I avoided Reagan like the plague at the breakfast, and luckily he didn't try to start a conversation with me. Jack kept him busy.

The rest of the day goes uneventful.

I fall across the bed, my head hanging back at the side. "I'm so useless."

Jenny, lying beside me and looking at the phone propped in her hand, asks, "Why?"

"I can't find my brother. Leon is still engaged to Irene. One of my best friends is trying to score my mate's straight sister. My mo–"

"Hey!" Nara says from the couch. "I'm not trying to score Sabrina. I don't know what Jenny told you, but I'm not going after Sabrina. Sure she's cute, but she's not worth the trouble."

I continue as if I wasn't interrupted. "My mom doesn't want me back at home. I'm unable to flirt with Reagan. Leo–"

"Like you know how to flirt in the first place," mutters Jenny.

I ignore her, too, and continue, "Leon keeps giving me mixed signals. The other best friend won't even let me lie down on her bed. I ca–"

Nara's phone beeps, interrupting me. She looks at her phone and says to me, "Sorry. Carry on."

"You know what?" I say, spreading my arms wider on the double bed. "This bed is the only good thing that has happened to me. Just bury me here and let the headboard be my tombstone."

Nara looks up from her phone and says, "Sabrina is asking us to come to the restaurant for dinner."

"Yay! I'm starving," Jenny says before sitting up on the bed.

"GOD! Please tell me at least you were listening," I cry at the ceiling.

––––

After dinner, we all go to the beach. My bad luck, Irene sits next to Leon. Since they are to my side, I keep my eyes forward, avoiding them.

Soon, our crowd starts to dissipate. Jack and some of his friends go for a swim in the ocean. I swear these werewolves have never felt cold in their lives. Few others have gone to the open bar nearby the beach. And some have gone for a stroll. There's only a handful of us sitting by the fire.

Unable to resist any longer, I take a quick peek at Leon and Irene.

She has leaned into him with her hand over his shoulder. And her lips, are on his. He instantly moves away from her.

But what's done is done. I saw something I wish I never had.

I clench my jaws and move my eyes forward, fighting back the tears.

Through the corner of my eye, I see him get up and walk towards the ocean to join his friends.

I look again at my side.

Irene is staring back at me with a smirk, looking pleased with herself.

One tear slips my right eye and I wipe it off quickly. The last person I want to cry in front of is Irene. But for some reason the tears keep coming down. I get up and start to walk towards the bar where Jenny and Nara are.

Halfway through, I'm pulled away behind a tree.

Irene lets go of my hand. "You think you can get him with your fake tears?" she says.

I turn around to leave but she spins me back to face her.

"I'm not doing anything, okay?" I tell her, taking my hand away from her. "I'm sorry if I got a bit emotional seeing someone kiss my mate. But I'm keeping it to myself. You're the one creating a scene. Or do you want him to know that I saw your kiss?"

"So what if he knows? It doesn't change a thing. And, 'your mate'? He's not yours. He's mine. I am his mate. And I am this pack's Luna."

I clench my fists enough for my knuckles to go white. I want nothing but to show her that whether she's a Luna or not, she's talking to the next chief of a coven. But I keep myself in check. I can't release my wrath on her for claiming Leon as hers when he himself didn't tell her that. He just walked away. That's it.

I turn around again and leave her. When her hand tried to grab me again, I made sure it feels enough pain through a spell. She retreated her hand immediately.

––––

I didn't tell Nara and Jenny what happened. They know better when to not push me, so they didn't ask me more about my bad mood.

I lie down on my bed, facing the view of the ocean through the balcony. I can't sleep. I feel like someone had cruelly woken me up from a happy dream. There's a feeling of sadness I can't shake off, and I feel like any second I might start crying again.

I hear my room door open and sit up on my bed thinking it might be Jenny or Nara, and I better take up on their offer from before to keep me company. We can watch a movie.

"You didn't sleep yet?" Leon asks, standing at the end of my bed.

I crush the bedsheets in my hands, glaring at him.

He breathes out. "You saw that." After saying that, he moves to my side and I say, "Don't." He stops.

"Leave."

He continues to stand there.

"I said, leave!"

He shakes his head lightly.

"Fine. I'll leave, then," I say and move to the other side of the bed. I climb out and go to the exit. As I pull the door open, he pushes it shut from behind me.

Unable to face him this close, I keep facing the door. "Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?"

He wraps his arms around my waist, presses his chest against my back and rests his forehead on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Cassandra."

The tears I was fighting off return.

"You know what hurts me the most, Leon?" I whisper. "It's not when I see you and her together. It's when you act like this. I can let you go, Leon. I can accept that you belong to her. I can move on. I can do it all. I know I can. All I need is for you to stay away from me."

"But I can't," he says. "I can't let you go. I can't accept you don't belong to me. I can't move on. I'm sorry about today. I should've been more careful. I promise you it won't happen again. No woman can touch me but you."

"Why didn't you tell her that? That no one can touch you but me."

He sighs with his head still buried in my shoulder. "She knows I love you. She has known since we were kids. I've told her many times, too, that I won't do whatever the pack wants, that you'll always be my mate. Although I told her that, I didn't say the same to my pack. They have to think that I won't break our traditions, till I could find a way to do it without hurting anyone. But that meant that my pack kept telling her that she was going to be the Luna, and I couldn't do anything about it. It's my mistake, she's like this. And I don't want to hurt her further. That's why, even though I was angry at her all I could do was walk away. I'm sorry, Cassandra. I know I'm asking too much of you, but please understand that I can't just push her away rudely. It'll hurt her more than how much she is already hurt."

"Then, what about me?" I ask him. "Is it okay if I get hurt?"

"I told you, it won't happen again. Ever."

"Leon... I love you. I've never loved someone as much as I love you – But I don't trust you."

I slowly turn to face him as he looks up at me. "If you care about me even a little, leave."

"No," he says, bringing his hand up to caress my cheek. "I can't do that. I can never leave you alone. Not even when we were kids. So many times I sneaked out to see you. After each time, I would want to see you even more again. I could never stay away from you, even when all I could do was watch you from afar. So what makes you think I can stay away from you now? When I know what it feels like to be this close to you."

My heart wavers at his confession. There are so many things I want to ask him. Did he really come to see me? When? Where? Why didn't he talk to me?

But it's too late. He'd hurt me too much.

"Like I said," I say. "I don't trust you."

I've to get away from him. Since going out the door is not an option, I muster all my strength to cast one last spell for the day, and pray it works. Sometimes, when I'm feeling down like this my powers get weak.

"I'll be back in the morning," I tell him before closing my eyes and bringing up the incantation in my mind. I could feel his grip tighten around my waist and hear his voice say, "No, please, don't–"

When I open my eyes, I'm at my room in my home at the coven. This is the only place I could think of to go to: the place I feel the safest.

I'll return to my room in the resort in the morning. However, tonight, I want to sleep on my bed. As soon as I move into the duvet, Leo jumps up on the bed and comes to me. I pet him till I fall asleep.

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