Chapter 10
If I thought the staring at the pack was bad, it was nothing compared to this. It seemed like every female in the entire town was staring at Alex. It was, in all honesty, aggravating. I hated having to watch my mate show all these beautiful girls attention, when he wouldn't even look at me in that way. Frowning I trudge along behind him silently, looking at all the beautiful shops we pass by.
"Go." Alex says quietly beside me.
Turning to look at him with a confused expression, I raise an eyebrow.
"Go. Shop. Knock yourself out. I know you want to." he answers.
"B-but I-I don't have a-any money." I stutter out, shrugging my shoulders.
"And I do." he snaps.
"Alex," I sigh, "I'm not spending your money."
"Then think of it as your money. I need to get you a credit card soon anyway." he shrugs.
"I'm not taking your money from you!" I yelp, stepping back slightly, "I'm not a thief!"
"Claire," Alex growls lowly, "If I tell you to do something. You do it. Without any questions asked. Understand?"
"Yes, Alpha." I groan, rolling my eyes.
"Shut up. Go." he spits.
Huffing, I take off into the first store that I see and walk over to the clothes section. I start to look through a pile in a bargain bin. If I was going to spend Alex's money, I sure as hell wasn't going to spend a lot of it. Unfortunately, I saw nothing in my size. Turning back around, a small screech leaves my lips when I realize Alex had been standing behind me.
"Jesus." I gasp, clutching my chest, "I didn't know you were behind me."
"Where else would I be?" he asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
His bulging muscles distract me momentarily, but I quickly snap out of my daze and shrug.
"I thought you would stay out there with them." I grumble, walking out of the store.
"Who's them?" Alex replies, walking out behind me.
"The girls." I mumble, gesturing over to the few females who had, had their faces pressed against the window of the shop we were just in.
"Oh...You've got to be fucking kidding me." he groans, dragging a hand down his face.
"They seem to like you. I thought you'd want to stay. I don't care if you do." I say feigning disinterest as I look for the next store to enter.
"You're seriously jealous right now?" he questions.
"Nope." I answer, popping the 'p'.
"You're pathetic you know that." he mumbles, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into a store.
"Alex, what are you doing?" I hiss, as he pulls me through all of the clothes to the back by the dressing rooms.
Pushing me into one, he steps in after me, locking the door behind him. Then he sets his gaze on me.
"You're jealous." he says again.
"N-no." I stutter, losing myself a little at our close proximity.
"You're jealous." he growls.
I am unable to say anything and simply open and close my mouth like a fish out of water.
"You think that matters to me at all? That they stare at me?" he asks.
I make no move to answer.
"It doesn't. I live for it. For their appreciation and respect, but the looks don't matter to me." he growls again, moving closer to me.
I am gaping at this point and have no idea what to say, so I let him do all the talking.
"But at the same time, I don't give a shit that you're jealous. Because you shouldn't be. I'm not your property that someone is trying to take. I do not belong to you. I am not yours." he growls out.
I gulp, breathing in deeply.
"I should be able to go out right now and sleep with every girl out there and you shouldn't even feel a pinch because I am not yours. Do you understand me?" he snaps.
Nodding my head, I feel the tears well up in my eyes. I bite my lip, not allowing them to fall.
"I don't care about your stupid teenager emotions. I am the Alpha and I do what I want. Now find yourself some clothes." he spits, exiting the dressing room as quickly as he came.
Sighing, I finally let my tears fall freely, leaning my head back against the wall behind me. I hear the dressing room door swing open again and I quickly wipe away my tears and look up at Alex standing in the doorway. He quickly grabs my waist and latches his lips to mine. The tingles shooting up my spine feels like an electric current. My stomach was flipping and my heart pounding. The kiss is short and lasts only a few seconds, but when he pulls away my lips are still on fire and his eyes are a lighter shade of brown.
"Find some clothes." he snaps, before slamming the dressing room door and walking out of the store.
He was seriously bipolar. One moment he hates me and the next he's kissing me. Then, he's back to hating me. I did not understand my mate.
