In just a few minutes, Lana, Lexi, and I already have the pizza box opened in the middle of the bed, one slice each in our hands and a can of soda in the other. We sigh in content as we lean back into the bed savoring the taste of the pepperoni pizza.
Soon, Lexi has to leave as she has a class to attend and some projects to be done in the library. Lana and I wave her goodbye as she saunters out of the room with a half-eaten slice of pizza still in hand. Immediately after she closes the door behind her with her footsteps receding down the hallway, Lana hops to sit beside me with a grin on her face.
"You should have seen the jet we used to get back here. It had a bedroom, Ellie. And you were in it! And there were these fancy foods that taste so damn good and the..."
I giggle out loud at Lana's enthusiasm, happy she's okay, considering she just left her mate behind. But then again, it all could be an act to cover up the real pain she was feeling right now.
"Well, I'm glad you had fun." I roll my eyes at her as she keeps on blabbering on about the food. "Tell me, how are you holding up?" I cock my head at her to study her reaction to my words. She grimaces a bit before shaking her head and regaining back her composure.
"I'm fine." She crosses her long leg over the other. "But enough about me. You're the one who almost got forcefully marked by an asshole. I hope he hadn't gotten too far in." She throws me a worried look as her eyes scan my bare neck. I remember the scene once more, playing like a horror movie in my head. I might be having nightmares for days about that.
"Luckily, Reagan showed up quickly." Then Brad's bloody face once more flashes through my mind, making me grimace in disgust. Another nightmare I will be having. "Do you have any idea what happened to Brad after I blackout? Had they left him there?" I curiously ask her after taking a sip from my soda can.
She sighs, having a look of pity on her face as a sad smile stretches over her lips. "Lexi told me all that happened on the flight here. I think when they came to pick me up at your aunt's place, Brad's body had been left in the forest. However, some rumors are going around campus." My interest is peaked, and I scoot closer over to her, wanting to hear more.
"What rumors?" I arch an eyebrow up at her.
"Well, it seems Red Moon called Alpha Benson to come and pick up his son. He was in a really bad shape, his canines popped out, and his numerous wounds, not healing. It seems the beta's son is gonna be appointed Alpha after all." She shrugs while my face turns crestfallen. I despise Brad, but hearing the state he is in right now tugs at my tiny heart. He doesn't deserve this. No matter what, he doesn't. He's losing everything just because of a simple mistake. Wait, what are you saying, Ellie? He tried to mark you even after having a mate.
"That's not all, Ellie," Lana speaks up once more, causing me to rotate my neck to her direction. She's leaning on her side with her elbows supporting her as she faces me.
"Lexi said something about him facing a trial with the council." I gasp as she said this, covering my mouth in horror. He has already gone through so much, and there's more coming for him? Being held for trial under the councils was something done to werewolves with very high criminal reputations. Even rogues who go against laws aren't taken up to them.
No one who is taken to face the councils ever comes out lucky. And punishments being handed over to them are usually severe.
"B...but why?! Hasn't he been punished enough?" I cry helplessly, feeling extremely guilty for what is happening to Brad. Having your canines pulled out was one of the worst punishments given to werewolves, and now, this!
It's all my fault. I shouldn't have led him on when I came back just to get revenge on Stacy. That's why he thought I still liked him and chased after me. I was the only reason all this was happening to him.
"You should ask your mate that. He's the one taking him there. And to be fair, I don't think he's wrong in doing that." I whip my head around to face her in shock. She didn't seem to care that Brad, who was supposed to be her Alpha, was on the verge of having his whole life ruined.
"Lana! He's supposed to be your Alpha!"
"Keyword, supposed." She stretches the word. "He lost that right when he tried to sink his teeth into your neck even though he was already mated. Don't you know what could have happened to you if he had succeeded? We're talking about your life here, Ellie!" She cries out, waving her hands in the air to get her point across.
I drop my shoulders in defeat as I understand what she meant. A werewolf couldn't mark two mates. It wasn't possible. So if one tries to mark another she-wolf even though he already has a mate, one of them had to go. The bond could kill a mate for the other to take the place of the true mate.
The one who ends up living is always the one with a stronger bond, and my bond with Brad had been growing weaker over the months that had passed. I would have been the one most likely to be dead.
If his teeth had successfully penetrated my skin, I most likely would have just ended up losing a lot of blood while my body tries to fight the toxin from his canines released into my system. He knew this, and he had still tried to go on with it. He had been perfectly fine with losing one of us - Stacy or me.
