Chapter 4
I woke up drenched in sweat. This was nothing new. I grabbed the towel I keep on my headboard and wiped my sweat. I went straight to the bathroom. I grabbed my toothbrush and my toothpaste and vigorously brushed my teeth. I took a quick shower and wrapped a clean towel around myself. I decided I wanted to wear my blue sundress with my grey sandals. I was still nervous about leaving the room and confronting Kay. I made a huge mistake which I had been making for quite sometime. I just realized it yesterday. I had planned out my apology to Kaiden. I was gonna go straight to him, grab his arm because I know he would be mad and not wanna talk to him. I would say that I was sorry and that I knew I had been a bitch and I had been selfish. I would tell him that I was lucky to have him and that he was the best brother in the whole wide world. I would tell him that whatever he said was true except for the fact that I was ungrateful. I would tell him that I was grateful for everything this family had done for me. Him saving me from those rapist werewolves, the family accepting me as their little daughter, them loving me like their own. I would tell him that I loved them and cared about them and that I had finally realized my mistake and that I was ready to apologize to everyone. Then he would tell me that he loves me too and that nothing could come in between us, not even my stupidity and my immaturity. He would hug me and kiss me on my forehead, the way he always did and everything would be prefect again.
I took a deep breath and opened my door. I was ready to apologize. But when I was on the top of the stairs I heard Lily and Bettina talking.
"Lily, do you know what's up with Kaiden?"
"I don't know mom, he just seemed angry today"
"I know, he didn't even each breakfast with us." Bettina sounded concerned.
"God knows what goes around in his head." Lily huffed.
There goes my plan, down the drain. He obviously was angry at me and left so he didn't have to face me. As anxiety pressed my heart down, I continued to go down the stairs and join Bettina and Lily for breakfast. I just really wanted to get it over with.
"Adara, dear. " Bettina smiled warmly at me.
"Bettina, Good morning." I smiled back.
"Good Morning, Kid. Come sit here." She pointed toward the chair opposite to her. She was on the other side of the dining table making sandwiches. Lily was sitting on the chair next to where Bettina pointed reading a fashion magazine.
I dropped my bag on the table and sat with a huge thud.
I was leisurely looking at her magazine when she commented "Dude, Scarlett Johansson is one pretty lady." I noticed that she was looking at Scarlett Johansson's picture wearing a beautiful red dress.
"Not as much as you, Lils." She would blush, I knew it.
It wasn't just flattery. Lily was really beautiful. She had beautiful long wavy blondish reddish hair. Her eyes were clear blue, the ones that look directly in your soul. She had a lovely oval face with mile high cheekbones and really puffy red lips. She was tall and fit. But she was just not just a pretty face. She was exceptional in academics. She was a valedictorian in both her school and her college. She was also a state level swimmer, hence that awesome toned body. But after all that she was the kindest sweetest girl you could meet. She was so humble and polite. She was just perfect. Needless to say, I envied her a little. Yes, I was jealous of my own sister. But it was not just that, I envied her because she had found her mate and that mate loved her. I wanted that too. Matt and she had found eachother on her 18th birthday. He was 19 then. They had been together for 7 years now and planned to get married real soon.
And like I expected, she blushed.
"Oh, please Addie. That's not true."
"Oh come on Lily. You know you are beautiful." She blushed again.
"Well, you're not so bad yourself."
I rolled my eyes.
"Lily, you know when I compliment you it is not necessary for you to compliment me back. Especially if it's not true."
"Ads you know that's not true. You are lovely."
"Lily stop. I don't want to talk about it."
"Stop with your self-abhorrence"
"Lily stop please. It's not self-abhorrence. It is just the way it is."\
"Fine, but I hope one day you see the way everyone sees you. And that day you'll realize how beautiful you are."
"Sure."
