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

- Jace -

"So this is where you are hiding?" An overly aggressive kick to the stomach wakes me with a

start.

Josie...

"What do you want?" I growl out, my eyes reluctantly opening to the bright morning sunshine.

A pain in my neck informing me that I hadn't slept on a bed.

I hadn't made it back to the alpha house last night, instead finally succumbing to the need to sleep after downing a. entire bottle of whiskey I had taken from the kitchen.

The cold hard ground by the far border the only place I wanted to be for the night.

Once the Arancea's had left, everybody knew something was wrong...there was no point

dancing around the issue.

I just didn't want to address it.

So I walked into the house, swiped a bottle and stormed back out...earning a growl from Jaxon as I barged back past him.

There was nothing going on between him and Cleo but why had he given her his car, why had he

been all weird around her at the dinner table.

But then what does it matter to me, after what happened I might as well have verbally rejected her, reject the mate bond once and for all.

"Cleo's parents wanted you to give them a tour of the pack.."

"You are joking right?"

"No, Jace, I'm not joking. What a surprise...your own mate's parents wanting a tour of the pack you grew up in. What a pair of monsters they are..." I don't appreciate her sarcasm when my heading is pounding. "Can you not shout." I grunt out reaching out for the whiskey bottle in the hope there was some

left, only for Josie to kick it out of my reach, the bottle now rolling down a slight slope before hitting

the iron cladded fence.

With a throbbing head I manage to sit up slowly, my head resting in my hands...without their support I don't think I will be able to keep it upright.

Between the pain in my neck, the heavy head...and everything that had transpired between Callie and I, I was a fucking mess.

I couldn't even think about Cleo, I was too wracked with guilt.

"You love her." Josie sighs out as she takes a seat next to me on the cold ground, her demeanour changing from anger to empathy.

Her words weren't exactly a question, more a statement.

"Well...she is my mate."

"Not Callie you idiot, Cleo."

"What you saw..." I start before Josie cuts me off.

"What I say was two people who have known each other all their lives finally admit, that perhaps there is a love greater than a mate bond. Are you sure...are you certain Callie is your mate and not Cleo?"

There was something different about Josie since returning.

Yes she now had her wolf, yes she had an ability like Mum...but there was something else, something regal.

Her words cut through my masked expression...trying to reach out to me to learn the truth. If I lie to Josie, would be lying to the Moon Goddess herself...who seems to be linked to Mum and Josie.

But then the Moon Goddess would already know that I am lying, she just doesn't know why.

"Yes, Callie is my mate." The words are difficult to say, my tongue feeling as if it was being butchered by a blunt chainsaw with every syllable.

"Then what was that with Cleo?"

"A moment of weakness.."

"Like the beach club?" Pain radiates through my neck as I twist my head to face her.

"How do you know about that?"

"I don't but low and behold, Maya disappeared back to her pack in the night. She's holding out

on me, they both have been.

Which explains why she and Cleo have been quiet towards me recently. After last night, it's pretty obvious something else happened." Cleo told Maya...shit.

"It's nothing.." I exhale, my heart beating too fast.

"Nothing, Cleo means nothing to you?"noveldrama

"You're twisting my words."

"Cleo has loved you from the moment she opened her eyes. Don't fuck about with her Jace. Don't use her.." She warns out.