The Man at the park

~ DAHLIA

Tears sprang into my eyes as I stared at them.

Zayden.

My Zayden.

He wasn't technically mine, seeing as I was just about to confess my feelings and ask him to love me back.

But still.

Still.

He was kissing another woman. His best friend, of all people.

I didn't know how long I stood there staring at them. Time lost all relevance, and everything became blurry except the two people standing before me. They were in sharp focus, and I saw nothing else, felt nothing, except them.

As if she could feel my presence, Edda suddenly opened her eyes, and her gaze met mine. She pulled away from Zayden as she stared at me, and a part of me thought she was going to tell him that I was there, that they were going to apologise and tell me that it meant nothing.

A tiny seed of hope sprouted in my chest.

But Edda just smiled at me, wrapped her legs around Zayden, and started to kiss him harder than before.

The seed of hope died a brutal death, and my heart splintered into shreds.

Unable to watch anymore, I turned around and ran as my stomach dropped.

A wave of bile rose in my throat, but I pushed it down. How stupid I had been, building up an entire fantasy around Zayden.

Seeing him kiss another woman…had shattered through my delusions in an instant.

My vision turned blurry.

Fool.

I had been such a goddamn fool.

What had I expected, that because his grandfather had made the announcement that I was to be his wife, Zayden would suddenly, miraculously, love me?

I should have known better. I should have guarded my heart rather than relying on glass, fickle hope.

The image of him kissing Edda flashed across my eyes, and pain slammed into me like an avalanche.

I didn't know where I was going. Hell, I didn't care either.

All I wanted was for the pain and the embarrassment threatening to undo me to fade away.

I couldn't go back to my room. The thought of being alone, after what I just saw, was too much for me. If my plan had worked, Zayden was supposed to be following me back into my room. Or even kissing me right there in the garden, at least.

Or maybe even telling me that he felt the same way for me too, that he wouldn't mind falling in love with me too.

By the moon, how stupid could I be? I mean, his grandfather told me. He announced it to the whole pack. So what the hell was Zayden doing with Edda?

It made no sense, and a part of me felt angry — at them both — as the image of them kissing flashed behind my eyes.

Needing to distract myself from the embarrassment sprinkled with pain, I decided to do the one thing I knew would distract me.

Get dead drunk.

Without stopping to think about it, I walked up to where the drinks were, and grabbed a pack of beer.

Then I walked into a corner where no one was, and started my personal pity party.

All I had wanted was for him to love me. I had done everything, every single thing, for him to notice me. Ever since his grandfather made the announcement, I had made myself more useful to the family.

I cooked. I cleaned. I made sure he had clean clothes to wear. I poured all of my time and energy into becoming the perfect mate for him. I thought that if I did everything, that if I showed him how useful I was, everything would be fine.

All Zayden had to do was see me. But I guess I remained invisible, despite my efforts.

So I drank.

Fuck him and fuck Edda. They could kiss all they wanted, while I drank myself into stupor.

The cold beer seeped into the cracks in my heart, and the alcohol shimmered in the very crevice of my soul.

After what could have been forever or just a few hours, the mind numbing pain in my heart dulled into a small throb.

Drinking so much had made me cross eyed, and everything was suddenly doubled to me, but I didn't care. Zayden had kissed another girl that wasn't me, and that was all that mattered.

The foolishness of my expectations. The pain. The heartbreak.

I downed the last of my beer and stood up, bracing my hand on the wall to steady my shaky legs.

The world spinned as I tried to walk back to my room, and I stumbled more than a few times.

I bumped into several people too, who took one look at me and wrinkled their nose with disgust.

When I eventually made it to the front door, I staggered inside. My eyes stayed towards the stairs, and my heart lurched in my chest. Was Zayden in his room right now, kissing Edda and making her feel special?

Was he even thinking about me at all? A snort slid out of me at the thought. Of course he wasn't going to think about me. I wasn't his best friend.

He would never look at me the way he looked at her. Not once. And maybe he never would.

With a sad and resigned sigh, I started to stumble up the stairs. I needed to get to my room and sleep off the alcohol in my system.

If anyone saw me like this — drunk, stupid and out of my mind — if word got back to my adoptive grandfather, I was going to be in a lot of trouble.

So I staggered up the stairs. But I couldn't find my room. All the doors looked identical, and my vision became even more blurry the more I stared at the doors.

Where the hell was my room?

I blinked severally, trying to clear my vision enough to see. There was a door three feet to my left, and it looked so much like my room. So I made my way towards it.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I walked over to the bed and flopped down on it.

A moan slipped past my lips. It was so soft, so welcoming. If Zayden hadn't been with…

I shook my head immediately, shaking that thought away. I wasn't going to think of the Alpha and his choice of girls. Not anymore.

It was time to let go of my foolish hope. Zayden wasn't going to fall in love with me. I might as well stop being delusional.

I was already drifting off to sleep when the door opened again. The sound was distant, and I wondered if someone was indeed walking towards me or if it was just an hallucination.

Then all of a sudden, a male hand grabbed my ankle. Startled, I tried to sit up, but that intruder was strong.

My alcohol induced fog banished immediately, and fear seeped into my bones.

“Who are you?! Let me go!” I snapped, but the man didn't listen. He dragged me into a standing position.

I tried to get out of his grip, but he was strong, and he was very very drunk. There was no light in the room and I couldn't see who he was, but my heart thudded with terror as he held me.

“What…what do you want? Please let me go. I…I'm sorry if this is your room,” I managed to say, but he wasn't listening.

Instead, the stranger leaned in and kissed me. A gasp slipped past my lips. Before I could stop myself, I pushed his face away from mine and slapped him.

The man stilled, and for a long, unending moment, he didn't move. His grip on me didn't loosen, but I hoped that I had startled him enough into leaving me alone.

And just like I hoped, he let go of me. A relieved sob slipped past my lips. The slap must have shaken some sense into him.

I was about to walk away, determined to find my own room, when to my horror, the man reached up and grabbed the front of my dress.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” I yelled.

He tore my dress, ripped it into shreds.

Stunned, I tried to scream, to run, but the intruder was too strong. He grabbed my waist and slammed me into the bed. A hand covered my mouth, preventing any sound from escaping.

And no matter how much I bit him, he didn't let go.

Then very helplessly, the only thing I could do as the faceless stranger had his way with me, was scream into his hand — silent, unheard, alone.