Chapter 24

*****

*Corey's POV*

"No! No! I won't! Are you crazy? Of course, you are! Why do I even bother asking? It shouldn't even be surprising at this point."

I rolled my eyes watching Jayden rapidly shake his head as he backed away.

"No, Corey. Hell no! No!" he said.

Right, it shouldn't be surprising, given my reckless personality. Did he expect us to go walking or something? There was little to do in the town except hang out in the forest or at the mall. He was overreacting anyway. He said no alcohol or compelling bouncers to let him into clubs, and this had no alcohol and did not require compelling anyone.

It was also something he had never done before and had said he always wanted to do!

"Stop being a wimp." I frowned at him.

"Wimp? There's a huge difference between being a wimp and being sensible, Corey and right now I think you could really use some sense..."

I let the rest of his words drift off, so I wasn't paying attention. Jayden could talk a lot when he was shocked. It was strange because usually, he was quite quiet.

I tilted seeing that he had backed his way away from me, to the edge and hadn't seemed to notice. If I stepped towards him, would he take another step back?

I did that and he did exactly what I expected, lifting his foot to step away.

"There is no way –" Jayden's sentence was cut off as he lost his footing, slipping off the edge.

I leaned over to watch as he fell, screaming his lungs out. The pounding of his heart could be felt in my chest, and it made me chuckle, half from my own amusement at his screaming, and half out of concern that came from feeling his fear.

"Hold onto the rope in case the knot unties around your waist! It's a pretty bad place to fall beneath you!" I shouted; it only freaked him out more.

I might have tied him to a rope, tied the other end around a tree and then suggested he take a dive off the side of a cliff. It was kind of like bungee jumping... without the safety.

Oh... Now I realised why he didn't want to do it.

I had only thought far enough to know that it always felt amazing when I dove off cliffs into water or when I had gone bungee jumping, and that he had told me he always wanted to.

My eyes widened as I watched him fall. Everyone was going to kill me when they found out! And to make matters worse, just as I glanced back at the tree, the rope slid loose.

I cursed, grabbing it in time to feel it tug as Jayden bounced. My heart stopped as I looked over the edge, anxiety spiking as I considered that the knot around him was not as thoroughly done as I had thought considering the other end had come loose. It seemed like it was okay, but the flash of panic had caused a sharp, painful throbbing in my head.

My thoughts before doing things were not usually through. The perk of being a werewolf was that I would heal. That was how I usually went about decisions. The thought of getting hurt never bothered me. Jayden would too, but that didn't seem to matter at the moment.

I was about to begin lifting him back when a shout came from below.

"Corey! It's actually kind of fun!"

I smiled looking down at him. He was swaying, his hands holding onto the rope.

"Look down!" I shouted.

I could feel that his heart was still racing, but the elation and adrenaline seemed to have overtaken his fear. He gasped as he took in the view beneath him.

"It's awesome! Like a swing! It's so beautiful here!" he called out.

I chuckled as I shifted onto the edge of the cliff to get a better look, the rope secured around my arm and hand. I wouldn't let it go and there was no chance I would let him fall because he was very light. Of course, he didn't know that and didn't trust me, so seeing the rope around my hand made him go completely ballistic.

"Oh my God! What-what are you –?! You're going to kill me! Pull me up!" he shouted in despair as he attempted to pull himself up the rope.

If he were anyone else, I would have scoffed at his worry. We were werewolves. The worst that could happen would be broken necks. But my anxiety had not dropped, and I really just wanted him back on the ground as well.

I looked down at Jayden as he struggled to climb up the side of the cliff and laughed despite my head before pulling him back up to me.

As soon as he was safely on the surface of the cliff, he slammed his palms into my chest to shove me, I didn't move.

"I fucking hate you! You're so stupid!" he shouted.

I laughed, catching his wrists to prevent him from trying to shove me again because it obviously wasn't working the way he wanted it to. His cold skin sent pleasant sensations through my hands and once again, I found myself wanting to do things I would normally be disgusted by even thinking about towards a man. At the moment though, I was having too much fun to think about how I would normally react.

"Do you?" I smirked, tugging him closer to me. "Do you hate me?" I teased.

He glared at me, not answering my question and I chuckled.

"You didn't like the view?" I asked. "What an exciting rush, right?"

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"You're psychotic."

"I've been told it's part of my charm." I grinned.

It seemed like he was still trying to glare at me, but a small smile broke onto his face. Still, he shook his head and muttered, "What charm?"

"Wanna go one more time?" I asked.

I laughed when he instantly ripped his wrists from my hands and quickly untied the rope.

"I'm going home!" he said.

I began to shake my head, still not wanting to return yet. I wanted to keep hanging out with him. Nevermind the fact that we had been out all day. We could do something he thought was safer.

