Venus POV
My heart silently shattered into a thousand pieces as I looked at the picture of Aaron Wolfe.
Kissing my stepsister, Vicky.
It was a selfie that Vicky had sent me. The caption read, “It just happened. I’m so sorry, Venus!”
A week ago I had confessed to Vicky that I loved Aaron with all my heart. He had been the only wolf I loved ever since I could remember. The emotion I felt for him was like an urgent need crawling beneath my skin, and I was sure that on my eighteenth birthday, which was today, we would recognize each other as mates. But look at the birthday present I got.
Sitting at the island table in the kitchen, I stared at the tuna sandwich my stepmom had made. With my head lowered, I tried to hide my tears, my appetite lost.
“Venus?” my dad’s voice reached me in the kitchen.
Flustered, my reverie snapped. I quickly wiped my tears and looked up at him. “Yes, daddy?”
His brows furrowed for a moment. Glancing at my stepmother, who was whistling while making breakfast for him, he said, “Get ready when you come back from school today. We have been invited by Alpha’s family for dinner.”
I blinked at my eyes in confusion. “Alpha’s family? Why?” I asked, bewildered, looking between him and my stepmother. She grinned at him, unable to contain her joy.
Dad sat at the table and bit into his sandwich. “Just get ready. We have to reach there by 7PM,” he shot at me.
I didn’t want to go. It was going to be humiliating to be around Aaron, seeing him drooling over Vicky, feeling my heart burning. My eyes flashed to my father, my face laced with misery. “I’m sorry, I can’t go,” I replied in a hoarse voice.
“I am not asking you, Venus,” he growled. “You are coming with us and that’s it!”
I winced at his command. I looked to my stepmom to help me out of the situation, but she said, “Come on Venus, you know it is a special day. You have to accompany us.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat because I knew why this was special. Alpha and Luna were going to announce Aaron and Vicky’s engagement. Both were eighteen, and both loved each other. It was important for the pack to know who would be their future Luna as soon as Alpha’s heir came of age.
Before Vicky, Aaron and I bantered with each other, enjoyed each other’s company and loved visiting each other’s houses. The connection between us was electric. I don’t know why he would always love to touch me.
Memories flooded of when I took Vicky to my school for the first time. It was only a few weeks ago. She walked, clutching my arm like a shy girl with wide eyes. I introduced her to him. And things changed.
Ever since Vicky came into the picture, Aaron’s entire personality changed. He was extremely alert in her presence, gave her flowers every now and then, and finally announced in the school that she was his mate, which was shocking. They were both eighteen, and you smelled your mate as soon as you turned eighteen. But they didn’t realize it immediately. Why did it take so much time for them to realize it?
Vicky loved him when he paid attention to her. Aaron ignored me in her presence. It was like a sharp stab to my lovesick heart. When she disregarded him, he would feel sad, and my heart hurt for him.
I chose to suffer in silence because how could I question the supposed “mate-pull” between them? Moreover Vicky was my stepsister, my family. I had to support her, even if my logic defied me.
But the thing was that Vicky also loved Nathan, Aaron’s best friend, and his future Beta. She said that she was Aaron’s mate and loved Nathan. It made little sense. How could she love Nathan when she was Aaron’s mate? She was two-timing Aaron, and I was the only one who knew about it. Vicky specifically asked me not to tell anyone because she was stuck between them and it was really bothering her. Whenever I asked her to get out of the haze, she would end up crying a lot. I hated she was two-timing Aaron. I also wanted to warn him, but Vicky made me promise not to say anything to him.
I had a gut feeling that today Aaron would propose to Vicky in their house. A searing misery burned through my chest, my lungs, and every nerve ending.
“Daddy, please,” I protested in a weak voice. “Can I drop?”
“Venus!” Daddy scolded me. “Stop acting like a brat. Be ready when I return from the office. We all will go to Alpha’s house for dinner!”
I clenched my teeth and nodded. My stepmom smiled at me and winked. Obviously, she didn’t know of my melancholy because she was too happy for Vicky.
“Can’t we go out for a silent birthday dinner instead of going to Alpha’s house?” I hefted my satchel on my shoulder. “After that, you can come with me to the forest where I’ll shift and meet my wolf for the first time.” Father didn’t say happy birthday to me. None of them said it till now.
My father glared at me. “The Alpha has specially invited us, for your birthday.” I gulped in surprise.
Wondering about the whole thing, I walked out of the house to my car. Thankfully, I kept my feelings about Aaron to myself, except for sharing them with Vicky. Otherwise, I would have been mocked. At least Vicky sent me a picture about them kissing each other, putting an end to my stupid unrequited love.
As I drove to school, I steeled my heart. It was too late to pine over someone who was never yours. Aaron would never come to me, even if I tried hard. I had to build walls around my heart so that no one could hurt me again.
My school, Wolfe Academy, was twenty minutes away from my home. Since Vicky had gone earlier, I walked to my class alone. But as soon as I opened the door, I saw Vicky lip-locked with Aaron. I thought I’d puke. Jealousy reared its head in my heart. I wanted to pull Vicky away from him, but I knew that this would be the most ludicrous thing.
So I turned away and rushed to the bathroom, where I puked. I leaned over the counter on my elbows and sobbed as unbearable pain flared. I sobbed till I couldn’t, till my tears stopped flowing out and till I slid to the ground and curled my knees against my chest. The agony was too much to endure. It was a heartbreaking kind of pain to come second to someone whom you wanted first in life. Hard as I tried to move on, I couldn’t. And I didn’t know why I was clinging to this sick love?
When I finally came to my senses, I realized it was already 1PM. Damn it. How could I lose track of my time?
Suddenly, my phone buzzed. It was Vicky.
“Venus, where are you?” she whined.
“Why?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
“I want to meet Nathan and tell him I want to break from him. Please, can you personally convey this message to him?”
“You love him,” I said. “You should tell him, not me.”
She sighed. “I know this sounds horrible,” she sniffled. “But how can I convey it to him? I don’t want to break his heart.”
So she wanted me to break his heart and put me in his bad books while she remained untainted? My lips quivered. “Please Vicky, that would be… cruel.”
“Venus, I know you hate me for being Aaron’s mate, but what can I do? This is the moon goddess’s decision. Please, just once, do this for me, okay? I don’t want to hurt Nathan. Tell him I will marry Aaron, and not him.”
See? Even she knew why Alpha had called our family for dinner. My birthday was just an excuse.
I forced myself to swallow the knot of emotions that rose. “I don’t hate you…” I replied. “Okay, I will tell Nathan.” I resigned.
After I washed my face which looked like that of a pufferfish, I made a messy bun of my blonde hair. I sighed. Some birthday it was going to turn out to be.
