Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

- Cleo -

I was riding high off my post climax bliss until my hand pushes down on the door handle, where I

enter the alpha office, to find Callie sitting down by the window.

She shifts as she turns to find me entering, I think it's the first time I have ever seen her lacking confidence.

"Is Jace not coming in?" She looks behind me in slight panic, her eyes widening as it dawns on

her it was just me and her.

"No, he wants us to talk alone. He stays you have something difficult to share." "Does he now?" She sarcastically chuckles out, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Isn't that the truth?" A low rumble escapes me, I was reaching out here. She better not leave me hanging, this would be the deciding moment between us.

"The truth, I don't know where to begin with the truth."

"Well you need to start somewhere, because right now you look like a stage one cling-on. Clinging

on to my mate, to his family. He's already assured me that you two have never been sexual.."

"No, absolutely not. You can trust us on that." She looks appalled by the thought of being with Jace, something that she didn't show when she was all over him since returning to the Dark Phantom pack.

"How so.."

"Because he isn't my type."

"But you were willing to be his mate, to be his luna. To take him from another."

"I didn't know until the night of the dinner party, that was the first time I knew of it. If I had known

before then, I would have never agreed to it."

She looks back at the window, her eyes looking to the views that would have been hers.

Now they aren't even Jace's anymore.

The only other free chair was at the alpha desk and I wasn't going to sit in that,

not when it very much was still Kaia's until Josie takes it on.

So I remain standing, leaning against the edge of the desk, taking most of the weight off my feet.

I had a feeling I was going to be in here for a while, that I needed to be comfortable.

"I remembered you."

"What do you mean?"

"The bedroom door, you were there when I answered it, I thought you were a house maid."

"I had just found out I was pregnant, I was going to go to the beach club to see him. But he text back to say he was home..."

"Shit, and I opened the door in my lingerie. I'm sorry to have done that to you."

"You didn't know what you were doing..." I shrug out.

"No, but I agreed without really finding out why he had run, what he was running from and for that I am just as much to blame as him. I truly

am sorry." I look into her eyes, she meant every part of the apology.

"Thank you."

"I'm surprised you didn't attack me for being with your mate, especially pregnant.

Your wolf must have been ready to kill me."

"I didn't realise it was the mate bond." I uncross my arms, my palms now resting

on top of the desk...my demeanour in a more open posture. I was slowly thawing out towards her.

"What do you mean?"

"I've loved Jace all my life. I've never once expected for him to be mine. When I heard he had a mate, it wasn't a shock, I knew that day would come, I had prepared myself for that day.

Why would I fight against it, mynoveldrama

feelings towards him had always been one sided. Of course he would have found his mate. I was ready to accept that, ready to find my mate that would...I hoped...surpassthe feelings I had for Jace.

But when I found out I was with a child, his child...I couldn't do that to his mate, I

couldn't do that to my future mate. It felt easier to be alone. Or to be in a relationship of my own choosing."

"I wish you could see how he sees you, how wrong you are." She means well but her answer is a standard answer, one based on not knowing Jace's and mine's true relationship. How we grew up...how things, then changed when he turned eighteen.

My mind casts back to the night of Kaia's and Hector's wedding, when he

shunned me in front of everyone, then left for almost a year.