Chapter 13

ELENA

I paced my room like a trapped wolf. Back and forth. Back and forth. My bare feet made no sound on the floor, but my head was loud as my thoughts clawed at me.

I had thought removing Amara from Stefan’s life would open the door for me. I thought it would make him see me. Need me. Want me. But I was wrong. It was the most stupid and reckless thought I've ever given to.

Since he rejected her, something in him has changed. He wouldn't smile at me, nor would he look at me the way he used to. He moved like he was lost in a place I could not follow. Moved? No! He'd stayed in his room like a scared animal, looking rough and emotionless.

I stopped and pressed my hands against my face. Two days. It had been two whole days since Amara left the house in the dead of the night. And every attempt to find her had failed. My contacts came back with nothing. She was gone. Completely gone, like she never existed.

There was no record of the paths she had gone through, everything was completely wiped out.

My mother blamed me. Of course, she did.

“Elena, you have gone too far. You'd not control yourself and allowed yourself to say some hurtful words. I appreciate the reason you might have done that was indirectly protecting her, but you were foolish for pushing hard.” She had said last night disgust and hurt written in her features.

The way she looked at me like I was some kind of forbidden fruit that needed to be purged out. Like I wasn't the daughter she praised a few days ago after the incident in the pack.

Every time she opened her mouth, her words were knives. She called me names that burned and made me feel like I was the worst thing to ever crawl into Stefan’s life.

A knock sounded on the door. My head snapped up. I opened it and saw one of my intel girls standing there. She leaned close.

“I overheard something,” she whispered, even though it was just the both of us, but we needed to take caution.

“What?” I asked quickly.

Her eyes darted around. “I was in the corridor when I heard noises. Kai and Stefan… after you left, they were in the room together making out.”

Her words hit me like a fist. I stood there, gripping the doorframe. “You’re sure you heard them do that?” I asked.

She nodded. “I wouldn’t lie to you. Even as I'm speaking to you now, Kai hasn't left the Alpha's room.”

I swallowed hard. My chest ached. I forced myself to nod.

“Fine. Go back to the pack before they find you missing,” I told her.

She gave me a small bow and hurried away.

I shut the door and leaned against it. My head spun. Stefan… with Kai. I knew something was going on between the both of them, but I thought being with him had killed everything. Little did I know he was still polygamous in nature. He had swore—looking me dead in the eyes—that he was going monogamous. But guess who slept with my sister in the woods, unable to control the bond? Guess who's been sneaking behind my back and having sex with his pack?

Later in the evening, after I managed to put my mother to sleep with some tea, I left. I couldn’t stay in the house any longer. The air felt heavy there with unspoken tension. My chest felt like it would break open. I had no idea if my sister was alive or not. We're just standing on thin threads.

The night outside was cold. I moved quickly through the path until I reached the pack grounds. My steps slowed when I got near his chambers. I didn’t even know why I came. Maybe I wanted to see for myself. Possibly I wanted to catch him. But most importantly, I needed to confront him on his behavior, call all of them out to him, and have a mature talk about it as it was affecting our relationship.

I'd lose my mind if I didn't get his sorted out.

I pushed the door open.

There he was in Kai’s arms, his mouth on Kai’s, their bodies close. They didn’t even hear me at first.

Something inside me broke as I watched him make out with Kai after chasing me out earlier today.

“So this is it,” I broke out in a whisper. My voice was shaking. “This is what you’ve been doing? This is what you’ve become? You’ve been here touching him while I’ve been losing my mind over you.”

Stefan pulled back from Kai and looked at me. His eyes were cold as he glared hatefully at me. He only does it if what he was doing was essential.

“You’re accusing me of something I owe you nothing for,” he said. “I am a wolf. An Alpha, I can satisfy myself in my pack. You know that we're polygamous in nature.”

I stepped forward. My hands clenched at my sides. “You’re supposed to be with me. Not him. Not anyone else. I am here for you, Stefan.”

He tilted his head slightly. “Then maybe you are here for the wrong reason. I’m not yours. And I’m not going to pretend to be.”

My voice rose. “So this is it all of a sudden? You’ve been avoiding me, ignoring me, and now you sit there telling me this? That you don’t even care?”

He gave a short laugh as he itched closer to Kai, who had busied himself kissing and sucking his neck. “If you’re so desperate, go find someone to warm your bed. I don’t care. Kai doesn’t care either.”

Kai raised his head from his neck slowly and smirked. “Better yet,” he said, “you could join us. Might make things interesting.”

My breath caught. “You’re disgusting,” I whispered.

Stefan’s face didn’t change. “Then leave before I descend on you for that statement.”

I stared at them both. My chest hurt so much it was difficult to breathe. I turned and ran out of the room before they could see the tears.

I didn’t go home. I couldn’t. I didn’t want my mother to see me like this. That's if she was awake, which I knew she'd be. She had feigned pretense about going to bed, but I knew it was just lies. I would rather not hear her voice. I didn’t want to face the walls of my room.

Instead, I walked. My feet took me through streets lit by dim lamps. The shadows stretched long on the ground. My thoughts moved in circles. The cold air bit at my skin, but I didn’t care.

I ended up outside my usual bar. The sign above the door flickered. I pushed the door open and went inside.

The air was heavy with the smell of alcohol. Music played softly in the background. A few people sat scattered at the tables.

I went to the counter. “Drink,” I said to the bartender.

He poured something strong and set it in front of me. I drank. The liquid burned my throat. I welcomed the pain.

I sat there, staring at the glass. My hands wrapped around it. My mind kept playing the scene over and over—Stefan with Kai, Stefan’s voice telling me to find someone else, Kai’s smirk as he asked me to join them.

The son of bitches. How do I end up being with them?

I drank again.

I didn’t know how long I sat there. The music faded into the background. The voices in the room became nothing but a hum. I just kept drinking. People got up and dispersed, and little by little, the bar became empty, but I still stayed back, drinking.

Then a deep, smooth voice came from behind me.

“And what’s a pretty girl like you doing out here, drinking all by herself?”