Chapter 3 Second chance?

Jackson's POV

I will never forget the night my mate ran away from me, from the pack. It has been five years, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.

My wolf, Max whined as I began to relive the moment again.

Five years ago

Our bodies rolled together in the tangle of my sheets, fluid in motion. I had never felt anything quite like it. Usually, there was something about the experience that did not quite work for me, did not leave me sated, but the girl had been perfect. She had been perfect.

After, I sat on my bed waiting for her to get up and leave so I could enjoy the feeling of fullness that the experience had brought me, and then-

“You can leave now,” I said, already settling back into the sheets. I did not bother with finding a top to cover myself up, since she had already seen my form. It was a great experience, but I couldn’t repeat it, because then they got attached, and I could not afford that at the moment.

“Leave?” she asked, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. It annoyed me in a way I didn’t think was possible, but I ignored it as she continued to speak. “We still need to talk. Now that you know I’m your mate, we need to talk about what will happen next. For both of us.”

I had paused then, still sure that she was just another lunatic, one more person who had thought she now had a taste of the kingdom, owned a chunk of me because we had a romp in the sheets. I took a careful look at her, trying to figure out why she thought that. A note clicked in my head - I could barely smell her, barely detect her. Even the humans seemed to have a more prominent smell!

“There is no us,” I laughed, turning my side to face her directly. “Do me a favor. Turn off the lights when you leave, okay? Thank my men for me. They chose very well. I’ve never had such a wonderful experience.” with one of you, I wanted to add, but I refrained, trying to leave her a shred of dignity to hold on to.

“One of us?” she spat, disgust already coating her voice. Boo-hoo, yet another one who felt she was special, different from all the other women that had been used to satisfy my need for sex.

“I am not one of your skanks,” I was taken aback by that, by how easily the crass word rolled off her tongue. “I am your mate. I have been trying to tell you this the entire time. Gods, I am such a fool.”

That we agreed on.

“I am your mate, Jackson. Can’t you feel any of this?”

The only thing I felt was a fullness in my chest, a sensation I now knew was temporary, would only last for an hour after sex. It was a common experience, and it was not like I would never experience it again just because she was absent.

“No, I can’t,” I laughed, delivering that as firmly as I could. As painfully, with a laugh that startled even me, with the way it bubbled out of my chest. “You barely even have a scent. There is no way that a lowly Omega like you is my mate.”

Did she really think I was a fool? “Are you trying to fool me? Sleeping with me once does not take away my common sense, just so we are clear. Get your dirty clothes and get out of my room!”

She stood in place like she was rooted there, blinking slowly at me. I started right back, annoyed by the interruption to my regular programming. Someone must have spread some false information, and assured her that as soon as she offered me her body, a place in the pack was definite for her. They must have given her some untrue information, and now she was here, making it my problem.

“I will do no such thing! You are my mate. I beg you, don’t do this to me. I would never lie to you about something like this.”

Yes, you would. And so would the 20 other hysterics that were practically pulled out of my room every day. No matter how good the sex was, I never wanted another one like this. I wanted the girls who just knew it was an honor to have felt my body and let it end there.

For some reason, her lies were getting a rise out of me, and I could feel my fingertips starting to thrum with anger, the feeling of fullness receding even faster than it usually did. What she was saying, the sensation she was robbing me of by standing there to argue with me, all of it filled me with a deep rage that puffed my chest up.

“You are nothing but an opportunistic liar. I know your kind, and I will not have you being around me. You deserve punishment for this deception! You can't come into my room and manipulate me just because you feel like it. Your kind has gotten away with too much now, and one of you has to be punished. The other time, one of you stole my shirt. You, though, you're special. You want to steal the entire pack.”

I almost guffawed a laugh, but I let it go, deciding that I had already said enough to put her in her place.

That was the point where there was a shift, a subtle one, an unexpected one. I was used to seeing annoyance, anger, humor to play it off, but never any true sadness. The light in her eyes dimmed, and her lips quivered in sadness, but I did not key that stop me, already heady on the high of my anger.

“From here on out, you are banished from the pack. You are not to return here under any circumstances. Gather anything that belongs to you and leave!”

I watched her grit her teeth and go on a litany about how I had humiliated her and caused her pain for some time, ignoring the mild bite of guilt I felt.

She told me in place, face constricted in what looked like a painful blush. “I Amanda Black, accept your rejection, Jackson. I sever all of my ties with you, and I refuse to be mated to you anymore!”

The pain that had rang through my body had been immediate, so sudden that it had jarred me out of a reverie. I steeled myself, until I watched her fold to a crouch, the pain intensifying. I felt my face fall, my brows, and then the rest of me as I looked on in horror.

“You were right,” I managed to put out, pushing a palm against my chest.

I could barely lift my head even as I heard her laugh, delivering a speech with teary eyes, bloodshot from the pain.

“The pain that you feel is not even a small percent of the pain that I have been experiencing. That I have been feeling. It is not even one-ten-thousandth of what I've been going through! I've seen it all. I curse you, Jackson. You will never, EVER find love outside me. You will never find a mate.”