HIDING FROM THE MATEBOND

3. Bad Decisions II

Calista

After my shameful encounter with Marcus, I wandered through the party, exchanging smiles and quick greetings with people in the pack who barely noticed me.

I felt like everything I had been holding onto was slowly crumbling no matter how hard I tried. I thought about leaving the party, slipping into the night and disappearing to hide away in shame. But I couldn’t stop glancing back at Marcus and Rose, my chest tightening each time they laughed together like I wasn’t even there.

This was supposed to be my party. A gift from my 'loving' boyfriend. But it felt like I was just the excuse used to throw the party. No one seemed interested in my presence at all.

I finally found a corner, but my eyes kept drifting back to the pair.

In the crowd, a pair of eyes caught mine during one of my less obvious glances. Even in a crowd as large as the one in the room, the red hair and dark eyes were easily recognizable.

Aerion. Alpha of Red Claw Pack who also doubled as Marcus’s step-brother.

Our eyes met, and I quickly looked away, but it was too late. He had already noticed me. A knowing smile formed as he began making his way through the crowd toward me.

Dread coiled in my stomach. Aerion was trouble, and I wasn’t in the mood to entertain any conversation. Not with him.

I stood frozen for a moment as Aerion moved through the crowd, his eyes locked on mine. There was something about the way he carried himself. Confident, dangerous, demanding, that made my pulse quicken in an uncomfortable way.

I glanced over at Marcus again, hoping and willing him to notice me. To give me a sign that I still mattered. But he was still locked in conversation with Rose, their heads bent too close together as if they were sharing a private secret. The knot in my chest tightened even further until it hurt to breathe.

What had I done to deserve this?

“Happy birthday, Calista,” Aerion’s voice slipped into my thoughts. All warm and smooth. I turned to him, forcing a smile as he came to stand beside me, handing me a drink.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, barely managing to sound polite. He was the last person I wanted to deal with. My heart ached, and the presence of the man in front of me only heightened that feeling of emptiness.

Aerion’s eyes flicked toward Marcus and Rose before resting on me again. “I’m surprised you’re standing here alone,” he said, his tone casual but carrying an edge of curiosity. He must have noticed the oddity of the night.

"Shouldn’t you be the center of attention tonight?”

I laughed softly even though the sound felt pretty hollow even to me.

“Well, it’s harder than it looks,” I replied, glancing down at the drink in my hand, trying to hide how devastated I felt. His gaze lingered on me all intensely, and for the first time in months, I felt like someone actually saw me. Like I wasn’t invisible.

Aerion stepped closer, the space between us shrinking, his presence overwhelming. “If I were Marcus, I wouldn’t let you out of my damn sight,” he murmured, his voice dropping. Aerion was a well-known flirt, but even I wasn't immune to his charms as I thought, and it wasn't helped by the fact that I was an emotional mess.

The compliment, if that’s what it was, made a blush creep up my cheeks. A warning buzzed at the back of my mind, telling me to step back, to run. But I stayed rooted to the spot.

I knew what was happening and what the pull between us meant. It was dangerous. It was wrong. But at that moment, all I wanted was to feel something other than the constant ache inside of me. I just wanted to be seen. To be appreciated.

I glanced back at Marcus again, hoping for a reason to stop myself. Hoping that he would finally look up and give me some sign that he still cared. Instead, I saw Rose’s hand slide onto his arm, her fingers brushing his skin. And Marcus didn’t pull away. He leaned into the touch.

I swallowed hard, my heart aching with the weight of everything I had been holding onto for so long.

Every indifferent glance, every excuse, every time Marcus had chosen her over me since that damned rut. I had pinned so much hope on tonight, on this dress, this party. It all felt so stupid now.

Why was he punishing me?

Did he know how it felt to watch someone you loved in the arms of another time and time again?

Aerion stepped in even closer, his breath warm against my ear, his hand taking mine and massaging it tenderly.

"This isn't fair to you," he whispered.

"You should be with someone who knows how lucky they are to have you."

Something in his words broke me. Maybe it was the alcohol, which I had had very few sips of, or it was the months of feeling totally neglected. Loneliness had a strange effect sometimes.For once, I wanted to feel something other than pain.

I turned to face Aerion, and for a moment, the world around us disappeared. All I could see was Aerion, his dark eyes full of a want I hadn’t felt in so long, which I felt mirrored in myself.

Without thinking, I leaned into him, my body brushing against his.

It was time Marcus got a taste of what I had been feeling for months.

Aerion’s hand slid to my waist, and his touch sent electricity through my skin and it just felt right. My heart pounded as I closed my eyes, torn between pulling away and giving in to the need eating at me from the inside.