"Wait," I caught Jayden's hand when he attempted to turn around, it felt like he was about to shift. "Let's do something else."

"It's late. Also, I'm not doing anything with you after –"

"No, wait, listen. You choose."

Jayden paused and turned back to me, his face sceptical.

"Seriously, you can choose. Anything. We'll do it."

I tilted my head as he went quiet, his eyes dropping from mine for a moment as he swallowed before looking back at me.

"Everything's closed right now..." he mumbled.

"Fine. We don't have to, but this is the only time I'm giving you this deal." I shrugged and began to turn to head home while wrapping the rope around my arm.

"Wait." He seemed to think about it for a minute before smiling. "Do you sing?"

"No. We're not doing that."

"You said anything."

"You don't want to hear me sing."

"I really do," he grinned.

I studied the rope in my hand, twisting it slightly. I liked dancing, but hated singing. Especially in front of people. But I figured he was thinking of karaoke, and I wanted to hear him sing. I still had not gotten the faint sound of his voice from that morning out of my mind.

"O...kay," I said, uncertainly. It was an odd feeling to me.

"One-one more thing," Jayden said.

"One more?" I asked.

"Um... I get to choose the song you sing."

"Fine," I shrugged. It didn't matter what he chose, he would suffer through me singing it horribly.

I stood on the stage watching Jayden as he flipped through songs.

"What are you having me sing?" I asked.

"You'll know when you hear it."

"So, it's popular?"

"I'd say," he said. "Here."

My head swung towards the lyrics when the first notes played, and I immediately looked back at Jayden seeing that I was right about the song.

"No!"

"Going out tonight," he ignored me as he sang along before pointing at me to continue.

I clenched my jaw, before sighing and looking at the screen.

"Gonna let it all hang out," I spoke into the mike.

"Wow, you truly are bad at this."

"I'm not bad at anything."

"Honestly, the worst I've heard. Usually, I don't sing in front of people, but if it means not having to listen to you speak over a beat –"

"Start it again." I cut him off, annoyed.

He nodded and started the song again. I stared into his eyes, narrowing my own while trying to shake off the awkwardness that came with singing.

Seeing Jayden stare at me with raised brows, his round brown eyes curious made me straighten up. As a mate would, I wanted him to look at me like everyone else did. I was always good at everything I did, but I wanted him to know that. The part of my mind arguing that I didn't care what he thought because I didn't want him to be my mate anyway was silenced by how badly I wanted his admiration.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, I leaned into the theme of the song completely and began strutting towards the front of the stage like I had seen girls do in the past.

"Going out tonight, I'm feelin' alright, gonna let it all hang out."

Jayden's hands clasped over his mouth as he let out a surprised yell that made me grin.

"No inhibitions, make no conditions..." I continued trying to dance along, his reactions making my moves become more dramatic because it seemed to delight him a lot.

It was a different look than he had earlier when he was admiring the view of the river, he looked so surprised and entertained, excited, his brows eyes glittering as he laughed. I wanted to see every one of his emotions.

When the chorus began, I sang like I was good at it. Jayden seemed to forget about his hesitation to sing in front of people and joined in.

He sounded so good, I almost stopped, but remembering that I had said I would do anything and he asked for singing. Instead, I lifted my hand to motion for him to join me on the stage.

He seemed surprised and then flustered and shook his head, shyness returning. I continued motioning while singing the second verse, exaggerating my movements to make him laugh, hoping to distract from his anxiety and make him lean into how fun it seemed. It worked and he pushed off the couch and hesitantly joined me on the stage just as the chorus started again.

We sang together, Jayden's voice still amazing despite how nervous he was. I continued to play around trying to get him to relax and when the final chorus started, he was finally dancing with me, singing into the mike just as loudly as I was when I held it to him.

When the song ended, we were both breathless and laughing.

"Great song. Jay, your voice is amazing. I think Livin' on a Prayer next because it's your turn. Why don't you sing in front of people?" I asked.

Jayden's smile changed, becoming slightly more forced and he just shook his head, picking up the tablet to begin searching for another song.

"I-I just... don't like... being noticed," he mumbled.

"Well, you know why I don't sing in front of people," the joke came automatically when I noticed his mood dropping slightly. It fixed that as he began laughing again.

I stepped forward, lifting my hand to take the tablet so I could choose the next song instead, but paused as my hand brushed his when he attempted to tap the screen. Once again, just as when we had touched earlier, I felt a sharp electricity run from where my hand had touched his, seemingly straight into my chest making my heart skip and then accelerate.

His skin was still cold. Earlier I had figured that was because of the swinging, but he was still so cold even though we were inside, and I had the urge to take his hands in mine to warm them. That impulse me realise how close we were. My hand was touching his, his face tilted up centimetres from mine, brown eyes wide and mouth slightly agape in surprise.