She would never understand that I will never see myself the way my family sees me because the way they see me is clouded with love. And yeah the crap, beauty is in the beholders eyes and beauty lies within. It doesn't make sense. Obviously my mate didn't see my so called "beauty". But I didn't want to spoil my mood early in the morning. I let it go.
After finishing my breakfast and a quick peck on Bettina's cheeks I stormed out the door and into my car and straight to college. College life was fun. The only people I loved beside my family were my friends. Penelope, Katherine, Aaron, Damien and Sean. I loved these guys. I studied in my pack's college. The Midnight Light pack Institute of Vocational education. Penny and Aaron were childhood friends and turned out that they were mates as well. Kate was mated to a guy named Jesse. Sean was a manwhore but I knew inside he was desperately waiting to find his mate. Damien was like me, his mate Sadie Sinclair rejected him for a human who she proclaimed was her one true love. He never let anyone let know how hurt he was but I knew. Hell, I had been through it.
As soon as I enter the college premises, I feel fresh and rejuvenated. This place was beyond awesome. We had the coolest teachers and the facilities were pretty good. We had amazing food in the café and the tennis court was dope.
I parked my car in the parking lot. I grabbed my bag and climbed out.
"Addy Daddy, You here baby." Aaron shouted as soon as I entered the building. He immediately put his arms around my shoulders. What the hell was wrong with him?
I automatically started scanning the corridor for penny. She would flip out if she saw us like this. She knew that nothing was going on between us but she would still flip out. That is how mates were like. To everyone else they could appear as over possessive and controlling but we knew it wasn't anything abnormal.
"Where is Penny?" I asked him as he led me to the café.
"She's home with her brother." He looked sad. He didn't like being away from her.
"Philip is in town?" I, on the other hand was ecstatic. Philip was one hot piece of a meat. Dude, that guy had the most amazing eyes. You could never really make out the color of his eyes. They were bluish, greenish, and grayish with a tinge of purple. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen infront of my eyes. He was tall and muscular. Holy Hell, those freaking muscles. He was smart and witty. But those looks could kill. Girls wanted him and guys wanted to be like him. He was a few years older than Penny. It was such a tragedy that his mate Jenny died three years ago in a rogue attack. I felt bad for him. He loved her so much. When I came here and the Sterlings adopted me, Jenny was one of the people who really helped me get out of my shell. But I could not even thank her for being there for me. I had been here only for 2 months when the rogues attacked and killed her along with a few other pack members. Philip was really broken hearted.
A sharp pinch on my butt snapped me out of mental reverie. Who the hell did that?
I turn my head to see Katherine standing with Damien, Sean and Aaron looking weirdly at me. Kate had a more of a murderous look than that of a weird one.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
"Why are we looking at you like that? Adie I have been speaking to you for the past 5 minutes and all you did was stare at me."
"Geez, so you pinched me. That's just mean Lady."
"Now Shut up and listen. I was thinking of going to Penny's house."
"Why would you wanna go to her house" Damien seemed generally curious.
"Just like that, we haven't been in her house for like a month and I miss Mrs. Narvaez's lemonades."
I had to agree, her lemonades were awesome. Everytime we visited her house she would always make her special lemonades for us.
But I knew the real reason she wanted to go to her house was to see Philip. I know she had a mate and all but if you could just see Philip you would understand how that guy could make Queen Elizabeth wag her tongue. So I understood her.
"Oh god! Yes. Those freaking Yum lemonades." Sean's eyes gleamed with want.
"Let's go after college then." Everyone nodded.
"Hey, I have English Lit now, so I'll go. Meet you guys later yeah!" Damien exclaimed and run towards his class.
And with him going away, all of us started to move to our classes as well. Kate joined Jesse who was talking to his friends and they went to their class together. They made sure that most of their classes were together. You may thing that it's too much but I personally thought it was cute.
