only love can hurt like this

Claimed by the Arrogant Alpha

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Chapter 8: only love can hurt like this

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She spent the next day in bed, refusing to go out and making up the excuse that she was sick. She fully intended on doing that today as well, but Tasha had stormed in screaming “Saint has mated!” and Jessica couldn’t possibly miss the chance to congratulate him.

Tasha fired questions at her regarding her glum mood (and why she reeked even more of Kai’s scent) but Jessica didn’t want to answer, knowing she’d sound like a fool.

When they both arrived at Saint’s house, her temperament took an ever further nose dive.

Saint’s eyes were watery, but Jessica had never seen them shine brighter than they were right now. A hand was grasped in Yves’s and a bite mark was healing where his neck met his shoulder.

Jessica felt an ugly feeling of jealousy overcome her, but she tried her best to smile for Saint because she didn’t want to dampen his cheerful mood.

Tasha was all over Saint, cooing and throwing ripped up pieces of paper in the air like confetti, clapping and laughing like a child on Christmas.

She ignored the way Yves tensed when she hugged Saint tightly because any couple after they’d just mated was going to be quite possessive. However, Yves tried his best to hold back because Saint was so happy.

Jessica thought that in itself was a sweet scene.

She felt her heart constrict and she wondered if she’d ever have a mate like that – eyeing off other wolves, one hand clasped in his, pressing kisses into her hairline.

“Can you get me some water?” Saint asked, voice sounding a bit fatigued but undeniably happy, “with ice, too.”

Yves nodded and stood up, clearly trying to overlook the way Tasha was jumping up and down on the couch beside the newly mated Omega, clutching his arm. “Uh, sure.”

Jessica’s Omega wolf whined longingly.

Everyone always did say an Alpha in love was a sight to behold.

“Jessica,” Saint spoke up. He tilted his head to the side, eyes filled with worry. “You’re so quiet. Is everything okay?”.

She forced a smile, nodding. She ran a hand through her hair, a habit she did when she was trying to buy more time to think of what to say. “Yeah, I’m just… not feeling well.”

“She has been like this for days,” Tasha murmured and her excitement dimmed down, matching the concern on Saint’s face. “Seriously though, what happened?”.

It wouldn’t be so bad to tell them, Jessica supposed. Tasha was her best friend and Saint was probably the kindest wolf she’d ever met.

She bit her lip and flashes of coffee brown eyes and charming half smiles invaded her mind. “Well, um, yesterday –” Her voice cut off as soon as Yves entered, a glass of water in his hand.

He placed it onto the coffee table and slid it to Saint who shot Jessica an apologetic look for the interruption.

Jessica didn’t know if it was a good idea to speak about this in front of Yves. What if he told Kai and they laughed about her naivety?

She knew she couldn’t ask Yves to leave, after all, it was known that new mates didn’t cope well with distance for an extended period of time, and this topic was definitely going to take some time.

She stood up and brushed non-existent dust off her jeans, “I have some errands to run. I’m sorry. But, I am so happy for the two of you. I really, really am.” She gave a half-hearted wave and turned to leave.

Yves had smiled and thanked her, Saint continued staring at her with concern and Jessica felt guilty because Saint should be celebrating right now, not worried about her.

“Tasha, you should –” Saint began.

“Yeah, I’ll follow her,” Tasha assured him, also getting to her feet. “Jessi, wait up.”

Jessica slowed her steps and allowed the Beta to attach herself to her side. It struck her then that she may never see Saint once he left to the city with Yves at the end of the week.

She rushed back and threw herself into the older boy’s arms.

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Tasha rested her chin on Jessica’s shoulder and made a gagging sound. It was obviously fake but the slight scrunch in her nose wasn’t. “Did you bathe in Kai’s scent or something? I can hardly smell you under it all. Alpha pheromones are no joke.”

Saint and Yves had both noticed for sure, but neither said anything.

Jessica rolled her eyes and leaned back against Natasha, the two of them sitting on Tasha’s bed in a somewhat intimate position.