~~~~~
The rest of the the shopping trip was…...awkward. Alex wouldn't look at me or anyone else for that matter and never spoke a word to me. To say I was surprised was a lie. It was just like his personality to do something as special as kiss me and then ignore me. I had stocked up on clothes and other necessary items that I needed, so at least it wasn't a waste. When we had arrived back to the pack, Alex immediately left me to carry all the bags by myself. He didn't have any manners, so I didn't think anything of it. He continued to ignore me for the rest of the night, not saying a word to me, when I moved into the guest room instead of sleeping with him. This continued for days and days quickly turned to weeks and I knew that most likely it would eventually turn to months. I didn't do anything about it. It wasn't worth the effort. All he would do was either yell or ignore me some more, so what was the use?
Then I began to wonder why I was actually here. Why did I insist on staying in this pack, when I could very well leave and start a life somewhere new? After his very childish behavior, I realized that after all he didn't care about me. That kiss gave me some hope. Some hope that he would be different with me. Gentler. More caring. And I can't help but laugh at my stupidity. How could I ever have thought that I could change him that quickly?
My wolf was going crazy. She blamed me for our mate ignoring us and she hated me for it. She said that everything would have worked out if I had just been a little more understanding. I didn't know what she had meant. She despised me for thinking of leaving. She often threatened to take control and never let me back in if I ever tried to go through with it. I wasn't sure if that was ever going to actually happen.
But there was one thing that I was absolutely sure about for the second time in my miserable life, I was completely and utterly alone.
It's been three weeks since the shopping trip. Three weeks of silence. Three weeks of boredom. Three weeks of wondering what the hell was wrong with me.
Alex started leaving the house a lot more recently and staying out for a lot longer. When I asked, the maids told me that he was on business trips. I didn't believe it. If ignoring me wasn't worse enough now, he had resorted to avoiding me as well.
Today was an off day for the maids. They only ever came every other day. They had came yesterday. I was bored. Beyond bored. I had spent the last three weeks with barely any human contact. I had spent the majority locked away in my room. It was the only way i wouldn't see him. The only way I wouldn't feel that familiar ache in my chest.
I needed company, so I wandered. Through the house. Through the pack. I even went to the garage. As I was returning back to the house from the garage, I spotted the black floppy mop of hair that was Sebastian.
"Sebastian!" I call.
He turns around at his name and his eyes widen when he sees me. Snapping out of his momentary shock he turns around and starts walking faster.
"Hey Sebastian! Wait up!" I shout, jogging up behind him.
I grab onto his elbow, but he reels his arm away immediately and takes a step back.
"What's wrong?" he says cautiously, his eyes flicking around like he was looking for someone.
"I just need to talk." I mutter, kicking the gravel beneath my feet.
"Are you sure that's okay? I really don't want to be beat to death by your mate again." he asks, taking another step away.
"He's gone," I mumble, "He's been gone for awhile."
"He's gone? What do you mean?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I mean...he doesn't care." I mutter grimly, looking over at the overgrowth of green luscious trees.
"Don't worry about that. He doesn't care about anything….,but himself and his pack." he replies, with a sympathetic expression.
"I want to know what you were talking about with him." I say, looking up at him, raising my hand to shield my eyes from the sun.
"What do you mean?" he mumbles, clearly knowing exactly what I'm talking about.
"Come on, Justin Bieber. You know what I mean. He beat you up. I wanna know why." I demand, putting a hand on my hip.
"Justin Bieber?" he laughs.
"Yes, because of the whole what do you mean thing. It's a song." I explain.
He lets out a loud chuckle.
"I get it."
"Come on, Sebastian. Just tell me?" I plead, growing tired of his antics.
A long sigh leaves his lips and he sits down on a nearby tree stump. Leaving me to sit on the ground beside of him.
"I don't know," he huffs, "I went to him to talk about you."
"Again?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. Again. He's your mate, Claire. You deserve to have him as much as he deserves to have you and I know how he is with women. So I thought I would go talk to him about you, but of course, my brother being my brother, he didn't like that too much." he explains, licking his lips.
"How is he with women?" I wonder, my teeth latching onto my lip.
