Unraveled...
1373 Words
Ariana
I reached the guest house where everyone always stayed over. They already knew who I was, which was a bonus since they didn’t ask many questions when I booked in. I had to come up with a better excuse to give my parents before going home. There was no way they would allow me to stay because of a boy … A boy they never approved of in the first place … Broke my heart.
I dropped my bag on the comfortable bed and fell backwards closing my eyes. Images of the two people I trusted most in this world betraying me kept playing through my mind. The things I heard Emily say were the worst and, while I was in that moment, I didn’t even realize what she was saying, but now, I can hear her voice so damn clearly!
I knew something had changed the day Emily turned eighteen, but when I asked her, she didn’t say anything about it. Every possible negative question that could break me down was just overloading my mind and I had to do everything in my power not to smash something. I was heartbroken, sad, but most of all I was furious. I was enraged.
I had no idea if I would have stood aside if they told me they were mates. Why would the moon goddess hate me so much that she would give the man I loved to my best friend?! Why would she isolate me in one damn horrible swoop?! I had nobody! I was still lying on the bed feeling sorry for myself when my phone rang.
“Honey? Are you okay?” My mother’s sweet voice floated over the line and I fought the urge to burst out into tears. She was a good mom, but she could be really tough sometimes.
“Hi, mom. Yeah, why?” I wasn’t ready to tell her where I was! Wait a minute!
“Okay, then go back to school.” Yup, there she was!
“Mom, you don’t know what happened.” I sighed. “And who called you anyway?! Only that cheating bastard and his mate knew that I had left.” I pulled at an invisible tag on the bed spread and sighed deeply.
“Your principal called. The cheating bastard and his mate reported that you had run away. Honey, really? You can’t leave school and throw away your future over a boy.” I knew this speech all too well. Each time I went home for the holidays I would get it. Dang, who was I kidding! Each time my parents saw me I would get it.
“He was never good enough for you and we did try to warn you, but now you have to face the consequences of your decisions.” Yeah, my mother really knew how to play a guilt trip on me, but it wasn’t going to work this time around. I was going home whether she and my father liked it or not.
“I just need a couple of days, mom. I will speak to my teachers. I can write the tests online.” I wasn’t sure if I could even do that or if they would allow it, but I didn’t care.
“Okay, honey. Daddy will send the car for you in the morning. You get some rest.” That was surprising! My mother never would have allowed it under any other circumstances. We said goodnight and hung up and I sat upright. I needed a shower. Conner and I had never gone far physically, but for some reason just the thought that he touched me at all was making me nauseous!
The bathroom in my room had one of those antique steel baths and although it was cold to the touch at first, I had always loved the bath. It made me feel as though I was living in the old days when people didn’t have indoor plumbing. A time when people had honour. A code they lived by. After soaking in the warm water until there was nothing left, I got into my pajamas and curled up in bed.
“Tomorrow will be better.” I tried to console myself in the darkness of my room. “It has to be.” I closed my eyes, but my dreams were filled with images of how deeply I had been betrayed.
When morning came, I had dark circles around my eyes and it didn’t go unnoticed by the guesthouse staff. They didn’t say anything, but I could see the looks. It was going to be the same at home. My guards arrived with the black SUV and it didn’t take long for them to load my backpack and for us to get on the way home.
I was really dreading going home. I was dreading the looks, but most of all what my parents were going to say. I wasn’t entirely sure when it happened, but sometime during the drive, my princess training kicked in and I was ready to face whatever was coming my way. I was a princess. I wasn’t supposed to get emotional. I always had to smile, no matter what. It was what was expected of me. Maybe that was why I fell for Conner so fast and so damn hard.
He was the complete opposite of what was expected of me. He was my little rebellion against what my parents wanted for me. I rolled my eyes as I wondered if they would follow through with their threat of an arranged marriage just as the car pulled up outside of the house. I looked at the house as I got out. I wondered how much it had changed since that very first time one of our packs moved in, but I didn’t have long to think about it.
“Sweetheart! Welcome home!” My father’s voice echoed throughout the square and people stopped to look.
“Thanks dad.” I smiled and breathed in my father’s familiar scent. I could stay in his embrace for the rest of my life after what I had just been through. My father was taller than me and it always felt as though he was this huge shield that would protect me from the world whenever he pulled me into his arms.
“Ariana, dear, welcome home. Come on, darling. We have a lot to discuss.” I could see that my mother was trying to smile, but her thin lined lips were betraying her. This was not going to be a nice “discussion”. I sighed as I looked at my father and he shrugged before we went inside.
I hated going to my mother’s office more than I hated being called in by our principal. Thankfully, neither happened often! The principal had nothing on my mom when she wanted something. I took my usual seat across from her at the desk and we waited for the omega to put down the tea tray before my mother started to bombard me with questions about what happened.
It still hurt like hell to think about, but I told her none the less and that seemed to soften her demeanor a lot. My mother was never unreasonable and, most of the time, I seriously needed the kick in the butt she gave me. I was surprised and relieved when she got up and walked around the desk. She pulled me into her arms and I breathed in her scent, which made me feel so much better.
“It’s okay honey. We will figure things out, okay? Although I’m not happy that you left school, I can understand why. Just take a couple of days off and make sure you get those exams written. If you need help with the teachers to make the arrangements, I will sort that out.” Her voice was softer and tears just started to stream down my cheeks as my mother held onto me.
It felt like when I was little and she would comfort me if I got hurt. This was exactly what I needed. Being home with my family was the medicine that would heal my broken heart.
- Writer
