Howl of the Unchosen

10

# Chapter 10: Fiona's POV

"I know that this is completely unexpected, but trust me, it's as surprising to me as it is to you," he said slowly, looking apologetic; all the fiery demands from before seemed to be gone, but that didn't do anything to assuage the rage fueling me from within and threatening to erupt at any moment.

If only my strength were back, but it wasn't. I still felt weak from the betrayal, still felt utterly wounded and shattered to pieces inside. I knew that if anybody talked to me about it at that moment, I wouldn't shout or fight, no. Instead, I would simply cry, and that was pathetic. I needed to be strong. He had done this to me, and it was none of my fault.

This was completely unexpected like Marcus was saying, but it didn't mean I should be a baby about it. If anything, I should pick myself up and teach him a lesson. He couldn't just mess with me like that. Even as I was still thinking about it, a tear dropped from my eyes, and all my supposed bravado immediately crumbled as I started shuddering and weeping uncontrollably.

Just the thought of Jason alone was enough to make my heart bleed. Revenge! Yes, that was what I was supposed to be thinking about, but instead, I found myself feeling depressed. I didn't believe that he could hurt me like this. It wasn't even possible that he could suddenly say such a thing to me.

After everything that had happened and all the years I had spent with him, knowing him, being good friends with him and finally loving him, I knew that it was unlike him to act like this. Something was pushing him from inside, or maybe it was even external... I glanced at the crowd.

Though my tears made my vision very blurred, I focused as much as I could and stared intentely, trying to locate him in the crowd. I didn't even know when he had left, why he wasn't by my side, now comforting me even though I would probably slap him instead of letting him touch me. I wanted an apology as much as it wouldn't help, but he wasn't even doing anything at all.

He didn't care, and that was the biggest wonder of all. He had hurt me so badly, but he wasn't acting as if it was by force, like he had no choice. The Jason I knew would never hurt me unless there was no choice for him. In fact, even when there was no choice, he would still not hurt me at all.

I finally found him holding hands with the mortal from before and looking into her eyes with a look I had seen a lot of times now. It was a look that I completely recognized, one that meant true love when it was coming from Jason. I felt like my heart was being stabbed by a million pieces of glass when I saw the way he easily replaced me. That was the look he gave me, but now he was giving it unconditionally to someone else.

In fact, if I looked at it closely, I would notice that it was even more passionate than it was when he looked at me. It was like he loved her far more than he ever did me. All of a sudden, without any explanation for it whatsoever, without any sign—how long had they known each other? A couple of weeks? Months? Even if it was like that in contrast to the information I received, which said it was just a couple of days, that couldn't match at all to the amount of time he had spent with me, knowing me, loving me!

I couldn't imagine how he could make such a decision so spontaneously, how he could be so reckless, and finally how he could betray me at all and not even care about it. I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw my brother looking at me in concern. It was then I started hearing again what was being said.

Jason was the one speaking: "This is the person I'm going to marry today." He spoke, his voice reverberating across the entire room, filled with confidence and determination. Clearly, he was not going to change his mind about this, especially after he had gone to such lengths disrupting the entire wedding and everything just to make this happen.

I felt a lump in my throat as he held her hand and brought her forward slowly. I took a look at some of the people watching and saw them staring in awe at him. Honestly, it was insane how he could make such a decision with so many people against it. In fact, nobody was on his side at all. Both his family members and my family members were against him, and if a fight were to ensue now against his cause, nobody would likely support him at all.

The amount of pressure on him had to be unfathomable, yet he still chose to make the decision against all odds. I wanted to hate him for it, wanted to scream that he was a fool and also wanted him to tell me exactly why he would do such a thing, but I just couldn't. As much as I hated what he was doing, I knew the reason why.

He's Jason... He was just not one to compromise because of a multitude. Even if the whole world were to stand against him, he would continue going about his decision as long as he had at least one person on his side and as long as he loved that person more than anything in this world. I knew personally because I had experienced it when he loved me. He would have done anything for me, but apparently it wasn't me anymore.

It was this mortal girl that he was infatuated with, just like he had been with me, he would give up his entire world, disappoint everybody just for her sake. With another lump in my throat, I realized that "everybody" included me. Yes, he would stand me up and completely reject me for her sake now.

Tears streamed down my eyes as I watched him stand against everybody in his way. I couldn't accept it but there it was. He wasn't changing his mind about this. Not anymore.