softening edges

The door cracked, making me peak from where I sat. “Hi, Love” Esme said, coming close to me.

“You came back?” I honestly thought she would be resting or at best boasting to the pack how the royal academy was. She had this look on her face that suggested that I was crazy.

“Well of course I would come back, my best friend is in here” She said, having this offended look on her face.

“I Just…” I gulped, thinking of whether or not it was best to bring up the night before she left.

“Look” She said, looking as though she wanted to reach out to me, but she held back “What happened in the past? It’s in the past now. Sisters forever, remember?” She said, looking at me with a smile as she reminded me of our mantra.

I laughed at the cheesy phrase.

“Definitely.” I smiled back, nodding my head.

“Good. Don’t worry, Ethan spoke to his dad about getting you out of here, you would be fine” I felt relief. “But… there has been some news” The twist on her face told me for sure that the news she was about to share was definitely not one I would be anticipating.

“Esme?” The anxiety in my voice could be heard from afar. “Spit it out, you know I don’t like suspense.” I said, feeling my stomach clenching.

“Your mum…” I bit my tongue to stop myself from asking too much questions “She had a falling out with the alpha.. she and your dad, they have been sent out…”

“What!!!! why was I not sent out with them, where did they go, how…”

“Anya, you know you can’t leave. Not until Ethan rejects you anyways and he… He is not willing to. He claims he has been a fool and wants to try and make things right” I looked at her for the longest time because I could not believe it to be true.

Ethan was not someone that would say something like that. The look of horror on his face.. “Are you lying to me? You think this is funny? Because it isn’t” I ignored the tug in my chest that tried to tell me that maybe, just maybe, Ethan would want this, but another part of me knew that was not possible. Ethan did not see me that way.

“Babe” She said, giving me that sarcastic eye roll when she was getting fed up of me. “You know Ethan. He values mated relationships more than anything in the world. It might not be the romantic relationship at first that you want, but why don’t you just… You know…” she reached out to me, looking at me with a smile on her face. “Try? He would grow to love you, maybe more than you could even imagine” I broke.

The two weeks of healing in Aunt’s Mallorys was washed away as I looked at her.

It was Esme. Esme knew things like this. She was never wrong. It was things like this that made her the school’s favourite when we were in high school”

“You really think so?” I hated how pathetic I sounded but she did not mind, she smiled an encouraging one, a smile that told me that it was okay.

Several times in the past, she had given me this smile and I had absolutely no reason to doubt her so now? “Honey, you know I would never ever tell you something that I am not sure off.”

That seemed to warm something in me but she wasn’t done. “Just take it slow. This is new for him, you have always loved him and to him, he has to wrap around the fact that the girl that used to be his friend and had a falling out with because…” She tilted her head to the side, referring to the number of times I had gone extreme. “…Is now his mate.” she said softly.

I let out a sigh. “I was crazy, wasn’t I?”  I laid my head on the cold bars and she did same on the other side

“You were..” Was all she said. I smiled.

“What if he does not fall in love with me? What if he just agrees because of the mate bond and the benefits it would give to him?” she was silent for a while.

“You know, times like this reminds me why I always hit you!! you are smart, beautiful and any man’s dream. Mate or not? I don’t know why that jerk would ever push you away like that!!! So don’t you ever question yourself!!! if everything goes well from what I am hearing, he would get you out of here and complete the mating bond” I felt butterflies in my stomach although I tried to sound indifferent about it. “That is if you would agree that is..”

I looked at her, finding it difficult to get my emotions together. “But the way, he looked at her, the way…”

“Anya! He chose you” She said, looking at me desperately like she needed to get it into my head. “Even the goddess chose him for you.” She said, a little out of breath this time around. “What could be a more perfect love story?” I sighed, letting her words sink in, shaking my head as she spoke.

“Y…Yeah” I nodded along”

“Don’t mess this up, please” She gave me this look as though she was pitiful of an opportunity I was about to give up.

I nodded along “I have to go now, the Alpha is having a meeting with the warriors and I have to be there.”

I watched her leave, this tingling feeling in my chest that I could not shake off.

“Thank you” I muttered, just as she was about to leave the cells, but she heard, looking back to me.

“You know I’ve always got you” she smiled, looking at me with a knowing look. Then she closed the door behind her, leaving me to my thoughts.

I felt myself drift off to sleep but then I heard it. The door snapped open and then closed almost immediately, but immediately I opened my eyes, there was no one.

“Hello?” I called, looking around.

No one, it was as though who ever had come in, never did. I was about to shrug it of, possibly my mind playing tricks on me from the constant silence but just as I was about to close my eyes again, I saw it.

reject the bond for your own good  was written in bold…