My Challenging Mate

It's Over

All Rights Reserved

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I could faintly hear what Laura was saying. Something about getting what I deserve. That's what snapped me out of my trance.

Before, I was staring at Ryder's lifeless body on the forest floor, but the witch and guards took him away, leaving Laura and I face to face.

I picked myself up from the damp ground and wiped the remainding tears from my eyes. I blocked out the pain that was coming from my stomach as I straighted my back up.

Involuntarily, the tears started again as the pain came through my block. I placed my hand on the wound and felt the warm blood trickle down. No, not just blood; my blood. I hesitantly looked down. I was never scared of blood, but this was different.

I slowly put my head back up and looked into Laura's eyes. She had smug smile on her face and I just wanted to slap it right off... if I wasn't dying, that is.

"Why?" I asked her. I could tell she wasn't expecting that. Maybe a few more cuss words to be thrown around, but not just that.

"Why what?" Laura asked innocently back.

"Cut the bullshit. Tell me why. Why did you do this?" As soon as I said that, the image of Ryder dying came into my mind. I tried the hardest I could to not throw up whatever meal I had last eaten. He's dead... I couldn't come to terms with that. To me, he was still very much alive. It all seemed fake.

"Oh, you mean why did I murder Ryder?" At the sound of his name, I flinched, causing Laura to smile.

"You see, Ravyn, many factors played into that. Firstly, I hate you. Simple as that. Secondly -"

"But why do you hate me! That's what I'm trying to figure out. How can someone build up so much hate about another person that they go out of their way to destroy everything!" I took a step forward, no longer needing assistance from the tree. I was running on pure adrenaline now.

"I was getting to that." She told me, curtly. "As I was saying... Secondly, Ryder chose you." Laura paused, waiting to see what I would say.

My eyebrows creased together in confusion.

"What are you talking about? He didn't choose me. It was fate. And I was just too stupid to realize..." I whispered the last part.

"You're wrong, he did choose you. Ever since we were little. It was always you, Ravyn. Before he was of age to mate. Before we even knew what mating was. You were always his and everybody knew that. He made sure of it."

Everybody knew that I was his?

"But Laura, that's not my fault." I tried, forgetting about the million questions I had in my head.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not your fault. It's his. Which is why I killed him, and not you."

"You said you were going to kill me though, through him." I took another step towards Laura, removing my hand from my stomach.

"Yes, indeed I did. I think I should have been more clear with that. What I meant to say was that you're going to live with the fact that you're the reason for Ryder's death. You're the reason for the deaths of so many innocent creatures that fought today. That's what is going to kill you, Ravyn. The guilt and the worry that someone is going to come after you for what happened. That was the plan."

Anger boiled up inside of me, still not causing me to do anything. I was still too weak and losing blood, fast.

"Laura... you're saying you did all of this because Ryder liked me?" I asked, still not sure how to phrase it.