My Orphan Mate ✓

Chapter Twenty One

*picture of Gabriel

LYRA
________

Tears trailed down my cheek as I took in my surroundings.

It was none other than the place where I had spent time and time pondering on my future, the only place that I had used as an escape. I was back there again, in my bedroom at the pack house, in Pale Moon.

An aching pain in my chest made me clutch my hand on it tightly. Out of all the possibilities, my plan to save Jaxon had not been one. If I had felt out of place in Pale Moon before, now without my best friends, I felt completely lost.

The sound of the door bursting open had me snatch my attention toward the intruder. All the emotions that I felt suddenly vanished, and anger cursed through me at the sight of her.

"You bitch!" she screeched, entering my room. "I couldn't believe it and had to come see it for myself!"

I ignored her.

A week away from this hell was all it took for me to regain my confidence. If Alana thought she could treat me the way I had allowed her once, then she was in for a real shock.

"Why the fuck are you back?" Alana's annoying voice brought my attention back on her.

"Watch how you talk to me," I snapped back, wiping at the wetness on my face.

"Oh, boohoo," Alana mocked. "Cry me a fucking river. What have you got to be upset about?"

"Alana," I warned her. "Shut. Up."

"Or what? You're going to have me punished too?"

I arched a brow. "What are you talking about?"

"Please. I know it was you who had Jasmine tortured," she scoffed, anger evident in her voice. "She hasn't been out of her room in a week all because of you!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied, not interested in whatever she was saying. "If you have nothing else to say, leave."

The blonde girl gasped dramatically. "I don't know where you have been or who you've been screwing, but you will no-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, I walked up to her and slapped her, hard. If Alana thought for one second that she could disrespect me, she had something else coming for her.

Seven hundred and thirty days. For two whole years, I had accepted every torture that she had made me experience. I wasn't sure where all my confidence suddenly came from, but I wasn't complaining.

Ever since I had received my Wolf and met Alexander, I felt confidence radiate through me.

"What did you just do?" Alana shrieked, eyes wide. "You did not just slap me!"

"That's exactly what I did. And I will gladly do it again if you don't leave, right now."

Alana challenged me for a mere second before the single functioning brain cell inside of her head convinced her that I was not playing around.

Before I could even blink twice, she had disappeared out of my room. She was smart, sometimes.

Sighing, I wandered toward the window. I wanted to escape Gabriel, but for some reason, I seemed to lack confidence around him. It was as if he had a push button on me that only worked at his convenience.

My brain failed me completely. I didn't know what to do or what to think.

It seemed like I was fated to Gabriel, despite not being his mate. I had met my mate and yet, left him. Only to come back to Gabriel, the one I never wanted to be with. As if on cue, the devil appeared.