After an awesome yet a tiring day, we all went to Penny's house. Kate kissed Jesse Goodbye and joined Aaron in his car with Sean. Damien joined me in my car. Penny's house was quite far, away from the main land. His family was the alpha family after all. So yeah, I guess Philip is next in line for Alpha. In fact he will be The Alpha in a couple of months, as soon as he turns 25. The midnight light pack was the third most powerful pack in the world. The first being Silver Lightning in North Africa and the second being Moon Reflections in Rome. Our pack had good relationship with each and every pack. Let's just say our pack, The Midnight Light was awesome. We were kind and we were just. We cared about each and every single one of our wolves, even if they were omegas. And let me tell you Mr. Narvaez was an amazing human being and a fierce fighter. He loved his pack more than anything and I was sure Philip would too be a great Alpha. If only he had Jenny, she would have been a great Luna.
The Alpha Manor was a beautiful place, with beautiful lawns and a huge house in the middle. As soon as you enter through the main gate, you are met with a huge fountain. It is surrounded by lovely white rose bushes. The manor stood in the middle of the land. It was a three storey building. The manor in total has 27 rooms, not including the two kitchens, the 12 bathrooms, the huge pack room and the place where the servants lived. Behind the house, the lawn was turned into a playground for the kids in our pack. There were swings and see saws and benches for parents to sit down at talk. If you ask me, I found all these room a waste of space. I used to think that all this space and these rooms were a waste of space and I was correct too. I mean why would you need 27 rooms for 4 people. The Alpha and Luna obviously shared one room and Philip and Penny need one room each. At most you required 5 rooms. But later I realized that this pack house welcomed so many rogues who had no place to go and wanted to belong to a pack. This house was always packed with people. Also in the human world, the Alpha was a rich businessman.
Damien snapped his fingers at me, breaking my mental reverie.
"Where you at Ads?"
"Uhm, nothing. Was just thinking? What were you saying?"
"Nothing just that I saw Sadie today and I just keep thinking that I'm over her and I swear I don't think about her that much but everytime I see her, I just go blank."
I sighed. I know how he feels; it's not something you get over with ever. You carry it with you every single day.
"I understand, Damien. It's not easy to deal with it. I can't ever tell you how to get over with it because I myself don't know how to get over it. But I know it gets easier. The pain dulls down. It has just been like 4 months, it'll take time but you will come in terms with it. Trust me, I know."
"Yeah. I can't say this to others about it. They say that they understand but they don't. Everytime someone gets to know what Sadie did, they pity me. I don't want their pity Adara. Sometimes I just wish that I wasn't a wolf. Then I wouldn't have a mate and this pain I feel won't be there. I really wish that I wasn't a wolf Addie."
I nodded my head. I too wished that I wasn't a werewolf. Live would have been so much more easier. Rafe wouldn't have rejected me, I would have been free. But I just can't keep living like that. I had come in terms with it, Damien would too.
"I won't find anyone else, Addie."
I don't know what to say. I seriously don't.
"Damien. Life is not just about mates. You have other people who love you and now your life should be around them. That's what I do Damien."
"Yeah! I guess." He sighed.
Then came the silence, it wasn't awkward or anything. It carried on for quite sometime giving both of us some time to think.
"Okay, that was heavy." He laughed.
He had an infectious laughter, the way that made you laugh with him. I don't know why Sadie rejected him. Damien was a very good looking man, especially when he laughed. His eyes crinkled at the corners and made his dark down eyes look darker more than ever. He was tall, very tall. He had short brown hair. The hair he kept messed up. I don't know if it was intentional or that he never owned a pair of comb. But it suited him. All I can say that Sadie made a huge mistake.
"Yeah, Heavy."
"Well, I am happy that Philip is here!" I exclaimed. I gave him my full on toothy smile.
"Yeah, well. I am going for the lemonades" He grimaced.
Dude, guys were really jealous of Philip.
"Come on, you have to agree that that man is hot."
"Ads, I'm a guy. Why would I notice a guy to know if he is hot?"
"Don't be jealous."
