Chapter 28

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*Corey's POV*

"You kissed Jayden?" Sean asked, shocked.

Damn wolf.

"No. I mean... Not really." I shrugged. The answer confused even me.

"'Not really'?" He gave me a flat stare. "What the hell? So, you two are together now?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"But you made out him!" Sean exclaimed.

"We didn't make – I've made out with plenty of people – girls," I replied. "He... asked me to."

How did I explain what happened without making it look like I was into him? I was trying to think about it, but Sean was being too loud and urgent as he spoke for me to hear my thoughts.

"He asked you? And you then just did it?" Sean asked. "After everything? After the way you've behaved towards him this entire trip? This being your first kiss with him, and you just do it because he asked?" Sean asked.

"Of course not, it's not –" I cursed in my mind, realising that now he knew. Shit. I couldn't think clearly and felt a slight panic at him thinking I was actually into Jayden.

"Not the first time?" Sean asked, shocked. "What else have you been doing? And why are we still here looking for this witch if the two of you are cool now?"

"Because we're still going to the witch to do what we came here for," I said.

"What? After you –?"

A growl had us both turning to the wolf, who I had forgotten was there.

"Sorry," Sean sighed. "Follow the scents of our friends through the forest, tell them to wait for us. If you hurt anyone or are planning to, I will kill you," Sean said to the wolf.

'Fine, but if I don't, you take me back with you and we speak to your Alpha... Maybe he will let me into the pack,' The wolf growled.

"I am Alpha, this is my Beta. We'll see." Sean smiled.

The wolf let out a growl as he bowed his head slightly. Of course, he couldn't argue with that statement. Sean and I did look like we held our positions, even without our abilities.

After the wolf disappeared through the trees, Sean turned to me as I shoved my gun back into its holster.

"So, you've kissed him. More than once."

"It... happened," I replied.

"And yet you don't want to be with him?" he questioned.

"I'm not gay."

"That's not what I asked."

"We've taken care of the wolf, let's go."

Sean grabbed my arm when I tried to head into the trees.

"So, you've been leading him on?" he asked.

"No. I've warned him," I said.

"You've warned him?" He gave a dry laugh, tossing his head back. "You're using him, then? Teasing? Toying because you know how much he wants to be with you?"

"No. Why are we even talking about this? Let's get back –" I was saying.

"Are you in love with him?" Sean cut me off.

I pretty much choked on air before I began laughing.

"It-It was a fucking kiss! I'd hardly say that means anything." I chuckled. Despite that, my heart picked up in my chest at the thought of admitting it to Jayden, my wolf stirring with excitement that I tried to control.

"It doesn't? You can tell me honestly that it meant nothing?"

I swallowed, getting sick of him pushing me to answer.

"Sean –"

"What's so wrong with it? He's your mate. You're supposed to be with him. It's clear that you feel something for him, or you wouldn't have gotten so angry when that guy tried to hurt him at the hotel, when you found out about his father, or so jealous when you saw him with Finn," Sean said.

"And what if I do?"

He appeared surprised by the question, going silent for a beat enough for me to keep talking.

"Of course, I feel something. It's not like I have a choice with this fucking pull."

"It's not just the pull though, is it, Corey?" he asked.

It was more of a rhetorical question, because he clearly knew the answer. I didn't need to reply but did so anyway.

"No. That's what you want me to say, right? No, it isn't, Sean. I care about him. I love him. Why the hell are you asking me all of this?" I asked, frowning at him. It hit me that, for the first time in my life, that word held weight to me and the thought of Jayden finding out was terrifying.

"Because you're my Beta, more than that, I'm your friend and he's your mate! Of course, I would try to stop you from doing something that you will regret for the rest of your life! You're making a fucking mistake. You know it and the pack will notice if you get a fake mate, Corey!" he said.

"I'm doing this for our pack," I said.

"Bullshit. No, you are not," he spoke.

"How many gay people have you met in our pack?" I paused, giving him a moment to answer and when he didn't, I chuckled. "You and I have spent our entire lives idolised by everyone, could you imagine how quickly that could change? Would you be okay with being the reason people leave our pack?"

"You really believe... our pack is that bigoted?"

"No, of course not. Not everyone will react the way I reacted to finding out he was my mate. But Sean, I grew up with Izabella when even you were treating her like shit. I know exactly how alienating and blatantly abhorrent our pack can be to one of our own. I don't want to let everyone down. I don't want to disappoint anyone or... be rejected by them." I held my breath to ease the tightness in my chest. It didn't help.

