Chapter 7.

Destinee POV.

SIX MONTHS LATER.

We had a few drinks after work, when the bar was closed. Janelle, Marnie, Sadia, Josh, Leon and I were all chilling out after a busy night.

“What a shift. I really could use a run. But I’m too comfy here,” I said, snuggling down into the seating of the booth we were all sitting around.

I could hear chuckles around the table. I rolled onto my back and stretched. When I felt a dull ache in my lower stomach. I winced and gritted my teeth. It was happening a lot. Aura stayed silent about what it was, so I presumed it was a pulled muscle.

I bit my bottom lip, tasting blood on my tongue. A whimper escaped my lips. Sadia moved closer to me. “What’s wrong with her?” Marnie asked in a panicked tone.

I couldn’t respond. The sweat was trickling down my forehead and tears burnt my eyes. I gasped for breath and screamed out. My claws came out. “Nobody touches her, it’s the mate bond. Her mate is sleeping with another.” Her words made me gasp; Why am I feeling his betrayal? Oh, my god it has been happening more often. My mate was having sex with someone else. 

I wasn’t marked. How am I feeling this? I cried and screamed in agony. Feeling like my stomach was being twisted and stabbed with a red-hot blade. 

I wanted to claw my heart out of my chest to stop the pain. 

“Breathe Destinee, come on, babe. Breathe.” Mimicking her breathing, she held onto my hand. I took shaky breaths with tears streaming down my face. I felt the pain slow and leave. 

I sobbed into Sadia; she rocked me like I was a pup. “Shh, it will be ok, I’m here.” Her motherly tone helped soothe me until my sobs turned to hiccups.

“Aura, are you ok? Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, knowing she was protecting us by taking most of the pain. 

She whimpered in my head; she was in pain. The betrayal and taking the brunt of the pain. She was so brave. “I’m sorry Destinee, I should have told you. I didn’t want you getting hurt.” She whined in my head. I knew she was tired, and I felt like the worst human in the world for allowing my wolf to take that pain.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Aura. We need to stop it. But for now sleep. I love you, Aura. He doesn’t deserve us.” I could feel the pain coming from her. Her mate betrayed her. 

Wolf counterparts are like your conscience. He should have stopped his human. I know if I were ever to do that, Aura wouldn’t have allowed it to happen. Our mate was weak, and so was his wolf. 

Groaning, I sat up, “sorry about that.” I mumbled out. Leon passed me a bottle, and I took it with a rueful smile. I thanked him. I drained it and grabbed another one. Standing up, I wobbled over behind the bar to grab a bottle of whiskey. I opened the bottle and grabbed a glass, filling it as I shot it back. 

My nerves were shot, and I felt rage building within me. If I were vindictive, I would sleep with someone so he could feel the pain I felt. However, I wouldn’t do that. I would rather kill him for what he has been doing to me and my wolf.

Oh, he is in for a surprise when he learns precisely who we are.

“You, ok?” Sadia comes and takes the whiskey from me. It takes a lot for wolves to get drunk, our metabolism won’t allow it, so human alcohol is like gnats piss to us. I may start making my own wolf alcohol. 

“Yeah, I’m ok. I don’t understand how I felt it. We aren’t marked, we never, you know… mated.” She chuckled at me for my shyness. 

“I don’t know, kid. You shouldn’t feel it unless you’re marked and mated to him. It could be something to do with who you are.” I furrowed my eyebrows at her words. I let my mind wonder when Aura piped up.

“We are special Destinee. We aren’t mated and marked, but we will feel the betrayal. I know this isn’t a gift we wanted, but it is one of them.” Aura went back to being quiet again.

“Aura said it’s to do with Selene. We don’t need to be mated and marked to feel his betrayal.” I scoffed. Well, isn’t that just peachy. 

Sadia let out a sigh and took the whiskey and poured us both a drink. Raising an eyebrow at her. I chuckled and shook my head. “I have a contact who can get us sedatives. So, when it happens again, we can put you to sleep.” I looked at her with wide eyes. She wanted to sedate me. 

“How do you know all of this?” curiosity getting the better of me. She poured another drink. Ok this is going to be bad. 

“My mate betrayed me. I felt the exact same pain as you just did. I was weaker than so I couldn’t reject him, not without it killing me. So one of my friends came to me and told me what I needed to do and who to contact. If you want, I will get you the sedatives. If not, I could see if I could get you powerful painkillers to take the edge off for both you and Aura.”

