Chapter 53

The hellish days dragged by as Ari searched for his own twisted fun in them.

There were many things he was ignorant about until he finally got to experience them. It seems like people's idea of omegas is worse than he initially thought. They were almost as bad as his mother, but in a nice less mean and violent way. It was more smothering and demeaning than anything else.

"Should you be walking alone like this?"

The lady who asked him was the store owner of a place he frequents, and all he did was walk a very short distances from his home to come and buy something he craved.

"I don't see anything preventing me from doing so." He told her with a small smile as he placed his things on the counter, but she was still looking at him with doubt in her eyes. The way she looked at him did not sit right with him.

"Aren't you an omega like Eli?"

Ari bit back the remark he that was about to escape him and nodded his head. "Yeah, what of it?"

"What if you suddenly," She gestured all over his body awkwardly as if he didn't regularly come by her store for years. "You know what I mean."

There was nothing he could say as he looked down at his things with a sour face. If he met her eyes, he'd be looking at her with disgust he wasn't so used to feeling. Without saying another word, he left his things there and just walked out without buying anything.

Everyone was treating him as if he would suddenly drop to his knees in heat.

A ticking bomb some were actually waiting for to go off.

It'll be such a convenient excuse for them to do what they've always wanted to do to him. Ari was aware of some of the eyes that followed him with intentions that were far from innocent. The news of what he is just fueled those lustful gazes. They weren't many, but now it is as if they grew by tenfold.

And Ari walked on ignoring each one because he knew their excuse to approach him will never come, but it still frightened him.

If alpha Hawthorne saw him walking around like this, he'd probably force him inside for his own safety as if he hadn't been walking around all alone without an escort all these past years. Besides, if anyone had a brain attached to their eyes, maybe they'd see that he wasn't anywhere near safe inside the house with his mother.

And maybe he wouldn't have grown so bitter the more he noticed how everyone stripped him of his choices and freedom just to keep him contained, secure.

It was as if he stopped being Ari anymore and was now just an omega.

The only reason he was still here was because he refused to leave this place peacefully.

"Ah, there he is." A vaguely familiar voice said getting closer to him, and when Ari turned around he was surprised at the sight of Luna Anna herself approaching him. "Our lovely omega."

The only reason he didn't let his true feelings show on his face was because Cassie was standing there right next to her. Cassie who had left not too long ago was now back, and he could guess why she was.

"Aurelius!" She smiled warmly as him, throwing her small petite self at him to pull him into a hug. A hug he eagerly returned. "I am so happy to see you again."

And all his bitterness just went away as he felt like he wanted to cry in her arms.

"Me too."

Luna Anna smiled as she watched them and Ari wanted her to go away.

Thankfully, she tactfully excused herself and left them when their embrace lasted for a very long time. She had felt that they'd want to be left alone, and a little part of him appreciated her for noticing it.

"I came as soon as I could after I heard the news." Cassie told him finally breaking away from him, but her hands remained on his arms refusing to leave him. "How are you? How is everything?"

"Awful."

There was a sad look on her face as her hands went lower and held his wrists. "I know it is cold, but how about we go to your reading spot?"

He looked at her in surprise. "In the woods? Now?"

"Yes, now." She nodded her head and he reluctantly agreed letting her take ahold of his hand and lead him away. They quietly walked until she broke the silence looking back at him with a soft smile. "I really liked that place. It's quiet, as you told me once."

And Ari looked down because he liked it for a completely different reason. "I am glad you do."

It made him wonder if they'll find another knife or small traces of Constantine there, but he didn't want to have his hopes up. Not when he knew that Constantine had been active elsewhere and it's getting too cold for him to be roaming around as much as before.

No, there was nothing but an empty spot when they arrived. Not even the tiniest of traces were left there of him.

Just some trees, logs, and rocks that meant nothing.

"So, everyone knows." Cassie sighed sitting on the log the way she had before the last time they came here. Ari didn't join her, instead he leaned on the tree that previously had a bloody knife stuck in it. He didn't know it himself that he was doing that out of longing.

"You could thank Eli for that." He told her trying not to show how upset he was about it. "How did you know anyway?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "News travels fast."

"Too fast." He agreed wishing he could go back in time and stop it from getting out.

"Why did you keep it a secret?"

Ari looked up at her before letting out a heavy breath. "There's nothing my mother despises more than omegas. She forced me to, and now she makes sure that I regret it ever came out."

Everything spilled easily whenever he's with Cassie, it was as if she was the only person he could even tell that to. Something told him that Constantine already knew, or would know eventually, without him saying anything. He didn't know which one he preferred.

Cassie looked perturbed. "Since when has this been happening?"

"Don't bother. It's been going on for a long time. My whole life, actually." Ari huffed not really wanting to talk about his mother and the pain she made him go through. There was no point in it.

"But this is horrible. You shouldn't be dealing with his." Cassie almost stood up, her words coming out heatedly. For the first time in a long time, Ari felt like someone actually did mean the words they told him. "Aurelius, didn't you have a mate? Can't you go to them?"

"I can." He told her honestly, and this time he pushed himself away from the tree and sat down next to her. "I am just thinking not yet."

"No, I really think it is best if you do right now. I recall you telling me it is complicated, but how complicated is it really?"

There was clear frustration in her voice as she wondered why he was still staying with his mother. From what she could tell, the best thing he could do was go with his mate. She was sure his situation would improve; she was unaware of everything else.

"I can get you to him if you need." She should have asked her later questions first before she offered. "Just who is he? Is he from this pack?"

"I don't know. I don't think he is in any pack." He didn't know why he was looking down at his hands as he said that, as if he should be ashamed for not knowing. "I don't know anything about him."

Cassie looked at him with a mixture of shock and concern. "Nothing at all? Not even a name?"

"Uh," Ari hesitated. "Constantine."

It seems that every time they talk alone, a loud silence occurs, and Cassie's face paled as she leaned back and stared at him barely able to form coherent sentences let alone thoughts. "Constantine?"

The tone of her voice suggested that she knew him, and he looked at her in confusion wondering how someone like her knew someone like Constantine. "You know him?"

"Yes, I know him." She hissed in dismay. "Don't go near him. Mate or not, just don't. Stay away from him."

"Oh, you do know him."

"Aurelius!" She looked at him in shock and complete disbelief. The nonchalance and amusement that he was showing at her reaction were not appropriate. "Please say you didn't do anything reckless. I suggest you find anyone else. Until then, stay with your mother!"

Ari shook his head at her. "It's already too late for that."

"How late?" Cassie asked, distraught. Her hands quickly reached for his scarf as she pulled him closer to peek at the back of his neck. Knowing what she was looking for, Ari let her and felt her relax at the absence of a bitemark before she came to a horrific realization. She almost missed it. "This, I- I don't know what to say to this."

Her tone suggested she found the small subtle mark. "I wanted this."

Cassie didn't know what to say to that either.

Before she met Liam, she was originally a part of the Dietrich's pack. Everyone there knew about Constantine, the supposed dead son of their alpha, and everyone knew what he was capable of. A feral wolf with a bottomless lust for violence, blood, and twisted mind games. A feral wolf who was deadlier and saner than any other wolf.

And as she sat back and wrapped Ari's scarf around his neck, she wondered. How could such a sweet tortured boy end up with someone as sick and twisted as Constantine Dietrich?

"That's all that matters." She tried to smile at him patting the scarf after she was done. She just hoped he's happy, that was all. "That you wanted it."

She knew she had no right to say otherwise, and she had no idea how much that meant to Ari.

She also knew that it was too late for anything to change now.