#Chapter 4

I sneaked in, making sure to be unnoticed, and sat down with my family whose table was at the middle of the stage.

"Where have you been?",

"And what have been keeping you up stairs?", My mother scolded, but I didn't respond.

She couldn't ask further questions as she was in the mist of a lot of crowd. I wanted to make up a perfect excuse, but as I was about to speak, there it was again, "That scent that smells of smoke". Dave walked on stage and stood close to his parents. As he looked up, our eyes immediately caught each other. My wolf was howling,

"mate!!, Mate!!", She whined.

Dave altered a few words, while Mirabel encouraged him by rubbing her hand on his back. All this while Dave stood on the stage, we never broke eye contact as he grabbed the microphone into his hands, bringing it closer to his mouth.

Suddenly a crooked smirk plastered on his face. Still staring at me, he began to speak.

"I am so happy to be making another announcement tonight". He said.

"What is this idiot going to say", I murmured to myself, as I raised my eyebrows, ignoring my wolf who cursed me for calling her mate an idiot.

He tapped the microphone before clearing his throat to speak. His lips curled into a smirk, so foul it could put a party pooper to shame.

"I Dave Wheatstone, reject you Esmeralda West as my mate", he stated proudly into the microphone.

Bluster gasps filled the night sky. My wolf howled in pain, but all i could feel was embarrassment, as hundreds of eyes rested on me. Her howling turned into a shrinking whimper, and began to spark up my head.

I rubbed my temple slowly in an attempt to ease the head splitting pain. His words kept echoing in my mind. With an aching heart, I jumped up and out of my seat.

"Excuse me", I mumbled.

Everything moved in blurs around me. It felt like a dream, but it was indeed a reality. The sound of my family members and others calling out to me fell deaf to my ears.

My wolf painful howls were driving me insane. So I quickly ran back and disappeared back into the lightless, dark house. I shakily ran up the stairs of the pack house and headed towards my room.

I threw myself inside my room, slammed and locked the door shut behind me, and finally allowed myself to collapse onto the floor, hiding my face in my palms, confused and embarrassed.

I couldn't feel much of the heartache anymore. I felt a feeling of despair surrounding me.

The aspect that pained me the most was the fact that my relationship ended even before it started. I was not going to reject Dave quickly. All I needed was time to get along with him, but he ended up ruining everything.

My wolf had seemingly calmed down for I could no longer hear her shriek of pain.

"Esmeralda, sweetheart", I heard my dad's voice call out to me at the other side of the door.

He sat down next to me on the floor. He opened his mouth to start talking, but I interrupted.

"Dad the Sparks were not there", i explained.

" He came to meet me at the kitchen earlier today, and he kissed me in the kitchen earlier; that's why I was late", I recounted.

"It didn't feel like how everyone said it would feel". I said as I pulled my legs towards my chest, and buried my face in between my knees and mumbled.

"It's normal for a werewolf not to feel sad when they are rejected, but the only reason I felt something was because of Alaric", I said as I spoke to father, his eyes flooded with confusion.

"She is the one hurting, I’m not", I said, but it was actually a lie, because in reality I was hurting.

There is a deep pain in my chest like it had been crawled out. My wolf's crying and pain made my head hurt like I have been under water for too long, and my ears were starting to buzz. I'm more embarrassed than anything.

Father let out a giggle and pulled me into a hug. His laugh was fake, I knew it from the moment he let it out, and he was worried but wanted to comfort me with fake smiles.

"It's going to be alright dear", father reassured me.

"Everything happens for a reason", he concluded.

Suddenly there was a loud crash down stairs. Father and I looked at each other in confusion.

"I need to see what's going on downstairs", father said.

His eyes were wide with worry. I knew what was going through his head, his first thought must be about mother his mate.

A woman's scream followed another loud crash, and without another word, my father ran out of the room, and I followed suit.

The house was in complete mess. Broken bottles and pieces of furniture were scattered everywhere. Before I could ask any question, I was pulled into a warm embrace, the Jasmine smell.

My mum's eyes were glossy with tears as she ravished kisses over my face, holding me tightly into her embrace.

"Are you ok dear?, Are you ok dear?", she sang as she brushed my hair with her fingers the way she used to do when I was a child.

Seeing that both my parents were with me, I realized that my little brothers weren't with them, so where could they be.

"Collins and Clinton?", I asked in concern. "They are standing outside with some of my friends. Everyone was ordered to go back to their homes", mother said, while I nodded.

" I am very sure I will have my hands full with a lot of questions to explain later", I said jokingly.

There was a sudden loud noise at the major living room that was meant for all the werewolves of the pack.

"What is wronged with you", Nathan screamed.

He already had Dave pinned to the wall of the pack's house living room, while his wife Mirabel was hysterical and desperately begging him to let Dave go.

"It's like you want to remain a fucking child", Nathan yelled one more time.

Dave stayed silent, his eyes cold and lifeless once more as he stared down at his father.

"Nathan let him go", Mirabel begged, pulling her mates arms.

As Nathan released his grip on Dave, Dave tumbled to the floor. Mirabel bent down to him,

"How could you Dave?", Mirabel asked her son.