I nodded my head. “Painkillers should help. If I ever see him again, I will let Aura destroy him.” She laughed at what I said because she knows I would too.

“Ok, kid, I will see what I can do.” She pulled me into a hug and her scent calmed me down.

“Hey, I want in on this boss sandwich.” Janelle came over and wrapped her arms around us. Then the rest did. This was my pack. The family I should have had. I would protect them all with my life. The Alpha in me wanted to protect what was hers. 

After our group hug, I bade them all goodnight and left the bar out the back. Walking to my apartment, I sighed as I took in the full moon. “Selene, what did I ever do to you?” I scoffed at the moon goddess. 

Opening the door, I stepped in, closing and locking the door behind me. Removing my boots by the door, I walked to the kitchen, opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water and drained it. Making a mental note to go grocery shopping in the morning. 

I continued to walk down the corridor; I went straight to the bathroom and stripped off, needing a shower before I headed to bed. 

Allowing the water to stream down my head and face, I sobbed, releasing the pain entirely. I must harden my heart. I can’t allow us to become hurt by anyone. 

Once I was clean and cried out, I shut the water off and exited the shower, wrapping a big, black, fluffy towel around me. I applied my moisturiser and threw on shorts and vest top. 

Climbing up on to my bed, I snuggled down. “Aura, how are you feeling?” I asked, becoming concerned by her silence. Usually, she yaps and yips like an eager pup. So, her being quiet was a cause for concern. 

“Hey, beautiful.” She replies with a sigh. She sounded defeated. “I’m ok. I tried my best, so you wouldn’t feel it, but I failed. I failed to protect you.” She whimpered out. My heart broke for her. She was not to blame.

“Aura, listen to me. It isn’t your fault. He wouldn’t have known it would cause us pain. This will strengthen us ok, we will teach him a valuable lesson if and when we ever meet him again.” I tell her and I meant every word. 

We had come a long way after rejecting the pack and I wasn’t about to let our mate destroy us any further than we already had been.

“I love you Destinee, I now see why Selene sent me to you. You are stronger than you know, and we will get through this together.” She said with a yawn. I smiled at her. She was amazing. She was pure and didn’t deserve this.

“I love you too, Aura. Let’s get some sleep. We have shopping to do in the morning.” I tell her with a yawn of my own. 

“Goodnight Destinee.” I felt her drift off to sleep. I groaned, looking at the ceiling. We will get through this. We had to. 

The next morning, I woke up. My eyes felt like sandpaper and my mouth felt like a desert. I moaned while yanking the quilt away and stumbled to the bathroom. I started getting ready for the day. 

Today was my day off, so I needed to do the grocery shopping and I planned on having a N*****x and chill day when we returned and tonight. Aura and I will go on a run.

There is no greater thrill than running in one’s wolf form. Everything is sharper. The surroundings and our hearing. I still love shifting. It doesn’t hurt anymore. The first shift was agonizing, but it came swiftly and I was thankful for that.

Usually when wolves shift for the first time. It can take hours and be excruciatingly painful. The pain of every bone breaking and rearranging is horrendous. I’ve heard of wolves passing out because of the pain. But ours was fast. It still hurt, but not like I would have anticipated it to.

After I am ready, I leave and head into town. It’s a beautiful, sunny afternoon. The sky is clear, and the sun is bright. The feeling of it warming my skin is heaven. 

I approached the store and grabbed a shopping trolley and set out on my task. After saying hello to a few locals and tourists, I carried on shopping.

When Aura came forward. I let her sleep in; she deserved the rest after last night. “Morning sunshine.” She says with a smile. 

“Afternoon. How do you feel?” I ask as I put a variety pack of crisps into my trolley and continue walking down the aisles. 

“I’m feeling much better, thank you. Are we having a N*****x and chill day today?” she sits on her haunches and tilts her head at me. I chuckled at her.

“Yes, we are. I was also wondering if tonight you want to go for a run?” well that did it, she is doing zoomies in my head, “I’ll take that as a yes then.” I giggle out loud. Getting a few strange looks from the humans. I couldn’t careless what they thought. 

We continued shopping before he headed back to the apartment. An unfamiliar scent wafted to me. I ignored it and carried on home.

Once inside, I got a horrible feeling I was being watched. Aura bristled in my mind, on alert. 

Someone has been here, but who?