Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 63: What’s stranger?

Leilani.

Our first court hearing is supposed to be in a few days and I am a bag of frayed nerves.

—And that’s like the best way I can put it.

My nerve was coiled tight, and every now and then, I had jump scares, fearing that either Gavin or my father would come at me. That they would try to attack me, knowing that I was about to counter attack.

This thought made me very anxious. But on the bright side, Jay had finally been able to pull in all the hospital records of my gruesome treatments over the years— but they only showed cases of times I’d been taken to the hospital.

The times I had been denied medical attention were not documented, and Jesus, that made me mad.

Anyways, today is the gala we’ve all been looking forward to, and after dressing up in a dazzling red Chanel dress, I complimented the look with a pair of black Saint Laurent heels, styled my hair into an elegant chignon with loose waves and picked up my matching black Kate purse.

I was unstoppable.

No, not because of my looks but because of what I planned to do today.

A smile split my face when the honking of a car sounded outside, and upon stepping out, I found Jarek leaning against his sleek black Rolls-Royce with his hands buried deep into his pockets, and a single red rose hanging loosely between his lips.

He flashed me one of his infamous grins and waved. "Oh, look who the Heavens just graced us with!" He sighed dreamily, exaggerating a surprised expression.

My face flared up with heat as I awkwardly walked over to him, smiling when he gave me the flower, and muttered; "Thank you."

He then pulled open the door for me, and I gasped when I noticed a large bouquet resting by the far corner of the rear seat.

I immediately spun around to face him, my face bright, my smile just as blinding, and asked; "Now, it almost feels like you’ve been the one sending me those roses for so long!"

At that, Jarek looked mortified. He gasped. "Oh no! Eww! I’d never send you flowers without a note. I’m not a coward or a creep!"

"Huh huh, really?"

"Yeah!" He argued, looking like a mixture of embarrassment and frustration put together. "You can check that one out. It has a note in it. A note thanking you for being in my life, and for being the most beautiful genius I’ve ever seen. And do you want to know how I know that so easily?" He snapped, causing me to roll my eyes.

I shook my head, laughing. "No."

"Because I hand-wrote it. Because I want you to realise that I did it. I’m not some stuck up cowardly admirer who cannot do something as simple as give a properly labelled gift."

"Now, you’re overreacting, my princess." I drawled jokingly and he rolled his eyes.

"No, I’m not." He answered back. And then pointing to the front of my porch, he added; "See, there’s another bouquet waiting for you there. That’s the one from your admirer." But I didn’t miss the way his voice had dropped into something unrecognisable, nor the way he now seemed so uncomfortable, it made me uncomfortable.

I didn’t know how to react to Jarek being so defensive about something that had been a complete joke, so instead I grinned at him and scooted away in order to create enough space for him to join me at the back of the car while his driver occupied the front.

The drive to the gala was quiet save for some interruptions by his driver and the occasional sound of the bustling street as we drove past, which was strange. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Jarek was never usually this quiet.

In fact, these days, I cannot help but feel like our friendship is getting strained. Like there was an invisible bone of contention between us. An elephant in the room that has refused to be addressed.

I turned away from him to watch the street blur past, only coming to when the car stopped in front of the grandest hall I’ve seen in a very long time.

Contrary to my earlier mood, a smile instantly broke out on my face and I turned to find Jarek already watching me, a strange expression on his face as his eyes flickered between my eyes and lips.

"It’s beautiful!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, it is." He murmured, never taking his eyes off my face.

I rolled my eyes and slapped his arm. "I mean the whole place is beautiful. It looks so grand... so put together, I love it!"

But he wasn’t paying any attention to me. Oh, scratch that! He was paying attention to me and not to the words I was saying. He murmured; "I probably didn’t say this earlier, but you’re gorgeous."

Now, that made me blush. I smiled. "You did."

"I just thought to remind you." He drawled, and with that, he stepped out of the car to come help open my side of the door. He let me loop my arm in his as I got out, and held onto me as we stepped into the hall.

And goddess, the place was gorgeous!

