Cora

Chapter 5: "I didn't even know his name."

By the time lunch is over, I am restless. All I want to do is run over to my mate and jump his bones. I know I can't do that quite yet. I mean, I don't even know his name. So, first I will find out his name and ask him why he didn't sit with me when he first walked in. Then, I'll jump him. Yes, I think to myself. This is a good plan.

When the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, I quickly get up and fight my way through the crowd of teens to get to his table. I am relieved to see him and his friends are still there as I stop right behind him.

"Sorry, excuse me." My words come out quieter than I mean them. Damn my inability to talk to people. Even with my whisper, he turns around and our eyes meet for the second time today. His eyes are so mesmerizing that I almost forget what I plan on asking him.

"Yes?" A snotty sounding voice comes from the beauty sitting next to him. She has a bored look on her ridiculously immaculate face. Her brown waves fall around her shoulders perfectly as her chocolate brown eyes seem to watch me with a look of disgust. She rolls her eyes and I notice her hand on my mate's thigh. A fire hot feeling starts up inside of me, causing me to take a deep breath before speaking again.

"Um, yeah." I look at my mate again, already feeling more comfortable just from his gaze. "Could I speak to you privately?"

"Yeah, sure." He looks to the woman beside him who rolls her eyes again but gives a slight nod before he gets up from the table. We walk to the far wall of the now mostly empty dining hall. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, um. We're mates." I'm confused. How can this male not know why I want to speak to him? He should be able to feel the bond, too.

"Yeah, so." His response further confuses me. Mates are considered sacred and rejecting one is something that is very rare and frowned upon. How can he act so carelessly?

"What do you mean so? We are made for each other and you are acting like you couldn't care less."

"Yeah, well I don't care." He's leaning against the wall as if he hadn't insinuated that he is going to reject me.

"I...don't understand." I am pretty close to tears at this point. Like most people, I have dreamed of the moment when I would meet my mate, and now he is rejecting me. Am I not good enough? Not pretty enough?

He rolls his eyes as if he is talking to a first-grader. He snarles, "Let me say this nice and slowly for your small mind to comprehend. I do not want you for my mate. I do not care if the gods made us for each other, I am with someone else. Now, get lost."

Tears fall down my face as he brushes past me and makes his way to his friends. I watch, my heart breaking, as the five of them stand up and walk out. Of course, I'm not good enough for him, the people he hangs out with have to be at least ten times better than me. A sob breaks past my lips as my mate puts an arm around the beautiful woman from earlier and her hand brushes his wrist, where I notice a night-black bracelet resting. I sink to the floor as I realize that I didn't even get his name before he crushed my heart under his perfectly polished boots.