Moon Bound

(34) Heartthrob Or Not |Scarlet's POV|

"Why can't you just control it like the rest of us, Scarlet?"Cole's crestfallen words reached me as my hazy world slowly came back to focus.

I found myself sitting on the floor, Alpha's arms around me as he held me to himself. Cole was hunched over me, a forlorn expression on his face that soon transformed into plain confusion. As soon as I looked up at him.

"You never taught me how," I told him. It was true. For all the pushing that he did, he never – not even once – told me how I was supposed to control it.

"This isn't something I teach you, Scar. You should learn it on your own," he said, which made me wonder...

"What game are you playing now, Cole?"

He opened his mouth to respond but before he could, it was beta Hayden who spoke, "What the hell is wrong with her?"

And just like that, everyone was suddenly staring at me, stepping away from me. Alpha moved to kneel in front of me, his hands going to cup my face as he looked at it, his own staying blank of emotion.

Expecting to find puzzlement, shock, or maybe fear, when I looked up I found it was guilt that had replaced Cole's sullen expression.

Jazmine stepped forth from the group of people that were now standing several steps away from where Alpha and I were and after one look at me, she turned to Cole. "I think it's starting," she said.

Alpha turned from me and directed his attention at Cole. "We'll need to talk about this," he told him.

Cole nodded but never went as far as to elaborate what it was they needed to discuss. Instead, what he said next was, "Take her away, Greene. She'll be fine after a few hours of rest."

Alpha rose to his feet and offered me his hand. "Let's go," he said.

I stared at the extended hand for probably a whole minute before slapping it away and standing up on my own. He was delusional if he thought he can play his games with me and get away with it. They all were.

One quick glance at the food on the table later, I sighed and spun around, starting for the door.

So much about dinner.

"Scarlet?" he called after me when I was almost out of the dining room.

"Just go away, Alpha, or better – go to hell!"

I was glad that, for once, he listened and didn't follow after me.

~

The first thing I did after returning to his suite was to find the closest mirror and get a good look at myself. There was nothing unique or extraordinary about the girl's reflection. It was the same me – the same girl I'd known all my life.

Her hair consisted of a heavy mess of curls tangled together. Dark brown, it fell around her face and made her fair skin look even paler, almost as pale as a ghost's. People would once tell me it looked translucent, but that was not quite how I saw it now.

I'd never had the healthy appeal of other pack females. I'd always been like a bleached spot amongst all the different shades of olive and brown. While they got a good nice tan under the sun, I got burns.

It was a nice shade of red, though, except if it was on your skin.

Then there were the eyes. Usually, they would be that same shade of dull gray the sky took on a rainy morning. Like watching a broken television while your favorite show was running, they had the exact same color and gave you a similar feeling.

It was not how I felt looking back at my reflection now.

My eyes were bright red, like drops of blood surrounded by white. The skin around them was eerily pale... and glowing. Looking down at my hands, I found the same soft glow. I was turning into a light bulb.