HIDING FROM THE MATEBOND

13. Regrets

Aerion

After my conversation with Arya, I couldn’t help but remember Calista. It always happens around this time of the year. Just like Marcus, I carried my own guilt over what happened, and that specific day always played in my mind like a bad recording.

4 Years ago

Pissing off Marcus was one of my favorite pastimes when I visited the GreyHound pack. The way he would get all worked up, his face turning red like he was going to burst a blood vessel. It was hilarious.

He had always thought he was better than me. Growing up, he had always called me a bastard, like it was some joke only he found funny.

His mother, the Queen,and Luna, had made sure I heard it enough times for it to stick. She had always reminded me of my place whenever she got the chance.

But now? Now I was walking through the halls of her house, knowing she probably wanted to kill me in her sleep. The King, my father had finally decided, after eighteen years of being conveniently absent, that he wanted to “spend more time” with me.

So, here I was, in the GreyHound pack, pretending like I gave a damn about bonding with Marcus and his perfect family. No one liked me, but they tolerated me because the Alpha had ordered it. But I didn’t miss the snide comments whispered just out of earshot, or the sneers when they thought I wasn’t looking.

Now this morning I had the bad luck of finding only Marcus on the breakfast table. He stiffened when he realized I had joined him as we rarely ever spent time in the same room. I focused on my plate on the other side Marcus continued scraping on his plate a bit too forcefully.

“You know,” Marcus began, his voice laced with that condescending tone he used when he was about to start something, “no omega in this pack would ever look at you twice. They all know that you are a nobody.”

I rolled my eyes. I had been expecting it. After our father said he wanted us mated, it was now a competition of who would do it first. Marcus was set. He had that omega who clung to him like second skin, and the other who watched them on a daily basis out of devotion. I scoffed.

“You wanna bet on that?” I shot back, letting a smirk creep across my face. I wasn’t really focused on finding a mate. I wanted a true fated mate unlike my step brother who seemed intent on settling with anyone. Fated mates were hard to come by but I was willing to wait.

He was the love child of a true mating, unlike me who had suffered the consequences of impatience from parents who both later found their fated mates.

Marcus scoffed, shaking his head as continued enjoying his meal.

“Please, Aerion. I’m sure. You’re delusional if you think any girl in this pack would give you the time of day, let alone one of the omegas. They’ve got standards unlike the girls in whatever pack you crawled out of. ”

I felt a bit annoyed at his words, but I did not show it.

“Well, then maybe I should focus on someone. Rose, perhaps? She’s always looking for attention.”

Marcus’s jaw clenched, but I didn’t miss the way his eyes narrowed, a flicker of possessiveness flashing in them. “Stay away from Rose,” he growled.

I couldn’t help but grin at his reaction. “Relax, Marcus. I wouldn’t waste my time. Besides, I’ve got someone else in mind.”

His expression shifted to one of curiosity and suspicion. “Oh? And who might that be?”

“Calista,” I said, the name rolling off my tongue as I watched Marcus’s reaction closely.

For a moment, he looked like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or punch me.

Then he sneered in that way I was familiar with, shaking his head again as if I had just told him the most ridiculous joke.

“You’re aiming way too high, Aerion.

Calista? You think she would even look at you? She’s devoted to me. Completely. You’re wasting your breath.”

I scoffed, leaning back against my chair.

“You think so?” I asked, letting the challenge hang in the air between us.

Marcus’s confidence was almost laughable. He had no idea how poorly he had been treating her—how everyone in the pack had noticed the way he neglected her, the way he paraded the other girl around without a second thought.

He was too wrapped up in himself to see it, but I had seen it. And I wasn’t the only alpha who had.

“Yeah, I think so,” Marcus retorted, his voice laced with arrogance.

“Calista would never look at you twice, Aerion. You’re nothing to her. She knows who she belongs to.”

My smirk faded into something more serious. “You really have no idea, do you?” I asked, my voice low.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped, his patience wearing thin.

“Nothing, Marcus,” I replied, shrugging as I turned away, hiding the satisfaction in my eyes.

“You have yourself a bet.” I replied before I stood up from the table, leaving my unfinished breakfast behind. I had one prideful stepbrother to humble.

At first, I hadn’t planned to do anything to Calista at the party even after my bet with Marcus. I had seen her before, of course, always trailing after Marcus like a lost puppy.

Poor girl.

I often wondered how she put up with him. Marcus was an asshole—a self-righteous prick who thought the world revolved around him. Then again, I wasn’t much better, but at least I didn’t pretend to be something I wasn’t.

