I collided harshly with Demetri. The force of the collision shook my body and caused the glass to fall from my hand shattering against the tile of the front porch.

"Where the fuck were you after school?" Demetri growled furiously wrapping his hands around my upper arm in a painfully tight grip that threatened to shatter my bones.

I didn't respond i stood still and quiet in his arms looking into his eyes which were pools of inky blackness.

The waves of anger radiating from the man before me were enough to send any normal wolf running in fear, not to mention humans, they would probably just pass out.

"I asked you a question" Demetri hissed shaking me violently, "Answer me when I speak to you."

I still didn't respond, instead, my mind flashed back to the conversation that I overheard between my mother and nurse Edwards.

'Because what Jessabell experienced today wasn't a panic attack, it was actually the pain of the infidelity of a mate,' Nurse Edwards had said to my mother.

'Her mate slept with someone else and Jessabell felt the pain because he was unfaithful to her' She had repeated the statement when my mother had seemingly failed to comprehend what had been said.

Although I may not want Demetri, hell, I don't even like the little bastard, but it hurt, not just physically but mentally and emotionally.

I have no control over how I feel with regards to his infidelity. I am his mate and naturally my feelings would be hurt by the thought of him being with another female.

"Jessabell, answer me before I decide to punish you." Demetri growled shaking me once more.

'Had they been fully mated Jessabell might have died' The words floated through my brain and I snapped back into the moment, looking up into Demetri's eyes I finally decided to respond.

"If I had died today, what would you have done?" I asked him softly, no hint of aggression in my tone.

Clearly, my question took him off guard as he released me abruptly causing me to stumble a little then catch my balance.

"What?" He asked, a look of absolute confusion with a tinge of shock painted his face.

I decided to repeat my question for him. I stared up at him expectantly knowing he would flip out and he did not disappoint he grabbed my elbows and pulled me close to his body.

"What the hell did you do today?" He asked agitated, "I swear to God that if you attempted suicide I will take you back to the castle and chain you up in my bedroom until our mating ceremony."

I looked up into his eyes which had acquired a purple tint around the edges of his irises, flashing him a sweet smile I proceeded to subtly pull my arm from his hold.

"My dear Demetri, had I actually attempted to kill my self, I never would have failed knowing that you would punish me for so much as trying, so no that is not what I did today." I said sweetly fluttering my eyelashes up at him.

"Stop playing games with me little girl, you won't like the outcome if I loose my temper." He growled "Tell me where you were." He seethed with accurate precision, carefully pronouncing each word.

"You cheated on me." I said abruptly and he stilled allowing me to pull my hands out of his grip.

Looking at me with eyes that were rapidly fading into his normal grey ones, shock and disbelief covered his face and I knew it was true.

At that moment, I felt my heart break into a million pieces as my hatred for him grew.

Turning on my heel, I attempted to make my way back into the house but before I could take two steps towards the house, he recovered from his shock and grabbed my hand, spinning me to face him.

"You do not get to make that accusation and walk away from me." He said, he even had the gall to sound affronted.

I laughed the sound sounding cold and broken.

"Don't bother denying it, I felt it."

"You couldn't have." He said frustration clear in his tone "you just want something to accuse me of."

"I'm not accusing you wrongfully!" I hissed at him my voice rising slightly

"Yes you are." He hissed glaring at me.

"I felt the pain!" I yelled at him

"No you didn't! I blocked the bond when I was with her!" He shouted and my eyes widened.

It took him a few seconds to realize what he had said and his eyes widened as well.

"Oh my god." I whispered thinking of how he knew what he was doing and deliberately slept with a girl.

"Jessabell-" he began but I cut him off, I couldn't stand to be near him right now, much less to hear him attempt to defend himself and justify his actions.

"Goodnight Prince Demetri." I said my voice frigid as I looked up at him with equally cold eyes. I took in the faint flinch of his body before turning and attempting to once again enter the house.

"Let me explain." He pleaded wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me to him.

The warmth of his muscular chest burned through the material of my top and saturated my body making me shiver with pleasure. I hate myself for reacting that way to his closeness.

"Get the fuck off me." I bit out through gritted teeth.

"Not until you let me explain."

There is nothing to explain, I thought bitterly as I brought my foot down on his toes causing him to release me and step back. Rapidly spinning around to face him I brought my knee up and hit his most prized possession causing him to fall to his knees clutching his groin.

Knowing it wouldn't last long, I wrapped my hand around his throat making my claws were out and pressed against the soft part of his neck, if he moved even an inch I would tear his throat out.

Looking up at me our eyes clashed and I think he realized I wasn't bluffing. He stayed still.

"This is the final straw, you may be royalty but that doesn't make you any less of a pussy." I hissed at him and a growl built in his chest, I carefully punctured his skin with the tips of my claws causing the metallic scent of his blood to permeate the fresh night air as it ran down his chest getting absorbed in his black shirt.

