Lovers by Chance, Mates by Choice

13

Amara pov

"He marked her. Just like that? I don't understand. After all these years and overnight he just marks her" Lizzie expressed perplexed as she sits down on the couch with a cup of coffee on her hand.

"She is his mate. He should've marked since the ceremony" Stephanie added as she hands me a cup of coffee sitting next to Lizzie. "Are you coming down with something? You look terrible" Lizzie comments as I hand Steph the cup of coffee back.

"I don't feel too well. I can't go to work today" I tell her as I get up and look down at her. She looked different.

"Are you okay? You look... different?" I ask her and she grins looking down at her hands shyly. "It can wait" She mumbles happily.

"No I wanna know" I urged sitting back down and she giggles and runs towards me. She tackles me squealing in happiness as I stare at Steph in confusion.

"Okay, what is going on?" I asked her softly pulling her away from me.

"I found my mate" She tells me with a big smile as both Steph and I gasped in utter shock.

"But you're birthday was only last week" Steph adds as I nod in agreement.

"I guess he was closer than I thought" Lizzie tells us with a goofy grin as I squeal in excitement.

"Well don't keep me in suspense, who is he?" I asked tugging at her arm.

"I can't tell you. Not yet" She frowned as I star at her puzzled at her reply.

"You've been waiting for this moment your entire life and I've had to endure you talking about your mate for all these years. And now you can't tell me who he is?" I asked slightly offended by her.

"I just can't tell you" She tells me again as I scoffed angrily getting up from the couch. 

"So you talk about all this  mate-like fairytale world. The sparks and the everlasting love. About how mates are perfect for each other. You feed me this crap for 19 freaking years. And now you won't tell me who the stupid bastard is?" I tell her angrily as she gasps at me.

"Don't call him a bastard" she retorted protectively standing up for him.  She instinctively run her fingertips to the collar of her neck. My eyes follow her movement and I notice the mate's mark on her neck.

"He marked you already?" I chuckled dryly at him as she covers it up. "And you won't even tell who he even is? You know what? Why don't you just pack your bags up and have him pick you up? You're gonna leave me anyways. Rather do it now and not take up anymore of my space" I tell her bitterly as I walk away and slam my bedroom door shut.

"You don't mean that" She yells from the other side of my door and I stayed silent.

"I can't tell you because he hasn't told Kaden yet" She tells me almost in a whisper and  swung my door open.

"Why would your mate needs the alpha's approval, is not like you're mate is the pack's beta" I tell her as I look at her. She stares at the floor silently as I gasped in realization.

"You're the mate that Tyler was talking about? Oh my gosh" I whispered as she smiled up at me. "He talked about me?" She asked blushing bright red.

"Well obviously not by name. But-I-I can't believe I didn't put two and two together. It totally makes sense. Of course you'd be his mate. It's a fairytale story" I tell her with a smile as she giggles.

"So the alpha knows?" I asked her as she nods. "Tyler went to tell him today." She tells me. 

"What's wrong with your neck Mar?" Izzie mumbled in fear as I give her a puzzled look. "What do you mean? Nothing." I tell her cluelessly  running a hand through my neck.

"You have a rash or uh-hives?" She describes to walking towards me.

"I'm fine. It's nothing" I dismiss her sitting on my bed. 

"Amara. I took a course all about mateship because of my obsession on finding my mate" She tells me looking down at me.

"So trust me when I tell you that I know that's not just a rash. That's the mark of a rejection. An Alpha's rejection" She tells tells softer now as I look down at my hands.

"Kaden?" She whispers. "You can't tell anyone" I replied as she frowns sadly. "You rejected him?" She asks me and I nodded.

"And that's why he marked Darya" She finishes as I take a deep breath feeling overwhelmed.

"Are you in any pain?" She asked me softly. "No" I lied quickly.

"Alpha's rejections are worse than normal rejections. So I know you're lying to me" She tells me as I lay down.

"My body aches. My blood boils. I fee like my skin is on fire." I tell her as she nods.

"But I'm also so cold and I've been having cold sweats since yesterday. And I feel like I can't breath. And everything hurts. My heart feels like it will stop any second. And all I can think about is how the hell Kaden marked Darya when I was the one who rejected him? I rejected him and I'm the one who feels like she is dying" I tell her as feeling the need to cry but resisting the urge.

"He has to feel something. Even alpha's aren't immune to the mate rejection. But since he marked someone, what you're feeling, it's just worst"  She explains and I smiled.

"Thanks for the note Doc" I joked as she frowns. "why didn't you tell me?" She asked me.

"Because there was nothing to tell. He has mate and I had to do what was right" I tell her as he narrows her eyes at me.

"I hate that you're selfless. And I hate that you rejected my brother. I hate that you rejected your mate" She tells me as I roll my eyes at her.

"If Tyler had mated someone else, you would've done the same thing" I tell her as she laughs. "No. Definitely not. I would've made sure that bitch was across the continent" She tells as I chuckled.

" I'm taking my sick days because I have a feeling this is just the beginning and I'm not gonna be feeling any better by tomorrow" I tell her and she nods as I pull the covers over my body.

"And don't ever kick me out of your house ever again" She tells me with a small smile.

"I had to make you tell me who your mate was and it worked" I winked at her.

"I love you" She tells me kissing my forehead tenderly as I smile.

"Now go be with your mate." I order her as she frowns. "I wish you could go be with your mate too" She tells me with tears running down her face.

"I don't have a mate. Not anymore." I tell her as she sniffles. "Don't cry. I'm fine" I lied as she cries even more.

"You were suppose to be my new sister and now I'm stuck with Darya forever because my stupid brother marked her instead of trying to charm his way into having you accept him" She tells me as she grips my hand.

"I can assure no amount of charming would have persuaded me into changing my mind" I tell her as she cries. 

"You were gonna be my sister" She says again. "Hey. I am your sister. After  almost two decades of friendship I think I deserve the title. Because I sure as hell think of you as my sister"  I tell her as she smiles at me.

"Sisters" She tells me as I snuggle closer to her.

"Can you please not go? Not today?" I ask her as she lays down next to me and pulls me closer.

"Tyler can wait. He'll understand that my sister needs me now" She tells me as I smile closing my eyes.