I had intentionally come to the party to ruin everyone else’s mood, maybe piss off Marcus some more, and because our father had insisted that I “bond” with the pack members. Like that was ever going to happen. Marcus had practically choked on his drink when the old man suggested it.

Calista wasn’t on my radar, not really. She was just another fixture in Marcus’s perfect little life. But that night, she looked good. Hell, every guy in the room did a double-take when she walked in. And suddenly, she had my full attention.

I had watched her interaction with Marcus with keen interest. She had tried to act like nothing had happened, before she ended up hiding in some corner, all alone. That’s when I found myself walking over to her. I hadn’t planned it. It just happened. Maybe I wanted to see how far I could push her, how deep her loyalty to Marcus really went. She could’ve ignored me, but she didn’t.

She was the one who gave me the go ahead. That part was all her. I wasn’t going to complain. She looked stunning, and if Marcus wasn’t going to appreciate what he had, I would be more than happy to step in like the good brother I was.

I didn’t expect things to escalate the way they had. I thought it would just be a kiss—enough to piss off Marcus and give Calista a taste of what she was missing. But she had latched onto me like a starving animal, and suddenly we were in the bathroom, things getting hot and heavy. And then I was waking up in a bed alone with a screaming Marcus in my face before he had left the party altogether.

I had killed two birds with one stone, pissing him off and helping Calista get back at him. She would thank me for it one day.

The house was in chaos that day when I got home. In those few hours so much had happened.

The video of our little encounter spread like wildfire. The Luna—Marcus’s mother—was furious, her voice booming through the halls as she tore into Marcus. I wandered in, catching the tail end of their argument. I decided not to make my presence known and hear what she had to say.

“Like mother, like daughter,” Amber spat.

“What did you expect from the daughter of a prost.itute?”

Marcus, to his credit, tried to defend Calista. “Mom, don’t say that about her.”

“It’s true,” the Luna continued, relentlessly.

“ I never liked her for you. I was just waiting for you to come to your senses. You can let your stepbrother have your scraps if you want, but that girl needs to be punished.”

I rolled my eyes. Same old, same old.

“Aerion, come to the throne room,” my father’s voice cut through the chaos. Busted. I strolled in, catching the Luna's hateful glare.

“What happened out there?” my father asked. The Luna wasted no time jumping in.

“I also want him gone from this pack for good,” she demande pointing an accusing finger towards me.

“Listen, she kissed me, I kissed back. Simple,” I shrugged, barely paying attention to Marcus’s growling beside me.

“You had no right!” Marcus barked, his hands balled into fists, shaking with fury.

I almost laughed.

Maybe I would visit him in his dreams later and let him watch as I kissed Calista again. Or even more. He had bet on something he hadn’t expected would go through.

But my father spoke before Marcus could say more.

“As you can hear, Aerion was in no way responsible for what happened.” He smiled at me, and I could feel Marcus and the Luna burning holes into my back. “Aerion, you’re dismissed.”

I turned to leave, the last thing I heard was Amber snarling, “I want that girl punished.”

The next day, the news hit like a storm. Calista had been captured.

The rumors were everywhere, whispers in the halls, voices low and sharp. No one would tell me the details outright, but I didn’t need them to. I knew how things worked in the GreyHound pack. Marcus’s mother, Luna Amber, had likely planned the whole thing.

I heard bits and pieces about Calista breaking some ridiculous pack law.

At first, I pitied her. She didn’t deserve to be punished for what had happened between us. But when the suggestion came that I should take her as my mate, I knew exactly what was going on.

The Luna thought she was clever. She saw this as my punishment, tying me to someone she considered worthless.

I had expected it from her, to try and manipulate things to her advantage, all while pretending it was for the good of the pack while using her husband.

I refused, of course. Without hesitation. I wasn’t about to let myself be used by the Luna in her dirty games.

The suggestion itself was laughable. Calista deserved better than being thrown from one miserable situation to another, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to save her.

Calista didn’t argue when she was banished. She didn’t beg for mercy. She just stood there, shaking, her face pale. Her eyes had darted around the courtyard, searching for anyone to help her, but no one stepped forward. Not even me.

She turned her gaze back to me one last time. But I didn’t move. I just watched her walk away, her shoulders stiff, as if she were trying to hold onto the last shreds of dignity she had left.

The murmurs of the pack had followed her as she disappeared into the distance. Slowly, the courtyard began to disperse, everyone going back to their daily lives.

I had stood there for a moment longer, almost having second thoughts, but I couldn’t let myself feel anything. Not for her.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

Every year when her memorial came up, I always wondered, if I had made a different choice then, would things have ended differently?