8. First Night Together

"You should rest for the night now. Elena must be tired," Richard Black finally said. I'm very bored of all the storytelling. 

"Right. Let's now go, love?" 

I looked at Rage. This mongrel never really listens. It makes me want to punch him straight to his face right there and then.

"Dang, I'm jealous. I really need to find my mate soon," Tyler teased.

As soon as I stood, Rage's hand was at my waist at once. I breathed, trying get a hold of myself. I should get used to this for the time being.

"Have a good night, Elena, Rage."

"We will, Grandpa," Rage answered and he then led me out of there.

"Do you really need to hold me all the time?" I asked irritatedly once we were already inside the chamber. "And why do we need to sleep in one chamber? You should have said that we will be needing two!"

"Keep your voice low, Elena. Someone might hear you."

I hissed and gritted my teeth.

"Look, as what I have told you, there are intances that we should be intimate—"

"Instances that happen very often!"

"Because others would find it strange if a werewolf is too distant with his mate, Elena. Werewolves in nature, once we have seen their mate, we would feel that deep connection with our partners. We bind ourselves to our mate, emotionally and physically. That is how it works on us, so you should understand why I'm doing this. I don't want them to realize soon that we are just faking it. If that happens, then the deal is over. You don't want that too, right?"

Fuck that deal.

"And about the chamber, as what I have told you, they would find it strange if we stay in separate rooms. I don't want them to suspect so it is better if we take precautionary measures."

"Great! I would sleep in the floor, then."

His forehead creased. "What? The bed is so big, Elena. Why would you rather sleep on the floor?"

"So? Are you telling me that we should sleep on the same bed? I don't want to sleep on the same bed with you for the sake of my virtue as a woman, but mainly because I don't want to sleep with you in the same space. I might think of killing you in the middle of the night. I easily get tempted when it comes to killing my victim, so I would rather stay away from temptaion."

"Don't do that," he warned. "You know you would be hurt if you try to harm me." I don't know why he sounded more concern of my sake rather than his own.

"I am fully aware of that, that is why I would sleep away from you."

He sighed. "Fine. I will give you what you want, all right. But you sleep on the bed. I will sleep on the floor."

I raised my brow. "Are you sure? Because I won't stop you from doing so."

Rule of survival: Don't refuse opportunities that you can take advantage of just because of humility. Humility won't make you survive. In fact, sometimes it could kill you.

"Tss. You really don't care for me, do you?"

"Why would I need to care for you when you can care for yourself?" I don't understand his way of thinking sometimes. Or maybe it is me who has a different mindset? I am not sure.

"Yeah, right. I'm old enough to care for myself," he said but the hint of sarcasm didn't go unnoticed. 

Instead of being nosy about what he really meant by that, I just went to the bed so I could retire for the night. It has been a long day and the dinner part was very exhausting. Although I was just sitting the whole time, answering all those questions thrown by his relatives drained my energy. Thinking about all the lies I have to remember just not to slip is giving me a headache. Lying really needs a lot of work. If you are a lazy person who often forgets thing, better not lie.

"You won't even say goodnight to me? You would just sleep there like that?"

I groaned and looked at Rage who was also preparing to sleep.

"I'm already tired enough, mongrel. Don't push my buttons if you don't want to have an argument with me till morning." Yes, argument. Because as of the moment, I can't hurt him yet so there is now way that we can fight each other physically within the one week pretension.

"Is telling me a good night that hard? I'm not challenging you into an argument herre. I'm just teaching you how to be sweet to your mate, so you would do better in the following days."

"Mate your ass. I'm not your real mate so don't feel like it is all true," I said and lay down the bed, facing the side opposite from the side whe he is.

"But it is all true within the whole week, Elena. So you should at least exert a little effort to be intimate with me. If Grandpa would know that we are just lying, we would be damn and there is a possiblity that we would ruin his birthday celebration."

"You don't want to disappoint him nor ruin his celebration. How ironic. He told you to bring your mate on his next birthday during his birthday last year. Knowing that, you should have enough time to get your mate's affection so you would be able to bring her at this point. And one more thing, now that we are talking about your real mate who can't recognize you as her other half, is not it too weird that you first introduced me as your mate, and you would introduce a different woman later on?"

