Almost Rejected

19 | Temptation

“Okay, explain it to me one more time.” Ricky said, looking at me as if I had suddenly grown two heads. I groaned and rolled my eyes, “Since my mate refuses to acknowledge me, I’ve come up with the amazing plan to gain his attention through his wolf.”

“By purposefully covering yourself in another person's scent?” He questioned, looking at me with an unsure expression when I hummed in agreement. “Oh my god, you’re gonna die.” He finally grumbled after moments of silence, flopping back against the my couch.

“I’m not gonna die.” I said, rolling my eyes at his dramatics. “I could never die after hearing how much you love me, what kind of friend would I be if I did that?” I teased, earning a hard punch in the shoulder.

“I’m really starting to wish I had better control of my emotions.” He complained, cringing as he remembered our conversation from earlier. “I think it’s cute, I haven’t seen you cry since we were children.” I joked as he flipped me off “Shut up.” He grumbled.

I laughed at his sour expression, hooked my arm around his neck as I tried to pull him closer before eventually settling on just moving myself, “Stop being such a worry wart, his wolf would never hurt me.”

He stayed slouched before letting out I sigh, “I know, I’m more worried about the poor kid you’re gonna be using.” He said causing me to pause, he turned to me with squinted eyes as I tensed up. “Did you seriously not think about how this would affect the other person?” He questioned in disbelief as I guiltily avoided his gaze.

“I’ll figure it out.” I mumbled out in reply, removing my arm from around him. “Your mate is an alpha, you can’t just wait to ‘figure it out’” he argued, using quotation marks as he repeated what I said.

“Obviously I know that.” I replied “You don’t think he’d actually kill someone just because I smelled like them right?” I questioned nervously.

“Of course he would! He. An. Alpha.” He repeated, putting emphasis on each word “Okay okay, I get it.” I said, plugging my ears with my pointer fingers as he shouted.

He deadpanned at my reaction and I let out an awkward laugh as I slowly removed my fingers, immediately putting them back as I noticed him opening his mouth to say more. He rolled his eyes before forcing my hands away from my ears, “Why am I here?” He questioned.

I furrowed my brows at his question before remembering that I had asked him to come over for a specific reason, and it wasn’t to tell him my plan, “Help me pick an outfit.”

“An outfit?” He repeated. “Yeah, one that screams ‘I’m hot and ready’, like this.” I picked up one of savannah's crop tops laughing as Ricky raised a brow at my example.

“How about one that screams ‘My mate is a douche and deserves the death penalty from the council’ instead?” He suggested, holding up a large ripped up black t-shirt. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the shirt and threw it to the side.

“I’m not going to paint him as some abuser.” I said, turning around to look through the many boxes I still had filled with clothes “Saying that wouldn’t be too far off from the truth.” He mumbled as he too got up from the couch and came up behind me.

“What’d you say?” I questioned, turning with a button up navy blue shirt in my hand “I said that looks absolutely horrid.” I sighed as I placed the shirt back in the box “I knoww.” I whined, frustrated at how hard finding a seductive outfit was starting to seem.

“How about..” I watched curiously as Ricky pulled a shirt out from one of my other boxes “You go for a more subtle form of seduction?” He asked, putting the shirt flat against me. I grinned as I looked down at the shirt, “Perfect right?” He questioned with a grin that meant he already knew my answer.

I grabbed the shirt and held it in front of me, letting out a hum as I looked back up at my best friends cocky grin, “Not bad, Mr. Martinez.”

“Why thank you Mr. Meyer.”

££££££££££££££££££££

I stood back with a smile as I admired my reflection in the mirror, I was wearing regular black jeans with a ripped opening over my right knee, I had on a collared white shirt with a tan sweater covered in different shades of brown and white diamonds designed onto it pulled over it, and finally to put the whole outfit together I had on a pair of white shoes I had buried deep in my boxes and forgotten about.

It wasn’t much but it was definitely an upgrade from my usual jacket and sweats. I fiddled with the buttons of my shirt before unbuttoning the top two, this is where the seduction part of the outfit is coming from, my neck; Specifically where I’m supposed to be receiving my mark.

“Wow, schau, wer gut gelaunt ist. (Wow, look who’s in a good mood.)” I scoffed at my Oma’s words, walking farther into her room to help sit her up “Du kannst nicht einmal sehen. (You can’t even see.)” I argued back with a raised brow.

Her mouth opened as she let out a shocked gasp, “Zunächst einmal unhöflich. (First of all, rude.)” I shrugged with a laugh as I finished sitting her up “Und zweitens brauche ich keine Augen, um zu sagen, dass du heute außergewöhnlich schwindlig bist. (And second of all, I don’t need eyes to tell you’re exceptionally giddy today.)” she responded, still curious on why I was in such a good mood.

“Ich habe keine Ahnung, wovon du sprichst. (I have no clue what you’re talking about.)” I replied, feigning confusion “Mhm, sicher nicht; Sag mir Stefan, sehe ich aus, als wäre ich gestern geboren worden? (Mhm, sure you don’t; Tell me Stefan, do I look like I was born yesterday?)” she questioned with a raised brow.

