HIS UNWORTHY MATE

CHAPTER 4~ REJECTED

~JADE~

I stood in the living room, unsure of what to do with myself. We were back at home, and for the first time in two years, I felt like a stranger in my own home.

I never knew a time would come when I'd feel like an absolute stranger in a place where I once found comfort and love.

I am taken back to the first time I stepped foot in this house, the day Hunter brought me here as a surprise to show me our new home. The house he built for when he finds his mate, with the hope that they'll both make it their home.

I remember the feeling of contentment and comfort I felt when he walked me into this very living room, the pleasant smile on his face when he said the words, “This is our home now, your home, for as long as you’ll have me."

And in that moment, I felt like the most important person on earth; all the memories from when I was in Manila had become less painful. Because Hunter had given me a place I could call home in the first few months of meeting him and knowing he was my mate, he had shown me love like no other.

Coming back to Detroit, to the pack. I had thought I’d have to pick up the pieces of my life and start all over. Coming back to my family was my chance to try at happiness for the first time and to reclaim everything I had lost while in Manila with my aunt.

I didn’t even think finding my mate was a possibility; I never saw myself as one deserving of a mate. Perhaps I didn't see the girl I was in Manila as someone deserving of affection from a mate.

Yet Hunter…

He had swept me off my feet and lit a fire in my heart that I never knew was there. He made me feel so damn important and loveable and provided me with stability.

I remember how it all felt like a dream—a dream I never wanted to wake up from, not if it meant losing Hunter. Because even when I’d told him about my past and about the life I lived in Manila, while I saw a weak and used girl, Hunter saw a strong woman who fought and worked hard to survive.

It was then that I knew he was my person, that he was my home, my everything.

Yet at this moment, standing in this living room—the same living room that had provided me comfort and served as my shield from the rest of the world—I feel like a foreigner in a strange land.

I feel lost.

That dread has returned—the same displaced feeling of abandonment and betrayal I felt the first time I found myself being shoved into that room with red and blue disco lights. My aunt’s words resounded with a repeating echo in my ear: “You better do well to make them happy.” She didn’t need to say any more; those words were warning enough for me.

I was only given one option: to step out of the VIP room with tips worthy enough to put a smile on her face. It was either that, or I spent the next few days without food or a bed to sleep on.

For several months, I would cry myself to sleep in the corridor. Every night I got shoved into that room with disco lights, my stomach would churn with disgust and betrayal because that wasn’t the life I was promised. That wasn’t the promise she made to my parents when she took me from them, and for a little while, I was given a false sense of security about that promise. Little did I know she was simply waiting for me to grow a few more inches before using me like she did every other girl under her care.

“What are you doing standing there like a f*****g statue?" Hunter barks, snapping me out of my stream of self-pity.

“Hunter, I…”

“Save it, Jade; I need you to pack your s**t and get it out of the bedroom.” He snapped, his eyes shooting daggers at me.

“You want me to pack my things and remove them from our bedroom?” I was dumbfounded, to say the least.

Won’t he at least give me the benefit of the doubt? At least try to ask me what happened now that we are both back home.

I understand he was angry with what he walked into this morning, and any other person would have got the wrong idea.

I understand that he lost control and acted irrationally due to his anger, but it’s been hours. No matter how angry he was this morning, shouldn’t he at least have the tiniest bit of trust and ask me questions?

“Our bedroom?” he mused, snorting as he shook his head.

“There’s no such thing as 'our'; the only reason you’re still under my roof is because my parents won’t have it any other way, at least until the trial with the council, and I will not share the same room or bed with a cheating whore.” He snarled the last words of his sentence with a venom that had my skin crawling with disgust.

“How are you so quick to throw me away, Hunter? I thought you loved me. How are you so unfazed and ready to throw out two years of commitment and love? You aren’t giving me the benefit of the doubt; you won’t ask me what happened. I am your Mate, Hunter; shouldn’t that mean something to you?" I tried to fight back my tears. I tried to rein in my voice and keep myself from yelling because I knew screaming wouldn’t solve this situation.

“It meant something enough for me to spend two years with you; it meant something enough that I chose to make you my Luna, but that meaning fell off the cliff the minute you chose to spread your legs for another.” Hunter bellowed in my face, gritting his teeth, and it stung my heart to watch him painfully fight back tears.

