4. The Deal
1753 Words
Aria
The cold rice was sticking to the inside of the nylon again.
Same as yesterday.
No spoon, just my fingers. I didn’t care anymore. My hoodie sleeve was pulled down over my hand, covering the angry red patch on my arm. It still hurt like hell. I couldn’t bend it too much, couldn’t stretch it either. Just touching anything stung.
Jordan had spilled boiling water when I was trying to scrub the floor this morning. Said it was an accident. I knew it wasn’t. He looked right at me before tipping the kettle.
Then he laughed when I flinched and bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood.
“Oops,” he said with that fake grin. “Shouldn’t have been in the way, maid.”
And then...like it was a relay...Mrs. Blackstone slapped me across the face when I dropped the mop in pain. Hard. Rings and all. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I just stood there, dazed, while my cheek throbbed.
After that, Jordan thought it’d be funny to dip my school clothes in the bathtub before school. So I had to wear the hoodie again. The same hoodie. Still damp. Smelled like mildew and regret.
“Useless mutt,” Mrs. Blackstone had muttered as she tossed a towel at me. “If I’d known you’d turn out like this, I would’ve left you at the border where we found you.”
I didn’t say anything. I never did.
And now here I was. Behind the bleachers again. Same spot. Same chair. Same damn rice.
The sky was cloudy today. Wind kept kicking dust into my eyes. I wiped it away with the back of my hand and stuffed another bite in my mouth. It was tasteless, but it was warm now...sun had heated the nylon. Or maybe my fingers had. Either way, it was something in my stomach.
My arm ached with every move.
"You should run," my wolf whispered.
Her voice was tired. Always tired lately.
"You should leave this pack."
"Where would I even go?" I mumbled under my breath, pressing the heel of my palm to my forehead. "We’ve got nothing. No strength. No voice. You can’t even shift when I need you to."
"Because you’re broken."
"Thanks for the reminder."
Silence.
I stared at the rice. The wind picked up again, blowing strands of my hair into my mouth. I didn’t bother fixing it. Let it stay there.
My stomach turned.
I was tired.
Not sleepy tired. Not hungry tired.
The kind of tired that lived in your bones. The kind that made it hard to breathe, hard to speak. The kind that made you look at the world and wonder what the point of waking up tomorrow even was.
I wanted to disappear.
Just disappear and never be found.
I pressed my lips together and chewed slowly, staring at a c***k on the cement. The backyard was quiet except for the wind and some boys yelling in the distance.
Then I felt it.
That shift in the air.
Like someone had stepped into my space. Like eyes were on me.
I turned slowly.
And I froze.
Cassian Draven.
He was standing just a few feet away, hands in his pockets, eyes locked on me like he’d been watching for a while.
My heart jumped. My mouth still full. I didn’t move. I didn’t speak.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
Not here. Not with me.
He looked the same. Dark shirt. Clean-cut. Jaw sharp. Like he stepped out of one of those magazines Maddie always stole from the store.
But his eyes…
They weren’t mocking. They weren’t distant.
They were just…watching.
I quickly looked down, swallowing hard. My face went hot. My throat closed up.
I wiped my rice-covered fingers on my jeans, then hid the nylon behind me, like maybe that would erase the fact he’d just caught me eating like an alley rat.
He didn’t move for a few seconds. Just kept standing there like he had all the time in the world. Like I wasn’t the awkward, dirt-covered girl who had rice stuck to her fingers and a hoodie with a hole in the sleeve.
I swallowed and tried to breathe normal.
Then his voice came…low, steady.
“You’re Aria, right?”
I blinked.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out at first. I nodded once. Slowly. My voice probably wouldn’t have come out right anyway.
His gaze didn’t shift. He wasn’t looking at the rice. Or the burn on my arm. Or the fact that I looked like someone who’d been dragged out of a garbage bin. He was just looking straight at me.
He stepped closer.
I froze.
He didn’t look mad. Or weird. Or even smug. Just…calm. Calm in that way that made your chest tighten because someone like him shouldn’t be calm talking to someone like me.
“I’m not here to cause you stress,” he said, voice even. “I just wanted to talk. About yesterday.”
