Chapter 3 Bond Already Placed

Maya's POV

“Thanks again for letting me stay, Corina,” I thanked, having tea at a friend’s place.

“Of course, Maya. You know I’ll always have your back,” Corina said. 

According to my knowledge, Corina was half-werewolf and half-human. When she was eight, her family moved to this pack and settled in the outskirts of the city. We met at a volunteer event I had to attend- to gain the favor of other werewolves- and Corina was the only one who helped me get through the whole thing. She had been a true friend to me since then.

“Still, what happened earlier today? You completely left me after you got that text. Did something happen between you and your boyfriend?” Corina asked.

The second she asked me that, I was instantly reminded of what I found out between my ‘roommate’ and now-ex-boyfriend. I grew so angry, but I didn’t want to accidentally snap at Corina, who had nothing to do with the situation.

So I took a deep breath before starting to tell Corina what happened earlier today. How Jillian asked me to buy some pregnancy test for her at a pharmacy, to Jayden revealing that he had no feelings for me. That he wanted to be with Jillians, who was his supposed ‘mate’...

“That is so messed up! I can’t believe they did that to you!” Corina exclaimed in disbelief. I know, right? Even now I couldn’t either. The more I thought about it, the more nauseous I felt, with my body growing somewhat heavy, and my head somewhat feeling dazed.

“Hey. Are you okay? You’re looking a little off,” Corina asked.

I put my hand on my head, pinching the bridge of my nose to regain some focus. “Yeah. Just… hard to process all this,” I admitted.

“Are you sure it’s just that and… nothing else?” When I looked back at Corina, I noticed she was staring at my stomach. The gears shifted in my head, and I realized what she was asking about.

“Corina…” I scolded, causing her to raise her hands in playful mercy. “It’s definitely not that. Jayden and I never slept… together…”

Almost as soon as I said that, my stomach started churning, and I raised a hand to my mouth, feeling something wanting to come out. I hastily rushed to a nearby trash bin and opened the lid, vomiting out bile from my mouth. 

“There, there. It’s all right,” I heard Corina say, patting my back gently, as I continued to empty out my stomach. As she brushed a bit of my hair back, I could feel her flinch slightly for some reason. “Maya. Did Jayden ever… ‘Bite’ you or anything?”

Though I was a bit confused by the question, I did think back on it for a bit, for Jayden indeed did that when he first brought me to this world. Promised to protect me after my parents’ passed away. “Yeah, he did. Said it would transfer some of his scent onto me, and protect me from rogues or other werewolf attacks. Why?” I inquired, turning to her as I wiped my mouth of the leftover saliva.

For some reason, Corina seemed hesitant to answer that time. “Well, he’s not wrong, but he didn’t tell you the full truth, either,” she looked at me with a serious face. “That mark he left on you was a sign of your bond as mates. Something that is supposed to have been done during the mating ritual between two willing parties in love with one another. So long as you have that mark, usually you both would be bound to one another. However, in the case if one side cheats on the other, the other party would be notified by the mark. Even more so, if the first party slept with anyone other than their mate.”

Shock filled me from this revelation. The mark Jayden left was not one that was to protect me, but one to mark his ‘claim’ on me?! More than that, this mark was to notify me if Jayden did cheat on me?

No wonder there were times when my shoulder would suddenly jerk, around where the mark was. I was so naive to believe it was just muscles with all the heavy lifting and physical activities I had to do in those volunteer events.

“Is there any way I can get rid of it?” I asked Corina as I clasped onto the dreadful mark, as though hoping I could pinch and squeeze the stupid thing off me. Only for it to be futile.

“Yes. It’s just…” I didn’t like how she trailed off there and turned to her, seeing her look down with a saddened expression. “For the bond between you two to be broken, one side has to reject the other. However, you can’t do that, Maya.”

I widened my eyes at those words. “Why not?!”

“For one thing, the only one with the mark on them is you. Jayden doesn’t have a mark from you, does he?” I flinched when she was going with that fact. “If both sides give each other the mark of the mate bond, either one can break it. If it’s only one side, though, only the one who gave the mark can end it.”

I didn’t like what I was hearing. Not one bit. I looked down, trying to consider my options, or lack thereof. If I wanted to end things with Jayden, I had to talk him into ending this ‘bond’ we have. It should be easy, though. For after all, he already has someone else he’d rather be with.

“I’ll see him tomorrow about ending this.” 

***

The next day, I stood before the door to my apartment. Or rather, soon-to-be former apartment. Something told me Jayden was with Jills. And given how she was pure human- or pure as can be- she would have to still be in our apartment until Jayden marks her like he did me. That, or until that baby she supposedly has with him is born.

Corina wanted to accompany me, be my support should anything happen, but I managed to convince her into letting me come alone. This was between me and Jayden, after all. 

I sighed before raising my hand to knock, prepared to face the music, when the door creaked open before my knuckles could hit it.

‘Did they not lock the door properly?’ I wondered, slightly concerned as I lowered my hand to the doorknob, only to freeze when I heard voices on the other side.

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t reject that bitch yesterday, Jayden. She’s got absolutely nothing to back her up. No parents, no relatives you should be afraid of, she even only has one friend in this pack who is practically nothing compared to you. Why the delay?” came Jillian’s voice.

I grew angry when I heard her slander Corina. As much as I wanted to slam the door open and give her a good slap as punishment, I decided against that. Lightly taking a breath to calm myself, and listen to their conversation.

“Jills, you’re missing the point. It’s not her dead family I’m worried about. It’s the inheritance they left her with that we need,” came Jayden’s voice, baffling me with the response he gave. “Do you have any idea how much they left her? If I completely break up with her, we won’t be able to get another penny of that dough.”

“That said, do you really think she’ll come back and reconcile with you? After what happened yesterday?” Jillian asked.

“Oh, but it’s not like she has much of a choice in the matter. She is just human in this world. Even if she wants to break up with me, where would she go? All she’s good for is her family’s money. Any werewolf would want her if they knew that. But they won’t get to her so long as my scent is on her. If anything, she should be considering this as payment for her protection. Still, we can’t have her going off on us. Just to amuse her, we best put her in a good mood. Don’t worry, Jills. With her as our personal ATM, our future will be that much more secured~”

My jaws slowly dropped as I overheard every word being said there. I was just a convenient ATM to them all this time? Jayden never felt anything for me; just wanted my inheritance? The money my dead parents left me?! I was just speechless to learn of how cruel he could be, to even use my situation to his advantage. Moreover, I had fallen for that act this whole time.

My head spinning, I couldn’t bear to stay out there any longer. After rushing down the long flight of stairs, I eventually made it down to the entrance, and back to the taxi I took getting here. I hastily got inside, catching my breath, and running my hands across my face in frustration. 

Never again would I be playing in the palm of that disgusting dog’s hands. Never would I let him beat me, and take my parent’s money for his own selfish uses. I just needed to come up with a way to get that dog to end our relationship once and for all, before he could take my inheritance away.

“Where to, ma’am?” the driver asked.

I glanced to my watch, noticing it read a little over 9AM. “Sweethunt Cafe, please,” I requested.