Betrayed By Love

Chapter Eight

On my way to Lexi's room, I heard the doorbell, and Mrs. Grey shuffling towards the door. I couldn't hear the visitor, but I was able to hear Mrs. Grey's response.

"Yes, she is. Come on in. I think she's in Lexis' room."

Figuring it was for me, I decided to wait where I was since Lexi said she didn't want anyone coming to her room. After about 30 seconds, I could hear footsteps slowly coming up the stairs towards me.

"Hey, Mir." Aaron spoke as soon as his eyes landed on me.

The sight of Aaron calling me by my nickname caused my heart rate to speed up. I felt like I couldn't breathe. The world around me fell apart, until I stood in the main floor guest room of The Grey house. Looking up, I saw a man in a grey jacket hovering over a crying woman.

"Stop!"

The bedroom door flung open as Aaron ran to the man, ripping him off the girl, punching him in the face a few times before throwing him out of the bedroom, locking the door. Aaron then walked to the girl to finish what the other man had started.

"Aaron Stop!!" I cried.

Seconds later, the door shattered into pieces, as a dark figure dashed towards Aaron, throwing him out of the room. The man immediately covered the unconscious woman and took her out of the room, whispering into her ear that she'd be safe from now on.

"Mira! Mira! Come back to me, please! He's gone. Please wake up.. What did he do to you?" I heard Lexis broken voice cry out to me.

"L–Lexi?" my voice broke as the memories of that night cemented their place in me, completely changing me forever. All I could do was cry. My body shaking as I continued to relive every single memory over and over again.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm here for you. It'll be okay, I promise." she cooed as she rocked me in her arms.

"No it won't be. Nothing will be okay. I thought.— I thought he loved me. I thought I could trust him more than anyone. How– How could he do something like this to me? I don't understand Lexi. I feel nasty. I want to burn my skin off until there's nothing left."

Lexi stilled at my words.

"What did he do to you?" The anger in her voice was palpable.

Unable to bring myself to say those disgusting words that should never find themselves in a sentence together. What would everyone think of me? I don't want to be looked at with disgust by her. I can't handle another loss, another heartbreak, another betrayal.

"Nothing." Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to stand. "I'm going to go get cleaned up." Forcing the best fake smile I could manage, I turned rushing to my room, unable to look her in her eyes anymore. Because I knew. I had already said too much. She knew what my words implied. Will she find me disgusting now, just like I do?

"Mira! Hang on please!" Lexi screamed, urging me not to run off like that.

But, I couldn't. I couldn't stop; the fear of her betraying our friendship because of what happened, was too much. I wasn't strong enough to face it. I don't know if I ever will be.

Slaming, and locking the bedroom door, running to the bathroom to burn and scrub the memories of his touch off my skin, and hopefully out of my head. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was trying to escape, escape from the pain that I'm always inflicting on it. "Why did I need to remember? Why did this have to happen?" Sobs racked my body until I was completely depleted.

Lexi POV

"What happened last night for things to change so dramatically? We were happy just hours ago, planning our graduation, ready for our futures. So what the hell?"

Seeing Mira having a horrible panic attack as Aaron just stood there smirking, made me want to kill him. How could he just stand there while she needed help? That's just not like Aaron to treat her in such a manner. I have to figure out what's going on at her home, and make her move in with me if necessary. But, before I can do that, I have to figure out what my parents are hiding in the basement. I need to know what they were covered in. Looking around the room, I never realized how lonely I felt. My closest family member disappeared, and since then, nothing has felt the same. My shoulders dropped, as a heavy exhale escaped my lips.

"I can't lose Mira too. Not her, I refuse to lose her, too. Whatever she's going through, I'll make sure she knows I'll be here every step of the way through it no matter what."

Knowing she at least needed the night to herself, I decided to go investigate the basement myself as soon as my family leaves to pick up dinner. Until then... Let's see if he'll answer tonight. I'm 18, I can finally find my mate. I've needed it to be him ever since I first laid eyes on him the same year my brother disappeared. I thought he'd be here for the party, but I never saw him before I blacked out drunk, and I don't know if he showed up later. All I know is I woke up alone, extremely hungover, and I could tell I didn't get any like I was hoping for. My night was a complete bust, and I'm pissed about it. Angerly mumbling, "He'd better answer." as I clicked on his contact.

As each ring reached my ear, butterflies started to erupt in my stomach, causing me to feel a bit anxious.

"Hello?" His deep voice caused my breath to stop as my heart sped up, and a wave of heat ran through my body. But, it wasn't the man I called; this voice didn't belong to Dylan.

"Who is this? Where's Dylan?" I asked, worried about his well-being.

His voice felt further away as I heard him angrily mumbling something. A second later, he was back on the phone.

"Don't say his name with so much worry. He doesn't deserve it."

"What are you talking about, Where is he? Tell me now." I demanded, scared of what happened to him, of the person currently in possession of his phone.

"Don't worry he's still alive...For now. I had to question him first."

"What do you mean question him? You can't just kidnap another pack's future gamma! It'll cause a war between the pack's! Who are you? Why are you doing this? Bring him back before I tell my alpha!" My anger rose as the fear of Dylan's life increased.

"I can't do that."

"Why not? Why did you take him? What do you want from him?"

"He tried to take something that didn't belong to him. Something.." His voice trailed off like he was lost in thought.

"That belongs only to me." His gruff voice came back more angry than before.

"You said tried. He didn't take it so please just let him go. It can't be important enough to take his life, especially if he didn't even succeed!" I tried to plead in his defense.

"You don't understand, which is what I want for now. The next time I see you. I promise I will tell you everything, including why I refuse to let this scum live on this earth. Until then, Lexi, stay safe for me." He hung up without giving me a chance to question him some more. I don't know what he means. But I refuse to stand by while Dylan's life hangs in the balance. I don't care what he tried to steal; he doesn't deserve to die because of it.

But– why did my body respond to his voice like that? He was threatening the person I want to be my mate. So, why would my body crave the man behind that voice?

"Lexi, we're leaving to grab dinner! We'll be back!" Hearing my mom's voice snapped me back to reality. Whatever my horny body wants right now doesn't matter. I have to go look around the basement while they're gone. I can only focus on one thing at a time right now, with Miras' current state taking up the rest of the space available.

Throwing on a quiet pair of tennis shoes, I hurried to the basement, unsure of how long they would be gone. Rushing down the stairs, I had only about 100 ft left to go before

"Lexi? What are you doing?"

My whole body froze at the voice behind me.

Fuck.