Chapter 3 Two

Nora.

I have never admired jumping off a cliff and ending things until the day of meeting my chosen mate attained. I was so occupied with how my life would be that it almost slipped my mind about finding a mate sooner or later in my life. I have never thought of finding a mate but this wasn’t how I could’ve pictured it to be.

With a sigh, I look down the cliff—I want to jump off, break my neck and be with my parents. It was better than staying alive and dealing with my cruel step-father and his wayward daughters.

I’m more than grateful for having Miles and Lizzie on my side but it sometimes feels like I’m all alone against this brutal world. I have to fight every second to live—not be happy… live. Live to see another chaotic and laborious day.

Herman choosing a mate for me and forcing me into mating with him have me thinking—is this chosen mate of mine even a salubrious werewolf? Or maybe he’s mentally retarded and his father wants to get rid of him by marrying him off to whomever was willing to take his gruesome son.

Maybe he’s one of those vulnerable werewolves that add no value to his pack. Miles told me he overheard their father talking about my mate. He told me they’re from a trusted pack and their territory is close to ours. He wasn’t sure which pack—I don’t care to know either.

I do—I want to know about him. At least try to make things work… No! that’d please Herman. Pleasing Herman, I shall not!

I let out an agonistic yelp and drop to my knees. I can’t believe I’m really going to let Herman use me as he pleases. I can’t believe that I lost my mother together with my rights and dreams.

I cover my wet face with my palms, dejected, swollen with emotions and realization of my fate.

I don’t want to seem weak, I need not to be weak—not before my step-father or his daughters. Just having a glimpse at their smirking face makes me weaker and more miserable. They feed on my happiness—they stump on it and make sure I watch while they destroy the little hope and peace I have left.

Before my mother died, she always told me how somewhere along our paths, we will struggle. It may be small but it may also be devastating. We’re not alone in our struggles. We can be happy, successful, and thriving in all aspects of our lives… and still struggle.

This story of mine is messy. It is chaotic and unfinished. I feel a lot of pain in my chest that I could barely breathe. It lives in me and feeds on my hopes and dreams. I wish not to feel this way but I can’t seem to run away from my reality as it haunts me like my step father haunts for my peace of mind.

I’ve always been a loved child even after I lost my father. My mother made sure she filled those punctured holes in my heart and I barely even say I miss my father sometimes—only the times when Herman pushes me to the wall that I miss a father figure in my life.

Herman has always been a dissembler his whole life. He showed up when we least needed a burden in our lives. He’s come between me and my happiness. Now, the one thing I have left, he’s trying to take it away from me.

I perch on the edge of the cliff, wiping my tears away—I still want to jump off though. The only thing stopping me from ending it is my mother. She’d be devastated to find out this is how my life ends, meaningless and misused.

I quietly close my eyes and inhale the fresh air that expands my lungs as if on automatic refill, and with the rising of my chest comes a sense of calm. As I breathe, the image of waves gently rising over wet sands comes to my thoughts, and with them the sound of water and song of sky-borne birds.

The air suddenly becomes abundant and smothering, and it brings me back to certainty. I open my eyes straightaway with a sense of threat hitting my nerves. I'm not alone.

My heart sunk as my body becomes deadened. I know I shouldn’t be out this far and this late from my home but sitting out here feels better than watching Herman’s calm face while I get to go through the shit he put me through in the first place.

Finally, I allow my eyes to make the journey to the person.

He was vast. His giant shoulders were rising and falling slowly. His back was facing me but I could tell how upset he was at the moment. He appears to be on the verge of a breakdown. I contemplate on speaking up to let him know he has company, or clear my throat, but between thinking it and actually doing it, he spins around and kicks a rock of the cliff. How did he manage to kick a stone that huge without feeling a sting in his feet?

I look at his physique again and it gave me the answer I was seeking.

He halts immediately when I caught his sight. His muscles tensed, as if ready to attack. He shifted his position, carefully, as if trying not to scare me. I’m not scared—I’m amused. This man standing before me is some sort of a Greek creature.