It had the most beautiful setting I’ve seen in a very long time. If I wasn’t acting so bougie, my jaws would’ve been literally picked from the floor.

I turned to Jarek; "You sponsored this event?"

I already knew the answer. I was just making small talk. He shrugged. "Only a little."

A little, meaning over three hundred million dollars. A little which was just enough to stop hunger in some war stricken cities around the world.

My face flushed at the idea of walking side by side with one of the people that made this event possible, and to be honest, when I noticed that girls and women alike were flashing me the stink eye, I wasn’t so bothered.

I was proud.

My grin widened. My back straightened on its own accord.

However, I was just caught up in mid conversation with some elites when suddenly, it felt as though my body was being lit on fire. A sweet, almost intoxicating scent drifted into my nostrils, and contrary to what happens in most werewolf stories I’ve heard in the past, I didn’t feel excited.

My stomach knotted into a tight twist instead.

Because I knew then and there that my mates had just arrived.

"They’re here." Jarek leaned in to whisper into my ear, his warm breath tickling the side of my face while his hands rested on the small of my back.

I didn’t turn to the entrance where I was sure as hell my mates were. I turned to Jarek. "We shouldn’t care about them. Should we?"

"No, we shouldn’t." He snickered. "I just like the fact that they’re glaring hard at me right now, probably thinking that I’m flirting with you when in truth, we’re only gossiping."

At that, I chuckled. My head tipped back in amusement, but just as fast as my laughter sprung free, it instantly died when Jay placed his hands at the back of my neck, pulled me forward with it and brushed his lips against mine. I froze.

And then, I became enraged.

"Jay, what the fuck?"

"Huh?"

"I know you want to get on their nerves but kissing me..."

"Shhh!" He quickly cut me off whilst planting his index finger on my lips. "I didn’t do that to rile them up. I’ve been wanting to do it since I saw you walk out of your house."

Oh goddess. Heat flared up on my skin. My face heated up so bad, I was sure my face and my dress would probably be in the same shade of red right now.

Dragonflies... swarms and swarms of dragonflies erupted in my stomach, and it took every damn thing in me not to pull him in for a kiss. Not to deepen whatever fire he’d just managed to ignite inside of me.

I ducked my head shyly and lowered my gaze, my face still tingling from the sensations running through my veins.

However, my wantonness soon dissipated when a sugary vanilla smell hit my nose. Just as pain exploded on the tip of my toes.

I shrieked, causing a few people around to turn to me and cried; "Get off!"

As usual, it was Chalice. And this time, her new tactic was pretending not to see me while she stepped so hard on the tips of my toes.

I brushed her off me gently and took a step back with rage and annoyance coiling at the base of my stomach like a naked cable. "Watch your steps!" I seethed.

Chalice flashed me a polite smile, her eyes glinting with just enough malice even though she bowed curtly and drawled; "My bad, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there!" And then turning to Jay, she continued; "Alpha Frostclaw, it’s a pleasure to meet you again."

If looks could kill, Chalice would be nothing but charred meat by now, killed not by me but by Jarek.

His eyes slowly dropped to her outstretched hands but he didn’t take it, and then he grinned. "I can’t say the same about you, Candy."

I frowned. "Candy?"

I turned just then to look at Chalice and to my utmost surprise, her face was chalk-white. Her lips were ashen and she had the most terrified look on her face.

But what’s so bad about the word ’candy’?

Does she not like sweets anymore?

CandyCandyCandy.

My eyes snagged back to Jay to find him smiling satisfactorily. He dropped his voice until it was nothing but a whisper in the bustling room, and drawled; "Next time, watch your steps carefully... so maybe then, you wouldn’t pretend not to have seen Leilani coming. Okay?"

Chalice didn’t respond right away but simply nodded her head, her face red and comical. And horrified.

And it was strange. Strange that all he had to do was say the word ’Candy’ and she became nothing but a mute robot.

And do you want to know what was even stranger?

The fact that exactly two minutes later, I got a text from her. A text saying she wanted to drop charges.

A text saying that she would get back at me for knowing too much.

That there, was stranger .