Chapter 4

Danielle

“I will take her.”

My jaw dropped as his words registered. Not in a good way, never. He sounded like I was something that he had to buy off the counter just because everyone else didn’t want it. That pissed me off more than the fucker who just made a fool of both of us with his actions.

I should have just stayed home today, if I had stayed home, I would not have had to live two embarrassing moment at the same time. there’s no way I can ever outlive today. all the cameras up and capturing the moment was enough proof of that. if only Manuel hadn’t been so childish and trying to win stupid games, I would have gone back home to lick my wounds in the quiet of my home.

“What do you even mean by that?”

It wasn’t me who spoke, it was Manuel in his cocky voice that I already started to resent. I can’t believe I even respected the idiot before. What a fool but he asked the right question though because if he hadn’t I would have eventually asked Andres what the fuck he was up to and why he would want to match with me in the first place.

“You heard me the first time. I will take her. I pick her as my match so I never want to see you anywhere near her.”

The sound everyone made in the room pissed me off just like the words he spoke. I literally saw him earlier today while the main matching was fucking going on and he only looked me over once and walked away so why was he suddenly interested in matching with me? Or was he trying to help me save face just to tell me to fuck off after?

That would be worse than Manuel rejecting me. heck, I don’t even want anyone or any drama. I just want to go home. I opened my mouth to speak but before I could talk, he came to me and forcefully took my hand. I tried to break free but he was stronger than me.

“Listen up everyone!”

He didn’t shout but his voice carried enough power that it made everyone in the hall stop and listen. I unintentionally got goosebumps. that’s how powerful his voice sounded like. If he weren’t such a jerk, it would have been hot.

“I hereby declare, Danielle Nolan as my chosen mate. I matched with her earlier and that’s the only thing you should know.”

I blinked in confusion. We matched? When and how come I had no idea? The only time I saw him tonight, he didn’t even act like he knew me and now, he is saying we matched? He must think I am someone else. There’s just no way--

“How is that possible? She is the mate I just rejected. If you already matched with her then why was she throwing herself at me?”

I wiped my head in Manuel’s direction. The lying bastard was smirking.

“I did no such thing you lying prick! You dragged me here and you decided to create a scene. Stop making things up!”

I yelled at him in anger.

“You know I wasn’t lying. You were so excited about the mate thing and already throwing yourself at me as if I would ever want to be with someone like you. No one wants to be with you! Look around, no one wants—“

“Enough!”

Andres’s voice thundered. He reached and grabbed hold of my hand and held tight when I tried to free myself.

“Who said no one wants her? I just told you that she is mine now and I bet a lot of people here also want her but are too scared to approach her. Look at her and look at yourself, who do you think is unwanted?”

I know he’s trying to defend me but for some reason, I didn’t like it at all. maybe because I knew he wasn’t doing it because he suddenly liked me and wanted to mate with me. this must be his idea of a joke or something. It won’t be the first time he pulled a sick joke on me. I shuddered at the memory from years ago filtered through my mind and I pushed it away like I always do. The most humiliating day of my life.

I left the city for months after everything went down and when I returned, I never saw Andres the same again, It’s been over eight years, and now what? He suddenly wants to pretend to be good? Fuck him. I jerked my hand away from him and without waiting, I turned around and walked as fast as I could out of the hall.

“Hey, Danielle, wait!”

I didn’t expect him to follow me and I didn’t stop when he called my name. He even knew my name, I thought he didn’t. I mean eight years ago, he looked me in the eyes and asked me who the fuck I was and why I was in his room when he had been the one to drag me in there with him.

“Hey! I am still talking to you! Do not walk away from me, woman!”

His voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned around and glared at him.

“You can’t even say thank you? I think you owe me that.”

He thought he did something with the way he acted out there and now he wants me to thank him? He thought he did something with the way he handled things but he didn’t. he only made everything worse for me.

“Why would you even do that? I didn’t ask you to help me or anything like that! I was doing just fine on my own!”

I fired at him.

“I wasn’t helping you.”

I stared at him in confusion.

“If you weren’t helping me then why did you feel the need to step in? I didn’t ask you to lie about matching with me. I know you of all people will never want to have anything to do with me.”

