Chapter 11

Isaac's words knocked me from heaven to hell and I looked at him with incredulous eyes. When I had read that he was my mate, I had fantasized about being with him. Would I finally be happy? But his words shattered all my fantasies.

After a brief moment of surprise, I calmed down. I mentally laughed at myself; indeed, it was all in my head. Isaac had never acted like he liked me. He had bullied me since I was a kid and always teased me. He had even torn up books that I had protected with all my heart. I wouldn't want someone with such a bad personality to be my mate.

"Whatever, I don't want to be your mate either." I actually said that to Isaac in a fit of pique. Isaac didn't seem to expect me to answer him like that, and his face got even uglier.

I watched his reaction with a little pleasure of revenge. Then I continued, "We can break off our mate relationship." Oh my God, I really said that out loud. My heart still ached from saying it. This was the mark that the Moon Goddess put on each of our werewolf souls, and unmating meant to strip away a part of our souls for both sides.

Sure enough, Isaac hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I don't agree with that. I don't want to have a mate right now. I need you to be my shield." He said in a tone that didn't allow me to say no. "You better not let anyone else know that we're mate."

What did he take me for? It made me very angry that he didn't want me to be his mate. Fine, I would listen to him and dissolve the relationship. But he still wanted to use me as his shield. Of course, I rejected him, "It's none of my business what you want, but please don't use me."

My attitude was so firm that Isaac looked pissed off at me. He pinned me against the wall and propped his arm on the side of my head, "I'm not asking for your permission. This is an order." His face slowly zoomed out in front of me, "If you refuse, I will banish you from the pack right now." He leaned back slightly and looked my body up and down.

"You won't survive a day out there the way you are now."

My back was pressed against the wall, and the intimidating pressure of Isaac's aura made me shudder. His stern eyes were like a blade against my neck, and if I didn't agree with his terms, I might actually be banished.

"OK." That was all I could answer.

Isaac's POV

I thought I'd prepared to say it to Claudia, but I felt a piece of my heart ripped out when she offered to break off the mate relationship. Claudia looked at me steadfastly with her emerald-like eyes. I felt a hole in my soul, a hole that could only be filled by her. "Never dissolve a relationship with her!" A warning popped into my head. So I used "I don't want to find a mate yet" as an excuse for her to hide our relationship.

I released Claudia and she eventually accepted my offer under my duress. Claudia turned away at a slightly unsteady pace. The moment she turned, a tear dripped from her pretty eye. It seemed that I could taste the bitterness of that tear, and how I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss away her tears. But if I did that, I could only put her in danger.

No one would accept her as my mate, even if I got together with her. We would be separated one day for various reasons. Maybe it was the threat from my mother, maybe it was the accusations from the werewolves. I didn't want to just give her a short moment of happiness and then wake her up from her beautiful dream. Instead of that, it would be better to draw a line with her from the beginning and make her feel desperate for the relationship. It was the kindest tactic I could think of.

"Then you might as well just dissolve the relationship." Caesar was very unhappy with the way I had resolved the situation.

"No..." I squeezed my left arm tightly. I thought I was going to die of a heart attack when I heard the dissolution earlier, my entire chest aching from the words.

Caesar felt the same pain and his tone eased, "But dude, you went too far with your threat."

"I know it!" This feeling of powerlessness fulfilled me, I clenched my fists and felt my fingertips slowly pricking into my palms.

Claudia's POV

In front of Isaac, I had been forcing myself to keep the tears from falling. But the moment I turned around, tears welled up uncontrollably in my eyes. I laid down on my bed and curled myself into a ball and let out a loud cry. I used to think that Isaac was special to me. He was the only one in the pack that had ever helped me. I remembered that hug in my moment of crisis, and the book and the glasses. He'd even offended the daughter of Silver Moon Pack's Alpha at the banquet to help me. But lastly, in his eyes, I was still just a humble slave, a tool to be used.

I pulled the illustrated book and map out from under the floor tiles, originally I was soon out of here according to Alpha Alex's promise. There was nothing left for the wolf pack that I could hold on to anymore, and I took a pen and marked my calendar. Two months to go, just endured these last two months and I would be out of here for good. I clutched the ring my mother had left me in my hand and placed it on my chest as I drifted off to sleep.

Fiona's POV

Ellie came up to me and asked, "How was the banquet? Did Isaac find his mate?" The eyes of the girls around us were instantly on our side. Those daydreaming bitches, if it wasn't me, it wouldn't be them, too!

I put on my standard smile. "Of course, Isaac's mate will definitely be me."

"So, are you guys getting together?" Ellie whispered in my ear.

Gee, Isaac had been even colder to me these days than he was before. I had been preparing myself to get him to look at me squarely. I knew the boys around me looked at me with desire, and I was sure Isaac couldn't resist me the same way.

I snuck into Isaac's room while he was away, then stripped off the clothes I had on, which I made a point of putting in plain sight. Then I got under Isaac's quilt naked. When Isaac came back and saw the surprise I'd given him, I was sure he wouldn't be able to stand it.

Isaac's POV

Recently, I had just hurt my mate badly, and the complicated feelings had been keeping me from focusing on anything I did these days, especially when I occasionally met Claudia. My heart grew bitter at the sight of her out of guilt. I'd been avoiding Claudia as much as possible to keep her from being upset. I really couldn't meet Claudia face to face, but I had to pretend that nothing had happened. She looked tired too. I didn't know if it was because of me.

I was in a trance with my mind filled full of Claudia. But when I walked to my room, I found that my quilt on the bed was raised in a ball and there seemed to be something there. The covers suddenly moved and a pair of bare and slender legs reached out of them.

Was it Claudia? I suddenly pictured her lying in my bed and the blood rushed to my cheeks at once. What was I thinking? How could she be lying in my bed? Still, I was expecting it inside, and I nervously lifted the cover.

"Fiona? What the hell are you doing here?" Anticipation turned to anger at once.

"I just wanted to surprise you." Fiona pretended to be shy. She intertwined her legs and deliberately guided my eyes.

This bitch, who did she think I was? My face definitely turned very terrible, "Get out of my room right now!"

Fiona was definitely not expecting this reaction and she stammered in fear "But...but...How am I going to get out of here like this?"

I grabbed a random blanket from the closet and threw it in Fiona's face. "Don't let me see you again." I issued my final warning.

Fiona got panicked, then she quickly wrapped the blanket tightly around her and stumbled out of my room.

I admired Fiona's imagination for trying to seduce me with such cheap tactics. But I wouldn't see her as a friend in the future, since she had touched my bottom line this time.

I didn't know if it was the effect of the daytime drama, but that night I had a dream that was hard to talk about. In the dream, a girl was lying on top of me and I could feel her soft skin. She touched me tenderly and I held her tightly, trying to see her face clearly. Then a pair of beautiful green eyes appeared in front of me. I kissed my mate like I was kissing a rose. The softness seemed to linger on my lips when I woke up from the dream. Oh, God! I covered my face. I couldn't believe I had an erotic dream and it was about Claudia. This was so humiliating.

After that day, every time I saw Claudia, I would remember that absurd dream. But I still couldn't touch her, and I could only watch her from a distance. It was all to protect my mate, and I brainwashed myself. Caesar could smell where Claudia was at all times, so I would sometimes sneak up on her and watch her every move in silence.

"You're acting like a perverted stalker." Caesar found it very humiliating for us.

"Shhh." I looked at Claudia not far away, "I'm doing this to protect her."