TBMA [Complete ✔️]

21. Mirror

Knox's P.O.V

It took me a while to settle Kane and calm myself down.

By the time I was done, my office was completely destroyed, shattered pieces of furniture and ripped pieces of paper scattered across the floor.

The paperwork I had been working on had all been destroyed, but I couldn't find it in me to care. Once the anger was gone, it was replaced by a simple numbness I had grown used to.

Numb, I found, was to feel it all without actually feeling anything. It was a way for me to deal with things, with problems, by simply bottling them up as I had planned to.

The broken glass of the mirror stared back at me, my reflection strong on the outside but tired on the inside.

The similarity of Esteban and I's features haunted me, the dark color of our hair, the way our eyes crinkled at certain expressions, the cold light grey of our eyes all prevented me from ever being able to look in the mirror without seeing the monster and feel as If he's still alive.

I knocked the mirror down, completely shattering it beneath my feet and tugging at my hair in frustration.

"You're everything you always fought not to be, you're everything I said you were since the day you were born!" A small voice whispered in my head. I clutched my hair tighter, though the whispers were still there, haunting me.

"You're exactly like me!" The voice kept going, becoming louder as if to prove to me that the biggest enemy was my own mind.

"I'm nothing like you!" I croaked, my voice pathetically breaking as I did so. My knees gave out, letting me slump to the ground, my hands moving to rub over the eyes I hated so much.

I rubbed and rubbed until they began to hurt, not stopping even then. Only when I was satisfied with the pain did I look up at the mess I had created, a quiet sigh leaving my lips.

A feeling I thought was long forgotten was trying to sneak itself into my soul and nip at my insides.

Betrayal.

Rosalie had put herself in danger by keeping a secret as big as this one from me. The wolf I once called my best friend would inevitably hurt her and neither she, nor he, planned to tell me anything about it if it wasn't for their wolves.

But my duty was over. I saved Rosalie from the monster she called father, the rest of the world she should take on by herself.

I didn't care about either of them.

Rosalie's P.O.V

"So you really won't accept me?" Zane asked, looking as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

"No." I looked at the floor because I couldn't dare see his eyes so full of pain every time I reminded him he got the short end of the stick with me.

"I'm sorry about him!" I mumbled, still staring at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing on the planet.

"That was nothing compared to what you're doing to me."

I heard him retrieve before I saw it. Only when his footsteps were far away did I dare look, did I dare try to talk to my wolf, only to realize she had shut me out.

***

The slowest, most awkward, yet fastest and busiest week in my life passed. I was as exhausted and overwhelmed as ever, but I still took any job or charity event I could, working well throughout the night sometimes, just to avoid Zane.

His presence was suffocating to the point I couldn't breathe. My wolf whined for him and Zion non-stop, hardly allowing me to do anything without reminding me of the messy situation the Goddess had put me in.

Every whiff of his scent caused me pain, every time he saw me and made some lame joke it made me want to scream. Every time I had to avoid aunt Zaria felt like I was betraying her despite it being the exact opposite.

She also passed her duties officially over to her son, making Zane the Beta. He and Knox were forced to spend almost all day together because of it, the atmosphere so thick it could be cut with a knife. I feared the two would one day kill each other, though I wouldn't entirely be surprised if it were to happen.

My brother and I have not spoken since he broke Zane's jaw and made a scene in his office. As much as I hated to admit it, I could no longer see us fixing our relationship.

Perhaps, after all these years of trying, it was time to accept defeat.

I sighed as I kept on walking, making my way around to the cottages that had orphaned pups, or those of broke families.

Knox tried to limit the broke wolves to a minimum, especially now that the pack was thriving, but some made it impossibly hard not to go into debt, unfortunately for their pups.

My heart clenched as a cottage smaller than the others came into view, making me clutch the bags with gifts tighter.

It took me a second to regain myself before I knocked, a short she-wolf opening the door. Her face lit up in a smile as she saw me, calling her two pups, Daphne and Danielle, over.

"Hi!" She beamed. "Please, come on in!" I smiled and walked inside, doing my best to ignore how cold it was or the lack of furniture.

"I'm sorry, we don't have a lot, as you can see." She rubbed the back of her neck, doing her hardest not to break down in front of her kids.

"That's perfectly okay, don't worry!" I then crouched down, the excited pups almost knocking me over with the force of their hug.

"I've brought gifts!" They clapped and cheered at that, while their mom wiped a stray tear away before she plastered a smile on her face again.

I passed each pup a bag full of goodies from books to clothes to toys and snacks, letting them open the bags as Natalie, their mom, and I headed into the kitchen.

