Dark Woods

Chapter 13

Jasmine’s POV

The pain started the second Gabriel walked out of Kylie's house.

At first, I thought it was just my heart breaking—you know, the crushing disappointment of being ditched after what we'd done in his car. But as the minutes dragged on, it became something else. Something physical. Something really f*****g wrong.

It started as this dull ache in my chest, right where my heart should be. Like someone had reached inside my ribcage and squeezed the life out of me. I pressed my hand to my sternum, trying to ease the pressure, but it only got worse.

"You okay?" Kylie asked, finding me sitting on the bottom step of the staircase, doubled over like I was gonna puke.

"I'm fine," I lied, though I felt anything but fine. The ache was spreading now, crawling through my bones like some kind of poison. "Just tired."

But it wasn't tiredness. It was like my body was trying to tell me something my brain couldn't figure out. Every cell felt wrong, like I was missing something vital.

Nick drove me and Kylie home in this super awkward silence, shooting worried glances at me in the rearview mirror. The pain got worse with every mile that took me further from wherever Gabriel had gone. By the time we pulled into my driveway, I was nauseous and shaking like a leaf.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kylie pressed, walking me to the door. "You look like death."

"I'm fine," I said again, though I had to grip the doorframe to keep from falling over. "Just need sleep."

But sleep didn't come. I lay in bed, curled up in a ball, as the pain hit this crescendo around midnight. It felt like someone was tearing me apart from the inside out, like every nerve ending was on fire. I bit down on my pillow to keep from screaming, tears streaming down my face.

What the hell is wrong with me?

The pain lasted for hours, finally fading to this dull throb as dawn rolled around. But the damage was done. Something inside me felt permanently broken, like a bone that had been snapped and would never heal right.

The next few weeks were a total blur of fake smiles and sleepless nights. The physical pain came and went in waves—sometimes just a dull ache, sometimes sharp enough to leave me gasping like a fish. I got really good at hiding it, making excuses when I had to bolt from class or bail on social stuff because the agony was too much.

But the pain was nothing compared to the nightmares that had been f*****g with my head for months.

The nightmares had started way before Gabriel ever entered the picture—they'd been screwing with me for months now, long before that night at the Jamison party. Not about Sarah's attack—no, these were different. Way more terrifying. I'd find myself bleeding out in Everdeen Forest, unable to speak, unable to move, while this man's voice thundered through the trees calling my name with this desperate, raw anguish. "Jasmine! Jasmine! Where are you?!" The sound of his voice breaking, the way he'd drop to his knees beside my dying body and beg me not to leave him—it haunted me even when I was awake.

Night after night, for months on end, the same horrific scene played out in excruciating detail. Months of waking up gasping, my throat burning like I'd actually been screaming, my heart shattered for reasons I couldn't even understand. The phantom taste of blood would linger on my tongue, and sometimes I'd catch myself pressing my hand to my throat, checking for wounds that weren't there.

The worst part was the grief that stuck to me after each dream—not my own fear of dying, but the echo of that man's devastation, like losing me would destroy him completely. The nightmares came every single night without fail, months of torment that left me looking like a zombie long before Gabriel Preston ever broke my heart.

"You're having those dreams again," Sarah would say sometimes, when I'd show up to class looking like I'd been hit by a truck. "The screaming ones. Kylie and I can hear you through the walls."

I'd just nod, unable to explain that the dreams felt more real than my actual life, that the man's voice calling my name was the only thing that felt familiar anymore. I couldn't tell them that I'd started looking forward to the dreams, even though they scared the s**t out of me, because at least in them, someone was desperate to find me. Someone actually cared if I lived or died.

The lack of sleep was destroying me. Dark circles under my eyes no matter how much concealer I slathered on, and I'd lost weight I couldn't afford to lose. My friends started asking questions I couldn't answer without sounding completely insane.

How could I explain that I felt like I was mourning someone I'd never really had? That my body seemed to be rejecting my very existence? That sometimes the pain was so bad I couldn't breathe?