Yet, the feelings between them were, and always had been, strictly platonic.

They’d known each other since childhood, survived school and struggled through puberty together, pulled embarrassing pranks on both unsuspecting victims and each other – they were like sisters.

Though, sometimes Jessica wished she could have just fallen in love with Tasha (“Everyone wants to fall in love with me, Jessica,” Tasha had cockily replied when she told her that).

“For a moment, you know,” Jessica confessed. “I really wanted to be his mate.”

“Oh,” Tasha answered. She squeezed Jessica’s shoulders and tried to cheer her up with a goofy grin. “More than last year?”

Jessica barely felt anything when she thought about the Beta last year. “Yes. Last year I had hoped but this time… it was almost a need.” She brought her hands to her face and made a groan of humiliation. “Look at me, Tasha. I sound so desperate.”

“No, you don’t,” She insisted, tone firm.

She frowned, a look that was not often seen gracing her face. Tasha huffed.

“Should I have a talk to this Kai? He’s starting to piss me off – acting like he wants you and then denying it.”

“No, Tasha, it’s all over now,” Jessica swore.

She wasn’t going to put her hopes up again now that she knew Kai’s actions weren’t genuine. Jessica had suspected as such, but when sitting and talking with the Alpha, she believed she had completely mistaken him.

“Besides, I know how you get when you’re angry – you’ll piss him off really bad and he might hurt you.”

Tasha, when happy, was all sparkling rainbows and blinding smiles, but when angry she became like a spawn of Satan, sent straight from hell to rip out beating hearts.

“Oh, please,” Tasha derided with an emphasized eye roll. “And besides, Amir wouldn’t let Kai touch me.”

Jessica turned around to raise an eyebrow. “Amir?”

“Ah,” Tasha exclaimed and… was that embarrassment? Jessica sat up and spun around. “Yes, well, he’s a Beta I met – Yves’s friend and also Kai’s. Do you remember the Beta who followed Kai on the first day? Anyway, we’ve been talking these past few days, among other things…”

“W-Wait, wait, what?” Jessica gasped.

“You poor baby. Do I have to specify?”.

“No, stupid,” Jessica hit her shoulder as Tasha chortled. A million questions were running through her head. “You’ve never mentioned him before! Is he the scowling one?”

“You’ve been rather preoccupied,”

Tasha quipped thought not unkindly, shrugging like it was no big deal.

But Jessica knew Tasha like the back of her hand – this was no ‘no big deal.’

“And, he does scowl an awful lot, but that’s just the way his face looks. It can’t be helped.”

Jessica practically clawed at Tasha’s arm, who was trying to squirm away. “Are you – are you going to - ?”.

Tasha twisted her arm away and flicked Jessica in the forehead who drew back with a pout. “Maybe. I think, rather, I’ll go back to the city with him and see if we see a relationship together first. I don’t want to rush into anything. He seems to prefer that too. So…”

“Tasha,” Jessica breathed and her eyes formed her signature eye smile, throat choking up. “I’m so happy for you.” As she spoke the words, her heart constricted – that feeling of abandonment growing bigger, but her joy for her best friend was stronger.

“Well,” Tasha flipped her hair back, trying to act like it was nothing. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s a pain in the ass. Sleeps all day and lazy when he’s awake. I don’t know what I see in him really.”

“Shut up. You’ve fallen for him.”

“Yeah, but only a little.”

 

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Saint was leaving.

Natasha was leaving.

And Jessica was drunk out of her mind.

She was moving clumsily on the dance floor, immensely different from her usual, graceful, dancing style, and pressed up against some other wolves.

The club reeked of alcohol, sex, vomit and sweat and in the back of her mind her wolf was on high alert, making sure nobody tried to take advantage of her.

Jessica is not this sort of person – she doesn’t like getting drunk or dancing among the equally drunk, but her two closest friends are leaving and she feels awful.

And lonely.

And she just wanted to make it go away.

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TBC