Caged In (old version & incomplete)

59.5

Once I returned to the camp with Greg, I laid down and passed out almost immediately.

After what seemed like only minutes of dreaming, I was woken harshly up by someone shaking my arm and whisper-yelling my name.

I groggily opened my eyes to see Greg hovering above me, and the sun slowly rising somewhere in the distance behind him.

" Five more minutes." I mutter as I close my eyes and roll over.

" No, you don't get to go back to sleep until you explain this to me!" Greg flips me onto my back and begins to take my shirt off.

" What the hell, you pervert!" I yell as I struggle to pull my shirt back down.

" Calm down, I'm not stripping you, I'm just looking at the binding spell you have on your abdomen that you never told me about." He growls.

At that comment, my eyelids fly open and I shoot up," This isn't your business, you nosy freak!" I yell," So butt out." I harshly shove him away from me.

" Just tell me why you got it." He says," I mean, don't you always go on and on about how you're not a werewolf. Why would you get one of these if you were human ?"

I scoot backwards slightly as I glance at the floor," The doctor said that it wasn't likely that I would ever shift. I didn't care at the time, but a few years later, I didn't want even the possibility of me shifting."

" You thought you were one of those cases where werewolves don't shift and just turn human ?" Greg asks.

" I am." I muttered half-heartedly.

" You're kidding me, right ? Take a look at your parents, what are the chances of that happening for you ?" He asks.

" Father slept around a lot." I say," I'm probably half -"

" Rachel, shut up!" Greg says.

His eyes were glowing dimly. I could tell that he was furious.

" Honestly, don't you think you're being a bit selfish ?" He asks," Somewhere out there you have a mate that will wait for you for their entire natural life, but because you chose to seal away your wolf, they might end up dying alone."

" I'm not stopping them from finding some other partner! If they think waiting is the best option, that's their choice, but I never asked for them to do that." I growl.

" You know that isn't how things work. You can't just find someone else." Greg says.

" Listen here, Greg, what I do is my business. You have no right to lecture me about this, you have no idea what I've been through, so don't talk about the consequences of my actions. Trust me, I think about that everyday, I don't need you nagging me about it too." I say," And I'm sparing my mate the pain of being rejected. I detest the mating bond and everything it stands for. It's unnatural forced love, and I would never want it for myself or my hypothetical mate that I probably don't even have. So don't talk about shit you don't actually know about."

" You obviously don't! You can't decide how your mate would feel because you think you haven't even met them. Maybe they want closure. Maybe they just want to at least know that they have a mate. Maybe they'd reject you too." Greg says," My point is, you don't know, and if you keep this up, you never will."

" I don't want to know!" I yell," I don't want to think about it more than necessary because I already have enough guilt."

" I'm willing to bet they stay up every night wondering why the moon goddess hates them enough to not give them a mate. Why does your mate have to feel like shit every day about not ever meeting his other half just so you can keep living with the delusion that you aren't a pureblood ?" Greg says.

" This person doesn't even exist Greg! This is a hypothetical person that you're being over dramatic about!" I yell.

" Rachel, you have to open open your eyes. Look at the situation from someone else's point of view for once and see the possibility that you could be wrong." Greg says.

" I'm not wrong. I'm not a werewolf, and I'm certainly not anyone's mate." I growl.

" But just for a second think about if you were a werewolf and you knew you had a mate, how would you feel if they did nothing but avoid you ?" Greg says.

I take a deep breath as I stare at the ground.

" I'd feel . . ." I mutter," . . . Free."

" I asked you a serious question, you know that's not -"

" I replied with a serious response. If I had a mate and they did nothing but avoid me, it'd be a blessing. Trust me, I've seen first hand the havoc the mating bond can have on both parties." I say," What you call love is like a beautiful artifact at a museum, you can only look at it and the moment you touch it, you get assaulted and thrown in jail."

" Rachel what are you talking about -"

" You know the mating bond is the reason why rogues exist, right ?" I ask," They go insane without their soul mate. But humans marry and divorce all they like. There are old women and men who have had their wife or husband die, but they live on, rather than becoming a savage beast that cannibalizes and terrorizes the rest of their species once their spouse dies. Why is it necessary for us - ahem," I cough," I mean you to become a monster once your mate dies ?"

" Because you aren't complete without your mate. You can live without your mate as well as you can live with only half of your vital organs." He says softly.

" Don't give me that crap, why aren't you born with your mate then, why are you able to live the first couple of years of your life without them if they're necessary for survival ?" I hiss at him.

" Both of you, please just be quiet! Remember that we are in neutral territory, which means rogues could be anywhere!" Fea yells," I'm sure your bickering can wait." She says before turning back around," Now then, let's get going." She started walking.

" Greg started it," I mutter.

" Fucking low breed." He growls.

" Ill have you remember the fact that I'm the future queen." I growl back at him.

" I was referring to your behavior this time." He said," I can't believe how much you've changed, there's no way someone like you can be my . . . " He trails off before growling loudly to himself.

" Yeah, you're right, there's just no way." I say.

He looks up," What's that supposed to mean ?"

I scoff," Exactly what you were just getting at," I say," There's no way we could ever be friends." I finish.

" Yes of course." He ticks his tongue and brushes against my shoulder as he moves to walk beside Fea.

You're such a tease.

Shut up.

You know exactly what he was talking about, he brought it up before, when will you stop adamantly denying it ?

When this insane voice in my head finally fucks off.

We'll see.

Whatever this voice is, it's only gotten worse since I've spent more time with Greg and I intend to figure out what it is and how to blame him before this trip is over.

I watch him laugh with Fea as they walk in front of me and I feel a tinge of jealously from nowhere.

I'm definitely going to find out why I've been feeling so weird.

1275 words