Lucas had been amazing with Sarah, never letting her out of his sight, and Sarah seemed to be getting closer to him every day. The cross-pack thing was unusual—Lucas from Crimson Moon and Sarah from Winter Moon—but apparently love doesn't give a damn about territorial boundaries. I tried to focus on my friend's healing instead of the bitter twist in my stomach every time I watched them together. With Sarah only being seventeen, the mate bond between them must be incredibly strong to help her get past the trauma.

What must that feel like? I'd wonder, then immediately hate myself for being jealous. My best friend had been through hell, and here I was, envying the very thing that was helping her heal.

Nick had been incredible too, stepping up as support for both his Winter Moon packmates and Lucas. The way he looked at Kylie—like she hung the moon and stars—made it clear that pack boundaries meant jack s**t when it came to goddess-given mates. I watched the way he balanced his loyalty to Winter Moon with his love for a Black Eclipse princess, and felt that familiar pang of longing.

"I never thought I'd see Nick Deluca actually settling down," Sarah had said one afternoon, curled up on Lucas's lap while we all hung out at his place. She was doing so much better now, the bruises faded and her smile genuine again. "Remember when he used to go through girls like they were disposable?"

"That was before he found his mate," Lucas said, pressing a kiss to her temple. "The bond changes everything. Pack affiliations don't matter when you find your other half."

I had to excuse myself to the bathroom, where I spent ten minutes trying to breathe through another wave of inexplicable pain.

Kylie's eighteenth birthday party was supposed to be the distraction I desperately needed. Being held at the Black Eclipse Pack estate, it was elegant and sophisticated—exactly what Kylie deserved as pack royalty. The gardens were strung with fairy lights, the house filled with music and laughter, and for a few hours, I almost felt normal again.

"You look beautiful," I told Kylie, adjusting her tiara. "Nick's not gonna be able to keep his hands off you."

"Good," Kylie grinned, then her expression got all serious. "Jas, are you sure you're okay? You've been so... distant lately."

"I'm fine," I said automatically, though I caught my reflection in the mirror and winced. I did look terrible—pale, hollow-eyed, like I was slowly disappearing.

"You can talk to me, you know. About anything."

"I know," I said, forcing a smile. "Tonight's about you, though. Let's focus on that."

The party was everything Kylie had dreamed of. Nick was the perfect boyfriend, never leaving her side, looking at her like she was the only person in the room. As Winter Moon pack members, Sarah, Nick, and I were technically guests on Black Eclipse territory, but Kylie's family had welcomed us with open arms.

"It's weird being here without Gabriel," Nick said quietly to Lucas when they thought no one was listening. "He should be here. It's his pack's territory."

"He's avoiding it," Lucas replied grimly. "Can't handle being around reminders of what he's running from."

I pretended not to hear, but my chest tightened. Even at a Black Eclipse party, Gabriel's absence felt like a punch to the gut.

I excused myself to get some air, stepping out onto the balcony. The night was warm, the stars bright overhead, but I felt cold to my bones. The pain in my chest had been steadily building all evening, and I was fighting to keep it together.

"Jasmine?"

I turned to find Lucas approaching, concern written all over his face. "Are you alright? You look like you're in pain."

"I'm fine," I said, but my voice cracked like a twelve-year-old boy's.

"No, you're not." He moved closer, his alpha instincts clearly picking up on my distress. "How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"The pain. The way you've been holding yourself like something's broken inside you. Sarah's noticed it too, and Nick... he's been worried."

My eyes filled with tears. "I don't understand what's wrong with me. I feel like I'm dying, Lucas. Like something's been ripped out of me and I can't figure out what it is."

Lucas went really still. "When did it start?"

"The night of the Jamison party. After..." I couldn't finish the sentence.

"After Gabriel left," Lucas said quietly.

"It doesn't make sense. We barely know each other. So why do I feel like I'm mourning someone I never even had?"

Lucas was quiet for a long moment, studying my face. "Jasmine, what do you know about mate bonds?"