"I'm not jealous. I just don't think he is that hot"
"So, you have noticed him enough to say that he is hot."
"No, that's not what I said."
"That's what you meant"
"No."
"Oh shut up!. You are jealous. You just won't admit it."
"I am not jealous." Yes, he screamed and hat made me laugh.
And this is how we were till we reached the Alpha Manor. I was teasing and laughing at him and he was getting hyper, protesting that he was jealous.
"Dude, this house is huge." He whispered. He was still grumpy about the whole being jealous of Philip thing. He still hasn't accepted that though.
I just smiled when he said that. No one gets over the hugeness of this house.
I parked where the rest of the cars were. Aaron's car was already there, so I knew that Kate, Sean and Aaron were already here.
"Lets go, Dames."
"Don't call me that." He scowled.
Ha! I knew he hated that name, especially when I told him it meant a Lady. I liked messing with him, he would get agitated very easily and his expressions were worth seeing.
"Whatever you say, dame"
"Shut Up" He yelled and walked past me toward the manor.
"Fine, sorry." I laughed and started walking fast to join him.
"Don't be so touchy, Da.. mian." Yes, I did that on purpose.
He whined but let it go.
We entered The Manor together with him in his full on sulky mode and I had a satisfied smile on my face. We directly went to the kitchen. The kitchen was big as usual but there was something very homely about it. There was a breakfast top in the middle of the room, there were two fridges. Yes two fridges and I'm not gonna mention that each of the family member had mini fridges in their rooms. The Luna was already making lemonades. She warmly smiled at Aaron when he said something. Penny was sitting next to him, her head on his shoulders as she kept smiling to herself, admiring her mate. Kate and Sean were also sitting next to eachother listening to whatever Aaron was saying. They both looked completely uninterested. I was just adoringly watching my friends when Mrs. Narvaez looked our way and smiled again.
I sat next to Aaron and Damien sat next to me.
"How are you both? Adara dear you look wonderful." She smiled.
Why do people keep saying that? It hurts, especially when you know it's not the truth. It was just a formality.
"Thank you Mrs. Narvaez." But I still smiled; it would have been rude otherwise.
"Rose, you didn't say anything about me. I look handsome too." Damien fake whined. Damien always called Mrs. Narvaez by her first name, and yes he was flirting. The harmless one of course and only when the Alpha was not around.
"Damien darling, you look handsome." She smiled at him, blushing a little bit.
"Stop Damien. Dad is home. He will kill you." Penny frowned.
"I am not afraid of the Alpha. I will do anything for Rose, ever if I had to fight with someone who is twice my size." He exclaimed. Making fists and banging the breakfast top.
All of us rolled our eyes. He was horrible.
"Oh come on. Matthew is not twice your size Damien. He is just stronger because he's the alpha. You are pretty strong too." Mrs. Narvaez blushed.
"I can be strong for you, Rose."
"Oh My God."
"Shut up."
"You are such a pig."
We all said this at the same time, exasperated.
"What?" He laughed.
"Stop flirting with my mom, you dick." Penny whined.
"Who is flirting with whom?" An authoritarian voice snapped us all out of our playful demeanor. We all snapped our heads to where the Alpha was standing. He had such a strong aura around himself. He was tall and handsome. His olive skin tone made his dark hair look even darker. He had warm yet firm green eyes, the eyes that always meant business. He was fiercely possessive about Mrs. Narvaez. But he never said anything to Damien about his constant playful flirting. He knew that it was just that, Playful.
"Nothing Matthew. I was just making lemonades for the kids. Do you want some, dear?" She offered him her lemonades.
"Sure, Darling. Save some for Philip as well. He went out with Jason." He crossed over the breakfast top and sat next to where Mrs. Narvaez was standing. He kissed her on the cheek and started reading the newspaper kept there. Well as you all can understand, it was beyond awkward. We never sat with Alpha like this and never ever shared lemonades with him.