“I didn’t do it, Hunter; I swear I didn’t open my legs for him. Do you not even trust me at all?” I moved to grab his hand, but he yanked it out of my reach, hurrying to put some distance between us.

“I trusted you, Jade; if I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have given us a chance. I would’ve rejected you two years ago if I didn't trust you, especially knowing you are her sister. Despite the promise I made to myself not to love again, I broke that promise because of you. I chose to give love a chance. After all, I trusted you because I thought you were my person for life, only for my trust to be broken like this again. You know how that saying—once bitten twice shy—I should’ve taken it for what it is, yet here I am getting my heart ripped out for the second time again by someone I love.”

He quickly turned his back to me to prevent me from seeing the tears sliding down his cheek, but I saw before he could completely look away, and the pain in his eyes ripped through my gut.

I once promised him that I would never be the reason for his pain, and I never want to be.

"Hunter, please; I would never intentionally hurt you like this. I didn’t have s*x with Darren, and I would never betray your trust like that. All I did was sleep in the same bed as him; I don’t even remember falling asleep with him in the room. I just... Hunter, please, you have to believe me. I will never betray your love like that; you’re everything to me.”

He turned, brows knitted, cold eyes scanning me. “Are you trying to tell me Darren raped you? Is that what happened?”

The question caught me off guard, and I blinked, my heart pounding in my chest as I pondered his question and contemplated whether I should say yes.

If I say yes, then that would mean that I am admitting that something happened between us, which would mean that I remembered what happened and will technically make me a liar since I already told Hunter and my parents that I don’t remember a thing.

“Jade.” Hunter snapped impatiently, “Did Darren rape you? Is that what happened?”

“I…” I swallowed a huge lump down my throat. “I don’t know; I don’t think so; I don’t remember what happened.” I was a stuttering mess because whatever I saw would be interpreted whichever way Hunter chose to interpret it.

“You claim and swear that you didn’t have s*x with him, yet you also say you don’t remember what happened in the same breath. Do you take me for a fool?” Hunter growled, closing the distance between us, and I shook my head rapidly.

“No, no Hunter, I swear the last thing I remember was drinking water."

Hunter scoffed, cutting me off. "You must think I'm crazy; this isn't my first time dealing with a cheating w***e who will say anything to save her ass. I should’ve known from your history with men in the Philippines. Once a wh*re, always a wh*re. And here I thought you deserved to be loved.” He spat with so much distaste in his voice.

My leg trembled, and I staggered a few feet backward as his words punched right through my heart.

“Hunter…” I mumbled weakly in astonishment as tears trickled down my cheeks, and I clutched the blouse mom had given me close to my heart.

How could he use my pain against me? He was the only one I ever told about the horrible things I went through in Manila—the trauma, the scars, the pain—which I was never comfortable sharing with anyone else, until I met him. Because I didn’t want to open myself up to anyone like that, I didn’t want anyone to see that dark past, and I trusted him.

I shared my pain with him because who else would love me unconditionally if not my mate? And he turned around to use it against me.

“I should’ve rejected you the moment I found you naked with another man.” He growled, spitting in my face.

“You can’t do that, not until trial, and I’m pregnant with your heir.” My lips quivered while I whispered, and I shook my head, pleading with my eyes for him not to do this. The council will prove that I didn’t cheat; they should.

“Who knows how many men you’ve been f*cking behind my back? You expect me to accept the child of a wh*re, huh?”

“I am not a..." The remainder of the sentences became stuck in my throat because, in retrospect, can I truly claim not to be a wh*re?

It was what I was known for in the dark streets of the nightclubs; I was known as a filthy wh*re who accepted every hand and every d*ck for money.

Maybe Hunter is right after all.

How can I even claim Darren didn't have s*x with me when I have no recollection of what happened?

Breaking eye contact with Hunter, I cast my head down in shame, because if I’m being honest with myself, nothing I say will change his mind. He once told me that the one thing he’ll never forgive is cheating, and if he already made up his mind that I cheated on him, begging him is pointless.

“I, Hunter Hendrix, son of Orion Hendrix, reject you, Jade Althea Dimaano, daughter of Juan Dimaano, as my mate and future Luna, based on infidelity. May the energy of the moon uphold this rejection and Mother Goddess ease my pain through this betrayal.” He snarled the last words, shoving me out of the way as he stomped out of our home, and I crumbled to the floor as a crippling pain shot through my spine, rushing straight for my heart.