Everyone was at the funeral, even Cassie.
There were grim faces everywhere as the casket was lowered, but if anybody was observant enough, they'd realize that only Rowan and Cassie didn't show any ounce of sadness. They stood at the back with straight faces feeling no emotion towards the dead woman. Both of them wondering what to think.
Everyone heard how she died, drowned. Murdered.
But nobody knew how she lived, abusive. Horrid.
Some expressed their sadness, and some were just afraid of how people kept turning up dead in this town as they watched yet another victim of the unknown threat. Clearly there was someone roaming around killing people, but nobody knew anything about, well, anything. They were all clueless, and they all had hopes that their alpha would fix this somehow.
They didn't know that their alpha was fumbling to search of their missing past-member, and fixing the strained relations he worked years to maintain with the other packs. Losing their future alphas was not something they took lightly.
Unbeknownst to them, their pack is slowly falling into ruin.
"I can't watch this." Cassie said walking away because she was the only one who really knew.
That woman might have not been deserving of any sympathy, but she was still killed by Constantine. Should she feel happy or worried that what led to her death was very obviously Ari himself?
It made her wonder if she knew the sad boy as well as she thought she had. It was not hard to believe that some of it was Constantine's influence, but there's this worrisome apathy that showed itself in Ari. Apathy that she didn't think much of until she found out who had caught his heart.
The worst possible mate.
There was no mistaking it, the fondness he displayed when he caught sight of the knife – that she knew now wasn't a hunter's – and the way he told her he had wanted it when she found his mark.
Ari was undeniably in love whether he knew it or not.
Cassie even remembered on the day she met him how absolutely shaken he was fumbling and stuttering with every word as he reassured her that he was fine. That it was just the cold that made him tremble. She should have realized that he was previously affected by Alec's pheromones when he, himself, was affected by Eli.
An unfortunate chain of reactions, and it happened when she was absent for just a few minutes too long. She was already late by then. Ari had already wandered off to the worst possible person he could wander off to.
Did it have to be Constantine, though?
No, she could not question the moon and its choices, but she still couldn't stomach the thought that Ari was the indirect cause of his mother's death.
Even so, she hoped that woman rotted in hell.
Cassie found herself a bench to sit on with nobody around, and she couldn't help but think how everything seemed so grim and gray despite how lovely the town appeared. She was unaware of the slow poison Ari had left the town with, and it was slowly seeping all over it hurting the town the way it had hurt him – and only sparing those who didn't.
Strangely, a stupidly wishful feeling appeared in her heart as she vividly imagined Ari taking a seat right next to her and offering one of his beautifully captivating smiles.
If only.
To her surprise, someone did sit next to her, but it was Eli dressed in black just like herself and looking like he had spent many days crying over something other than this wretched funeral. The disappointment that she felt about it not being Ari was immeasurable, but she still had some concern left for the young omega beside her.
"You don't seem to be doing well." She told him honestly, but he wasn't looking at her.
Instead, he was looking ahead at the distance as if he wished for someone to be there.
"I broke up with Alec."
Seems like this town wasn't done with its surprises as she found herself baffled once more. This was the last thing she had expected Eli to say, and she couldn't help but wonder about the reason that would result in someone to not want to be with their mate.
Her hand went up to wipe away a stray tear that fell from his eye.
"Is that why you have been crying?"
"No." His voice quivered as he shook his head as if he was dealing with an agonizing pain, and it was an agonizing pain paired with an agonizing realization. "It's because he's gone and I still-"
He didn't get to complete his words, and Cassie had front-row seats to watch Ari's poisonous effects in action.
"You still what?" She urged softly giving his head a few gentle caresses and he all but leaned on her to cry on her shoulder.
"I still love him." Came the choked confession that tore his heart apart every time he acknowledged it. "I didn't choose my mate; I didn't want any of this. I just wanted to be with him."
Cassie couldn't help but give him a sympathetic look. "Eli..."
"I know it is stupid. I know it'll never happen. But he said he'd be with me if he could." And Cassie could only hold him as she saw through the twisted lie Eli had been told. "We're both omegas, but did it mean I'd have to be stuck with an alpha like this? Every time I think of Alec, I just feel sick."
"You still have hope he'd be with you." She realized feeling nothing else other than pity.
Even if Ari did feel the same, and even if they did find a way to be together the way Eli hoped, it just wouldn't be an easy relationship to maintain. They'd both be having painful heats, and they'd both end up looking after the other without any real way of stopping it. That, with the addition of remaining without a mark because they'd both be unable to mark the other.
It'll just be a matter of time before one of them is stolen away by someone else be it a tragic accident or the simple fact of incompatibility.
That was just the harsh unfair reality that they faced.
However, Ari never had any intentions of being with Eli.
Cassie guessed that by the time those words had been said, Ari was already Constantine's. Those words were only said to hurt and give false hope of something that was already unattainable.
Slowly, she could understand why the moon made its choice.
"A break can help you sort these feelings out." She said knowing that her words were only like a Band-Aid to broken bones. Seemingly soothing, but completely useless. However, there is still truth to her words despite them not soothing his pain. "In time, you'll forget. Maybe even fall for Alec or someone else. Feelings do change, but for now, you'll just have to accept things as they are."
"Why did he leave me..."
A sigh escaped her as she reminded herself that Eli was young and foolish. He also didn't realize how completely self-absorbed he was that he never considered that Ari might be happier this way. Although he claimed to love Ari, Cassie had a feeling that the one person he truly ever loved is himself.
Because Eli was special, he was an omega, and all omegas were treated like they were the center of the world. Something rare and precious.
She was treated like that, too.
It'll take some time to outgrow, and a lot of self-reflection before he sees that others around him are hurting as well.
A little nudge to the right direction never hurt anybody.
"Alec is probably thinking the same thing. He's blameless in all of this." She told him trying her best to be the antidote to the poison that already spread. "I still think some time away will do you two some good."
The silence that followed gave her a little bit of hope that her words were taken into consideration. It's highly unlikely that they'd have any real effect now, not when Eli is so enamored.
And yet she found herself hoping that Ari was doing well. Even after all of this.
Because there's one thing about Ari that made it impossible to hate him. It's the fact that he truly loved when he is loved back.
And Cassie really did love him.
So he loved her back.