My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 72: I Hate You

Violet

I was kneeling in the dirt, sand biting into my knees through the fabric of my pants, and my palms were pressed flat against the ground. The hollow ache in my stomach suddenly made itself known at her words. A stabbing insistent pain that was now impossible to ignore.

I looked down at my stomach, confused.

When last had I even eaten?

I thought back to yesterday. I hadn’t eaten that evening either.

"I gave you breaks twice today," Meribel said from above me, her voice careful. "I thought you’d go eat something. But both times, I came back and you were still here."

"Oh," was all that came out from me, faint, and almost breathless. I stared up at her, still trying to process what she had said. "I didn’t... I didn’t even notice."

I had trained for a full day without even thinking about food, and my body had just kept going. It didn’t entirely surprise me, but I was sure it must have seemed strange to her.

The sun had been high and bright most of the day, and while I hadn’t actively drawn from it, it likely helped in sustaining me.

Meribel’s outstretched hand appeared in front of my face. I grabbed it and she pulled me to my feet. My lungs burned as I stood upright, and my legs wobbled. Meribel immediately steadied me before I could fall, her other hand on my back.

"Thank you," I murmured, still breathing hard. My voice sounded far away even to my own ears. "I still have a long way to go—"

"Do you like looking down on yourself?"

The sharpness in Meribel’s voice made me go stiff.

I turned my neck to look at her, and found her eyes had darkened with anger. The expression was so sudden, so unexpected, that I nearly held my breath.

"It usually takes others days to properly understand the basics, and you memorized everything I taught you today. Everything. The only problem was your form and inexperience, but you did understand what I showed you in. One. Day."

She shook her head and started walking. My legs dragged initially as I tried to keep up with her pace, my body protesting every movement.

I was stunned. That had sounded almost like... praise?

Then why was she so angry?

’Hold on, did she just say it takes others longer to learn this?’

"I’ll take you up to your room and bring your meal," she said without looking at me. "You clearly need to rest."

Her arm was still at my back, supporting me.

"I’m sorry for the trouble..."

"To be honest," Meribel said suddenly, her voice dropping lower, "I never really liked Omegas. Even now..."

I went cold.

She wasn’t lying. She had done a very good job of hiding it so far and something about that scared me.

A frown formed on my face as an uncomfortable, familiar feeling welled up inside my chest.

She still walked on, and when she spoke again, her voice had taken on an edge that made my stomach churn.

"I still don’t like them. They’re weak. They whine. They complain about being treated poorly, but they don’t do anything to improve themselves. They just... accept it. Wallow in it."

Her anger seemed to grow the more she talked, spilling over in a way that made my own fury rise to meet it.

"And you... I might be seeing things, but your body language screams exactly that. And for some reason, you are highly skilled. Talented, even, for an Omega to be able to get this far, and you still can’t see—"

"Stop."

The word came out low, dangerous. I shrugged her hand off my back with enough force that I stumbled, my side hitting the wall of the hallway. I barely felt the impact.

I wanted to get far away from her.

Two wolves who had been walking past us stopped, their heads turning to stare. I ignored them.

I leaned against the wall for support and glared at Meribel, my entire body trembling with exhaustion and fury.

"Well, sorry we annoy you. We can’t help but feel that way when we’ve been treated like the scum of the earth from birth," I gritted out, my voice shaking. "Must be nice how you didn’t get to experience that, and you just say anything like—" I clamped my mouth shut and looked away, grimacing.

Just looking at her face made me more angry.

She didn’t say anything. She just stood there. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I pushed off the wall and forced myself to straighten.

"I learned a lot. Thank you for today," I said stiffly, unable to look at her. "I can find my way back myself. And you don’t need to bring anything. I’m fine."

The walk back to my room felt endless. The hallways stretched on forever, and each wolf, and door I passed seemed to mock me.

But I kept walking.

When I finally reached my door, I stumbled inside and slammed it shut behind me with more force than necessary. The sound echoed through the small room.

For a moment, I just stood there, breathing hard.

Then my legs finally gave out.

I sank to the floor, my back sliding down the door until I was huddled against it, my knees pulled up to my chest. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to contain the shaking that had nothing to do with exhaustion.

I was furious.

Furious at Meribel for her words. Furious at myself for letting them affect me so much.

Who was she? She had no right to say all that nonsense.

No right to judge any Omega for that.

I sat there on the floor for a while, my body too exhausted to move, my mind too chaotic to settle. Eventually, the anger burned itself down to embers, leaving only bone-deep weariness in its wake.

Eventually, I forced myself to stand and went to clean myself. When I finally collapsed onto the bed, I just lay there and let the exhaustion pull me under.

But a thought followed me, even though it felt silly.

’Why did you even put me here?’

’I hate you.’