Chapter 2

Denise’s POV

Two weeks.

Two weeks since I had witnessed one of the most hurtful and disrespectful scenes I had ever experienced in my life. Two weeks since I was scorned. Ha-ha. Scorned. Could I even use that term? Cory had fought his legitimate mate, and he was with her now. Our tryst was now a thing of the past, and I would have to move on from him, whether I liked it or not. Plus, one thing I could admit was that Cory had never promised me anything. And I had never expected anything from him. Because I knew that sooner or later, he would find his mate, and all of this would stop.

The only thing I was angry about was how little he considered me. I wasn’t asking him to tell me that he had found his mate over a candlelit dinner with roses and peach-scented candles. Definitely not. Anything else would have been fine. Even a text! Okay, maybe not a text, but he could have contacted me. And I would have understood because I had never given myself fully to him because of that.

Gail was in our lives now, and there was nothing I could do to change it. Everyone loved her. The way they treated her was a straight contrast with how I was treated. There was no doubt that they loved her. Everyone loved her. Except for me, but that was beside the point. Sometimes I felt like they were acting that way – in front of me – to increase the scorn. I had never been approached by other girls my age, so we could form a bond. Nope. Hatred. It had been from my early years.

It was weird when I thought about why they hated me. My father had cheated on his mate with my mom. A drunken mistake. Something that should never have been. The product of sex between a full human and a full werewolf. It was no wonder that they felt like I had done the same thing to the Alpha. Even though when we started seeing each other, he had not yet found his mate. And it didn’t matter that it was Cory who had approached me and not the other way round. I was the daughter of a “whore,” so I was a whore as well.

I don’t know where a new determination filled my spirit. I wasn’t going to let these people ruin the little that I had going on for me. This was no way to live, holed up in my apartment like some hobo. It was hard because nobody here loved or respected me, but I had to keep doing the things I loved. I was going to wake up, shower, and go to the library even though I knew that no one was going to show up.

But it didn’t matter. Cory had found his mate, and that was good for him. Under all the resentment about not knowing first, I was happy for him. And I was happy that his mate seemed to share his feelings for him. It was a good thing. But now, I needed to stop acting as if my world had come to an end. Sure the daze of hate I had been drowning in had increased. Plus, he didn’t owe me anything. Hating him was not going to do any good to anybody. And hating his mate was even more useless.

I was alive, though. And I had some moments of peace. The ones I spent in the library. And I was not going to let anybody take that away from me. They had already taken a lot. But that was one thing I was going to hold on to for as long as I lived… hopefully.

***

It was a beautiful day, if I was being honest. It was much too beautiful for me to sit holed up in my apartment or the library. And there was no way I was going to go to a restaurant or a cafe. I was feeling too restful to give myself that kind of stress. It wasn’t that I had never been to a restaurant or a cafe in this town. But it was so rare, and it had mostly been when my father was still alive. At least then, the moments spent with him took away every other negative. Now that I was alone? No thanks. I would rather lock myself up in my apartment and read my stories or practice my baking.

It wasn’t a day for practicing baking or reading any stories, though. The birds were chirping, the sky was clear, and the woods were literally calling my name. If my dad were alive, he would have dragged me out and chastised me for not living home enough. But since he was no longer there, I was just going to have to go on this walk and imagine he was standing next to me. Imagine that he was watching over me just like he had promised before he died.

I had not walked long, and I was hoping that it would be completely peaceful. I had no desire to see anyone, especially not anyone that was going to break this peaceful mood I had going on. I had decided not to let resentment control me, and I was aiming to make that resolution last.

It seemed as though life did not like me very much, though. The first people that I encountered as I was walking were Alpha Cory and his beautiful mate, Gail. I groaned internally and fought the urge to close my eyes in frustration. Couldn’t I get a little bit of peace? Why did the universe like to put these types of obstacles in my way?

I cursed the fact that I was not a full-blooded wolf. Because if I was, catching their scents would have been easy work for me, and I would have been able to avoid them. I mean, I had been in these woods so many times that I knew all the routes necessary for escape. It would have been child’s play to me. But no, here I was, facing one of the most awkward situations in my life because my nose could not work like a functioning wolf’s nose.

“Denise,” the Alpha said coolly, in that deep voice of his.

I pasted a fake smile on my face before answering. “Hello, Alpha,” I said, then I turned slightly toward Gail, “and Luna.”

I bowed slightly to both of them before straightening and catching Gail’s gaze. There was something in it, something malicious. But it disappeared so quickly that I thought I had imagined it. I shook my head and hoped that the encounter would not be long and I would be able to resume my walk peacefully.

“You’re the girl from Cory’s office,” she said cheerfully, a little too cheerfully for my liking. It was giving off fake energy. I shivered a little.

“Yes, Luna,” I said. I knew my smile was already strained. But I couldn’t even help it. I wanted to get out of there. I didn’t want to be in their presence anymore because the thin hold I had on peace was already slipping.

“You’re all alone? This is such a beautiful day. I would have thought everyone would have the idea my mate and I had,” she said, shooting a loving look at Cory. I almost gagged watching them. “Don’t you have anyone in your life?”

It was at that instant that I realized that our meeting was not a coincidence. This girl was an Alpha’s daughter, and her mate was an Alpha. There was no way they had not gotten my scent. A wry smile played around my lips. I knew where this was going. And there was no way I could avoid it without coming off as disrespectful.

“I did until a short while ago. He found his mate, though, so I’m all alone again,” I said, deciding to play the petty card. There was no doubt in my mind that something devious wasn’t running around in her mind. And her smile confirmed it.

“That’s sad,” she said, feigning a sympathetic expression. “But maybe he’s way happier now because he’s with the person the Moon Goddess designed for him.” Then she placed an arm on Cory’s forearm and smiled a catty smile.

Something told me she wanted me to say one thing out of line. But I wasn’t going to give in to the urge.

“Gail…” Cory warned. But his mate paid him no mind.

“And your mate? Where is he?”

“Gail, stop this,” Cory warned again.

I shook my head with a gutted expression on my face. She knew exactly what she was doing. And she had seen that talking about her happiness with her mate was doing nothing to me, so she decided to attack another front. “Dead,” I said quietly.

“I’m sorry for bringing that up then,” she said, but the look on her face showed that she was anything but sorry. “We’ll get going then.”

Alpha Cory stood there with a helpless look on his face before he turned and went with his mate. I let out a small bitter laugh. There was a lump in my throat that wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I swallowed. Talking about my mate was something I hated doing. And there was no doubt that Gail had brought it up to me on purpose.

I strolled for a bit more before finding a tree trunk and leaning against it. I didn’t know how long I stayed there like that, my thoughts all over the place. But I couldn’t count the number of tears I shed and the number of times I cursed Gail in my head.

I stood up from the trunk of the tree I had been leaning on and dusted off my pants. It was already dark, and I needed to start heading home. I knew there was nobody who cared whether I came back home or not, but the woods were dangerous at night, and I had nobody to look after me and protect me. I smiled sadly.

I had nobody…