Shattered Tears mxb

Chapter 14

Riley's POV

"What do you mean I'm not your real mate?" I uttered, astounded.

"We can discuss it in my office." I followed behind him in a daze, trying to process what he said. I'm not his mate? Is that a thing? Does their Moon Goddess make mistakes?

When we entered his office and I took a seat on the couch while he sat at his desk. And for the first time since I've been here, he looked uncomfortable. His hands were clenched and brows furrowed while he continuously tapped his foot to the floor.

"When I was sixteen, I found out I had a mate. Her name was Lauren, and ironically, she lived in the same city as you. My father and I had just finished doing business with a nearby pack, and we decided to stop for some food, but he hated humans, so we stopped at a secluded diner. Do you want to know where that diner was?" He looked over at me, frowning. It couldn't be the same...

"It was the same diner I met you at, in the same fucking seat. Fate sure is a bitch," he chuckled dryly. "She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen, probably ever will see. She had long curly red hair with freckles all over her heart shaped face. When our eyes met I swear it was like I finally knew why I was alive. She must have felt something because we kept glancing at each other while my dad and I ate. I didn't say anything to my father, even then I knew he would never allow me to have a human mate. Unfortunately, he knew the signs but he didn't say anything,"

"So I stayed back in that city and told my father I would be training their warriors since they were having trouble with rouges. I thought for sure he would say no, but he didn't and I moved to that pack. I enrolled in a normal high school and as fate would have it she was a student there. I didn't even know how to approach her. I mean, I couldn't just go up to her and say 'hey I'm a werewolf and you're my soulmate, let's spend the rest of our lives together' that seemed crazy. But I didn't even need to approach her because she asked me out as soon as she saw me," he chuckled. "Even better, her family worked with werewolves so she knew what we were. We spent every second we could together. We went on picnics, swimming, saw movies, and camped in her backyard. I remember this one time we snuck out to go see the stars on this cliff near the pack house. We packed a backpack in case we stayed the night so I took a flashlight, blanket, clothes, and water. When we met up she thought by packing I meant eating so she only brought a bunch of snacks," he smiled so lovingly I almost couldn't believe this was the same Mason.

"And up we went to the cliff. The view when we finally got there was spectacular with the shining full moon and stars for miles. Lauren and I glanced at each other and started laughing hysterically because we knew how much trouble was waiting for us when the sun would rise. At some point she ended up in my arms and we just held each other. Her warm embrace was all I could ever need in this dark world."

******** FLASH BACK ******************

Third Person POV

Mason gazed down at Lauren as she began counting the stars. "How many stars do you think there are?" She asked, amazed.

Mason chuckled as she asked again. Every time they were outside during the night she would always ask the same question. "Not enough to distract me from your beauty." He answered with the same phrase every time, and meant it every time.

"Dork," she chortled but the blush on her already rosy cheeks betrayed her. Mason had a way of making her feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. But to her, he was the most beautiful in the world which is why she asked him out as soon as she saw him. He hadn't been in the school for more than 3 hours before every girl wanted to get a piece of him. When he told her they were mates she could not have been happier, and even when every girl wanted him he never once gave them the time of day.

The moonlight made her red curls glisten and her blue eyes sparkle. Mason could not believe his luck. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to spend the rest of his life with this amazing person.

Lauren went back to counting stars and Mason counted the freckles on her porcelain skin even though he knew the number by heart, 127 freckles. Just as Mason got to 97 he gently grabbed her chin and stared into her sparkling eyes. "I love you." He whispered.

Laurens heart pounded as she looked into his green eyes that held nothing but devotion. "My mom used to say that if you can count every star in the universe it will grant you one wish," her palms began to sweat a little. "My wish would be for you to feel my love every second of my life because I'm sure as hell not leaving you. I love you, Mason."

Under the glowing moonlight every star in the universe witnessed their first and last kiss.

************PRESENT**************

"We ate together, laughed together, and cried together. My memories with her are the most precious ones I have. For an entire year my father never once contacted me and for that entire year I lived the happiest time of my life with my mate. But he just couldn't let me be happy. The day after we visited the cliff the Alpha of the pack I was staying with scolded us. We both got grounded, but it didn't matter to us because we shared our first kiss. That night her family was murdered by what was thought to be a rogue." His eyes glistened with unshed tears while mine were flowing freely as he finished his story.

"Then the next day my father picked me up and reminded me that finding an acceptable mate was important and no human would ever fill that role. The entire way back the pack I was not there and I couldn't accept that my Lauren was dead. As soon as we got back to the pack house I killed my father before he could even get inside,"

"No one knew how to react, and I didn't even know how to function in a world without Lauren. I suspected I would go rogue like many wolves did after losing their mate but I didn't. I had to live through every excruciating second without Lauren knowing I was the reason she was dead. I became Alpha the second I killed him but I was nothing more than a corpse. For the first year Mr. Scott, the beta at the time, was basically running the pack. Leo, Sunny, Garrett, and Penny tried to help me as much as they could but I never told them what happened, actually I never told anyone." His face became blank again. There was no trace of the man that was here seconds ago.

"So you see now Riley," he glared at me. "You're nothing more than a pathetic replacement for the love of my life. You will never be what Lauren was to me. I will never look at you the way I did Lauren. I have never and will never kiss another. She is my life, even if she's not alive. I will never disrespect her with someone as pitiful as you." He all but spat at me.

I felt a stabbing pain in my chest as if someone just sawed through my ribcage and began tearing my heart piece by piece. I felt wet drops on my hands while my brain went into overdrive.

See you're nothing but a loser competing for seconds. Maybe not even seconds.

A maniac chuckle sounded in my head.

Oh, is little Riley sad? He doesn't love you just like your parents. You'll never be enough for him just like with them. A little piece of ass competing for nothing. He'll never love you, silly boy.

I began laughing hysterically at my stupidity.