Heartbreak

I slowly opened my eyes, the world still shrouded in a haze of disorientation. My body aches, every movement sending sharp jolts of pain through my limbs. As my vision starts to clear, I realize that I'm lying on the comfy, cold bed, naked, and my memory begins to piece together the events leading up to this moment.

The first thing I notice is the sharp sting of pain on my bottom lip, I instinctively rub my tongue over my split lip, wincing at the pain, my face feeling swollen and tender from all the slaps, making it difficult to move. I take in my surroundings as I remembered the details of the fight.

Slowly I gathered my strength and push myself to my feet, wobbling as I regain balance. With every step, the pain in my body serves as a reminder of the beating I endured. I walked slowly to the bathroom and prepared myself a hot bath, after my beauty bath I walked to the closet in search of something casual to wear.

I settled for a pink turtleneck, plain white jeans and white Nike sneakers. Trying to hide my neck bruises from Liam and the others so they don't feel sorry for me, I applied a little bit of foundation on my bruised eye and cheeks, satisfied with my make up I left for the university.

The school was cramped with different activities, the intensity of preparation consumes every waking moment. This competition is the most prestigious event in all packs, a spectacle where mystical creatures of immense powers compete against other packs. Crystal pack has been the most powerful pack for almost 100 years now and the title of the Mystic Beast always stayed in the pack.

I walked to the Debate Square in search of my best friends and I found them, they were seated at the far corner of the building, chatting about things I don't know. I approached them and sat opposite Liam, not wanting to make things awkward between us. I noticed him staring at my face closely so I cleared my throat softly as my whole body still hurts.

"What were you guys talking about?" I chipped in.

"Just about the intensity of the competition, I mean, look around you, everyone is quite busy with something. Everyone except us of course." Chester said.

Kia rolled her eyes. "Well ever since the rules changed this year, we all want to retain the title of the Mystic Beast you know. We aren't competing against each other, we're competing against every single pack in the United States. That's huge!"

I agreed with her, I am also amongst those representing the school in the swimming competition.

Liam eyed me as he stared daggers into my face. "Good to know you've been preparing for the tournament Ryo, is that why your face is effing swollen and you have bruises all over your freaking body huh?" My eyes widened.

"Oh uhm-I-I-tripped last night and fell in the bathroom, I hit my head on the bathtub." I lied.

"That must have been a really hard bathtub, especially since it also gave you strangle marks on your neck." Liam pushed.

Having had enough, I felt angry tears sting my eyes.

"That's enough Liam, that's enough please. Fine, you know what happened, why do you still keep on asking me these questions?"

"Cause you seem to be blind all of a sudden. Blind to the abuse you suffer from that beast, he beat you up just because you kissed me, I'm your best friend Ryo, I'm the safest person you can ever kiss, what's so bad about sharing a kiss? While you were in heat, he banged someone else knowing fully well you wil feel the pain, he didn't care about you then, now he wants to break every bone in your body because you kissed me? What the hell happened to the Ryo I used to know?" Tears streamed down his eyes.

Feeling overwhelmed with sadness, I inhaled deeply as I forced my tears back in.

"I-I-I-I love him Liam." I whispered.

"And I also love you Ryo, I love my mate too, with all my heart. We are humans after all, we have feelings that can't be controlled, does that mean we should be killed for it? I hate that you're going through this alone and the person who put you through this whole situation is busy flirting with the biatch he cheated on you with. I freaking hate it!"

He stood up and walked away, leaving me alone with Chester and Kia. I sighed heavily.

Kia rubbed my shoulders gently to comfort me as tears poured down my eyes.

"I'm sorry Ryo but I'm with Liam on this one, you're slowly losing yourself, it's not right. Asher has done nothing but hit and abuse you both physically, emotionally and mentally ever since you arrived here. All you do is endure pains, while he knocks up every single girl in campus. I hate to break it to you but he sleeps around a lot, not just with the redhead, but with other warriors of the pack. Although he never touches a man, he still sleeps with everyone else."

Chester also chipped in. "She's right Ryo, you don't deserve this kind of treatment just because you're mates with an Alpha King. You don't have to accept it, the ball is in your court. I also think you should go after Liam, I'm pretty sure he's somewhat blaming himself for dragging you down here." He sighed.

I stood up immediately and ran out of the building, in search of my best friend. I searched everywhere for Liam but couldn't find him, I texted him but no response, I called him but it went to voicemail, then I decided to go back to the hostel. I found him packing our luggages in a hurry and I panicked.

"What are you doing Liam?" I asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? We're leaving now. I'm the reason you're here, I convinced you to come here, and so I'll take you back home. We'll go back to Japan and forget this place exists. Just like your mom did, she lived her life happily outside this place, we can do that too right?" I pulled my best friend into a tight hug, tears streaming down my eyes as we both cried hysterically, we were both hurt and I understand why Liam would blame himself for everything.

"We can't leave our mates behind Liam, they're a huge part of us now. I don't think we can survive without them now." I sobbed.

"But they don't care about us, my so called mate has been with another man for days now, not even carrying to know how I'm doing, your mate abuses you at any given opportunity, and also cheats on you. We are good people Ryo, we don't deserve to go through something like this." He cried.

My heart broke for the fact that Liam was hurting so bad, my heart completely shattered.

"Alright, let's leave here Liam."