After crying for so long in his arms, my tears had finally dried up and my throat hoarse.
Dimitri carried me in his arms after Rustave had been ordered by Jaden to release my chains. We drove to the cemetery, Jaden driving behind us.
Dimitri held me on the bench while Jaden did the procedures.
“Hey” I hear in my subconscious.
“Wake up, sweetie,” Dimitri says, shaking me lightly.
I had fallen asleep on him. We were on a bench.
“It’s time,” Dimitri says softly, a tear drops from my eyes as I realize it wasn’t a dream. My mother had really died in my arms, and she was about to be buried.
I give a small nod, wiping my eyes, getting off the bench with the assistance of Dimitri.
She was placed in a black coffin.
They had changed her into a white gown and cleaned off the blood from her. She looked so pale and thin. My hands balled into a fist by my side. They’ll pay. They’ll all pay.
The ceremony begins, they close her coffin, placing her into the already dug hole. The priest begins his sermon, and I hug Dimitri, still in shock by the whole event.
I still can’t believe my mother had died in my arms tonight, after being pulled out of my life for years.
The men had buried her, placing a tombstone on her grave with no writing.
I leave Dimitri’s arms, slumping on my knees in the dirt.
My ill fate had drawn the last line. Now I was the one who was going to call the shots.
“Hailey,” Jaden calls out to me. He had been here, keeping his distance the whole time.
“Jaden Perry, I have nothing to say to you,”
“There’s something I’ll love to say to you,”
“I don’t want to hear them...
“Well, you have to listen,”
“Jaden, you really got the nerve, don’t you?” through the numb feeling, a burning rage was creeping in, giving me strength as I got off the floor, facing him, head to head.
“I should have known you were hiding something,”
“Are you insinuating I had a thing to do with her death? ” he questioned, looking a little hurt.
“I found the goddamn key in your room,”
“Anyone could have put it there,”
“How long will you keep lying to me, Jaden? I can see through your bullshit,”
“I haven’t lied to you, Hailey,”
“Well, that’s all you have been doing, along with your fake promises,”
“You were the cause of that,”
“Oh, right, I forget how you easily get jealous... tell me, do you hate it when he touches me?”
He dashes towards me, holding me in his grip.
“He doesn’t love you the way I do, why do you keep playing these games between us?” he screams in my face.
I shove at his chest, pushing him away.
“How dare you touch me? ” With anger, I slap him hard on the face, at the same time, lightning strikes.
Raising his chin up like nothing happened, his gaze darkened as he tightened his jaw.
“Hailey, I’m giving you a chance now, I’m freeing you from your slave duties and every rule that had bound you to this pack,”
“Under my Alpha command, I’m giving you a choice: you either stay here or you’re banished forever,”
“Ha!” I laughed as tears flowed and the rain started pouring.
Locking my gaze on his.
“I choose exile, Jaden Perry. Nothing will make me more happy than never to see your face again,” The rain starts pouring in heavily, and we both stand there, staring at each other like a staring contest.
“You made your choice,”
“Hailey, we need to go before you catch a cold,” Dimitri walks towards us, standing a few feet away, holding an umbrella.
“Goodbye, Jaden Perry,” I say, walking away into Dimitri’s hand, under the umbrella.
“Goodbye, Hailey Stewarts,” I hear Jaden say behind me as we leave.
JADEN PERRY
Hitting my knuckles on the wall till they bleed, the pain distracting from the one I felt within.
I didn’t want any of this to happen. How could I have made such an irrational decision? Why the hell had Hailey forced this?
After a while, I had sobered up, regretting my actions gravely.
My soul aching with hers, the only girl I felt safe with, she was my paradise.
Will she ever look at me the same way?
Would she ever love me after the foolish mistake I made, another one adding to the long list of foolish decisions?
My thoughts are cut off when I feel her in pain. It must be my imagination.
But I felt it again. It was heavy, not like the rest; I felt it was deeper. My protective instincts kicked in, not wasting any time. I exit the room, following her scent.
Leading me to a hallway, her trail stops just outside the wall.
I must have gone crazy; the alcohol must still be acting up, cause what the hell.
The strong surge in my chest makes me touch the wall; I almost toppled over the empty space.
Walking through it, I’m led into a dark room.
How the hell had I not been able to be here before? It was something I would figure out later, following the passageway; I hear her sobs from inside the room.
“Hailey… I call out, seeing her on the floor, crying.
” Hailey, what…”
“Stay away from me, Jaden Perry,” I’m a little broken by her words, stunned at her tone.
Her eyes were bloodshot, with a woman in her hand, the matching red hair and the way she held her made me know she was a relative.
Who was this lady?
More importantly, why was she held captive ?
Lord Perry comes in, and I’m not sure I believed it myself that I stood up to him, but I was angry and helpless watching my mate cry her ass off each step of the way, her hatred fueling.
Then there’s Dimitri. I should be the one comforting her, the one she held on to, her support, but no, I was the villain in this story, even before she made her choice, I knew I had lost her.
Her emerald necklace was at the foot of my bedroom door, holding on to it. I finally let my own silent tears flow.
She was gone, my Hailey, and the worst of it, I let her. I felt my soul had been snatched, a hollowness only she could fill.
Not like your usual love story, this one ends with a tragic ending.