I sighed as I sat on the vanity seat beside her, “Wir wissen beide, dass es keine richtige Antwort auf diese Frage gibt. (We both know there’s no right answer to that question)” My Oma hummed at my reply before snapping her fingers as if she had finally figured it out, “Das muss etwas mit deinem Kumpel zu tun haben. (This must have something to do with your mate.)” she inquired.

I looked at her with squinted eyes I knew she couldn’t see before letting out a loud groan, “Ich schätze, er ist teilweise der Grund für meine Stimmung. (I guess he is partially the reason for my mood.)” I responded truthfully. Just as I said that a honk sounded from outside the cottage “Wenn man vom Teufel spricht. (Speak of the devil.)” I grumbled as I got up from the small vanity stool.

“Auf Wiedersehen Oma. (Bye Grandma.)” I said, leaning down to place a small kiss on her forehead “Ich liebe dich. (I love you.)”

"Liebe dich mehr. (Love you more.)" she replied, letting out an offended scoff when I laughed in reply. "Du weißt das ist nicht möglich. (You know that's not possible.)" I said, finally moving to make my way out of the room as another honk sounded from outside.

"Gewiss. (Sure.)" she replied sarcastically, making me laugh at how playfully annoyed she sounded.

I left the room with an eye roll and a scoff, saying my goodbyes to a cooking Savannah as I passed the kitchen, I took a deep breath as I placed my hand on the knob, letting it out as I forced myself to open it and go out.

I walked up to the truck parked right in front of the cottage, a little too close, and hopped straight into the passenger seat. I took a deep breath as I settled in, relishing in the scent of my mate since I hadn’t been near him in days. “Morning!” I greeted with a cheerful smile, a stark opposite of my usual morning moods and expressions.

"Morn- Ooo look at you." Eze said cutting herself off. "What's the special occasion?" she asked gesturing to my outfit with an extremely confused yet playful grin.

Ade finally turned his head at Eze's question, he slowly looked me over, his eyes stopping at the exposed skin of my neck as his eyes darkened and dilated in response. This is why I chose this outfit, subtle seduction.

I watched carefully as his clear blue eyes continued to darken and his gaze stayed glued to the spot he was meant to mark.

I shrugged, "Just felt like dressing up a bit." I said subtly grinning as I finally answered Eze's question. "Well you look hot!" she commented, letting out a teasing flirt whistle to get her point across.

I let out a small amused hum at her teasing, “This isn’t much different from what I usually wear though.” I replied, turning back to Ade with knitted my brows, feigning confusion when I saw he hadn’t driven off yet. "Are we gonna leave?" I questioned innocently with a grin, successfully snapping him out of his daze with my question.

I could hear him audibly gulp as he reluctantly looked away and silently drove off. I kept a casual conversation with Eze on the way to school, giving more replies than usual as I kept up a happy persona. Occasionally I would catch Ade stealing a glance at me but I just pretended not to notice.

When we finally pulled up to the school, Eze immediately hopped out the car, closing the door behind her as I grabbed my bag to follow in suite but was stopped when I felt a hand wrap around my wrist.

The hand was big and warm and filled my body with the same familiar sparks I felt during every rare occasion we made contact. "Stefan.." he said, his voice low and husky as he trailed off.

"Hmm?" I hummed in question, turning to look him in his usually blue now almost black eyes. He was unsurprisingly losing it, a wolf who becomes emotionally and/or physically deprived of their mate is more susceptible to losing control of their wolf.

Especially if they don't sleep with anyone and end up becoming sexually frustrated. Despite not getting any painful heart clenched, I still wasn’t sure this was going to work, but its great to now know he hasn’t been sleeping with anyone while continuously avoiding me.

He said nothing as he looked back at me, he glanced down at my lips and I watched as he slowly swallowed absolutely nothing before looking back up at my eyes.

After a few seconds of him glancing between my eyes and lips Eze knocked on the hood of the car, making us both turn our heads to face her, "Oh imma be late for class." I lied as I grabbed my bag and opened the car door.

I heard a low disapproving growl warning me not to get out but I ignored it as I continued to get out. I waved sweetly at him with an innocent smile before shutting the door closed behind me,"What were y'all doing in there?" Eze asked with a smirk, I almost forgot she wouldn't have been able to see inside because like all their other cars, Ade's truck had tinted windows.

A small grin played on my lips, "Nothing." I replied, nonchalantly shrugging my shoulders as she whined in reply.

"C'monnn, you’re really not gonna tell me?" she questioned in disbelief.

I raised a brow in question, hiding an annoyed grin as I replied, "Your brother has made it very clear that he doesn't want me, did you forget?" she rolled her eyes grumbling under her breath with a pout, I allowed a small laugh to escape has she continued her moping even as we made our way into the school.

I turned my attention from her slouched walk to Ades truck as he finally started leaving the lot, “Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know when our status changes.” I reassured her as we finally made our way into the school.

Step one: check