell backward landing hard on my back. “Now look what you did to her!” A voice scolded. I knew that voice but why? I felt my eyes close as unconsciousness slipped over me.

I had no idea how long I was out. As I opened my eyes, I realized I was in the pack hospital. How did I get here? I tried to sit up but the spinning in my head disagreed. I lay back down feeling like I had been hit by a bus.

I was just starting to feel a little less dizzy when my mom came in holding a cup of coffee. “You’re awake! My baby is awake!”

“Mom,” I tried to say but she ran out of the room.

She came back a few minutes later with the doctor. “Well, welcome back.” He smiled.

He began checking me over. “How long have I been out?” My head felt as though it would explode any minute.

“You have been out for a few days.” He watched me as if I would break.

“A few days? How did I get here?” The last thing I remembered was running into the wall in the woods.

“Baby, after what happened with Darren, the twins went after you. They followed you into the woods. You fell and hit your head. Thank the Goddess they were there, they brought you here.”

“The twins?” I asked not believing her. “They hate me, why would they help me?”

My mother and the doctor exchanged glances. “Oh baby, they don’t hate you. They have been coming every day to check on you.”

Now I knew I was dead. Why would they come to visit me or save me? Nothing was making sense.

“I think you need to rest. When you hit your head, it caused your concussion to worsen. You need to rest and take things very slowly.” The doctor watched me as if I would suddenly start hitting my head against something on purpose.

I lay back against my pillows. I heard voices from outside my door.

“No, I think she likes roses best,” someone said. The same voice answered “Nope, your wrong. She likes carnations.” Who was arguing outside with themselves?

“I must need more rest.” I closed my eyes just as footsteps entered my room.

“Gentlemen,” The doctor said as he left.

“Hey, Nadia. How’s the patient?”

I recognized that voice, but why the hell were they here? Did they really need to rub it in my face what Sheila had done to me?”

“Hi, guys.” My mom said sounding excited to see them.

“Is she still sleeping?” Arion asked.

“No, she’s awake.” 

Really? Thanks, Mom, I thought to myself.

I rolled over slowly. Too fast and I would puke. “What are you guys doing here?” I snapped. “I don’t need you to remind me of what happened. Your girlfriend made sure I and everyone else wouldn’t forget it any time soon.” I looked down at my arms. I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

The twins looked at each other before looking back at me. “What girlfriends?” Arion asked.

“Yeah, we dumped those bitches,” Arrow chimed in.

“Yeah right.” I was not falling for it.

“Hey, we brought you some flowers,” Arion said holding out the carnations.

“Yeah, here,” Arrow said handing me the roses. “We got you both because we knew you liked both.”

“Thanks,” I didn’t know what to think. I assumed a ferocious swarm of bees would suddenly fly out of them or something.

“Well, I will grab something from the nurse to put the flowers in,” my mom offered as she practically ran out of the room.

Arion took my hand, Arrow who had gone to the opposite side, held my other hand. “We are really sorry for what happened,” Arion offered.

“Yeah, Darren is a creep for not telling you before he fucked his mate,” Arrow interjected.

“Yeah, uh thanks? Not to be rude, but why are you here? I know you hate me. I don’t need you to feel sorry for me. As soon as I am healed, I am out of here, I am leaving this pack for good.” I knew I was talking fast but I didn’t care. I wanted them to know I wouldn’t fall for their tricks. I had plans.

They shared a look. “If your heart is set on going, I guess we could go with you for a while. We would have to come back eventually but we could go for, like, a year or two,” Arion looked hopeful as if I would agree.

“Yeah, and we don’t hate you. How could we ever hate you?” Arrow looked confused.

“Yeah, you are way too cute, and smart, and” Arion paused looking for the word.

“Sexy,” Arrow said. His eyes darkened before turning back to the usual amber color.

Was I in some sort of alternate universe? What was happening here? That’s it, I died. I died and this is my hell. The Hell twins like me, Darren betrayed me, yup. I’m dead and have gone to hell.

“I think we should get going,” Arion said. “I think she still needs her rest.” He looked at Arrow.

“You go. I will stay here and keep her company.” Arrow smirked watching his brother’s face drop.

“No, if you stay, I stay.” They both pulled up chairs.

“Where are we going?” Arrow asked me.

“Yeah, I want to know too,” Arion chimed in.

“Wait, what? What do you mean where are we going?” I was getting angrier and more confused by the second.

“You said you were leaving, we aren’t letting you go by yourself, so where are we going?” Arion asked sounding serious.

“Why are you asking me?” They didn’t give up! I was done falling for their tricks! I wasn’t convinced they didn’t have a hidden camera on them. Yes, that must be it. They were recording this whole thing and would show it to the rest of the school. “I am leaving the pack. I have had enough of the torment. I had planned to leave when I was eighteen, but now I am not waiting any longer. As soon as I am better, I am out of here.”