“I could’ve hurt you,” he said pissed at me for being almost in his way. My breath becomes shallow at the sound of his rich and deep voice. His eyes seem sharp and cold just like the rest of his facial features. He had clear skin, the kind you see in magazines with airbrushed models. He was about 6’3”, the height of my dream deity.

His grey eyes looked at me curiously, his chest slowly heaves up and down. “Staring at strangers is considered to be discourteous. And why the hell are you sitting on the edge of a cliff? Are you out of your mind?”

Grey eyes. Thick brows. Long black wavy hair. Plump lips. Angry.

His face was set into a scowl, clearly peeved that I ignored him. His shoulders were stiff. It was as if watching me sit on the edge of a death cliff made him stand on thin ice.

He turns his back to me again, clearly finding it difficult to watch me sit here. I smirk and look away. This man is full of spectacles. I feel like he was more worried about me sitting here than what actually almost made him throw a huge stone at me.

“No thanks, I’m quite comfortable where I am.”

He turns to look at me straightaway. His eyes narrow with aggravation.

He has anger issues—I can feel it in my guts. “Crazy and stubborn,” he mumbled loud enough for me to hear him. I roll my eyes, looking down at the cliff and realizing I might fall with just one silly movement.

“Fine. But It’s a shame I have to defer my plan to jump off,” I say dusting my hands when I got to my feet. I stepped away from the cliff, now standing closer to him.

He raises a brow and press his lips together. He ran a hand down his blue shirt, watching me in a calculated way, like he was weighing the pros and cons of my presence. It didn’t look like there were many pros.

My breaths turned shallow when he moved toward me. He stopped just an inch away, staring down at my neck. Unease drifted through my body like a kindled flame when his fingers brushed my bare upper chest—I shouldn’t have worn a dress with a sweetheart neckline.

He picked up my necklace and examined it. It was my father’s. I have worn it since he passed away. It was an emblem signifying my pack.

“You’re from Greenbell,” he says and I feel his voice in my stomach. That’s not good. Voices should stop at the ears, but sometimes—not very often at all, actually, a voice will penetrate past my ears and reverberate straight down my body. He has one of those voices. Deep, confident, and a little bit like butter.

It may sound cheesy but his voice soothes everything broken in me.

He exhales, taking a step back from me. He looks at me with those grey eyes again but they weren’t as subtle as they seemed at first. His jaw was firm and strong, and his nose long but slightly crooked, like it had been broken and left to its imperfection.

We stared at each other for another moment. He shoved his hand in his jeans pocket and took a slow step back, before turning around and walking away. I stood there and watched him, because his back was as nice as his front.

**

I arrive home just in time to get ready to meet the so-called chosen mate.

I take off my dress just as my door swings open and Eliana and Ella walks in like they own the place. I cover my chest with my dress, clearly pissed at them for barging into my room. “You ever heard of something called knocking?” I asked, making my way to my bathroom. Ella grabs my wrist, pulling me back to my old position. “What Ella?” I questioned, irritated.

“Where were you all evening? You have a new scent on you? She went to see someone.” Ella looks back at Eliana whom shrugs it off. She was looking around my room obvious looking for what to take. Eliana is fond of stealing from me, be it my dress or shoes, or even bras despite being having bigger chest than hers. She’d shamelessly steal it and wear it. My mother always told me to share with them. But yet I dare not touch their stuff.

“So what if I went to see someone? The worst you could do is tell your coldblooded father.” I snatch my wrist and saunter into my bathroom, ignoring Ella’s curses.

I lock the door behind me just as Ella tried to barge into the bathroom. You’d really think I’m the one living in their house rent free.

I step into the shower and turn the faucet on. The stream of water was cold before slowly warming up and falling onto my skin, releasing tension and soothing the ache that clawed at my limbs.

Imagine if I had jumped off that cliff? I wouldn’t be here taking a shower and rethinking my life. I wouldn’t be here washing my body just so I’d meet someone I was going to mate with against my will.

How could one life change so quickly? For me it was that mysterious guy I met earlier. I hate how he left without telling me his name or asking for mine. I hate how I felt just the first time of setting my eyes on him. I hate how his voice is making me want to live another day. I mostly hate how I’m feeling right now about a guy I may or may not see again.

