Chapter 4
1615 Words
Garrett's POV
Jenny was finally well enough to leave the hospital. After three long days of taking care of her, I brought her back to the House.
I walked into the study, feeling exhausted from the stress, but the moment I opened the door, I froze.
Jasmine was standing by the desk. Her face was pale, and her eyes were cold. I expected to see her mad because of our phone conversation yesterday, but, to be honest, I have more reasons to be mad at her than she does.
"I really don't want to have this conversation with you right now."
Without saying a word, she slid a few papers across the desk towards me, and I looked down.
Written at the top in big, bold letters were the words - DIVORCE AGREEMENT.
A surge of anger rushed through my veins. Does she really think this is a game I'll fall for?
"Jasmine, stop being unreasonable," I scolded her, my voice harsh and loud. "Are you really doing all of this just to get my attention? Bringing divorce papers because you're throwing a tantrum?"
Jasmine didn't scream back at me. Instead, tears started to fall down her face. Seeing her tears made my anger instantly vanish, and guilt hit me.
I couldn't bear to see her look so broken.
Over our three years together, I've grown so used to her bright smile and her gentle, comforting warmth, and I've never seen her like this.
Seeing her stand there with tears streaming down her face made a sharp, physical pain shoot straight through my chest.
I wanted to reach out and wipe her tears away and pull her into my arms like I used to, but the cold distance in her eyes stopped me.
Jenny’s sudden return from the dead wasn't just a shock to me, but I can tell that it's unsettling Jasmine and tearing her world apart, and I hate it.
I hate to see her like this, but I know I’m the one who made her this way.
It all happened so fast. Just as I was accepting Jasmine as my Luna and deciding to build a life with her, Jenny returned from the dead. They got into a fight, and Jasmine attacked Jenny, so I had to stay at the hospital to take care of Jenny, who was injured. That left me with no time and energy to think about the relationship between the three of us.
But I'll take care of it as soon as possible.
"Fine," I muttered, softening my voice. "If you really don't want to apologize to Jenny, then you don't have to. We can just pretend nothing happened. Let’s just forget about all of this, okay?"
Jenny, who had followed me into the study, was standing quietly by the door. Hearing my words, she quickly stepped forward. "Garrett is right, Jasmine. I'm not angry. I forgave you for hurting me after it happened."
I feel stuck between my past and my present.
"But... you prepared these divorce papers so quickly. It almost makes it seem like you never really loved Garrett at all. You're just waiting for a reason to leave him, because you've got it all planned out."
A part of me desperately wanted Jasmine to deny it because it certainly felt that way to me, and Jenny pointing it out made me angry.
The truth is that I love Jasmine, but because our marriage started as a contract, we've actually acknowledged our love to each other out loud. I never knew if she actually cared about me, or if she was just playing the part of a perfect Luna. Hearing Jenny say those words made all my hidden insecurities surface, and it filled me with a bitter, defensive rage.
"I am not doing this for attention, Garrett. I'm not being unreasonable. I'm leaving because I no longer wish to be a mere substitute for Jenny. I am done being a placeholder in my own marriage not that you need me, because the woman that you love is back."
Her words knocked the wind right out of me, and I stood there, completely speechless.
Deep down in my heart, I knew she was right.
I only approached her because she looked exactly like Jenny, and in the very beginning of our marriage, I would stare at her face and mistakenly pretend she was my lost mate.
But over those 3 years of being together changed something between us. Jasmine became her own person to me. She was so beautiful, so kind, and so much gentler, easiergoing, and funnier. I had grown to care for her deeply as Jasmine, not as a replacement.
I want to tell her. I hadn't thought of her as a substitute in a very long time.
But before I could find the words to explain this to her, she spoke again. "The moment these papers are signed, I'm taking my mother, and I'm leaving the Bloodstain Pack for good. I won’t bother you anymore."
Hearing her say she was going to leave the pack fueled my anger all over again.
The guilt inside me twisted into a burning rage.
She wanted to leave so easily. How could she just give up on us? On me? Why? Did she never love me?
Jasmine was an abused, poor Omega in the Moonfall Pack when I met her. It was always me doing her a favor, but did she use me? Did she use our 3 years of marriage as a simple stepping stone just to escape her cruel pack, because right now she doesn't look like a woman who has ever cared, and that hurt not just my pride but my heart as well.
My heart felt as if it were being scorched by a raging fire. In a fit of anger, I grabbed the black pen from the desk and pulled the papers towards me, and aggressively signed my name at the bottom.
If she wanted to walk away from everything we built, I wasn't going to beg her to stay.
*****
Jasmine's POV
I watched as Garrett signed the papers, and I was in this belief for a couple of seconds until I reached out with trembling fingers and picked up the signed divorce agreement.
The moment the paper touched my hands, a sharp, terrible pang of hurt sliced through my chest.
The man I loved with all my heart just let me go without a single fight.
Maybe it's for the best because I could finally be Jasmine again, but I really wish I didn't have to be Jasmine without him, and I could feel everything being suffocating and breaking just by the Mere thought of doing life without him.
But now I don’t have to be Jenny’s substitute anymore.
Garrett's eyes were dark and cold as he looked down at me. Maybe he’d been waiting for this moment all along, so that I would step aside for Jenny.
And Jenny stood beside him, looking at me smugly, then suddenly pleaded with Garrett, “Garrett, please don’t reject her. Jasmine is an omega. She can’t bear the pain of rejection.”
Garrett and I both froze. If Jenny hadn’t reminded me, I would have forgotten that if I wanted to break off with Garrett, I’d have to accept his rejection.
I looked at Garrett. He was looking at me too, but he didn’t say.
I don’t want to be just another obedient omega anymore. So, before Garrett could reject me, I spoke up. “I, Jasmine Hale, formally reject you, Garrett Thorne, as my mate and Alpha.”
Garrett stared at me in shock, his eyes bloodshot. He took a deep breath, and the coldness in his tone sliced straight through my soul. "I, Garrett Thorne, Alpha of the Bloodstain Pack, formally accept your rejection."
A sharp, agonizing pain instantly tore through my chest, making me gasp for air. It felt like an invisible string attached to my heart had just been violently snapped in half.
My wolf howled in pure sorrow as the devastating weight of our mate bond struck into our souls.
I really did that. I severed our tie without a single trace of regret.
I could barely stand because of the weight of the heartbreak in my heart, but I folded the papers and held them against my chest, and without saying a single word to Garrett or Jenny, I turned around and walked out of the study.
I went up to our bedroom, and I slid down on the floor and cried pitifully because I lost everything in just a span of 3 days.
I didn't take any of the luxury items or things Garrett had bought for me because none of them belonged to me. I only took what was truly mine.
As I walked back down the hallway to leave our house forever, I had to pass by the study one last time.
The door was still slightly open, and I overheard Jenny's voice speaking to Garrett.
"Garrett," Jenny whispered, her voice filled with a needy, sweet tone. "Now that she is finally gone... can we please return to the way things were before I vanished? We're fated mates, after all. I promise you, I will make a much better Luna than Jasmine ever did."
I stopped for a split second, the words stinging my ears. But I didn't wait around to hear Garrett's response.
I didn't care anymore.
I am free.
I gripped the handle of my suitcase, wiped a tear from my eye, and walked straight out the front door, leaving the house and my broken marriage.
- Writer
