Chapter 3 I Reject You!

Ariana’s POV

It felt like I had been dunked with ice water. I could not move. It was as though the oxygen to my lungs had been cut off. I must have been standing there for a full minute, eyes wide open and my feet planted in the ground.

The sounds of grunts and moaning carried itself along with the mate’s scent. I could hear the voice that once called my name with tenderness, mouth profanities in her ears, thrusting even harder and whipping his head back in delight.

And then his eyes caught mine. Seeing his face in full view gave no room for denial. My heart shattered.

“J-Jasper?” I croaked out.

Instantly, chaos ensued. He shoved the woman away roughly and jumped back with a gasp. His eyes were wide like he had just seen a ghost.

“Why? You’re the only one stood by me against my parents, so what the hell I fought for these three years!?” I yelled.

Disappointment, anger and pain made my eyes sting with unshed tears.

“Ariana, I-I-I can explain…” He stuttered as he frantically reached for his pants that were lying in a pool beside him.

The woman poked her head from behind the tree and let out a yelp. I threw a death scowl in her direction.

“You’re caught on the spot, Jasper.” I could best I held my trembling voice. I didn’t want him to know that I was still cared about him. My legs wobbled, threatening to give way.

“Ariana–”

“Don't you dare touch me!” I screamed at him but he didn’t flinch. Instead his eyes were pleading in apology. “That’s what it took me to watch you desecrate our–my love…how dare you disrespecting me like this?!”

Tears welled up in my eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Ariana.”

"You're sorry?" My voice shook. Sorry wasn’t going to fix the daggers flying at my heart.

“Ariana please, I really can explain,” he continued and stretched a hand in my direction, but stopped as if he was unsure.

It was good for him, I couldn’t trust myself not to twist the arm until it broke off from his shoulders and he was writhing in pain.

“No, I won’t listen your bullshit!” I chimed in, “You know what, I hate myself for believing you.”

I shut my eyes tightly, anger brimming through me. I longed to deal him a blow he would never recover. He had broken my trust, made a fool out of me. And here he was apologizing?!

I blinked again as if to wake myself up from this nightmare. But there was no denying the reality. My heart twisted in my chest as I remembered the message he had sent me only a week ago, wishing me a happy birthday in advance and telling me just how much he missed me and how he could not wait to be with me again.

He made me believe that we would be happy together, that he loved me. For him and him alone I had promised that I was going to beat all the alphas at the power contest. Because I loved him. Because I thought he loved me too.

WHAT A BIG JOKE!!

“It's not what you think. I just... a mistake.” His words were met with a sudden low bellow.

I gritted my teeth at the entrance of Damon, wiping my face angrily. Of course, one more person to worry about! But he would not be stopped as he faced Jasper.

“Don't come one step closer to her.." Damon growled with a coldness that while I was appreciative of, didn’t want butting into my issues.

“And who are you? Why did you come with Ariana?” Jasper shifted his attention to Damon, and my nostrils flared.

“Do you have a right to ask such a question?! We promised each other that we’d get married! Did that promise mean nothing to you?!” I was pissed.

The woman finally came out of the shadows, hiding behind Jasper and tugging at his sleeves. If I had been mad before, now I’d become an imploding inferno. “J, what’s wrong? Who’s she?” she whined, as if I scared her.

Jasper hastily pushed her hands away from himself and took another step towards me.

“Ariana, this isn’t what it looks like, I have no intention of mating with her,”

He took another step closer. “I love you, Ariana. I really do.”

Another step. “I mean it.” He finally closed the small distance between us and I yanked my hands away at the feel of his callous hands on mine.

I could smell the ugly mix of the pheromones of the woman who still refused to show her stupid face. And I could sense Jasper’s on her. My heart was beginning to thump at the realization that Jasper had imprinted on another she-wolf without calling us quits.

My wolf howled in pain and anger.

“She has your imprint,” I stated, my voice fading into a pained whisper. “I kept my promise, Jasper. You’re a fool not to keep your side of the bargain.”

“You heard the Princess,” the icy voice was back, his fingers wrapped tightly around Jasper’s wrists.

Jasper’s eyes narrowed and he swung his free arm against Damon. The man whom I was sure stood at the lowest tier of warriors swiftly evaded Jasper’s blows as I jumped back, landing a jab at his sides. The next minute, there was another blow from him as Jasper used an elbow to try prying him off and they were on the ground.