There was silence. After a few moments of waiting for his answer, I flipped to face the side where he was. He was sitting on the floor, unmoving as if he was contemplating about something complicated.

"So? Aren't you going to give me an answer?"

"Well... uh," he paused as if he actually don't know what to say. I raised a brow. He cleared his throat and spoke again. "I already have my own plans for that. Don't worry, I will handle that on my own so you don't have to concern yourself on that matter."

Was that even an answer? 

"And what about your real mate? If she would know that you introduced another woman as your Luna, she would surely get mad with you."

Even in the dark, I could see clearly how the corner of his lips rose for a smirk.

"You think she would?"

"Most women are sensitive over that matter, if you are not informed."

"Are you saying she would mostly likely be jealous?"

"Well, if that is the term you want to use..." I shrugged.

"Ah..." He chuckled. "I doubt if she would be, though. I don't even think she would give a damn. She is not the type of woman you see everywhere. She is one of a kind."

I grimaced. He sounded like a romantic fool. One of a kind? Really? I bet his mate is just like any other typical woman. Ordinary and boring. He is surely exaggerating it. I didn't believe about what they say "love is blind" before, but now I think it is somehow true. Because as I could see in this man's eyes, he is indeed blinded by that certain woman. Too bad for her, her mate would end up dying in my hands soon.

Why am I even chatting with him about all these nonsense, anyway? I should sleep now.

* * *

Just a few moments after I pulled my dress up after my morning bath in the creek, I heard Rage's voice from behind.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were going somewhere?"

I turned to him, combing my damp hair with my fingers.

"You were sleeping. And do I have to tell you everything I would do? I just went out to bath and I found a creek nearby. What is wrong with that?"

He looked at me intensely. "The thing here is, I went looking for you around the whole base because you just suddenly disappeared without any notice."

"I told you. I just went out to bath. As if I would be back later this night. I was already off to leave when you came. I don't see any wrong with my action."

"Next time, tell me—"

"Are you trying to say that I should ask for your approval first before I attend to my mundane needs or whatever I want to do—"

"That's not it, Elena. I'm not telling you to ask for my permission. What I'm saying is, spare a bit your time to notify me about the things you want to do so I can keep on track."

"Keep on track? Are you thinking that I might escape? Aside that escaping is not my thing, do you seriously believe that I would still think of escaping on this situation?" I raised my wrist to show the golden band. "I already told you that I'm all in for this. I don't go against my own words."

"I'm not worrying that you might escape, all right. I just don't want to have no idea where you are. You were with me last night and when I woke up, you were not around anymore... it's just, I don't like it."

My eyes narrowed, couldn't see what is his main point.

"You know what, we should just get back. Your grandfather must be looking for us by now."

He sighed and just nodded.

We had breakfast with the pack that morning and the storytelling continues. Good thing Rage can keep on track with all the lies that had been said. He has such a talent in lying, and looks like it is effective since I sense no suspicion in any of them. It was as if they truly believed all the informations given to them. Must be because they trust Rage so much.

That is why one of the scariest thing in this world is trust, because if you have given so much trust to a person, you would believe whatever he says, you would be blinded by your trust and end up believing lies. That is what Rage is taking advantage of. The trust his family has for him. I am not good enough to judge the goodness of a person, but in this case, I must say he is such a moron for fooling his family.

"Yeah. I missed that kid," Cordelia said when they talked about Keith. "How about you, Elena? Do you have younger siblings? Nephew or niece?"

My eyes drifted to her, unable to speak. The question reminded me of an image of a young boy I used to be fond with, but also the root of my jealousy. Back when I was younger and naive, I hated for coming to the family. I hated him for getting all the attention and love I never received from my own parents. I hated him because he was the reason why I, the biological daughter, was thrown out. I blamed him for having what I supposed to have, for ruining my life.

But looking back, I realized that he was only a child. He didn't ask to be adopted by my parents, nor for the affection he was receiving. My parents chose to disregard me over their adopted son because I was weak and useless. I could do nothing but serve them with all my might. But it was not enough. I was never enough.

"Elena," Rage's soft whisper hushed the dark thoughts and raging emotions.

"Uh, no. I don't have any of those," I replied to Cordelia's question coldly.