Chapter Four

Tears poured down from my face. "How could you do this to me?" 

Tiara started towards me. "Ella, listen--"

"No! I don't want to hear it!" I cut her off. "How could you guys do this to me? Have you been seeing each other? Behind my back? Is that why you kept trying to dissuade me from being with Keith?"

"Ella, I didn't know he was going to be your mate," Tiara said softly.

"Sure, let's go with that. But you also couldn't tell me that both of you slept with each other when I confided in you about my feelings for him?" Tears trailed down my face. 

"Can you not do this here?" Keith stepped in. "Everyone can hear you." 

"I don't give a fuck!" I spat out angrily. I thought Ida would try to calm me down, but she urged me on instead. "Didn't you think it was right for you to tell me this much before rejecting me?"

"Even if Tiara and I weren't together, I would still have rejected you!" He lashed out at me. "You are immature, childish and inexperienced. You have nothing to offer me and I would never have allowed someone like you to become the Luna of the silver thistle pack!

I flinched at every single one of his remarks. My legs subconsciously took a step back. Away from Keith, who seemed ready to let his wolf out at me if I kept talking. 

Soft whispers caught my ear as the people around watched. Nobody knew I had gotten rejected but, none of them all knew. 

I was always like a shadow to my pack after my parents died. I had no family or friends and barely stepped out of my room. But now everyone would be talking about me, but not in the way I had hoped.

Tiara touched his hand to calm him down and he sighed. "Ella--"

I turned around and ran out of the kitchen. I couldn't bear being the center of attention, at least not in this way.  

Running into my room, ignoring Tiara's calls, I slammed the door and took out my suitcase. 

Everything that had kept me within those walls had finally proven to not care. I had nowhere to go, but I would find my way. 

'How could they do that to us?' Ida questioned. 'Tiara... How could she...? She is supposed to be our family...' 

I lost control of my emotions just then. Tiara and I met each other a few years after I moved in with Keith and his family. She was the sweetest thing to me, and we had each other's backs because we were both alone without family.

Promising to be each other's family, we had been nothing but that ever since to each other. 

But I confided in her about the way I felt about our alpha son, and she stabbed me so deeply in the back. I didn't think I could ever recover. 

Anger pulsated through me as I threw all of my clothes into my suitcase, not caring that I ruffled them. Zipping up the bag, I placed it on the floor and-- the door to my room opened. 

Tiara walked in and stared confusedly at my bag. "What in the world do you think you are doing, Ella?"

I turned to her teary-eyed. "Why do you fucking care?"

She walked in and sighed. "This is why Keith called you childish." She folded her arms beneath her breast. 

"Oh fuck off!" I yelled. 

"You cannot simply think the next right thing for you to do is run away from here. You leave now, you turn your back on everything you have achieved here. In everything, you can still achieve! The things you could be!" She motioned her hands in the air as she spoke.

"While you lead as Luna? No, thank you." I turned my back to her and started packing my other belongings.

She sighed as her hands fell to her sides. "You shouldn't make such a decision now that your emotions are a wreck. Calm down, try to breathe--"

"Cut out the loving bullshit!" I lashed out at her. "I don't need someone like you telling me what to do."

"You're not going anywhere." Keith said coldly as he walked into the room.

"I have every right to decide on my own and I want to leave!"

"No. You have... A greater purpose to fulfill here, and I will not permit you to exit." He seemed like a totally different person. 

Keith never spoke without considering my feelings, but this new version of him kept hurting me without even caring. 

"A greater purpose?" I squinted. "I don't give a fuck about your greater purpose. I want to leave!"

He suddenly grabbed my wrist as I reached for the door and pushed me back. 

"Ow! You're hurting me!" I yelled as his grip burnt my skin. 

Tiara stepped forward. "Keith--"

"Stay out of this!" He snapped. He glared at me and I felt my throat tighten. "You are to stay here without moving an inch! If you even think about sneaking out of this room, I'll make you regret every decision you have ever made in your entire life."

My heart pounded faster than ever as fear snaked around and tightened around my neck, making it seem almost impossible for me to breathe. 

His eyes burnt with death.