Rejected by one, Fated to four

TOO FAR?

ZEPHYR.

My blood ran cold the moment I saw her, and at first, I’d hoped that I wasn’t seeing right, that my eyes were playing some sort of trick on me, but I was wrong. I was indeed seeing right, and she was the one.

Marian Alford, the one woman in this entire universe that I didn’t want to see, and the one woman whose sight I couldn’t get enough of.

Anger pulsed through me at the conflicting emotions, she was also the one woman who had managed to make me hate myself. My teeth gritted, pushing her off the cliff was some sort of revenge of mine, and it was supposed to feel good, but it didn’t.

“Is she dead?” Tristan’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts, bringing me back to the present and I turned around to see him and Zayden looking at me questionably.

I shrugged, hating the need to go over to the edge of the cliff and confirm if she was dead or not. She wanted this, she wanted to jump off the cliff, all I did was give her a little push, why then do I feel bad about it.

“That’s Marian Alford, isn’t it?” Zayden asked, and I felt a bile the size of a walnut in my throat as I forced myself to swallow. He didn’t need me to answer his question before he got it.

Ignoring him, I looked down, but I couldn’t find Marian’s body. I could still smell her, and f**k me, I could feel the incessant tug of the matebond in my chest so much that it hurts.

When I saw her, my wolf reacted immediately. The matebond had sprung to life, and that was reason number two I had to want to get rid of her because I’d rather die than accept the bond pulling me towards Marian Alford.

“Was that too far?” I asked as I turned around to look at my friends, who were now my brother. The remaining two of the Apex Three, but none of them answered me.

They both looked as though they were also having an internal battle, but I’ve never been really interested in things that they didn’t outrightly tell me.

Tristan’s lips curved, and I knew that he was going to try and be the voice of reason. He was going to tell me that what I did was wrong. “What’s wrong?” Was all he asked.

“What?” I responded with a raised brow, searching his eyes for answers I knew I wasn’t going to find because even with us as long as we weren’t in the comfort of our house, Tristan wore his unpredictable mask.

“You always think before asking, you’re calculating, why did you push her off without thinking?” He went on, and I rolled my eyes. “Are you forgetting she’s one of the main reasons we’re visiting?”

I was right. The damn voice of reason.

When I pushed her, I hadn’t expected her to close her eyes and allow that satisfied smile take over her face, I’d expected her to cling to me for dear life.

My stomach tightened, my usually calm heart raced, and my pulse was so erratic that I cursed Marian in my head. Why did she have to show up here today and now of all days and time?

It’s her fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and not mine for simply helping her out with something she would have done either ways.

“She wanted to jump, the two of you saw it.” My voice was colder than I intended for it to be, but I knew better than to make myself believe that it was going to faze my brothers.

“Yes, but we would have had more fun watching her decide between life and death.” Zayden with his loud voice said, and I rolled my eyes as I looked back down, and Marian’s body was still nowhere to be found.

She should have made it down by now, and judging from the height I pushed her from, the impact would have been strong enough to kill her, she wasn’t strong enough to put up a fight against it.

I hated the fact that I was worried, hated the fact that even though it should be what I wanted, the feeling that came with acknowledging that she might be dead was ugly.

My saliva tasted bitter as I frantically searched everywhere for her body, but my effort proved futile. “Is she dead?” Tristan asked again behind me, and he was starting to sound like a broken record. I hated it.

“Why should we care if she’s dead or not?” Zayden retorted. “We’ll just go back and tell that wimp, Malcolm, that we’re no longer going through with the deal.”

The sound of their voices faded out as the sound of my own wolf blaming me took over my mind. ‘That was the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen you do, Zephyr.’ My wolf snarled.

‘You just f*****g killed our mate, you just ruined our only chance of having a mate and reaching our goal. Congratulations, Zephyr.’

“SHUT UP!” I barked, and Tristan and Zayden must have thought I was talking to them because they stopped talking at once. ‘I’m not agreeing to the matebond.’ I said to my wolf who was already pacing angrily beneath my skin.

‘Because you’re keeping it a secret from Tristan and Zayden? Because you’re so f*****g egotistic that you think she’s below you? Because you hate so f*****g much for what she did all those years ago, something that could have also been unintentional, something she might have forgotten about?’

The cold air bit into my skin despite the fact that I was fully dressed, and I hated that he was right on the money with every single thing. ‘Just f*****g shut up.’

Standing upright, I took off my jacket and stepped right off the cliff without hesitation, irritation burning hotter than fear. Of course, it had to be her. The wind roared as I dropped, controlled, deliberate. Annoying, stubborn, impossible.

My mouth hung open when I saw Marian suspended in the air, her clothes had caught on something, she never made it down and that was why I couldn’t find her body.

I caught her, releasing her from the grip that had held her up. She looked up at me, but even then, she looked like she could pass out anytime soon.

“Don’t misunderstand,” I muttered. “I just couldn’t let you die. Not like that. Not today. It’s too soon.”