The following day, I woke up to find myself in my bed. How did I get here? I don’t remember walking home. I can smell Theo’s scent around me. I sniff my clothes, and I get a slight scent of Theo. He must have brought me home. I drop my legs on the floor to walk to the bathroom but stop once I feel a burn in my arms. It does not stop there and gets worse. I feel like my whole body is on fire. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I prayed this would never happen to me, but it’s happening because Theo has refused to mark me even though I have found him. I fall down to the ground and try to peel off my skin to stop the burning feeling. Everywhere feels on fire, my arms, my legs, even my heart is burning. I scream as I feel the pain increase with each passing second. I feel like I am dying by been burnt alive, but I never die and continue burning.
“Theo, please help me make it go away,” I say once my mate barges into my room. He must have heard me screaming. All he does is stare at me. He did not move until another deadly scream escaped my mouth. He takes a step closer to me but stops and turns around to walk out of my room.
I knew Theo did not see me as a mate, but how could he leave me in the state I am right now. A few minutes after he leaves, Charlotte and Chloe arrive.
“How bad is it?” Charlotte asks worriedly
“Bad, Charlotte, very bad,” I say with tears flowing down my face. The tears make my face burn more because the second anything touches my body, the heat from it makes it burn. It feels like pouring hot water on burnt skin.
“Help me carry her into the bathroom,” Charlotte says to Chloe.
“Do you think we can touch her?” Chloe says with tears in her eyes.
“You are right; we can’t; only Theo can. Quickly call him.”
“Okay,” Chloe says and runs out of the room
She comes back a second later with Theo.
I look at him and use my eyes to plead with him to make it go away. He is the only one who can end my suffering. He does not hold eye contact with me and avoids my eyes even as he lifts me off the ground. The minute my body feels his touch, I feel the burning reduce. He tries to place me in the bathtub, but I refuse because the second he drops me, his touch will disappear, and I need his touch. My plan does not work because Theo forcefully removes my hold on his body and places me a little harshly into the tub.
Charlotte runs in with ice cubes and fills the bathtub with them. The ice cubes help the heat reduce a little, but it is nothing as good as how my mate’s touch reduced it.
“Please hold me, Theo, just hold me. I am not asking you to mark me. Just to hold me,” I say, grabbing his hand before he walks out.
He ignores me and walks out of the bathroom like he has been doing all day. I can’t believe that Theo won’t even hold me with so much pain I am going through. I don’t think he just does not want me as a mate. I am starting to believe he hates me, and I hate him too because even if it was my enemy going through what I was going through. I would help them because the pain I am feeling is horrible. What even makes it worse is that he feels my pain because he could feel my pain with him in the room, but he still chooses to ignore me.
A week has gone by since my heat. I survived the three days of my heat because of Charlotte and Chloe. They made sure the water in the bathtub was never warm. I felt bad for the stress I caused them, but they told me that is what friends are for. I am so lucky to have them in my life.
I am in the gardens with Charlotte, and I have a lot on my mind right now. The pain I felt with how Theo treated me during my heat is still fresh in my brain, but it made me realize something. Theo hates me and would never want to be with me, so I decided to leave him. And this time, I will make sure I am not found by him. I don’t know how I will leave or make sure he does not find me again. I just know I don’t want to be here anymore.
“Ana, what are you thinking about?” Charlotte asks, waving her hands in my face.
“Nothing,” I say, smiling to make her think I was genuinely thinking of nothing serious.
“Okay, are you hungry? I want to go in and make a sandwich. Do you want some” Charlotte says, standing up.
“Yes, I am hungry. I won’t mind one, please,” I say, standing up from the bench close to the vegetable garden.
We walk inside her house and while she is making the sandwich for us. I ask a question that has to do with what was on my mind earlier.
“Charlotte , do you know why the King hates me?”
“Hates you? I don’t think the king hates you.”
“If he doesn’t hate me, why does he treat me the way he does.”
“I don’t know why but I don’t think the king hates you.”
