Axel remained mute as though he was deaf to my words. However, from the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, I knew he was feeling their impact.
"Do you know the consequences I will face? Do you know what they will call ? A desperate Oga who tried to seduce a high-ranking wolf. A disgrace. A liar. So might even say I forced you. And do you know what happens to won like that in our pack, Axel?" My voice cracked. "They get banished. And with my Father, he’ll marry off to an old, ugly, and devious rogue, claiming I have sullied the family’s na because I HAVE, Axel."
I took a mont to breathe, my chest rising and falling. "First, I am an Oga, and now, I got marked by my sister’s soon-to-be fiance outside of the mate bond?!"
His hands twitched at his sides.
I took a step closer, desperate for him to understand, to see what he had done to . "I have lived every day terrified that soone would notice. That soone would pull at my scarf, and my secret would be exposed. Every ti soone reaches for it, my heart stops. Every ti soone glances at my neck for a second too long, I feel like I can’t breathe."
Axel’s breathing had grown heavier. His fingers curled into fists so tightly his knuckles went white.
Was he feeling it? The guilt? Regret? Did he realize what was at stake now?
"I have protected our secret. I have protected us. I’m not even good at protecting myself, but I have gone out of the way just to protect what we shared." My voice trembled, but I kept going. "And what about you? Are you just going to marry Rosa and let be ruined?"
His face fell and I thought I had finally gotten to him, but when he finally spoke, his voice was cold. "I’m sorry, María José."
"Sorry?" I repeated hollowly.
"I have always wanted Rosa. Since childhood. And I won’t let one mistake stop from achieving my deepest desire." He finished in a distant tone.
I physically recoiled at those cruel words. Who could have known that behind all that fake act of justice, behind all that caring exterior was a disgusting and heartless bastard in Axel?
After everything... after making feel like I was the most important woman to him in the world, he was doing... this?
Deepest desire. That was what she was to him.
Not . It was never .
I sucked in a sharp breath, but it was useless. The pain had already settled in my chest, and it wasn’t being pretty either.
"The only thing I can do for you now is give you so advice," Axel continued, his voice oddly emotionless, as if this wasn’t destroying . "If there is soone else who wants you, you should go to them. Love them heartily."
I stared at him, waiting for him to take it back.
He didn’t.
"You should find soone who actually wants you, María José. Because it’s hard to choose an Oga when there are so many eligible females in the pack."
It felt like the final dagger to my heart. So that’s what I was to him now... an Oga. Coming from soone who goes out of his way to show people that I was worth sothing beyond my oga status, this was a lot to swallow.
He almost seed like soone else. Yet, he felt so familiar.
I let out a broken laugh that was bitter and humorless. "You think I should appreciate a man who I don’t have any feelings for? To lead him on and trap him in a one-sided love web as has been done to ?" My voice cracked. "Do you even hear yourself right now?"
Axel said nothing.
The room spun around and I thought I might collapse, but I didn’t care. The pain inside was too loud, too crushing, and too much.
There was no more sha in . I wouldn’t hold back any longer. Axel would never get this version of ever again. I would never be the María José I was about to be in his presence ever again.
The one who actually says how she felt.
I lifted my chin, swallowing down the sob lodged in my throat. "What if I don’t want soone else?" I whispered. "What if I want you?"
His eyes flashed.
My lips trembled, but I refused to stop now. "What if I love you?"
and of course, there was silence.
Axel shook his head, further dipping his hands in his pockets. He looked like he had just been punched, like I’d declared I wanted to kill him, not love him.
He had no idea how big this was for . How personal, how morable this mont would be for the rest of my life. This was the first ti I’d ever confess my feelings to any man.
Axel he—he was my first love.
But then, after what felt like an eternity, he inhaled sharply, schooling his features into that of indifference.
"Then if you love , you should let be with the woman I love." He declared and bells rang in my eyes.
Everything inside shattered.
Tears burned my eyes, but I really didn’t want to let them fall. No, don’t cry, María José. Not in front of him. Not when he didn’t deserve to see them.
I shouldn’t have doubted Mateo. He only ant well. He only didn’t want to see hurt. He had been right about Axel.
Was this how Mateo felt when I rejected him? Was this how much his chest hurt that it felt like a wound was festering in it?
It was no wonder he reacted that way. No wonder he terrified . You were either disgusted or vengeful. In Mateo’s case, he was vengeful.
I, on the other hand, was disgusted with this deceitful man in front of . I couldn’t believe I let myself get fooled. All along, I didn’t an more than a little sister to him:
A second of silence passed and then, I made an internal decision.
I exhaled shakily and stepped back, feeling the cold rush of air between us. I reached for my scarf, pulling it up over my neck and covering the mark—the sha, the taint as Mateo had called it.
Then, in a whisper, I pointed toward the door. "Get out."
Axel glanced at . At first, he hesitated and I almost got fooled by the seeming pain in his eyes until I saw the corners of his mouth faintly curving up.
Was that a... smirk? Was he triumphant? Glad he had broken my heart?
Really?!
I lifted my head, eting his gaze, and this ti, I was the one who looked away first. "I said get out, Axel!"
There was a long pause. And then—footsteps.
The door creaked open. He didn’t say anything as he left. Didn’t look back. He was worse than Álvaro. At least, Álvaro was plain about who he really was. He didn’t pretend to be so emphatic hero who deceived girls into winking their hearts.
And as the door clicked shut behind him, I finally let myself break.
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