"How are you and your husband doing?" I asked, sipping from the tea she had offered. "A lot better as of lately." She smiled, absentmindedly stirring her own tea. "Ever since Alpha Knox became our Alpha there haven't been any attacks, so it's getting easier to breathe without the constant panic. I let the pups play outside on their own for the first time the other day!" I gripped my cup a little bit tighter, sadness overthrowing every other emotion.

Natalie and her husband suffered a huge loss because of the constant attacks. Nat had to watch her older son be murdered by a rogue, as well as see her husband get captured.

The two spent their entire life's worth of savings for him to return back home, unfortunately leaving them in a tight situation with their girls.

Knox and I have done our best to help, at first even buying their groceries, but they've been doing much better lately, refusing to accept our help any longer.

We talked for a little while longer before the girls burst into the room, dressed in all of their new clothes at once, excited to show their mom their new toys.

I watched for a little while, their relationship making me miss my own mom, a bittersweet feeling filling my heart.

"We could have this if you just accept our mate!" Rain had huffed before she once again shut me out.

I left after that, being done with tasks for the day, but promising to come back again soon.

Christmas was coming up very soon, so our school decided to throw a small ball in the gym to celebrate your with fellow classmates.

I wasn't going to go, but unfortunately, it would start drama I had no time for, so I had to be quick in getting ready.

I threw my head on the bed, puffing and sighing for a few minutes, just keeping my eyes closed. I was tired and would rather eat rocks than go to the event, knowing I'd be one of the only wolves of age there without their mate.

By now, everyone knew what Zane and I were, so even classmates I didn't speak to would make sure to question me on why he wasn't there.

It was going to be a long night I already couldn't wait to be over.

I finally forced myself to get up, at least excited about searching for something to wear. I had bought a pretty red dress a little while ago that I knew would be perfect. Pulling it off its hanger, I smiled at its sparkles and beauty before gently laying it on the bed.

I curled my hair into gentle waves that cascaded down my back, applied some red eyeshadow, and went with some light red lipstick to match. Once I was satisfied with my look, I slipped the dress on, immediately heading to the mirror to check out my appearance.

I had put on some more muscle, not looking nearly as sickly and skinny as I used to but still being on the smaller side. I had since learned that it was just my build and there was nothing I could do about it, yet I wasn't disappointed by that. I found I liked my body for what it was and enjoyed watching it become bulkier with training, so it didn't bother me.

I grabbed a white handbag, that didn't draw too much attention to it, as I wanted the dress to stand out, before making my way over to the driver Knox had sent.

I almost rolled my eyes once an Omega told me, annoyed by the fact that he could send staff but couldn't bother to speak to me, let alone apologize for his actions. Regardless, I got in to prevent more arguments.

The drive wasn't long and passed by in silence, my nerves growing as the building neared. I may be of Alpha blood and one of the elite warriors of our pack, yet no one was safe from gossip and the embarrassment that came with it.

I thanked the driver as I slipped out of the car, clutching the purse a bit tighter to help with my growing anxiety. Everyone either had their mate or their friends around, laughing and talking amongst themselves as they entered.

I was the only one that came alone.

My pulse quickened and my palms began to sweat, despite that, I held my head high and walked in, admiring the lights and decor as I did so.

It was the typical school dance setup you could see in movies, but since it was my first time seeing it in real life, it felt more special.

I decided to grab a drink, the problem I was trying to avoid coming at me with full force. I wasn't thirsty, I was looking for an escape from the stares and side glances I was receiving.

Now that I had run out of options and places to stand awkwardly, I had to sit in the corners and pray the title my brother held would be enough to prevent them to talk to me about my mate and I's dramas.

It didn't.

She-wolf after she-wolf came over pretending to be interested in my life before the conversation switched to the mate topic and I was bombarded with questions I had expected, but not prepared for.

By the end of the night, I was on the verge of tears, my loneliness and Rain's whining and whimpering bringing me too close to crying in front of everyone.

The last, and worst part of tonight was next, the slow songs. The younger ones, who were yet to receive their wolf, danced with friends, pretending they were with their mates instead, or talking about what it would be like.

The wolves that did have their mates cuddled into one another, dancing in a harmony I never would've expected wolves who'd met a few weeks ago would have.

It made me shudder, the knowledge of how things would end for both of them.

One insane, the other tortured or dead.

The more time that passed, the more heads that would turn out to stare at me and the more uncomfortable I became.

I was just about to swallow everything down and leave when the huge doors got pushed open, the attention now on the wolf that walked in.

Zane.

Of course.

A/N

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