"He had tried to kill a potential future Princess and separate a Prince from his mate. Do you know the gravity of all these offenses? Only one could make him be chained up with wolf's bane for the rest of his life." Lana explains as I remain deep in thoughts. True, Brad might end up in a very bad condition after the trial. I could only imagine what Alpha Benson and Luna Ciara we're going through right now. Brad was their only son, and they were on the verge of losing him. They probably felt disappointed, sad, angry, depressed...so many emotions.
"No." I shake my head. "I'll talk to Reagan and make a deal with him to free Brad."
Lana's eyebrows furrow in suspicion as she regards me. "You don't still have feelings for Brad, do you?" She studies me with her sharp eyes.
I roll my eyes at her before shaking my head. "Surprisingly, though, I don't. But I also am not happy with the idea of him going through all that. It wasn't all his fault. It's the mate bond. It messes with your mind and makes us think and do things we never would have before."
Brad wasn't always a jerk. In fact, I'm the first person I've seen him be so mean to. If I had been what he had been wishing for, then maybe things would have different. He wouldn't have marked Stacy but me. And Reagan wouldn't have any claim over me. Maybe, just maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we are right now. Even Stacy would be heartbroken by all this. She must have felt it when her mate's canines were being pulled out. The mate bond allows for a werewolf to feel what emotion his or her mate was feeling.
"Ellie," Lana sighs beside me, placing her hand on one of my shoulders. "The mate bond might have made Brad think things he wouldn't have, but it's his choice if he wants to do what it's making him think. I mean, let's take you, for instance. Didn't you want to claw Stacy's throat when Brad chose her over you? Did you do it?" She cocks an eyebrow at me, and I shake my head at her question. She was right. Brad was to take most of the blame for this.
"He's mated to Stacy, and she could have kept him sane. But you had no one. No one to lean to or talk to, and you didn't do anything drastic like this. So believe me when I say Brad deserves what's coming to him."
I'm silent for a while, mulling over her words as I stare into space. There wasn't anything that I could think of that could contradict her statement. Everything going on just seems so fast, and sometimes, I wish I could slow it all down. It felt like just yesterday when I was still seventeen, waiting up all night and dreaming about my future mate. I always thought it would be a beautiful experience, like what my mum and dad have. But there's never happiness without some misfortunes now, is there?
We eat in silence for a while, the pizza already losing its delicious taste in my mouth, and the soda turning bitter. I wanted to leave this God-forsaken room, go out and see what was happening out there. Thank God Lexi had helped get the cuffs off my wrist, but I know going out without Reagan's permission would only make things worse for me. And I'm trying to do the opposite.
After a while, Lana announces she has to leave and get her projects and assignments done. And she had a ton of them considering we were gone for a while. I wasn't happy being left alone so soon, but she promised to visit another time soon.
When she gets out the door, though, I decide to start implementing my plan of how I was going to get some freedom. Lexi had given a good speech for me to know my next move. So, I hurry into the closet and come back out with a sexy red chemise that had black lace designs on the bust area. The material was almost see-through and would stop just at my mid-thigh.
I smirk before biting my lip in nervousness, hoping my plan would work perfectly.
I hurry to take a bath before drying off and putting on the chemise. I have only used it once, and that's when my aunt had bought it for me. After that, I just locked it in a deep corner in my closet. I don't even know why I had packed it along with me here.
I brushed my brown hair to rest on my right shoulder and applied a bright red lipstick. Then I saunter back out to go plop on the bed with a heavy sigh. I fidgeted with my fingernails as I waited patiently for Reagan's arrival.
This was my first time attempting to do this ever. I only hope I don't look stupid in the end. Gosh, it would be such an embarrassment if Reagan ends up laughing in my face. Maybe this was a bad idea. I should just hurry back into the closet, change into something else that does show almost all my womanly parts. Even my breasts were almost spilling from this thing.
I was about to chicken out and run for the closet when the bedroom door clicks open, and Reagan steps in, in all his glory. He has on a smug smirk, probably thinking I would still be cuffed to the bed. But when his eyes land on my barely clad form, his smirk falls off, followed by his jaw, dropping to the floor.
His eyes widen before slowly raking down my body, pausing at my breast for a little while longer. I feel my confidence shoot back up at his reaction. He was literally salivating right now.
"Would you like to come closer?" I whisper the question seductively with a smug smirk of my own. Now it's time to play a game where I'll be undoubtedly victorious in the end.