"I don't like repeating myself, who are you?" That girl asked again, this time her voice void of any emotions.
She was sounding too pissed off. It seemed as if she was going to come to tear Amara's face off anytime.
For some reason, Amara wanted to mess up with her entire system. She wanted to see how far she could push her.
"My identity isn't of your use. You won't get any benefit from it, believe me but I want to know who you are. Nicolas is the alpha of this pack as far as I remember and since you came inside like it's nothing then you must have a special relationship with him, right?" Amara said calmly.
The girl was looking at her blankly. Amara didn't seem like a danger given how calm she was about this entire situation.
As toxic as it made Nicolas seem, he wanted Amara to get angry at the other girl.
He wanted her to show that she actually likes her and tell that other girl to leave him and move on.
"I am the beta's one and only daughter. And I also happen to be one of the best fighters here and my name is Athena," she said with a prideful smile.
"Like the goddess of war?" Amara asked.
"Yes, like the goddess of war. She used to be the most strategic about war and was wishful as hell. My parents thought that I was going to be the same. Well, I might not be the wisest one out there but I am strong enough to beat everyone around us and that includes our Alpha."
Athena's head was as high as possible. Pride could be seen as visible as the daylight in her tone and face.
Amara didn't find anything wrong with it. She actually liked how Athena is. The sense of dislike she had for her a few seconds ago vanished like it never existed here in the first place.
Amara realized that she shouldn't go around disliking someone for liking someone else. It was the most natural thing to do.
Every single animal on this planet falls for their own kind at least once in their entire life.
It was a part of their life. How could she not like Athena for liking Nicolas?
It was her personal choice. She could like whoever she wants to and Amara was no one to judge her.
"Hopefully I will get to learn things from you. I was planning on joining the practice with the other newbies. And I think that you are going to be an amazing teacher."
Amara pushed her hand towards Athena for a handshake but she didn't bother shaking it.
The sudden bubbly behavior she showed a few seconds ago fully left her eyes.
She was no longer looking at Amara with kind eyes. Her eyes were looking like the eyes of a killer now who's waiting for their prey to fall in the trap so that they could be killed.
"I don't want to teach you anything. You still haven't answer who you are to Nicolas," she said.
Amara looked at Nicolas. She was confused about what her reply should be. She wasn't close enough to Nicolas to say that she was a friend.
Yet he was the only person she knew here.
"She is my closest friend. She is going to join the pack soon," Nicolas spoke up, unable to suppress his voice off any longer.
Athena thought that he would tell her to fudge off right after she came here but since,he was calm for this long, it could only mean one thing and it was that whoever Amara was to him, she was special.
Nicolas didn't want to behave rudely in front of her.
"How soon?"
"Today. I am going to introduce her at today's dinner and she will be introduced as a new pack members there as well."
"But as a pack member and a special part of the pack, I have a right to refuse to let her in, right? I don't want her in our pack," Athena said, standing still on her ground as if challenging Nicolas aka the Alpha.
She knew that his answer was either going to break her heart or mend it. She didn't really have any hopes for a positive outcome but people often become shameless in love.
They become ready to sacrifice their self worth whenever needed, all just to get a small amount of attention from the person they are in love with.
But not everyone was lucky in love. Athena was just another example. Her open love and care for Nicolas was rejected openly by him as well.
"Then I, the alpha of your pack, has the power to deny your request as well. If I say that she is going to join in our pack then she is going to join our pack. You or anyone else in the pack don't have any say against my decision and I am sure that nobody other than you would dare to go against me. You shouldn't have the nerve to do so either but here we are," Nicolas said in a harsh tone.
Amara knew that these words were directed to Athena but she was feeling scared instead.
Nicolas's words seemed too harsh to her.
She openly said how she doesn't want Amara to join the pack. But her rejection didn't matter to Amara because she could see where she was coming from.
She was a woman in love and how can any woman tolerate the love of their life taking another woman's side?
Amara herself would have the same reaction had she been on Athena's place. In fact, she might have had an worse reaction, she wasn't sure.
She understood Athena's point of view and decided not to take her words to her heart. Another reason was she didn't care about Athena enough to care about what she says.