"What everyone knows. Werewolves find their goddess-given mates, usually after they turn eighteen. They bond, they're happy forever." I laughed bitterly. "Fairy tale bullshit."

"It's not just werewolves," Lucas said carefully. "Sometimes... sometimes the bond can manifest in humans too. Especially if their mate is an alpha."

The words hit me like a freight train. "No. That's not... that's not possible."

"The physical pain, the nightmares, the feeling like you're missing a piece of yourself—Jasmine, those are all symptoms of a severed mate bond."

"But Gabriel's not my mate," I whispered, even as my heart hammered against my ribs. "He can't be. He's with other girls. He ditched me."

"Sometimes alphas fight the bond," Lucas said gently. "Sometimes they're so scared of what it means that they do stupid things. Hurtful things."

"Like sleeping with other women?"

Lucas's jaw tightened. "Yeah. Like that."

The truth hit me like a sledgehammer. All the pain, all the sleepless nights, all the dreams of dying in the forest—it was because Gabriel was my mate, and he was betraying that bond over and over again.

"Every time he's with someone else," I said, the words barely audible, "I feel it. That's why the pain comes in waves."

"I'm sorry," Lucas said, and I could hear the genuine pain in his voice. "I'm so f*****g sorry, Jasmine."

I doubled over as another wave of agony crashed through me, this one worse than any before. Somewhere across town, Gabriel was probably wrapped around another nameless blonde, and my body was paying the price.

"Make it stop," I gasped, gripping the balcony railing. "Please, make it stop."

But Lucas couldn't make it stop. Nobody could. Because the only person who could ease my pain was the same person causing it.

And Gabriel Preston had made it crystal clear that he wanted nothing to do with me.

The rumors started reaching me in these cruel little fragments after that night. Gabriel Preston at various Black Eclipse events with some blonde. Gabriel Preston who'd made a total spectacle of himself, hands all over some girl whose name nobody bothered to remember because there had been others since.

Each new story felt like a fresh wound, and now I understood why. Each betrayal sent shockwaves through the mate bond, my body responding to his cheating like it was a physical assault.

The worst had been when Kylie accidentally mentioned seeing him at some Black Eclipse gathering with a brunette draped across his lap, then went pale when she realized what she'd said.

"I'm sorry, Jas. I thought you knew... I mean, you guys barely know each other anyway, right? And he's Black Eclipse royalty—future alpha. It's not like you two would ever..."

She trailed off, but I got the message loud and clear. Cross-pack relationships were rare, and a Winter Moon human with a Black Eclipse future alpha? It was practically impossible.

Right. We'd shared one conversation, one moment of eye contact that had felt like the world shifting on its axis. One night where he'd looked at me like I was something precious, where his touch had made me feel electric and alive.

But apparently, it had meant nothing to him. Apparently, I was just another face in the crowd while he worked his way through half the female population of the supernatural community.

The knowledge that he was my mate made everything so much worse. Every girl he touched, every meaningless hookup, every night he spent in some cheap motel—it was all a betrayal of something sacred. Something that should have been ours. Something we'd already started that night in his car when I'd given him everything.

He'd been my first. My first kiss, my first touch, my first everything. And then he'd walked away like it meant nothing, like I meant nothing. Like the way I'd whispered his name and trusted him completely was just another Tuesday night for him.

I started avoiding places where I might see him, taking different routes to class, skipping parties where I knew he might show up. The few times I caught glimpses of him across campus, the pain had been so intense I'd nearly collapsed.

But the worst part wasn't the physical agony. It was the emotional devastation—the knowledge that my goddess-given mate had looked at our bond and decided it wasn't worth fighting for. That I wasn't worth fighting for.

Late at night, when the nightmares came and I woke up reaching for someone who was never there, I couldn't shake the feeling that something had been ripped away from me before I'd even known I'd had it.

And the worst part of all? I didn't know if the pain would ever stop.

Because Gabriel Preston was my mate, and he was destroying both of us—one meaningless hookup at a time.