The Alpha’s Substitute Mate

Isabella

We drove along in silence for a while. I felt a bit numb and pale. After a long time, I decided to ask the question that had been in my mind.

“How did you know I was planning to leave?”

Violet swerved her head, and Lance chuckled. ” It was Vi.”

Violet stared at me with a guilty expression. I watched as fear and worry were evident in her gaze and features. I reached forward between the seats and rubbed her shoulder, but before I could say anything, she rushed ” I noticed you were no longer wearing your wedding ring, and most of your jewelry box was gone. And I became nosy and found the packed bag which you hid in the closet and also saw the envelope in your dressing drawer. I’m really sorry, Luna, it wasn’t sealed so I opened it and read it,” She sounded so weak that I thought she was going to cry.

I reached forward between the seats and rubbed her shoulders. ” It’s okay Vi, I’m glad you did that. If not I won’t have you guys here with me.”

” We couldn’t just sit back and watch you go alone, so we decided to pack our bags and keep monitoring and waiting for you to make your move, and since my chamber was right next to Arden’s… I overheard everything you guys said, and we knew you were ready to flee.” Lance said and grinned at me.

I sighed and leaned my head against the window “You’re saying you heard everything that transpired between me and Arden. So tell me, what does it mean when your mate refuses to accept your rejection?”

He shrugged, ” I have no idea, but I don’t think it works that way. I mean you can’t force someone to be your mate if they don’t want to. I guess that’s why we’re given the power of rejection.

I let out a sigh of relief and thanked the moon goddess for bringing them to save me at the right moment, if not for them I wouldn’t have made it very far on foot and I would have been caught by now. I closed my eyes feeling completely drained as my hair fluttered due to the wind wafting in through the window.

” I think the rejection worked, he felt the pain of rejection, I saw it in his eyes even though he tried to mask it and I also felt it too, it pierced deep into my soul,” I mumbled

“Maybe,” Lance answered

I settled into the nook of my seat and closed my eyes. I needed to rest and calm my head from all the reflection. I was weak. Very weak. My eyes were stinging from the exhaustion that washed over me.

The steady rhythm of the nightseed’s hooves clopping against the road lulled me to sleep and I was not even aware of how time flew and how we reached our destination.

And Violet woke me up and I noticed we had arrived and stared in shock at the old mansion that seemed to be crumbling from its foundation. The paint was already peeling off, and some of the windows were broken, the grass was overgrown and sagged.

But there was light on the inside to welcome us and I was eager to stretch my body on the bed.

” Hey! You guys made it!”

” Jack!” Lance came out of the car and hugged and shook hands with him. Jack was a Mexican man, with curly black hair and light brown skin.

” Jack, meet my friend and my sis Bella and my mate Violet,”

“Hi, thank you so much for letting us stay with you, we are sincerely grateful,” I said, trying to be as friendly as my exhausted body would allow.

Violet had moved over beside Lance and he crossed his arm around her slender waist possessively. We moved inside and the house was more of a wreck on the inside than it was on the outside.

“I’m so sorry for the mess, we can manage it till I make plans to renovate it,” Jack mumbled apologetically

” There is no problem, and since we’re here we can all join hands together and fix it,” I suggested quietly and everybody nodded.

In the end, we all went to our separate rooms to rest our tired bodies.

I was the last person to roll out of the bed in the morning. I hurriedly took my bath, dressed up, and inched my way down the stairs. The smell of pancakes and omelets filled up the air and I followed the smell to the kitchen. The kitchen area was horrible, it was ripped apart like the rest of the house, and the cabinet tops were gone but some plywood was thrown over it to serve as a cover at the moment.

I noticed that Violet was totally glowing and Lance was following her around like a love-sick puppy. I felt a little stab of jealousy rise within me. This is how it’s supposed to be when you find your mate. I couldn’t help but imagine what it would have been like if I had met Malcolm first before I had set eyes on Arden. Maybe my love life would have been awesome with a romantic happy ending.

I felt a jolt of pain in my chest and an instant sadness enveloped my heart at the thought of Arden. I hated this feeling, fate had not been kind to me but at least had favored Violet. I smiled and willed myself to be happy for her. She truly deserves all the love and care from her mate. Just like me, she has never been caressed with love.

I left Violet in the kitchen and went to the dining and sat on one of the chairs and Lance came and plopped himself down in a chair across from me.

” Uh.. Bella, I spoke with Mum,” he mumbled

” How, Why!! I inquired in a whisper

” Well, she didn’t call me on the cellphone, since we left it in the pack to avoid traces before we left. I knew we cut the mind link from the pack but I couldn’t cut the mind between me and Mum. So we spoke through the mind link this morning.” He said and tapped his temple.

” What did mum say,” I inquired

” She said Arden was furious since he noticed this morning that you left and he has been destroying and tearing the whole place apart. He also sent out some warriors to look for you. And he personally went over to your dad’s pack with some warriors searching the whole place looking for you.”

My brows crippled, fear slowly growing in my chest, I felt a sharp piercing pain in my chest at the realization that Arden might kill my family for my betrayal.

” What do we do?”

” He wouldn’t hurt my family, would he?”