Chapter 4

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*Corey*

I was pretty annoyed. My mind was clouded with thoughts of him that made me cringe and my senses were blocked by his scent, his voice no matter how much distance there was between us.

I looked across the table at Samantha who was currently talking but could not hear a word she was saying because all I could think about was him. I had my fist clenched under the table, hating him more every second. My wolf growled deeply and Samantha stopped mid-sentence and raised her eyebrows at me.

"Uh... He-he's annoyed, haven't shifted in a while..." I mumbled. It was only half a lie, it was not shifting that had put us in our current mood.

"Really? That's all it is? Because it seems like you've been distant since we got here... Is-is it me?" She sounded hurt and I shook my head quickly.

"No, no. Of course not, Babe... I'm just... I've got things on my mind..." I muttered pushing the food around in my plate but making no attempt to eat.

"Your mate?" The question made me look at her.

"How do you know about that?" I asked.

She shrugged. "That's all your friends talk about, apparently you won't tell them who she is." She said. Ah. Sean and the other guys. It couldn't have been Hayley and Izabella because they already knew and had probably told Alexis by now.

I wanted to laugh when she said 'she' and it wasn't the happy kind of laugh.

"Yeah? Well, she can go to hell."

"Corey, she's your mate."

"He's nothing but scum." I snapped. Her eyes widened and I cursed at myself for the impulsive reply.

"'He'?" She whispered, shocked.

"Don't." I muttered, "Don't tell anyone."

She was silent as she stared at me still shocked before clearing her throat, "Uhm... So... You're... You're... Uh... Gay?"

"No, I'm not fucking gay, Samantha." I snapped causing her to cringe back, afraid. I sighed rubbing my face to hide my eyes which I was sure had gone black, she was afraid because that usually showcased a loss of control or a wolf forcing a shift. Luckily I had an incredible amount of control over my wolf, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." I said.

"But if you're not gay then how –?" She was saying.

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense, but I'll fix it." I said.

"'Fix it'? Corey, mates are destiny, you're not supposed to try to 'fix it', the Gods are never wrong." She said.

I gave a dry chuckle. "They are this time," I said.

"So... who is he?" She asked slowly, like she was afraid I would attack her for asking.

I sighed. Might as well tell her if I was going to be around her so often. "Jayden." I forced his name out of my mouth.

"Mmm... Maybe you shouldn't twist your face like that when you say your mate's name." She said.

"He is not my mate." I glared at her, she shifted a little before nodding and biting her lip. I sighed again releasing my fist, realising I had unconsciously clenched them sometime during our date. My hands felt tight.

"You know... Witches do a lot of things... Maybe..." She drifted, "I mean, if you really can't stand the thoug –" She was cut off by my gasping as I sat up.

"Oh my God, you're right. You're so right!" How had I not thought of that before? "You're amazing, Sam, thank you." I pulled my wallet from my pocket to pay for our lunch.

"Uh... Corey? Where are you going?" She asked.

"To find a witch – actually, I know a pretty powerful warlock. See you later," I kissed her cheek dropping the money onto the table before I ran out.

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*Jayden*

I pulled my headphones off before grabbing my notepad and began scribbling down the words and notes that flowed into my mind.

I always found it calming, writing. It made me happy so it was all I did most of the time. I grabbed my guitar and began stringing along to the melody that was playing in my head and smiled. Music just took me away and completely cleared my mind. I began singing slowly but almost jumped out of my skin when my door suddenly slammed open.

"I've got it!" Wait. Was that Corey? Why would he dare come into my room? Wasn't he afraid of catching 'gay' or something? I looked at him as he walked across my room but still stayed quite far away from me. "Come." He said.

"Uh..." I cleared my throat. Why did he look happy to be in the same room as me? I was trying to keep calm, trying not to get my hopes up and trying to keep my wolf calm because I wasn't sure why he would suddenly be so happy when just this morning he refused to be within ten feet of me because we were still being forced to stay in the ballroom. "W-what?" I asked softly.

"Get up! You need to come with me. Right now." He frowned looking at my attire which consisted of my pyjamas that were basically boxers and a long-sleeved t-shirt. "And aren't you supposed to be in the ballroom?" His voice was slightly calmer as he looked at me questioningly.

I shrugged. Yes, but that didn't mean I was going to stay there all day every day. "I –" I began.

"It doesn't matter, just get dressed and come on." He snapped. And he's back.

I nodded.

"I'll wait outside, black Audi." He muttered walking out. I sighed. I knew not to get my hopes up, but that didn't stop me from being stupid and doing exactly that.

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"Uh... Where-where are we going?" I asked slowly as he drove. We had been completely silent for the past half hour. Not a sound uttered until I had to force my mouth open with an imaginary wrench and hope I didn't get a punch in the face for speaking.

He shot an annoyed frown my way making me regret the question before he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

"We're going to meet a friend of mine." He said.

"Oh... Why?" Was I pushing my boundaries? I really didn't want to get hit in the face, I wasn't that great at healing. He had made no attempt to fight me in the past few days we had seen each other, but he always looked like he was minutes away from killing me so I expected anything.

He ignored my question and kept his dark blue eyes focused on the road as we drove towards Galaxy territory. I felt uneasy but the feeling of being close to him made me want to stay there forever. My heart was racing and it was purely blissful being surrounded by his scent in the warm car. I ran my eyes over his face studying it. He had long eyelashes, a beauty mark just below his eye, his curly blond hair messily hung above his eyebrows and all around his face, it stuck up in all directions and somehow still looked good.

"Stop staring at me." His harsh mutter snapped me from my thoughts.

I opened my mouth to apologise but then realised that doing that would be confirming my staring at him so just shut my mouth and turned to stare out of the window beside me. I held my breath praying that he couldn't hear my pounding heart because it would suck if he knew I was the only one that felt something.

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