I wasn’t really proud of how insecure my voice sounded towards the end of my sentence.

“Who said I was lying?”

Now he was straight up trying to get a reaction from me because why else did he continue to ask questions that make no sense? I decided that I have had enough drama for one night so I sighed, turned around and started to walk away again.

“Who said you could walk away? I am not done talking to you yet!”

I stopped walking for the second time at his words and cursed at myself for letting him control me with just his voice. I closed my eyes for a moment, bit down hard on my bottom lip to stop myself from saying something to him. it took a few seconds to calm down. I opened my eyes again and started walking away. This time faster than I would usually walk.

I made it to where I parked my car, even fished out my keys from my purse and was about to unlock my car when I felt someone behind me. I didn’t even need to look to know who it was. I just felt him. also smelt him. not that I felt proud about knowing it was him behind me without looking. I made up the excuse that I knew because I had only just left him a few minutes ago and he did say he wasn’t done talking yet.

Well, I was done talking to him. I pushed the key into my car and turned it but I didn’t make it to opening the door because he slammed his hand against it and even after trying to pull it open forcefully, I couldn’t so I gave up and twisted my neck to look at him in anger.

I swallowed when our eyes met and looked away immediately because of how intimidated it was to look at him directly. Damn alphas and their sick aura. His aura was on another level and I wasn’t at my best right now.

It didn’t help my case that I visibly shivered when his hand touched mine when he tried to pull it away from my car door. I gave up because I wanted to break physical contact with him. I put a distance between us before I even tried to scold him for blocking my way.

“I told you I wasn’t done talking to you! Were you not taught how to be polite and womanly?”

I started counting one to ten in my head because I didn’t want to get angrier than I already was. Trust me, it used to work but in this case, it didn’t.

“I am not even surprised that you are a misogynist! It’s so in character for someone like you! Get away from my car!”

I yelled at him in a not so ladylike manner but I didn’t give a fuck. I don’t like him. I don’t like his arrogance and how he managed to make himself the main character in everything.

“How and what did I say that makes me a misogynist? Do you just throw words out when you don’t know what else to say? That’s cute.”

I opened my mouth to speak but closed it again. I couldn’t believe my face heated up when he said I was cute. No, I am not cute. I haven’t been cute since I stopped being a kid. Who calls a grown ass woman cute? Only the arrogant alpha in front of me. Let’s not forget that he wasn’t just arrogant. Not this man was pure evil.

“Get out of my way, Andres!”

I fired at him.

“Oh, she knows my name.”

He said in a mock-cheery voice.

“What do you want from me? Can’t you just leave me alone? If you want me to thank you for helping me in there then you will wait forever because I have no plans of thanking you because I didn’t ask for your help.”

I told him firmly.

“Again, I didn’t help you. I thought we had already established that part or are you the kind of woman who likes to talk about the same thing over and over again? It’s not cute and you are supposed to be cute.”

There he goes again. Goddess, I hate him so much. I bit my lips again trying to find the best words to get him out of my way but my head was suddenly blank. This was all that fuckers fault. Manuel! That idiot. I hope he doesn’t try to talk to me when we meet during pack meeting because I will not be nice to him.

It’s not like he can hit me in front of others. It’s strictly against the rules of our clan for a wolf to hit another clan member let alone a woman. He would be greatly punished and probably even demoted for a while.

“Okay, fine, really, what do you want from me, Alpha Andres? It can be because of the sham matching you told everyone about back there because we both know that’s fake and you just felt generous enough to step in even though I was handling things myself. You don’t have to tell me anything, I don’t plan on disturbing you about it.”

I told him firmly just in case he got the wrong idea.

“Who said it was a sham? Who said it wasn’t real? I am a man of my word, woman and I don’t just say things for the fun of it. If I say I match with you and want you as my mate then that’s what it is! You are mine.”

“You are not serious.”

I said it for lack of anything better to say.

“On the contrary, I am very serious about everything I said,”

I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t just playing around? Like he really meant everything he said back there? No way. I just find it hard to believe that he would ever want me like that. this has to be some kind of sick game and I will be damned if I fall for it.