Hate to Love

5

Alice

I was grateful that Julian acted because Peter could be a d**k and I understood that because of the mate bond, he felt compelled to defend me but that made me sick already. I could see that he was trying to make me his property in front of the pack. He had some nerves to dare do that.

"You didn’t need to do that. I can take care of myself." I said sharply.

He visibly gritted his teeth. Get angry if you want to. I would not change my attitude. I did not understand why he did not reject me already. This was just a bad idea through and through.

"Tomorrow, you and me in the arena." He growled.

I was surprised. The arena was our training ground meaning that I was at my advantage. As the Gamma, I was the first warrior so the arena was my playground. What did he think he could achieve by fighting me? Show me that he was stronger? That he was in charge? Like Hell.

"Fine." I replied as annoyed as he was.

Jasper sighed between us. He seemed truly desperate that we would still be at each other's throat, knowing that we were mates. I was sorry but simply being mates would not erase the pain he caused me. That would be too easy.

"Please don’t kill each other." Jasper said.

"That’s none of your business." I said angrily before I could stop the words. "This is between us mates."

Ronnie yelped beside me. I did not tell her yet that Julian was my mate. Now that I thought about it, I did not tell anyone yet that we were mates. s**t.

"Beta Julian is… Your mate Ali?" She asked unsure.

"Yes, he is." I replied my eyes still focused on Julian.

He finally broke the eye contact and left without another word. He was probably wise to do so because it could end up badly. I was a fighter, as Beta he did not train as much as I did. What was wrong with him? It made no sense to challenge me.

"Come with me." Jasper said as he watched the Beta leave.

I followed him inside the house and he closed the door behind us. I could see that he was not pleased at all. We did growl in front of him too and as the Alpha, he did not like wolves trying to show dominance in front of him.

"Alice." He said. "I know that you two are crossed right now but he's your true mate. This is the best gift a wolf could ever receive."

"But you know what he said to me, what he did." I said, lowering my eyes so he would not take my tone as a challenge. "I could never love him, not after what he did."

"He's done a lot more for you than you'll ever be able to imagine." He said so low that I almost thought I dreamt those words. "Can't you work it out? Do you want to miss on this because of your brother? How long will it take for you to embrace your life and stop walking in his shadow?"

Those words stunned me. Was I still trying to live up to my brother? It did not feel like it to me. I missed my brother but me refusing to forgive Julian had nothing to do with it. Right?

Jasper sighed and put his hands on my shoulders to make me look at him. I lifted my gaze and I could see that he did not say all that to hurt me. He wanted me to realise that it would be a mistake to reject Julian and renounce a mate bond just because of what happened two years ago.

"Believe me." He continued. "He was as hurt as you were that your brother would leave. We all were, he was my friend as well. Don't throw it all away because of it. Go see him tomorrow and try to talk to him. I'm sure that he'll have a lot of things to say about that. Come on, let's go back outside."

We both went outside after this but I could barely notice the others around me. Was I truly incapable of moving on? Surely not. I did not spend the last two years to forge my mind and body to become the Gamma for nothing.

"So, Beta Julian is your mate huh?" Peter said amused. "Who would have thought! You can always reject him and choose me instead, I'll be a better mate."

"If you so much as touches me, I'll rip your hand off your body." I said, glaring at him. "Now get the f**k out of my sight."

Peter backed off immediately because he knew what I was capable of. After that episode, I did not really want to stay at the party even if it was mine. Ronnie came to me as I was begining to clean some stuff as a mean to calm down.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"What do you think?" I asked, frowning. "The man I hate the most in this Pack is actually my mate. Things could not be better."

"You can always reject him you know." She shrugged.

"I know." I sighed. "Jasper thinks that it would be the most stupid thing to do. I don't know... He's supposed to be my mate and that was what I wanted as a pup... I suppose that I could at least hear him out tomorrow. I'll decide what to do then."

"You'll tell me right? If you decide to reject him?"

"Of course." I said, tilting my head to the side. "Why though?"

"Because that way, I can ask him to be my chosen." She said.

Was she for real? I was struggling with my feelings about the man and she wanted to ask my mate if she could be his mate? That was just the last thing I could take right now.

"I'm going to bed." I snapped at her. "Good night."

"Sure." She said startled by my tone.

I went upstairs and took off my clothes to take a well deserved shower. I did not care that my guests were still here, I had more important things on my mind like what I would do with my mate.