I hope I see him again. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe never.

I exhale deeply as I use my fingers to comb through my long hair, dancing into the curly mess, ridding it of all the knots. I wash myself thoroughly before throwing a towel around my body and stepping out.

My room was empty when I walked out. The door was open, I roll my eyes and shut it close before putting a lock on it. I refuse to let those girls add more burden to my uncertainties.

I open my drawer clearly not having any idea on what to wear. I know they’ll be here any minute but here I am with an undone hair and clueless on what to wear for the ridiculous occasion.

Miles also told me my mate’s father would be joining us too so, I have to at least look presentable for my chosen mate’s father’s sake.

The door knob turns unremittingly followed by I hasty knock. I groan, making way to the door. My face lifts when I hear the voice behind the door. I unlock swiftly with grin.

“Could you believe your daft step-sisters wouldn’t give me access to the house. How do you keep up with them? Miles had to come rescue me,” Lizzie complained as she walked further in.

“I am so glad you came. I don’t know what to wear,” I say, discounting her grievances.

Her face lit up like the night of New Year’s Eve. “This is why I’m here of course.” She walks over to my drawer. “You should wear something casual but attractive and pretty, because you have to take something away from him tonight—his heart, his breath, his soul…”

“So, I’m taking everything from him?” I chuckled softly as I make way to my mirror to do my hair and let Lizzie do hers. I trust her with my special occasion outfit. She never disappoints. Lizzie is a better dresser than I am—she’d kill to be a designer but being an omega wasn’t the best choice for her life.

Some say she’s being pampered more than the rest of the omegas because we’re best friends and my mother leads the pack. Some say we’re best friends because I’m the Alpha’s daughter—Lizzie has never taken advantage of me. We’ve been together since we were kids, could a child plot betrayal since day one?

“This.” She brings out a long green dress covered in beautiful white lining across the top part of the dress. I smile, not only because I loved the color green—it was the last dress my mother had gotten for me just few days before she was murdered.

My throat suddenly becomes thick as my eyes filled to the brim with tears. “Why didn’t I think of it in the first place,” I say, getting up from the vanity stool to where Lizzie was standing proudly.

“This dress isn’t too much at the same time gives an Opera dress vibe.”

I roll my eyes at Lizzie’s crazy remark and take the dress from her.

Lizzie snatched the dress back and I give her a quizzical look. “We have to do your hair first,” she says and drags me to the mirror.

She sits me down and turned on the blow dryer to dry my hair. I watch my reflection in the mirror hard enough to feel like I don’t want to do this anymore. If my mother was here tonight, nothing would stop me from canceling the dinner even if they were already settled at the dining room because I know for one thing my mother never forces me to do what I wish not to.

I sit there silently, hunched over and with a sense of numbness surging into my body and taking over the little joy I felt minutes later. I could feel a searing in my heart but I try to ignore it—it hurts so bad. I can’t ignore it.

“Nora… Nora…”

I inhaled sharply and blinked back the tears. “Hmm?” I look at Lizzie through the mirror. She looks concerned so I held in my tears and suppressed a smile.

“You’re done? How long was I out of this miserable world?” I got to my feet and made my way to my bed. I slip into the dress with the help of Lizzie. I wasn’t about to apply makeup—I am not about to give him the impression that I want this. This dress was already doing too much.

We hear a knock from the door and I was pretty sure it was Miles, he’s the only one that understands privacy. The door gently opens and he peeps. He takes in my outfit and smirked. “Ravishing,” he comments, making me feel mortified all of a sudden.

He clears his throat and return his eyes to my face. “They’re here,” he announced with a stoic expression. My heart falls to my stomach as my sly smile fall faster than a water droplet. I nod my head and he close the door.

I look at Lizzie and she looked at worried as I am. She quickly masked it off with a smile. “You will be fine. Just give them your best smile and show him… just him, your most nonchalant attitude.”

I laugh at that and nod. I hugged her tightly before we head out together. She went home while I head to the dining hall to meet my chosen mate.