"And... I don't want Jayden to be hurt again. I've put him through so much already. If the pack doesn't accept me, they won't accept him either and this will start all over, on a bigger scale." I let out a breath, feeling my eyes sting. "What am I talking about? There's no chance. With the way I've treated him, it wouldn't be right for me to expect him to forgive me. I wouldn't, why should he?"

The ground blurred behind tears as I looked down to avoid showing Sean how afraid I felt. I wasn't sure why I was admitting all of that to him, we had never been that close.

"Corey... I don't know how they'll react... but a pack that wouldn't accept you because of who you're with is not a pack I would want us to lead anyway. People can leave if they want. We'll built with what we have left. You're my Beta. No one in our pack should ever feel as afraid as you do now, no one should be treated the way we treated Izabella... We get to create a pack that people can feel safe in. But... no one's going to change if we don't. We have to be brave for them...

"As for Jayden, it's clear how he feels about you. He has never wanted to go through with this."

"But he should want to," I hissed. "I'm not what's best for him. He shouldn't be with someone who has treated him the way I have. The only reason he wants to right now is because he's insecure and scared of losing his mate.

"When he realises that I don't deserve him, I don't want to... I won't be able to take that. Yeah, he can't reject me, but I don't want to be dumped or... abandoned when he realises he deserves better. If I admit what I feel for him now, I won't be able to handle losing him..." Just talking about it made it feel like my chest was caving in. He must have felt the agonising physical and mental pain constantly since we met. Knowing that made the pain even more gut-wrenching. "He deserves so much better."

I gulped, trying to calm down because my mind was reeling, and my throat felt completely dry and closed-up. I lifted my trembling hands to run them through my hair, but froze when arms circled my waist from behind.

My heart stopped for a moment at the prospect that it might be him, but relief washed over me when I realised the touch didn't incite the same fire.

I slowly dropped my arms to my sides, looking at the hands that had settled on my stomach.

"Izabella... Why are you here?" I mumbled.

"I wanted to check the two of you because you were taking forever... Corey, I've known you my whole life. I know that you can be someone who deserves him if you show him who you really are, who you've always been to me."

"Yeah? I've hurt him too much, Izabella. It's already too late..." I mumbled. "We should get going. We have to be there before dark," I pushed her arms away before heading through the trees towards where the others had gone, leaving them to catch up.

-----

'We're here,' the wolf, whose name we had learned was Zeke, growled.

We had reached a cave. Perhaps I should have noticed it earlier, but I had been so caught up in focusing on the ground and playing over what was said in the conversation with Sean earlier that, until that moment, I had not even admitted to myself yet.

"A cave. That's not creepy at all," Hayley mumbled and I couldn't help but chuckle as everyone laughed.

My laughter died as I stared at the rock that blocked the cave's entrance. There was a heavy, nauseating feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I shut my eyes, internally sighing, telling myself that it wasn't a mistake. We needed to do what we had come for. I was terrible for him.

"Let's go." I faked a smile and ignored the dreadful look on Jayden's face for the split-second that our eyes met before he looked towards the trees, hiding his face.

I felt physically ill.

*Jayden's POV*

"Who's there?!" someone snapped as Corey knocked on the front... rock? Door?

"Friends of Marcus," Corey replied, his voice strong. The strange, cranky snap hadn't fazed him at all.

My stomach was twisted. He sounded so normal. He had been quiet, and I wondered – no, I'd hoped it was because he was thinking about that morning; because he was second-guessing. But my hopes never aligned with his.

"Marcus?"

The rock effortlessly slid away from the opening and a beautiful blonde woman stood before us in a green summer dress. I could not say I was expecting that by the way she had snapped at us when we knocked on her door... I expected an old lady with uncombed hair wearing a thick grey blanket and a black cat on her shoulder as though being straight out of a children's storybook.

"Yes," Corey said, giving a charming grin that seemed to make her smile back.

"Who are you and why are you here?" she asked.

"I'm Corey. And, well... Marcus said you might be able to... change my mate for me," he said.

Even after everything that had happened, despite knowing that our entire journey was to get to this woman so she could swap our mates, it still hurt hearing him talk about it.

"Corey..." She ran her eyes over the rest of us before they landed on me. "And you're his mate... Jayden?" she said.

"That's amazing!" Sean voiced my thoughts.

"Not really. You Galaxy wolves could do it too," she said.

"Why do I have to be from Inferno?" Trent's disappointed whine was followed by laughter that I didn't bother attempting to join in on.

"Izabella!"

Izabella raised her brows in surprise as the woman turned to her.

"Wow! The last time I saw you, you were tiny and hiding behind Adan. Your mother had –" the witch paused, her face falling. "I'm so sorry... I..."

"I-It's okay. It... I'm fine. It was a while ago..." Izabella stuttered, trying to smile even though she was clearly hurt.