"He pushes them away," he snickers, "I don't even think the dude's had his first kiss much less slept with anybody."
"He's a virgin?" I gape, my eyes the size of saucers.
"I think. At least there hasn't ever been girls hanging around the house. Trust me I would know." he nods, "He doesn't like women very much. Problems with our mom, but of course that's not my story to tell and I've already said too much. But I thought I'd talk to him in hopes he wouldn't push you away. And now you say he's gone?"
Yeah. He leaves almost every night and doesn't always come home. When I ask people where he is they always say he's on a business trip." I shrug, looking down at the ground.
I could not explain my excitement and surprise when Sebastian told me Alex was a virgin. It didn't matter to me too much. I had kind of expected him to have slept with every woman in this pack because he was Alex.
"He'll come home soon." Sebastian mumbles, kicking a stray pebble near his shoe.
"How do you know that?" I desperately ask, the familiar ache in my chest returning once more.
"He leaves a lot. Hardly ever tells anybody where he goes. At first I thought he was searching for someone, but then I discovered that he likes to hunt rogues by the border line. It's a cat and mouse game for him and he loves it. It calms him down." he explains.
I huge sigh of relief leaves my mouth and we sit in silence for a few minutes.
"Luna!" Someone shouts and I immediately shoot up from where I sat before.
I see Simon running full speed towards us.
"What's wrong?" I ask in a panic.
"It's Alex. He thinks you've left." Simon pants.
"What?!" I screech.
"He's tearing up the house. Come quick!" he yells, before turning and sprinting away with me hot on his tail.
"Thanks Seb! I'll talk to you later!" I call behind me.
In response I hear a small, "Bye." and shuffling of feet. We make it to the house in record time and I immediately start up the stairs. A hauntingly powerful growl echoes through the house. Loud enough to make the floorboards shake. I can hear panting and crashing. It gets louder the closer I get to my bedroom.
"Alex!" I shout, throwing open the door.
He turns towards me, his face covered in white hot rage. His eyes are completely black and the veins in his neck are bulging.
"You tried to leave me!" he roars.
"No! I didn't! I was at the garage!" I shout over his continuous growling.
"You weren't there! I had someone check!" he spits, his expression only growing angrier.
"I was! I was coming here and then I saw Sebastian and thought I would stop to talk to him!"
This only serves to make him angrier than he ever had been before as he picks up the white desk by the window and smashes it to pieces against the lilac wall.
"Alex please." I beg, quietly.
At first, I wasn't sure that he had heard me, but then his entire body stills. He slowly turns towards me, the anger still entirely present.
"Why were you with him?" he spits.
"I wanted to know why you beat him up."
"Why did you care?"
"Because he's my friend, Alex!"
"You want to go sleep with him?!"
"NO! Why would you say that?!"
"Because I know the way he feels about you!"
"He's a friend, Alex!" F-R-I-E-N-D! Nothing more, nothing less."
"YOU ARE MINE!" Alex roars, ignoring everything that I just said.
Silence fills the room.
"But you're not mine?" I whisper, looking to the side.
"No. Of course not!" he growls.
Once again the entire house was quiet. Too quiet.
"I'm going to go take a nap on the couch." I mumble, before I leave the room with tears falling down my cheeks.
~~~~~
I had just lowered myself onto the living room couch, when the doorbell rang. Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh of annoyance and rise to my feet. No one was home. Alex was gone again, he had left with a roar along with Simon. So that left me. Groggily sitting up from the couch, I am finally able to make it to the door by the fourth chime of the bell.
Throwing open the door, I instantly feel inferior to the pretty brunette standing in front of me.
"Can I help you?" I ask, after a very awkward minute of silence.
"Is Alex here?" she says with arrogance in her voice.
"No. He stepped out for a while. Can I take a message?" I explain, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I'll just come in then." she snaps, pushing past me.
"Um, Alex will not be happy that a stranger is in his house, so I suggest you leave." I advise.
She turns back to me with a smirk and cocks her head to the side.
"I'm sorry, Omega, you must be new here. My name is Stephanie. I'm his wife." she smirks, holding out a hand for me to shake.
And at that moment, My heart shattered.