❝I was born of an adulterous union", I started. Ingrid and I were settled in the living room of my apartment, both of us sipping on some coffee.

"My dad had me when he was already mated, with a human, and she died while giving birth to me. After that, a lot of people shunned him and I was caught in the crossfire. I was an oddity so nobody wanted anything to do with me. I was bullied by most of the kids and my dad's mate treated me like crap, until she died.

"The bullying got worse when my dad died few weeks after my 14th birthday. At that moment, all I wanted was my mate. I had the foolish hope that he was going to come and save me from everybody else, or at least that the memories made with him were going to wipe out my horrible past"

"It was not a foolish hope. Don't be too hard on yourself. A mate is supposed to protect their other half", Ingrid scolded, interrupting me. I simply smiled. She had no idea just how foolish that thought was.

"The next two years were spent in with that hope. My fantasies got a little strong. I imagined finding my mate and him asking me to run away with him. I was obsessed with that idea.

"Two years later, my dream came to pass. I met my mate, Ethan. He was two years older than me"

"Wait, he left you suffer for two years knowing you guys were mates?!", Ingrid asked incredulously, almost spilling her coffee. I scoffed. The idea of mates here and in my hometown were completely different.

"In my hometown, so long as one of you doesn't know about the bond, the other is free to do as they like", I replied and Ingrid turned her shocked gaze on me and scoffed, showing how much she thought of that theory.

"So he just let you suffer knowing he could do something about it?", she asked. "I really can't digest it."

I smiled and unamused smile. That was just how it was and my own case was even worse.

"What did he say for his defense when you found him?", she asked.

"More like he found me. He was one of my bullies so I was really reluctant to believe anything he said. But finally, he convinced me he loved me and that he spent those two years trying to convince his friends to stop bullying me.

"He used all the right words. Told me I was beautiful. Nobody had ever told me I was beautiful except my father. I fell for him, convinced we shared the same feelings.

"My bliss didn't last long. I discovered it was nothing but a cruel prank against me and everything went downhill from there.

***

Ethan had told me he was going to hang out with his friends so I decided to take a walk into the woods. It was a peaceful evening and I was sure no one was going to be around the area. Even though the bullying had reduced after Ethan came to me, it had not completely stopped. Some people still bothered me, though not in front of him.

As I was walking, I heard voices. I decided to go away because I wanted to avoid contact with anybody at this point, but hearing my name stopped me.

"I don't think I can continue that thing with Denise", someone said, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Ethan's.

I listened curiously. I didn't want to eavesdrop but I think that anybody would want to listen to what others were saying about them.

"Man, you have just two weeks left. Just go on with it", someone replied.

I was confused. Two weeks left for what?

"All I want to do is reject her right now and forget she ever existed!", Ethan whined, making me gasp silently.

"You will but you'll never get the money if you don't go through with the bet", the other person said, still trying to convince him.

"I've been bearing it all this while but you don't know how disgusting it is to kiss her and pretend I love her. I can't even stand the stupid bitch!", he continued whining.

"Bro chill. What brought all this up?", his friend asked.

"I had to tell her today I was hanging out with friends to catch a break. I'm not sure I can do that any longer"

By this time, tears were already rolling down my cheeks. My mate, someone I had thought would love me unconditionally the same way I loved him unconditionally was saying all this cruel things about me.

A sob escaped and as I turned to run away, I tripped.

"Shit man, look who's here", I heard from above me.

"The stupid bitch had to ruin everything again", he muttered, thinking I was not going to hear him. All the other werewolves thought like that, that because I was a hybrid and I couldn't shift, I had no other capabilities of a wolf.

I slowly stood up and looked at Ethan, tears still rolling down my cheeks.

"A stupid prank? A bet?", I asked incredulously.

He didn't answer, making me scoff. He couldn't even tell me the truth after saying all that trash about me to his friend.

"Look, Denise, can we talk somewhere private?", he asked, putting on a pleading look. In the past six months he had been pretending to love me, that look always made me cave.

My first instinct was to refuse, but I was someone who liked taking her problems by the horn so I agreed. He led me to a secluded place at the edge of a cliff and we stood there silently for a moment.

I broke the silence. "Why not just reject me? Why make me believe you love me to kill my dreams brutally afterwards?", I asked. I was honestly still very confused.

He stayed silent. But I was not going to let him go that easily. Finding my mate was something I had dreamed of. I had told him all my fantasies, why not reject me before I got in too deep?

"Tell me!", I screamed, "Tell me you fucking coward!"

"What do you want me to say? Truth is I hated you from the very beginning. Nobody ever liked you. I was supposed to have a normal mate, not a stupid hybrid who can't see fake from real. You were just an opportunity for me to gain some cash.", then he shrugged. "I'm sorry"

"You're sorry?", I whispered. He was sorry? That was all he had to say? He was sorry.

I turned my back and started walking home. If I stayed there for a second longer I was going to cave in and push him off the cliff. So I preferred to go home, and cry, like I always did.

***

"Few hours later, everybody was banging at my door. Turned out, Ethan had slipped and had fallen off the cliff-"

"Karma", Ingrid interrupted, making me look at her weirdly. I didn't think Ethan deserved to die, he deserved a harsh punishment but not death.

"Everybody blamed me for his death. They said I had pushed him off the cliff because of the bet. I was almost sent out of the pack but the Alpha overruled the decision because there was no proof I was the one who did it. And yeah, that's the story of my life", I ended with a sad smile. There was still so much more to tell, but today was not the day.

Ingrid took me into her arms. "You're so strong. I'm so proud to call you my friend"

I smiled despite the tears running down.

"I'm grateful to call you my friend, Ingrid. So grateful", she was my first and only friend, and I hoped it stayed that way for a long while.

"Now, let's go so I can teach a lesson to that stupid second chance mate of yours❞

***