Dark Shadow (Book 1 in DARKNESS DUOLOGY)

Three: The Meeting

The following morning I woke up to stare at my ceiling for about an hour. It was hard to get out of bed. I didn't want to. This wasn't fair.

Why couldn't the rejection affect both parties? Why did it have to only hurt me so much the way it did? Was it too much to hope that he was feeling the same way I was? But of course not... why would he when the love of his life is all he needs? I didn't want to understand what Ridge told me. That he'd already found his True Mate and because of that, he had to reject me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, the corners of my eyes tearing up. My hands shot up to cover my face and again the sobbing erupted. I was a blubbering mess and I tried so much to simmer down because then I'd hear from my family's countless questions. Well, from a few of them anyway.

Dad wasn't very in tune when it came to dealing with girl things like periods. So Cece and I were usually scurrying towards mom for answers to our problems. But that didn't mean dad didn't care. He was just more open to giving advice about different things that didn't involve feminine hygiene.

Boys were a touchy topic growing up and usually Dad gave the stink eye to the boyfriends that my older sister had. So every once in a while he would get in on the matter just to make sure those boyfriends would understand who our father was.

Being the Alpha's best Warrior meant a certain standard for us as an entire family was held. So Cece had her share of complaining to our mother that 'Dad was being so unfair!' when Dad would snarl at the teenage boys trying to date Cece.

I never had that problem because I was more into hanging out with my friends and reading. That's not to say I didn't think a few boys in school were cute but I wasn't as boy crazy as my sister.

My eyes shut again thinking suddenly about the Alpha's family and how his only heir was a selfish a-hole who decided that I wasn't good enough to be in love with because he'd already fallen in love with someone else.

Letting my arms fall to the sides of my mattress, I stared at the ceiling again and thought about last night.

The night before, on the table, there was a foil covered plate of food for me to heat up and a note from my dad that he made meatloaf and that hopefully I enjoyed it with the mashed potatoes and green beans. I honestly wasn't able to eat it after I warmed it up. What a waste.

I just kept staring at the plate turn in the microwave, the low humming keeping me in a trance. I didn't move even after the appliance beeped for the third time but the thought of my parents or siblings coming down to see me made me quickly push the button on the bottom that turned off the beeping noise.

Sighing, I opened the door and took out the plate of food but then just stared at it. Disappointment set in because I really enjoyed my dad's cooking since he loved to experiment and came up with more than decent meals to give us.

I grimaced, my stomach felt so empty. My appetite was just... gone. The thought of food was unbearable at that moment and ended up walking the plate over to the garbage can and tossed it then placed the dish in the sink reminding myself that I'd get to wash it tomorrow since mom liked the sink to be left empty and clean at the end of the day. Though with the way I was feeling, I knew I wasn't going to wash that plate.

I sauntered up the stairs, briefly stopping in my steps to hold myself together between whimpers. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and walked up the rest of the stairs and passed my younger brother's room and then Cece's. Just as I was passing my older brother's room, Wade's door opened.