"You are choosing her over me? I have been by your side for as long as I can remember. I was there whenever you needed me and yet, you are choosing her who came here just today? Is she the rough the pack members were talking about?" Athena spoke with venom dripping from her tongue.
Her eyes were red by now and she looked like she was about to shift in her wolf form anytime.
"It's not about choosing anyone but if that's what you want to think then I don't have any problem with it. You are free to think whatever you want to think. It's none of my business," Nicolas said while shrugging off his shoulders.
"I am in love with you, Nicolas. Don't push me away for someone new," Athena's tone changed into a vulnerable one.
"Don't make me repeat myself. You and I, we both know that I don't have any feelings for you. You know that I never saw you more than a friend. Don't try to make me feel guilty for the promises or hope I never gave you," Nicolas was firm about his decision.
Amara felt like she was the one rejected. She wanted to scold Nicolas for being this heartless but at the same time, we can't force our heart to love someone just like how we can't force ourselves into forgetting someone.
The heart wants what the heart wants and the heart doesn't want what it doesn't want.
"But you knew that I am in love with you."
"And I clearly remember rejecting you. I did warn you on various occasions. I firmly told you that I don't have any feelings for you and I won't have any feelings for you. In fact, you shouldn't have any feelings for me either. You have a mate somewhere out there for you. You should wait for him. I was not made for you," he took a break before speaking again.
"In fact, you are just attracted to me. You will forget everything after meeting your mate. You are going to fall for him, you are going to love everything about him. You are going to forget about me by then, believe me," Nicolas said.
"I won't forget about you and this isn't mere attraction. I am not a child anymore who can't differentiate the emotions I feel. I know what is attraction and what is love. And about that entire mate thing, I will directly reject my mate. I don't want him, I want you."
Amara was watching everything silently. She didn't know what she was supposed to say.
The entire time, Nicolas was holding her hand, he is still holding her hand.
"You are going to make the dumbest mistake then. You know that nothing comes great from rejecting ones mate. I used to think that you are a wise girl but you sound so immature now," Nicolas said, he was intentionally trying to hurt her for her own goodness.
He knew that his words were hurting her and that was his main motive. He wanted her to hate him and kill the love she has for him.
He might not have any romantic feelings for her but he cared enough for her.
She has his respect and care as a friend but he would never be able to see her as a potential lover.
"How the hell a single moon goddess can decide our destiny? Why are we told to wait until that destined one comes so that we can feel the pull and instantly fall for them? Why can't things be normal? Why do we need to fall for the right one? And if they are the right one then why are there so many broken stories about this entire mate thing? Why so many wolves died after killing themselves?"
Her voice was now carrying bitterness.
Amara was silently watching her go through all stages of a heartbreak.
She wanted to give her a hug but she knew that at that moment, she would rather prefer not watching her face.
But we humans are selfish and too curious, Amara wanted to know the ending. As much as she hated herself for this, she wanted to see Athena get fully rejected.
The reason unknown to her.
"There are so many broken stories about this entire mate thing because lots of people like you decided to be selfish and dumb enough to reject their mates. They wanted to go against the plans of nature and it backfired. Nothing comes great by going against the nature. You just need to accept a few things. It might hurt now but you are going to understand everything I am saying now after meeting your mate."
Athena gave him a confused look before realization hits her like a thunder.
Her eyes become as big as soccer balls. Then they become red but this time, it wasn't due to anger. This time they were sad and bitter tears.
She was cursing her fate over and over again. She knew that Nicolas isn't her mate.
She thought that she would reject her mate and live happily ever after with Nicolas but the idea that Nicolas is going to have a mate of his own never crossed her brain.
She always thought that he was forever going to stay single for her. She had so many dreams involving him but she was dreaming with open eyes.
She wasn't the main female lead in Nicolas's life story. She was meant to be the second female lead who is in love with him but could never have him.
For he was never meant to be hers. He was already destined for someone else and that someone else wasn't her.
She was waiting for sadness to hit her but all she felt was emptiness. Her eyes were crying but her heart was sitting there without any emotions.
For the first time, she wanted to feel something. Just something to let this pain out because only by letting the tears fall, her sadness wasn't going away.