Chapter 6

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*Corey*

"Hayley!" I called out jumping. She threw the ball and I caught it before throwing it through the hoop. A bunch of cheers erupted from around the pool. "Wooo!" I tackled her under the water as Izabella and Trent did too.

We laughed as we surfaced with Hayley coughing.

"You beat us by one and that's because Izzy was distracting one of our members." Jason glowered at Sean from across the pool as he sat on the edge. I chuckled as Sean glared back at Jason through narrowed eyes.

"Face it, you just suck." Trent shrugged. We laughed.

Pretty much everyone that slept in the ballroom was in the backyard at the moment. Joe actually granted us permission to have a party outside! The only downside was that if you were underage, all you were allowed to do was to watch the older people drink.

I climbed out of the pool but hesitated seeing Hayley and Izabella. I didn't want to leave them out there despite trusting everyone else. I knew Sean would go crazy if anyone dared bother Izabella, though he wouldn't need to because Izzy could usually take care of herself until she said too much, which she usually did, but I still didn't want to leave them there in their bikinis at the party. I had always been very protective of both of them and never wanted either of them to get hurt. If needed, I would definitely have risked my life for them. They were sisters to me.

"It's cool, Corey. I got this." I smiled at Trent. He had pretty much become family to the three of us and I could tell he felt the same way I did about them and protecting them.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later," I said before I made my way into the house to get dried and maybe find Samantha.

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I tried to shove through a few people as I made my way to the fridge. Why the hell was the kitchen so damn crowded when the backyard was practically an entire forest?!

"Want anything?" I called to Samantha.

"No, thank you. Just you." I chuckled as she kissed the back of my neck making me stop heading towards the fridge and turn to her.

"Yeah? I think I would rather have some you too." She laughed as I kissed her softly.

"Let's go to the ballroom, it's empty." She whispered once we parted.

"Sure," I smiled removing my arm from Samantha's waist and taking her hand before leading her out of the kitchen.

She was right, the ballroom was completely empty. It was probably because everyone was sick of being in there. I gasped when she suddenly shoved me back against the wall as the door closed, I hadn't been expecting it so it wasn't very hard for her to do it and I ended up stumbling.

"Wha –?" I was confused but I chuckled when she kissed me. "What are you up to?" I looked down at her amused when she pulled away from me.

She smiled taking my hands and leading me to her mattress before she shoved me again causing me to fall back onto her mattress. I chuckled grabbing her hand and pulling her down on top of me, as soon as her lips were in reach I kissed her while trying to ignore the guilt filling me as I ran my hands onto her waist. What the hell was wrong with me?! I deepened the kiss hoping it would help, it didn't. Instead, a heavy panicked feeling began to fill my chest. I heard the door open but we both seemed to ignore it as we kept going, whoever was there would probably get the message. I assumed they had left when the door clicked again.

It was hard. I couldn't focus or enjoy it because of the dread that filled every part of me, I don't know why I was feeling it but I knew who it linked to. I opened my eyes and stared at the roof as she kissed my jaw before lingering down to my neck, her hands running to the bottom of my shirt and lifting it over my head. She had already lost her shirt somewhere into it and I was trying to enjoy the feeling of her hands against my bare chest but it just didn't feel right. Why didn't I want it? I did, but I didn't. I just felt so disgusted and guilty. So sick. Almost physically ill.

"Samantha, I can't," I forced the words out of my mouth as I pushed her away from me.

She looked at me questioningly as she sat up before frowning down at me. I sat up beneath her.

"Is it Jayden?"

Of course, it was fucking Jayden! I wouldn't be feeling any of this if it wasn't for that idiot! I sighed running my hands through my hair in frustration as I fell back onto her bed. I couldn't have sex with her. Since I had found my mate, if I slept with her I would mark her, even without wanting to. If I had done it before I met Jayden, the marking wouldn't have been a problem because you can only mark another wolf once you meet your mate. But now... we couldn't because I didn't want to mark her. Not right now, at least. I liked her, but I wasn't in love with her. Marking was forever, it needed something much deeper than 'like'.

"Why don't you just reject him?" She was a nice person but I knew she liked me a lot and that made her not like Jayden that much, that I was happy for, not that I was creating a hate club... Which, right then, I was thinking wouldn't be a bad idea.

"You know I can't 'just reject him'," I said.

If I did and then marked her, his pull would come right back and I would always feel it while he was free of his pull towards me, it was like a punishment for rejecting your mate and marking someone else. Rejecting didn't happen often at all, in fact, it was rare, because mates were always perfect for each other. In the very unlikely event that they weren't, rejecting meant either living with that pull while being with someone else or being single and never having sex for the rest of your life to avoid bringing the pull towards your original mate back. I would have made him reject me but he was an Amarelo, and like Izabella, they could not reject their mates. If they could, I knew Izabella would never even have given Sean a chance, she would have rejected him right after she found out so maybe it was a good thing Amarelos could not reject their mates in that case.

"Then what are you going to do?" She asked. Well...

"I'll see you later," I sat up and kissed her cheek before grabbing my shirt. I threw it on and left the ballroom following Jayden's pull.

*Jayden*

I sighed shutting my eyes. I was lying on the carpet in Joe's office, I wasn't allowed upstairs and every other room on the first floor was filled. I had been having a good night until I saw them. I wanted to fetch my phone, but when I walked into the ballroom they were there. My mate and his girlfriend getting 'busy'. Was she even his girlfriend? Did it really matter? All I knew was it hurt, it felt like a punch to my chest and it seemed like it got worse each time I saw them together.

He was supposed to be my mate... Mates were supposed to be perfect... He was not supposed to hate me...

I sat up when the door swung open. I don't know why, I guess I wanted to hide how down I was feeling from whoever would walk in. "We're leaving tomorrow." Corey's voice came before he even set foot in to the office. What? "The witch Marcus was talking about, we're going to meet her. We leave tomorrow, get packing." Corey glared at me. I got up.

"What witch?" Where had Izabella come from?

"The one who's going to fix this and give me my real mate," Corey said. I ignored the dread and hurt that filled me with his reply.

"Corey –" Izabella seemed rather angry.

"Fine." I cut her off. I was done.

If he hated me that badly, I wasn't going to force him to love me or even attempt to. I didn't need him. What was a mate? Nothing. Not anymore. I was being stupid when I thought my mate would be perfect. I couldn't keep feeling so tortured. At least if he got what he wanted I wouldn't be hurt anymore.

"Jayden, you don't have to –" Izabella began.

"Good. We leave at six tomorrow morning." Corey said not even glancing my way before he walked out.

I sucked in a breath and shut my eyes so Izabella wouldn't notice how much I wanted to cry while also trying to calm myself down. Everything always ended badly. Even the one thing I was hoping, praying would not.

"Jayde –"

"I have to pack. Apocalypse Peaks are very far away." I mumbled pushing her out of the room gently so I could lock it, it had been locked when I arrived but I knew where Joe kept his office spare keys.

"Jay – Apocalypse Peaks?" She gasped. "Jayden –" She began.

"I'm fine. Great, Izabella. I'm great." I sent her a smile before I left for my room.

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