Jasper let out a yelp, there was a shriek from the woman but not so much as a sigh from Damon.

The sounds of skin punching skin brought me back again because I was zoning out. There was another scream from the she-wolf as I stared at Jasper writhing on the ground with a nose bleed. Her screams were piercing and irritating and I couldn’t help but be furious that this piece of filth was what Jasper chose over my love for him.

She rushed to his sides and kneeled beside him.

“Are you okay?” She started to pinch Jasper's nostrils together to stop the bleeding. Jasper struggled with a nod, clutching his abdomen with both hands, and his eyes were struggling to stay open.

While she was tending to his condition, I caught sight of something else that made me flinch. The woman had an arch, her stomach was protruding through her dirtied dress. She cooped up the weight against her own body weight briefly before helping Jasper whose breaths had steadied up.

My hands balled into fists at the sight, and I felt stupid in my skin for the third time that night. Just hours ago, I let myself believe that Jasper was coming to my birthday to surprise me with a proposal and put my parent’s hearts at rest. I was steadfast for three years, I was the idiot to trust Jasper. I scoffed, biting back a bitter laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. If this went on any longer, I would look like a fool in front of both men.

“You bastard! You got her pregnant too?” I laughed bitterly, not caring about how teary my eyes were, or how blurry my vision was becoming. “You mated her? The man that you are, Jasper.”

He stumbled to his feet and stared with defeat. “I’m sorry, Ariana. But this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“I agree,” I shot back, folding both arms. “I never should have let you trick me into believing that truth could find its way out of your mouth.”

His lips parted but words never left. Instead he had his head hung low. I shifted back to look at the woman who was standing beside Jasper again and sighed out. This was Jasper’s mistake, and I was going to make sure he regretted ever even becoming a beta as much as he was going to regret toying with me.

“If not for the sake of the pup, I would have done something we'd both regret!”

He whipped his head up. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t plan on leaving the innocent pup, did you?” I mocked back with a sniffle and wiped at my eyes. “What would that make you? A two-timing bastard who doesn’t even care about the child he’s brought into this world, or a wolf who deserves to rot in hell with the elementals? You fit both descriptions perfectly.”

“What–That's the worst, I had no similar with those darkest wolves.”

What must be done, must be done. No matter how much it hurt. I heard Damon’s sigh as if in realization while I flipped my eyes shut. “I, Ariana of Warwick Kingdom, from here on out, reject you Jasper as my mate!”

Jasper looked like he had been punched in the gut.

“Ariana, no! Please…”

“Shut up!” I roared back and opened my eyes to see horror painted all over his face. He deserved so much worse.

“I never want to see you here, anywhere around me or my palace. Or I swear by the grave of my great-grandfather and the founders of this kingdom, I would have your head impaled on a stake for the world to see!”

It was deadly quiet for a few seconds, all I could pay attention to was strained breathing and I wasn’t even sure if it was mine.

“I can’t change your mind, can I?” Jasper spoke almost inaudibly, glancing from Damon to me. I had almost forgotten his presence. He closed his eyes and brushed his healed nose with one thumb while the other still held his stomach. “I accept your conviction, Ariana. But I am sorry that this happened. I wish I could take it back.”

“Burn in hell!” I spat and turned away from him, making blindly for the exit. Damon’s voice pulled me back.

“Princess let me walk you back to the palace…”

His presence was irritating. Not only had he somehow managed to inject himself into a birthday celebration that I wished didn’t happen, he had to be there to witness the abominable sight of rejection and betrayal. I spun around.

“You should know when to let me be! You don’t need all of your bargaining skills to know that!” I snarled at him and hurled my way out of the garden, tears streaming down my face.

The hem of my dress tugged at some rose bushes as I ran, its thorns drawing irregular bloodied marks on my legs and, my chest congested from the pain of rejection. I had been told that the pain of rejecting a mate was unlike any other. I didn’t think that I’d ever experience the pain of choking while breathing as I stumbled back to the palace.

The tears blurred my vision, my legs seemingly growing heavier by the moment. Everything I thought I knew had been nothing but an illusion. All the years I spent waiting on Jasper. Everything had gone down the drain. And I had no idea how to pick up the pieces of my shattered heart from this mess.

Plopping down into the grass, I let my defenses down and sobbed into my hands until there were no tears left to shed.