Oh god. I knew it.
My breath caught.
I looked down fast, staring at my shoes. “I wasn’t spying. I was just eating. I swear.”
“I know,” he said simply. “That’s not why I’m here.”
That made me look back up.
He watched me a second longer, then glanced at the chair beside mine. One of the broken plastic ones someone had dumped months ago. He pulled it over, turned it around, and sat with his arms resting across the back.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Cassian Draven. Sitting next to me. Like it was normal.
“Don’t freak out,” he added. “This won’t take long.”
I nodded again, because what else was I supposed to do? My brain was fried.
He looked at me directly. “You probably already know I’m getting crowned in three months.”
Yeah. Everyone knew. It was all over the school. The pack. The news. The next Alpha. The future. The legend.
I didn’t say anything, so he continued.
“My father gave me a deadline. He wants me to be mated before the ceremony. Marked. Claimed. All that.”
I stared.
“And you’re telling me this why?” I whispered.
He didn’t blink.
“I need someone to pretend to be my mate.”
Silence.
My fingers twitched.
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
I shook my head slowly, trying to make sense of it. “You… want me to pretend?”
“For three months,” he said. “Just until the crowning is over. Then we part ways, quietly. No drama.”
I stared at him, completely stunned. “Why me?”
“I saw you yesterday,” he said simply. “And something about the way you looked at me...like you didn’t care who I was. You weren’t fawning. You weren’t trying to impress. You were just… there.” He leaned forward a little. “No one would expect me to pick you. Which is exactly why it works.”
I looked away, jaw tightening. Of course no one would expect it. Because I wasn’t the kind of girl people picked.
Cassian went on like he could read my thoughts.
“I’ll handle the council. I’ll handle my father. I’ll make you look like the perfect mate. I’ll get you clothes, a new phone, whatever. You’ll stay close to me in public. Come to training. Appear at events. All of it.”
My lips parted slightly. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I don’t have time to fall in love,” he said. “And I’m not going to fake something with a girl who already wants my name. You…” He looked at me again. “You’re safe.”
I stared at my knees, still gripping the edge of my hoodie. My heart wouldn’t slow down. My whole body was buzzing.
This had to be a prank. Right?
But Cassian didn’t look like he was joking. His face was still, serious. Almost too serious.
“I don’t want anything from you,” he added. “You get protection. No one touches you. Not in school, not in your home. Not ever again.”
My head snapped up.
“How do you know...?”
He cut me off gently. “I don’t have to know details. I’ve seen the bruises. And how they look at you.”
I blinked fast, jaw clenching.
“Say yes,” he said. “You get out of hell. I get my father off my back. No one finds out it’s fake.”
“But if someone does?”
“They won’t.”
I rubbed my hands against my jeans, the burn on my arm pulsing again. I thought of Jordan. Of Mrs. Blackstone’s slap. Of the way Maddie pushed me around in school like I didn’t even matter.
I’d never had anyone stand up for me. Ever.
I swallowed thickly.
“And when the three months are over?”
His gaze didn’t waver. “We end it. Quietly. No drama. You get to walk away. Or stay, if that’s what you want.”
Stay.
Like I’d ever been given a choice before.
I looked down at the rice in the nylon. Cold again. Sticky. My stomach turned.
Then I looked back up at him. “Okay,” I whispered.
He didn’t smile. Just gave one sharp nod, like we’d just made a deal with blood.
“You’ll need to move into the estate,” he said. “Pack sees us together. We make it real.”
I blinked again, mind spinning. “You’re serious.”
“Dead serious.”
My throat was dry. I didn’t trust this. Didn’t trust him. But the ache in my ribs from this morning reminded me that whatever this was… it was better than what I had.
“Okay,” I whispered again, shakier this time.
“Good,” he said, already standing. “Be ready tonight.”
He turned to walk away, then paused and looked over his shoulder.
“And Aria?”
I looked up.
“From this moment on,” he said, voice low, “no one touches you. You’re mine now.”
And then he was gone.
Just like that.
And I was left sitting there, cold rice in my hand, wondering if I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life…or the smartest choice I’d ever get to make.
- Writer
