Chapter 3 Chapter Three

Aria

Standing there, he looks just as handsome as ever. His medium-long hair dropped to his shoulders. His jade green eyes bore into mine, cascading down and tracing every curve of my body.

He steps closer, his eyes returning to my own.

I slide off the boulder and run to him. I crash right into his arms. He stills, but doesn't move as I tried to push my body against him.

When I realize he is not hugging me back, my brows furrow. I look up at him.

"Jax?" My voice came out soft as I stare up at him, but instead he takes a step back.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I have something to tell you," he says. His voice came out hoarse, like he's been wanting to cry but he couldn't.

My frown deepened. There is something wrong with him. Something he's not telling me.

"Anything. You can tell me. After all, we are... mates." I pause for a while.

He looked conflicted, so I reached up and cupped his face in my hands.

"What's wrong?" I ask softly. For years I have watched the walls he built ultimately break down in my favor, only for those same walls to go right back up in our first meeting after that one night, when we lost ourselves to the call of the bond. He almost marked me, though I wished he had.

Jax's gaze seemed so faraway. He refused to look at me. I felt a pang in my heart. Why is he acting like this? Slowly, he turns his head and looks at me.

"I can't do this," was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

My heart dropped, my heart sinking, and all my insides twisted and turned into knots.

He takes my hands that were cupping his face and pushes me away, making me stumble backward I almost tripped on my feet.

"Jax!" I cry, looking at him in my own shock and disbelief. I try reaching my hands out to him, but he slaps them away, and steps back.

"I can't be with you," he says. I blink back my tears and gape at him.

"Jax, what happened to you?"

This is not the Jax I know. The Jax I know would not push me away and say these things straight to my face. The Jax I know would embrace me in his arms and rain soft kisses all over my face. No, this isn't Jax.

My Jax wouldn't betray me in this way.

He shakes his head, turns around, and all I could see is the muscular lines of his back to me.

"It's all clear to me, now."

I take a step closer to him, staring at the back of his head wishing he would just look at me.

"What are you saying?" I whisper.

He tilts his head up and looks at the sky, and I could have sworn a tear had slipped from under his eye.

"The goddess is wrong about us. About me. I can't be the mate you want, Aria. I'm not the mate you deserve." He states it all as if it's a fact.

I shake my head, walking a bit closer to him and reach out for his bare back.

"You're wrong. It's only you I want, Jax. I don't care if you're rogue. Let me talk to my dad. I'm sure he will - "

"You will do no such thing!" he growls thunderously, startling the birds that settled on the trees and they fly away.

I freeze.

"Why?" I choke out, my hands trembling as I pulled them back to my chest.

As if by instinct, I slide my palm onto my pregnant belly, and was about to tell him about our pup in my womb when he turns around, and looks at me.

The look in his eyes was pure, utter hatred. He had never looked at me like that before. He only ever looked at me with loving, gentle eyes, saying that we will soon elope and start a family together.

Now, it has come true, but I'm unsure how to break the news to him when his gaze burns intensely with rage aimed straight at me. His body language has changed, as if he's about to lunge at me and rip me apart, making my heartrate pick up as I stare at him.

"Jax?" I swallow, but the moment he takes a predatory step forward, I find myself stepping back.

"You, took everything away from me!" he lashes out, and I gasp. His jade green eyes sparkling with tears.

"Everything..."

I stare at him, confused and rather shaken. My lips quiver and I gulp.

"What are you talking about?"

I could feel his anger bubbling through the seams, lurking in the surface before they ultimately explode. And it was all directed at none other than me.

My heart pounds erratically, watching him wide-eyed as I clutch my belly with one hand. All my senses tell me to run, but how can I run from the man who fathered my pup? The same man who rescued me and became my best friend. The same man I had fallen in love with?

"Your father isn't the real Alpha of Black Shadow Pack," he starts, and my brows furrow.

"What did you say?"

"Your hypocrite father was a visiting alpha from an unknown pack. He's the reason my mum is dead, the reason we are rogue!" he growls thunderously, his entire body shaking with his all-consuming rage. He was so angry that his fists began dripping blood. I wanted to rush over to him and tend to his self-inflicted wounds, but the words that left his mouth rendered me speechless.

My wolf and I can't believe it. I just stood there, gawking at our furious mate. His hands were shaking, and large, thick veins peeked out of his brawny arms.

I shake my head.

"No, that can't be true..." I say more to myself than him.

"My dad isn't like that." I tell him, wanting to defend my dad who I have always known as a kind, merciful alpha. Someone who protects the pack and his loved ones with all his heart. He would never do such a thing, would he?

Jax scoffs.

"It's over," he spits, venom in his voice.

Before I could protest, he cut me off with his next words.

"Because I, Jax Arson, hereby reject you, Aria Wales, as my mate!"

Almost in an instant, the most excruciating pain ripped through me unexpectedly. The shock of his words more painful than the rejection itself, because he promised...

The pain was too much to bear. It makes me fall on my knees, clutching the ground as wave after wave of unimaginable pain leaves me gasping for air. Sharp claws extend from my fingers and I began clawing at my chest. I can't stop even if I wanted to, worried it might hurt the baby yet I had no control. It feels like I was desperately trying to tear my heart out of my chest, and I cry out painfully before I hear his next words.

"For the sake of what we had, I suggest you leave Black Shadow Pack. You have three days."

Bent on the ground, I can't stop clawing at my chest even as I try to look up. My vision blurry. The last thing I saw was his figure walking away from me with huge strides. He disappears into the forest. At that moment, everything went black.