PROWESS. (COMPLETED)

Chapter 71

"I feel responsible. He was on my territory, waiting to see me at the time he was attacked. I'd been ignoring him all day." Her shoulders slum as she wraps her arms around her middle.

"That's not all...is it?"

"Isn't that enough?" She retorts.

"That's not what I meant. You have bags under your eyes, rashes on your wrists and ankles, you've lost weight and you're incredibly distanced. What else?" He says softly, stepping closer and running his knuckles down her cheek without actually touching her. She flinches, looking intently at the floor.

"Last week I was attacked, after a pack event, and laced with silver. I kept slipping in and out of consciousness, but someone was on top of me, I could feel his...his... his thing near the top of my thighs. I've been having nightmares about it."

"Does your Prince know this?" Asks Aries through his teeth.

"Not what happened, but my wolf summoned his and he went ballistic, or so I've been told." Ana continues walking, "The nightmares have subsided for the last couple of nights though, I've been dreaming of a large wolf instead. The weight loss is nothing, and the rashes are just-"

"Don't pull that crap with me" interrupts Aries irritated. "This is serious, Anastasia" he says pulling her to a stop again. "I know its hard-"

"Hard?" She cuts across him angrily. Yanking herself out of his grip. "You think it's hard? No. Being a female pack leader is hard. Being a female in an Alphas world is hard. But this! The fighting on all fronts, the assumptions, the scrutiny, the all-round dishonesty, and the secrets! It's torture. Him, them, everyone! They are all humiliating me, destroying everything I've worked so hard for! It's killing me Rhys! I can't..." She trails, squeezing her insides together as if it were the solutions to all her problems.

"Why didn't you mate with him?" Aries asks quietly. The million-dollar question on every body's mind. Even Jones, silent but ever present during the conversation, had wondered this, and intrigued, listens closely to Anastasia's answer.

"You remember how we used to say that having a pre-destined mate takes away your choice to find your own partner? How your werewolf mate could be the worst person in the world but once your wolf has discovered them, you're chemically bound to them regardless of your human feelings?" Eyes tortured, Aries stiffly nods. "Well, I met Kellen and everything went out the window, it's like being an alcoholic around hard liquor. I feel intoxicated around him, I can't think straight and my every thought and feeling revolves around him. But I didn't want the attraction to be solely werewolf. I wanted to build a proper relationship with him, based on trust and honesty, shared thoughts and feelings. I want us to understand each other. I wanted, and still want, to learn to love him as a human as well, not just as a slave to my primal instincts predestined to love him. Is that so wrong?"