“I believe he does, and I wish I knew why.”
“I know the king does not treat you like a mate should, but I don’t think it’s because he hates you.”
“The pain the king has caused me is enough for me to believe he does.”
“Hmm, I hope you are wrong regardless.”
“Me too, but I hardly doubt it.”
On my way home, I hear someone’s voice in my head.
“Where are you?” The person says.
“Who is this?” I ask back. Since I arrived here, no one has ever mind-linked me.
“Come to my office and leave whatever you are doing,” He says and blocks off the connection.
Only one person in this world will talk to me like that. I change my route and walk to Theodore’s office. I knock on his door before entering.
“Sit,” He says in his familiar stern tone once I walk in.
“Hello to you too,” I mutter to myself
“I heard you, don’t try and be sassy with me.”
“Okay,” I say and zip my mouth. I wonder why he called me here.
This is the first time we are seeing or speaking since my heat period, and the first few things he says to me are told in a harsh tone. Please ask me why I won’t think he hates me.
“Don’t overuse it,” He says and puts a black credit card in front of me.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“You need to dress more appropriately if you want to follow me to council meetings instead of waiting for me in my office all day.”
“Can I just stay at home, like I used to before” I don’t want to spend my whole day around him. I can imagine how horrible every day would become for me. He already makes my life hell without seeing him 24/7. Imagine how it will be if it becomes 24/7.
“No,”
I am about to beg when an idea pops into my head.
“Okay, and when can I go shopping?”
“Tomorrow”
“Alright, and I wanted to ask, have you gotten any news from my old Alpha about my mom.”
“None”
“Please, if something comes up, don’t hesitate to tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can’t,” I repeat, not understanding his words
“I can’t hesitate to tell you because I know how much it means to you to hear any news about your mom, so I will tell you immediately.”
“Oh,” I say, a little surprised with his reply. I was not expecting him to say that.
“If that’s all, you can leave.”
“Bye,” I say, standing up from the chair to walk out. I pick up the credit card from his table before I walk out of his office.
I walk away from my mate with a smile for the first time. The smile on my face is because of the credit card he gave me. If only he knew giving me this card was the greatest mistake he made.
The following day, Charlotte , Chloe, and I head to the mall. We have been shopping for hours now. We decided to take a little break and find something to eat. I excuse myself from them and go to the restroom, or so I told them. I quickly walk to an AT &T to buy a sim and a phone.
It’s a good thing Theo gave me a black card because with the amount of clothes I bought today. I would have already maxed out the card. I intentionally bought expensive things because that’s the only way I can get back at Theo. I can’t beat him or even try to fight him, so I might as well finish his money even though I know the clothes I bought won’t finish his money. It still felt nice to spend his money extravagantly. I hope he is furious when he sees how much I spent today.
Once the store employee is done setting up my phone, I quickly download uber. I order a car and wait for it to arrive. I hope I will escape before Charlotte and Chloe notice I am taking a lot of time in the toilet.
I hate that I didn’t tell them my plans to escape and will make them worry about me. I plan to send Chloe a message once I am far away enough. I will keep in touch with her this time around, and hopefully, Theo won’t find me this time with the plan I have. I pray he doesn’t because I am not just leaving to find my mom. I am also leaving him forever if everything works out in my favor.
The car arrives at my destined location after an hour or so. I step out of the car and walk to the border. Once a warrior sees me, he walks over to me.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” He knows I am not a rogue because I don’t smell like one. That’s why he didn’t attack me.
“Tell your Alpha the Queen is here.”
“The Queen?” The Warrior asks, confused
“Yes, I am the Alpha King’s Mate” This is the only time I think I am ever going to take pride in being his mate.
“Forgive me, my Queen, for my rude behavior earlier. I will let Alpha Scarlett know you are here immediately,” The Warrior says and starts mind linking someone.
“Thank you,” I say, praying I have not made a huge mistake coming here.
I doubt it because if anyone wants me never to return to Theo’s side, it’s Scarlett, and I am confident she will help me.