I quickly drew my hand back and stepped away from him, trying to control my breathing so he wouldn't notice how fast my heart was racing.

"We should go," I muttered.

"N-now? But you paid for an hour. We can –"

"I said we'd do one thing," I cut him off. "It's done. I'm tired. Let's go."

Jayden seemed deflated by my sudden change in tone, but I ignored that and stepped off the stage, tossing the mike onto the table as I headed right to the door to create some distance between us.

-----

*Jayden's POV*

"The peaks are on the other side of a forest, there's no way we will be able to drive through it. We'll have to leave the car somewhere and walk from there," Sean said as he studied the map.

"Walk? Haven't you heard the rumours about the forest that surrounds the peak?" Hayley asked.

"Those are only rumours, Hayley," Sean said.

"That's what you think at first, but people have died there and apparently seen things that don't exist. Even if they are just rumours, it clearly isn't safe to walk through," Hayley replied.

"We'll be fine. If anything happens, we'll all be there to help each other," Corey spoke.

I was seated next to him again, except this time there wasn't a basket of food separating us. Trent held the basket. Corey did not seem to mind the absence of something between us, or he just had not noticed yet.

I felt a little stupid and deflated. I did not mind the basket being gone, but made sure to keep the distance there in case shifting any closer to him reminded him of the absence of the barrier.

After we returned to the house, he had gone back to avoiding me. When the others asked where we had been, he lied and said we just met outside as we had both arrived at the same time. It hurt. Every time it seemed like he was warming up to me, he went cold again.

"We won't be able to receive any signal in the forest, so we should probably call Joe or –" Sean was saying when Corey's phone went off.

"Excuse me," he answered it quickly. "You've reached the master of all things awesome, what is the reason for this disturbance?"

I couldn't bring myself to laugh as everyone else did, especially when a giggle sounded through the receiver.

"Corey, you're so funny." Samantha's voice came through the speaker.

"Oh, hey, Babe." Corey smiled.

I looked out of my window feeling my chest begin to ache, my eyes stinging.

Why couldn't I get it through my head that he wasn't going to change his decision? Despite the entire trip just to get rid of our bond. Why did I keep getting my hopes up?

He was just messing with me, constantly, and I kept falling for it. I kept hoping he would start liking me too. The most pathetic thing was that I knew would readily fall for whatever else he would do, despite everything. I just so desperately wanted him to want me.

"I miss you! Why are you taking so long?" she said.

"The car keeps breaking down," Corey said.

"Well, maybe next time I'll join you and I'll be there when it breaks down?" she suggested.

"Maybe," Corey mumbled.

Still unable to bring myself to look at Corey, I glanced towards the front, into the rearview mirror and saw Sean looking back at his Beta with furrowed brows before his eyes returned to the road.

"Is something wrong? You don't want to talk to me?" Samantha asked.

"No, of course not, Babe. I'm just... really tired. We've been so busy." Corey sighed. "Look, I have to go. We're almost there, I need to call Alpha Ian. I'll see you when we get back, alright?" he said.

"Uh... Yeah, sure," she said. "I love you."

"You too, Babe." He hung up.

No one said anything for a few moments after. My throat was knotted as I directed my focus to my phone, opening a random game to distract myself from the sudden awkward silence, my thoughts and the pain in my chest.

"You're just the definition of 'Player', aren't you?" Trent asked.

From the corner of my eye, Corey turned to show him something that made them both chuckle.

"I'll call home now," Corey told Sean as he fiddled with his phone to dial a number. "Good afternoon, Beta," Corey spoke once the ringing stopped.

The car suddenly swerved off the road, sending us all crying out as we swung in our seats while the tyres screeched before jerking forward as Sean stepped on the brakes. He turned to full-on glare at Corey for calling his father and not Isabella's father, who was the Alpha of their pack.

Corey just smirked back.

"Corey, I'm not even going to bother trying to convince you to abandon your 'quest'. All I'm going to ask is: Who the hell is driving and are they trying to kill all of you?" Cole said.

"You said I was a great driver!" Sean called, outraged.

"And I appear to have been mistaken. Someone switch places with my son before he kills you," Cole said.

We laughed as Sean ran his tongue along his teeth, still glaring at Corey.

"I'm doing great though, father. Thank you for asking," Sean said.

"I didn't ask, Sean."

I laughed as Sean rolled his eyes at his father's answer. They seemed so playful with each other.

Cole chuckled.

"You know I'm joking. I'm glad you're okay. All of you are alright? No one has died or anything? Joe's been panicking about you being near Jayden, Corey. Is Jay okay?" Cole asked.