"Quiet." I growled and he stopped moving and the sound halted in his throat. "I am sick and tired of you, you get angry if I so much as look at another guy but you can go fuck some girl?" I asked angrily "listen to me carefully, if you try to order me around or control my life, I will kill you, I'll rip your throat out and watch as you bleed to death, then I'll cut your dick off and mail it to your parents and tell them why I killed you." I said watching his eyes widen at my words.

"Stay away from me, I hate you Demetri," I said feeling tears prick my eyes.

Pulling away from him, I stood up and stepped away from him, watching as he got to his feet staring at me with hurt painted on his face. I watched as the puncture wounds on his neck healed rapidly.

I couldn't help the vivid flash of images that filtered through my mind. My claws sinking into Demetri's neck and dislodging his throat, the blood leaking from the empty hole. My claws dripping blood which would soak into the soil.

At Demetri's astonished gasp, I snapped from my thoughts and looked at him, an expression of raw heartbreak on his face.

"You would really do that to me?" He choked out disbelieving the images in my mind.

Locking my eyes with his I said "In a heartbeat." He gasped and stepped back a few times.

"I meant what I said, stay away from me, go back to her."

"Jessabell I will never leave you alone." He said his eyes hardening.

"Oh Demetri, you may have been born to married parents, but you are and will always be a bastard." I said with a sarcastic smile, "Don't fight for something you don't want, mate with your girl and destroy our bond or I will kill you and destroy it myself." I said calmly turning my back on him and entering the house, locking the door without looking back at him.

When I turned around, my mother was standing there wearing light blue sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt.

I jumped a little and gasped putting my hand to my chest,

"You scared me." I said stepping past her and heading into the living room with her behind me.

"Sorry," she said as we settled on the cough once again, "I didn't think you knew what he had done."

"I didn't, I heard your conversation with the nurse." I replied "Would you have told me?"

"No, but I would have told you to let him go. I didn't want to hurt you." She said sipping her apple juice. "I'm so sorry."

I grabbed the wine bottle and put it to my head, tipping back the liquid.

"It's not your fault my mate is a pussy who loves free pussy." I replied unthinkingly and she blanched at my use of vulgar language.

"Hey, watch your language." She scolded and I smiled apologetically at her.

"Sorry." I muttered taking another drink of wine before mom reached over and confiscated the bottle.

"You have school in the morning child." She said and I pulled an offended face.

"I'm an adult."

"You're still my child." She said and I smiled as we lapsed into comfortable silence, the only sound coming from the television before us.

"Where is everyone?" I asked and she shrugged

"Out somewhere with your father, he took them away so I could have a day to myself."

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" I asked glancing at the time , it was a quarter to nine at night.

Mom shrugged, "they'll be back soon." She said.

We watched a few movies until dad and the others came back.

"Jessabell," he had said sounding shocked to see me keeping mom's company.

"Father." I said simply rising from the couch and stretching my body. "Night mom." I said making my way out of the room and up the stairs to my bedroom.

I promptly fell asleep. Thankful for the deep abyss that was my dreamless sleep.

For the rest of the week, Demetri didn't call me or try to contact me in anyway. That's not exactly true, he did text me on Tuesday but I didn't respond so he had continuously called and left voice messages on my phone apologising profusely and asking me to forgive him. I told both Freya and Monique to tell him to stop pestering my cellphone or I would change my number and he stopped.

It's now Friday afternoon and I'm busy running laps with the Dallas as we were late for football practice.

Training had begun Tuesday evening in preparation for a football game the week after next week Friday between Gregory Hawk Academy and Edmund Wolfe Prep.

Monique and the rest of the cheer squad were on the tracks working on pyramid formation and stunts while the footballers who were early were already on the field tackling each other.

"This is stupid, we had labs to finish" Dallas said irritation filtering into his voice "it's not like we were slacking off."

"Like coach give a flying fuck what we were doing." I commented grumpily as we continued to run.

"McQuaid! Archer!" Coach yelled "Get over here!" He motioned us onto the field where the others were forming a huddle.

Dallas groaned in frustration, then turned to look out at the almost empty bleachers, as his eyes connected with Freya's form he instantly relaxed.

I scoffed and grabbed the back of his shirt pulling his towards the field, "Let's go lover boy." I mumbled.

Freya stays after school to watch us practice, she normally studies while she waits for Monique who has become her personal driver.

Her excuse for staying is that she need to learn the game play in order to make the team when her father give her permission to join. In reality she's staying to watch Dallas who really doesn't mind. Good for them.

Coach ran the game plan by us as we were playing sides now, naturally I'm either in Dallas's or Rick's side so they flipped a coin and I was on Rick's side.

I traded places with Neill so I got running back.

Moving into formation while coach was speaking to another teacher.

Turning, he blew his whistle and we started playing. Rick threw me the ball as I ran down the right end of the field, grabbing the ball I tried to make my way to a touchdown, as I closed in dodging a fee guys coming at me on my right and in front, I failed to see Marcus leap for me from the left tackling me and causing both of us to go down.