I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling choked up as the memory of her crying at the lake returned to my mind, followed by the moment in the forest when she thought she had seen her brother. He had died just weeks after her mother had.

"Um –" Izabella cleared her throat, grinning. "I remember now. You're Bianca, right?"

"Yes!" the woman's smile returned. "You've grown so well. Do come inside, everyone,"

Bianca stepped aside, motioning for us to enter before inviting us to have lunch, which she insisted on because we 'looked like we needed it'. She was right. I tried to eat despite having no appetite because I knew I needed some sustenance. It was nauseating.

"So, what exactly is it that you want me to do?" Bianca asked.

Corey looked up from his food, which had barely been touched. It appeared as though it had just been pushed around a bit. He glanced at me, clearing his throat.

"Well... I would like you to give him another mate."

"Just him?" Bianca asked, raising her brows.

Corey shrugged. "It really doesn't matter. It just has to be done fast."

"Why? Are you afraid of something?" Bianca asked.

Corey gave a dry laugh, making me concerned about whether he was okay. He had taken a while with Sean earlier. Had something happened between them?

I couldn't ask. We didn't have that kind of friendship. Were we even friends?

After we kissed that morning, I had been both hurt and angry.

Why did he get to decide? Why did he get to decide whether we got new mates or not? Why did he get to decide to take the trip? Why did he get to decide whether I deserved him?

Even as he went through everything, even when it seemed like he was starting to like me, it was always about him. He only took his own thoughts, opinions and feelings into consideration.

It made me so angry.

"Does it really matter?" Corey smiled.

"No." She laughed.

"Can we do it now?" he asked.

"But you haven't even touched your food," she said.

"I'm really not hungry," Corey said. "Jayden?" He looked at me.

I was starving and had only managed a few bites so far, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to force myself to eat the rest while being anxious about the spell. "Same."

"Would you like to do it now?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "Sure," I said.

As long as we got it over with.

'We will.'

I clenched my teeth. That was Corey linking to me.

For the last time.

The way he said that made it seem like he thought getting it over with was best for us. I'd never met anyone so selfish.

I blocked him out of my head.

I was becoming angrier than I was hurt.

"Are you sure?" Izabella asked.

"Yeah," Corey replied for both of us.

Of course, I wasn't. However, I got up as he did, not saying anything or looking at anyone.

We followed Bianca into a room, and I admitted to myself that there was something I was sure of. I was sure I didn't want it... but it didn't matter. He wanted it so badly.

It never mattered what I wanted.

I cringed at the thought and Corey looked at me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded, turning to Bianca.

"You have to wish for it at the same time..." her words drifted from my mind as I looked down, studying the dark wood floor beneath my feet until it blurred.

I didn't want to. I really didn't want to. Not just because I didn't want to change my mate but because I was angry at him. He liked me. I was sure of it after the kiss that morning. Yet, he still wanted to go through with it because he had decided he knew what was best for me.

That stupid speech he had given both hurt and pissed me off. Why did everyone always think they knew what was best for me? I'd only wanted one thing: my mate to like me, and he did. Why couldn't he understand that it was my choice whether I forgave him?

I didn't want to go through with the wish.

Besides, someone obviously needed it much more than I did.

I didn't want to force him into being stuck mated to me... but I didn't want another mate either. I was sure he had started to like me too, but how angry would he be if I ruined this wish? Would he hate me as much as he did when we first met?

I felt a knot growing in my throat as my eyes flooded with tears I was desperately trying to hold back.

"Are you ready? Close your eyes," Bianca said, having mixed some herbs and mumbled a spell over them before setting them alight.

I glanced at Corey, his eyes were shut, fists balled at his sides. His face emotionless. Despite that, I could feel the anxiety both of us were filled within my chest.

I clenched my jaw, shutting my eyes.

"Clear your minds. You both need to be thinking about it at the same time or it won't work properly, focus on nothing else," she said.

I sighed internally, feeling my anxiety begin to fade, my shoulders relaxed as I reached a decision.

I couldn't do it. I wasn't going to.

I felt tears run down my cheek as I gave up trying to fight myself.

He was going to hate me. It would be fine; I'd keep my distance this time. Maybe one day, he would be the person he thought I deserved. Until then, he could keep fighting our pull as he had been and talk to me once he was over it. Or we could find another witch.

Still, I felt bad for what I was about to do. So, I clenched my fist and chose to link to him, even though I figured he would not be able to hear me if he had blocked me out as I had him. I didn't have the chance to say anything, because his voice immediately sounded in my mind as soon as the block was gone.

'I'm so sorry, Jayden.'

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