Chapter 3

"JASMINE! Get your lazy, defective ass out here right now!"

I scrambled to hide my phone under the old blanket. I had gotten a notification, the Ivory Spire scholarship response mail, but I couldn't look at it. Not yet.

"I know you’re in here, wallowing like a wounded animal," Vivienne yelled stepping into my cramped room.

"Do you think because you were rejected, you get a holiday? Do you think the world stops because Malakai realized you were a mistake?"

"No, Vivienne," I whispered in reply.

"Good. Because we have guests. The Beta and his family are coming over to celebrate Malakai and Cecily’s union. Your father expects perfect dinner."

She came closer… narrowed her eyes in...

"And since you’re the only thing in this house that isn't fit to be seen in the dining hall, you’ll be in the kitchen. You will cook. Everything."

"I... I don't feel well," I replied sounding weak.

Vivienne laughed wickedly.

"You’re a werewolf, Jasmine. Or at least, you pretend to be. We don't get 'sick' from a broken heart. We get busy. You have two hours. If that table isn't full by the time Malakai arrives, I’ll have your father force you to bed without dinner as punishment…. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," I choked out.

I rushed into the kitchen to start dinner feeling like a pilot flying blind.

I kept leaning over the pots…inhaling, trying to catch even a faint hint of the spices.

"Move it, defect!"

Cecily sauntered into the kitchen, wearing another one of her pretty dress... It was blood-red in colour and clung to her curves…the same curves I had seen Malakai gripping just hours ago. She looked radiant, her skin glowed with the aftermath of their betrayal.

"Malakai is going to be here in thirty minutes," she said checking her reflection in the polished surface of a hanging pot.

"He’s been working up an appetite…mind you he told me earlier that I was the most 'delicious' thing he’d ever tasted."

She looked at me… maybe waiting for me to flinch. but I kept my eyes anywhere else but on her.

"Don't worry, Jasmine," Cecily continued…her voice still filled with fake sympathy.

"Once we’re mated and he’s the Beta, I’ll make sure he lets you stay on as our head maid. You always were good at cleaning up after me."

"Get out, Cecily," I command in a harsh tone…I have had enough of her bitter remarks.

"Oh, such tone for a girl with a broken bond. Just make sure the everything is perfect Jas… and remember that Malakai hates overcooked meat."

‘Malakai hates overcooked meat’ I mimicked her fake sugary voice while making an ugly face.

She humped, stomped her foot as she walked out of the kitchen in annoyance… Cecily and I were age mates so I wasn't afraid of speaking back at her unlike her mum.

I set the timer for the meat…but in my distraction I didn't realize the timer had stuck.

I went to the other counter to chop more herbs for the garnish, my back was turned to the cooker...I was lost in the memory of Malakai’s eyes…the way they had looked at me with so much loathing.

How could a fated bond be so cruel?

How could the Moon Goddess pair a soul that wanted to love with a soul that wanted to destroy?

Suddenly, a scream rang from the doorway.

"What the hell is that smell?!"

"Jasmine! Are you trying to burn the house down?!"

I spun…my heart dropped into my stomach.

Smoke was billowing from the oven.

"Oh no," I gasped in shock.

"You stupid, clumsy freak!" Vivienne screamed more as she appeared behind Diana my second step-sister.

She pushed past her daughter, her face now twisted with rage. She grabbed a towel and began waving the smoke away…but the damage was done.

The kitchen was now filled with smoke...even without my sense of smell I could see the ruin.

"I... the timer... I didn't smell it," I stammered.

"You didn't smell it?" Vivienne grabbed me by the arm forcefully...

"A wolf can smell a scorched hair from a mile away! Are you so useless that you can't even perform the basic functions of our kind?!"

"I can't smell anything!" I yelled back.

"I haven't been able to smell anything since he rejected me! My wolf is silent, Vivienne! I’m smell-blind!"

The silence that followed was long.

Diana and Cecily exchanged a look of shocked amusement.

Vivienne, however buffed in laughter a wicked delight in her eyes….

"Even better," She whispered.

"Not only are you a late-shifter and a reject, but you’re a cripple. A smell -blind werewolf. You truly are a defect Jasmine."

At that moment, the front door opened. The sound of boots echoed outside the kitchen…