I bit my lip remembering Corey asking me about the 'babying' from Joe. If my Alpha found out I had seen my father again, he was going to become even more protective. If he found out about what happened in the bathroom, he wasn't going to let me out of his sight...

"I made him jump off the side of a cliff, but he proved to be a die-hard," Corey replied, nonchalantly.

"You did what?!" that was Joe.

I decided to add fuel to the fire Corey was making for himself.

"Technically, you tied me to a rope and cornered me until I slipped off the side of a cliff," I said.

"What?!" that was everyone.

"The view was nice. It was quite fun actually, until the rope came loose," I went on.

Corey side-eyed me with raised eyebrows, realising what I was doing, and I turned my head to look out of the window.

"Corey, I swear to God, if you hurt –" Joe's voice came from the phone.

"Relax, Joe," Corey laughed. "I wouldn't hurt actually him; he's my mate."

I glanced at him when the words left his mouth, and Sean and Trent looked surprised from the front seat.

"I would feel it too if he got hurt. I won't push him off cliffs anymore if it makes you feel better," he added.

Oh, he just didn't want to hurt himself. I let out an awkward chuckle as Joe growled from the other end of the phone.

"Where's my Alpha?" Joe spoke.

"Asleep. We can't get him to wake up," Hayley said.

I watched in amusement as she patted Kaden's cheek lightly before giving it a pinch and he still didn't move.

"Believe me, there's nothing you can do that is going to wake that kid up. He is exactly like Jay," Joe said. I frowned as everyone chuckled, but I didn't say anything because it was true. Sometimes it was hard to fall asleep, but it was harder to wake up after I had.

"We're almost at the last town now, so we'll have to go. We won't be able to call you from the forest," Corey said.

"That forest isn't normal, Corey. You guys will lose all your supernatural abilities once you're in it. I suggest you get some kind of weapon," we heard Marcus.

"You didn't mention this at home," Corey said.

"You left without telling anyone. I didn't think you were seriously going to go," Marcus said.

"Fine. We'll figure something out. We'll call on our way back," Corey said.

"Back?" Joe spoke.

"Yeah." After saying goodbye, Corey hung up. "We can find some weapons in town. Let's stop there first," he said.

"Right." Sean nodded.

-----

"We leave tomorrow morning at three," Trent said.

Surprisingly, he had been to the town just outside the forest before and knew someone who lived there. We were sleeping at their house for the night and leaving the car with them until we got back.

"Three?" Kaden groaned.

He usually woke up early to train, but Joe gave him some leeway during the holidays and Kaden usually took full advantage of that and slept in as long as he could. The trip we were on was ruining his holiday sleeping schedule.

"Yes, so set a bomb or something to wake yourself up," Trent smirked at Kaden who glared back while muttering curse words under his breath before he dropped his head onto the pillow. I chuckled, laying my mattress down on the floor.

The house was kind of small and cosy, so we were all in their living room sleeping on blankets or mattresses on the floor.

"Hey, thanks for making my bed warm now get off." I looked up to see Corey staring down at me and frowned.

"It's my bed," I said.

"No, it isn't. You get the blankets over there. Move," he said, pointing at the blankets he was talking about, and I scoffed.

"I was here first."

"He was," Hayley said.

"I carried this here which automatically makes it my bed unless I state otherwise. Have I stated otherwise? No. It's mine," Corey said.

"That's true," Sean commented.

"Yeah? Well, you dropped it in the middle of the hallway, and I had to drag it here. So, technically I brought it in here. By your own logic, it's mine," I said, giving a tight smile when Corey clenched his jaw slightly.

"Or you could just share –" Izabella began to suggest.

"No," both Corey and I cut her off.

"It's mine. He gets the floor," I said.

Corey scoffed before he fell onto the mattress beside me, I was too surprised by his just flopping onto it to fight back when he shoved me off it and I landed on the wooden floor.

"Mine." He smirked at me before turning around, his back to me while he shifted slightly to get comfortable.

I frowned, sitting up to grab hold of the sheets and pulled them so that he rolled off the bed before I got back into it. I ignored the annoyed growl that came from him while wrapping myself in a blanket.

There was a moment of silence before he sighed and laid back down beside me, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the ceiling. There was not much space on the mattress, so his arm was pressed against mine despite us being at either edge of the bed.

"It's a single-person bed," Sean stated the obvious.

"Tell him to get off then," Corey said.

I scoffed while rolling onto my side. "You get off." I shut my eyes.

Wasn't taking the uncomfortable blankets on the hardwood floor the least he could for making everyone drive out there?

"Not until tomorrow morning." He yawned and shifted around a little, but didn't leave.

"There is no hope for you two," Izabella said as she lay down on the sofa.

I sighed shutting my eyes. There wasn't, was there?

*****