But the nagging feeling came in, Philip isn't gonna be here. The reason why Kate and I came here. I immediately took out my phone and texted Kate.
"Philip isn't here."
"I know. How annoying."
"Dude, we can't see his handsome face now L"
"I know. The only reason I came was to see him. We haven't seen him in like a year."
"Dear Kate. May I remind you that you have a mate. An awesome one at that. You are kinda cheating him by coming here and fantasizing about another man"
"Hey! I don't stop him when he says Michelle Parker is hot."
"Yes you do! You hit him."
"I hit him one time. When he said that he has awesome boobs. I don't say that about Philip."
"Yeah that's cuz Philip doesn't have boobs."
"Haha! But still Addie. Philip is not here. Coming here was a waste of time.
"Well, atleast we got lemonades."
"What are you doing?" Aaron was looking into my phone now.
"What? Nothing" I pressed the red button and shoved my phone in my bag.
He made a face when Penny looked at me and asked.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Addie was texting someone and when I asked about it, she shoved her phone in her bag." I scowled at him. I didn't think he would say that to her.
"Oh my God. Have you found someone Ads?" She smiled, excitedly.
"No."
"You can tell us."
"There is no one. I was texting Bettina. It was private."
"Oh, sorry." Aaron said.
I was just about to say its fine when Philip the handsome came in the room. My jaws dropped along with Kate who just blushed furiously.
"Oh" He scowled.
He obviously wasn't expecting us here. I don't even know if he remembers us.
"I wasn't expecting you guys here." He voiced my thoughts.
He scratched his nose as if he didn't know what else to say. I get it, he was awkward among us here.
"Philip, your mother is making lemonades. I told her to save some for you." The Alpha told him.
"Yeah, okay. I will be in my room then." He nodded.
"Hey, you are going to be the next alpha. You have to get rid of your shyness. If you can't even talk to your sister's friends, how do I know you will be able to address a whole audience who you don't know?"
"I am not shy."
He was not shy. Well, last to last year, I kinda went to the forest in the night after Bettina and Raymond went to sleep. Don't judge me, I was a rebel. Well I tried to be one. So yeah, in the jungle I saw Philip with few of his friends skinny dipping in the lake. And I did manage to take a look at his down south. Geez my cheeks felt hot at the recollection this memory.
"So, come and talk to them."
Philip seemed angry now. But still he came over to us and forced a smile.
"Hey guys."
"Hi." A loud shrill voice camouflaged our heys. And there was no doubt that it was Kate's voice. We all turned our heads towards her to see her red cheeks.
"Hi" Philip looked at her with amusement, smirking. So he knew the effect he had on girls.
"Hey, Adara. How's Lily?" He turned towards me.
Oh my god, he remembered my name. And he spoke to me, even though he was just asking about my sister.
Lily and Philip were friends, being the same age and all.
"She's fine." I smiled nervously at him.
He didn't say anything, just nodded.
We were there for some time. Philip was sitting next to Mr. Narvaez drinking his lemonade, listening to all of us. I got a text from Bettina telling me to come home early. I excused my self and told them I had to go home early. They all nodded and said their byes. I asked Sean if he needed a ride, because he lived in the way towards the house. He said no, and Aaron offered to drop him. So I just went ahead and left the house. I was just about to put my key in the ignition when I saw Philip running toward my car. He was there in an instant, knocking on the window.
Okay, now I was nervous. What did he want?
I turned the window down.
"Hey, can I ride with you. I haven't seen Lily for so long."
Oh, so this was about Lily. Off course why would he ride with me? Ugly, fat, Plain me?
"Oh sure. Hop on." I tried to be nonchalant, and I think I succeeded.
He went over to the other side and climbed in the car.
I put the keys in the ignition and started the cat. I looked his way to see him looking back at me.
He smiled. I smiled back.
Okay, This is gonna be beyond awkward.
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MeghnaX