“Tell me you don't want this,” Aerion whispered. His lips so close to mine that I could feel the warmth of his breath.

“Tell me to leave you alone, and I will.”

I hesitated, my breath catching. I knew I should tell him to stop. I knew I should walk away. But the words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Not when Marcus was across the room, with Rose, laughing and not even noticing that I wasn’t there anymore.Not when I had spent so many nights crying myself to sleep over him.

And then Aerion kissed me, soft at first, almost as if he was giving me one last chance to pull away.

You would have expected I would stop it right there. Given myself time to think about what I was about to do.

But with my track record in decision-making, I kissed him back.

His hand slid up my back, pulling me closer. At that moment, everything felt right. It was just me and Aerion, the world outside fading as the kiss grew hungrier, more desperate.

I could barely think. The heat from Aerion’s kiss still lingered on my lips as we wove deeper into the crowd. My body buzzed with a charged energy I hadn't felt my whole life.As we kissed, something inside me snapped. I was no longer the girl who sat quietly, waiting for Marcus to love her again. I was done with waiting. I was done with being invisible.

As we slipped through the sea of bodies, everything around me became blurry, and all I could focus on was Aerion's touch, his hand on the small of my back, his lips stroking my neck.

I wasn’t even sure how it happened, but suddenly, we were in the hallway, the door to the guest bathroom just in front of us. A shudder ran down my spine as Aerion's intense gaze flitted from me to the door and back again.

A voice was screaming inside of me to stop.

However, the storm of feelings that had been gathering inside of me for months, frustration, loneliness, and an irrational anger that would never go away whenever I thought about Marcus and Rose overshadowed it.

How could he push me away time and time again? How could he choose her?

Aerion reached for the bathroom door and pulled me inside. The room was small and surprisingly clean. The moment the door clicked shut, he pressed me against the wall, the tiles cold on my skin but his body warm and firm against mine.

His lips found mine again, this time with more urgency, more need. I responded instinctively, my fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer, kissing him back with a hunger that had been buried under months of neglect.

I knew it was wrong. Every part of me screamed that it was. Every touch, every kiss was a line I shouldn’t have crossed.

But Aerion’s hands on my body, the way he touched me like I was the only thing that mattered in the world was intoxicating. After being invisible for so long, I craved it.

I wanted to feel alive again; I needed it for my well-being.

“Calista,” Aerion murmured against my lips, his voice thick with desire.

“Are you sure?”

I hesitated for a heartbeat. Marcus flashed in my mind, but the image of him with Rose was like a punch to the gut. And the decision had been made.

“I am sure,” I whispered, the words slipping from my lips before I could second-guess them.

That was all Aerion needed. His hands gripped my thighs, pulling me closer as we lost ourselves in the darkness of that small bathroom.

*

*

The insistent ringing of my phone was what woke me up.

I was in bed thankfully, having moved from the bathroom from the look of things.

Groggy, I reached for it, silencing the alarm set for 3 am, a reminder I had started using for nightly prayers to the Moon Goddess.

The situation with Rose had been bad enough to drive me to prayer.

I silenced it, still feeling the pull of sleep, but I noticed something was off. Notifications on my screen kept pouring in.

I saw Daniella’s name among the messages, but I ignored her, my fingers trembling as I clicked on a post I had been tagged on the packs social media feed.

It was a video.

Of me.

Kissing Aerion.

The views were skyrocketing, ticking up by the second. The comments flooded in, each one worse than the last.

Cheater! How could she?

Did she seduce him?

And then the worst of all, Isn’t she Marcus’s mate? Why is she kissing his brother?

My stomach turned as the reality of what I had done hit me while my hands trembled as I scrolled. How could I ever face the pack again?

I looked at Aerion beside me who was unaware of what was happening. Still asleep without a care in the world. His nose scrunched up slightly.

Cute! I thought.

No! No! No!

Bad Calista! I slapped myself for thinking that.

My thigh suddenly felt itchy.

I rubbed.

The itchiness persisted.

Using my phone's screen I decided to check what was going on. Probably a mosquito bite or a scratch from my earlier activities.

I thought it was a trick at first.

The light playing with my eyes. But right there on my inner right thigh were the initials.

A. Drakos. G.

I froze. Aerion's name, his mark, seared into my skin.

This should not happen to me!

Marcus could forgive the infidelity, but not that.

I was marked for another man, another Alpha who was not him. And not just any Alpha but his step brother. There was no way to undo it.

I shifted, jumped into the night hoping I could find a solution before it was too late.In my quest for revenge, I had bitten more than I could chew.