Coach blew his whistle and we all stopped, Marcus got off me and extended his hand pulling me up.

"Thanks." I said stretching backwards to relieve the pressure on my upper back.

"You ok?" He asked and I nodded smiling, he patted my back then ran to the other side of the field and I pulled off my helmet.

"What the hell is this?" Coach Kerr asked coming over to us, "Archer, why are you running back?"

I looked at Neill guiltily as he stepped out of view of coach.

"Middle line backer when we play Ed Wolfe, Archer." He barked before blowing his whistle and telling us to form up.

While walking to my position, I caught sight of a person walking up to Freya, it looked like Demetri, from behind, getting up Freya hugged him and then he turned and surely enough, it was the bane of my existence Prince Demetri Voynov. I moved my gaze across the field to see Damien with Monique who was pointing in my direction.

It's not really hard to identify me when I'm with my guys, mainly because I'm smaller than all of them, even with padding I'm smaller.

Damien smiled and waved at me and I waved back.

"Archer! focus" coach yelled making me jump and put in my helmet.

"Coach seems to be in for you." Rick said laughing

"Yup," I muttered "probably because I didn't answer his calls or come to practice over the Christmas." I said laughing.

Coach blew the whistle and the game started, number 16 and 24 were protecting the ball so I went for 24 the smaller of the two crouching and grabbing him around the waist, I threw my weight onto him tackling him to the ground.

"Hey David." I said jumping up and going at 16 who was now in possession of the ball and running towards the touchdown.

I crouched and jumped grabbing his legs, tripping him, I pulled my arm away as he went down on his stomach, me beside him on my hands and knees.

Coach blew the whistle and I am stood up. Whooping loudly along with Rick as we jumped up and bumped chests.

"That's the Archer I love." Coach said as we formed up again. We ran over the play three more times before coach said we were done. The cheerleaders had finished half an hour before us and were now seated on the bleachers, some waiting for their boyfriends who are on the team, others attempting to flirt with Demetri and Damien.

Making my way over to the bleachers, I pulled my Jersey top off along with the padding, leaving me in my sports bra and pants.

Demetri's eyes locked on my body, flaring with jealousy as Tyler put his arm over my shoulder. Demetri let out a growl of anger and stood up from beside Freya, he walked over to me and glared at Tyler who removed his arm and stepped away from me.

I folded my arms across my chest and glared at Demetri as he reached out to touch me.

"Touch me and I'll break your arm." I seethed, hearing gasps from the girls on the cheer team.

"I came to give you this." Demetri said holding out an envelope.

"I don't want anything from you."

"It's not from me, it's from my parents." He said and I reluctantly took it from him, using the tips of my fingers to avoid touching his.

Opening the envelope, I pulled out the white paper with neat cursive writing.

'Jessabell, I am aware of your desire not to speak with Demetri, since you refuse to hear what he has to say then I will relay the important news to you through this letter. Your mating ceremony will be on the second of February. You have no power to refuse or else I will fully support my son in whatever decision he takes with regards to persuading you to perform the ceremony, even if he decides to chain your entire family -including your beloved cousins in Aruba- in the dungeons of the castle. Make your choice wisely. I will be expecting your answer when you join us for dinner next Friday.

Yours sincerely,

Alpha Alexander.

I read the letter twice and resisted the urge to scream and cry. I raised my eyes to look at Demetri.

The bastard had the nerve to look smug, as he stood there smirking down at me. His eyes shifted to Irene who was standing beside me.

Seeing him look at another female, I lost it. Pulling my fist back, I punched him square in the face. I felt bone breaking under my fist as a shocking pain ran through my hand. I pulled back and watched in satisfaction as blood ran from his nose.

Everybody -not only the girls- gasped at what I had just done.

Demetri was about to grab me but Damien, Freya and Monique held him back. Damien said something to him and he slanted me a wicked look that made it clear that this isn't over.

"You're going to pay for that." Demetri said, shaking off his siblings and Monique. "I'll see you later little mate."

He said before he walked away with Damien, Monique and Freya who told me bye before following him out.

When I was certain they were gone, I threw the paper on the ground and stepped on it furiously with my shoes while screaming curse words at no one in particular as warm tears trailed down my cheeks.

"Hey, hey, hey,hey,hey." Tyler said grabbing me and wrapping his arms around me letting me cry into his chest. The other guys and the few remaining girls came and rubbed my back trying to comfort me.

"Let's go get cleaned up and changed." Irene said pulling me away from the boys as we went into the locker rooms.

When we were finished showering and I changed back into my gray long sleeve shirt with my black pants and black boots, I walked back out to the field and picked up the paper, shaking it off, I stuck it in the front pocket of my backpack with a sigh.

This just gets worse and worse by the day. I thought sadly as I made my way home.