I could hear my heart beat in my ears, and I took a sharp intake of breath, my eyes going wide. This man, my English substitute, couldn’t possibly be my mate. He was though, and Dottie made sure I knew it.

I blinked a few times, looking away from him, my eyes casting down to my clenched fists. I heard him clear his throat, and his footsteps walking to his desk.

“Alright, first I would like to do the roll. Please say here when I get to your name,” His deep voice interrupted my thoughts, and I forced myself to look back up at him. He didn’t seem overly troubled, in fact he seemed perfectly calm as he was going through the names.

He went through every single name, looking up after he said every one. His eyes looked to me after every name, before he would look back down to say another one. Soon enough my name was called, and with a nearly hushed voice I responded with a here.

Our eyes met once more, and he frowned slightly, before shaking his head, looking back to his list of names.

“Can everyone please get out their notebooks and write a short paragraph about yourself. Ms. Delson would you please step outside,” He walked towards the door, and everyone started shifting through their backpacks. No one seemed to think twice about what he had said, most likely not even hearing the second part.

I stood slowly, my holding my shaking hands to my chest. I left quickly, leaving the curious eyes of my best friends.

He was leaning against the wall outside of the classroom, waiting impatiently for me to arrive. The hallway was empty, and there was an eerie silence that met me.

I didn’t have any time to say anything before his deep voice filled my ears.

“I, Connell Wood, reject you as a mate,” He stated, throwing a stony look at me with his icy eyes. I gasped, gripping my sweater. My heart felt as though it had just been stabbed.

“Not enough common decency to say my name, how classy,” I said shakily, my voice close to crying. We stood there for another few seconds, before I turned, running away.

I didn’t want to run away- it felt weak, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay there any longer without completely breaking down. I most certainly wouldn’t be able to last through English, I couldn’t even go and get my bag.

I slowed when I reached the parking lot, but as soon as I touched the handle of my car door I broke down. Tears that I had been holding back fell easily, wetting my shirt. My face most certainly very red, and I could feel my nose becoming stuffed up.

I wasn’t a pretty crier, in fact I was a pretty ugly one. I blame my mother for that, she blubbered when she gave birth to me. At least, that’s how my father described it.

It wasn’t safe for me to drive right away, I knew that much. Although I often made rash decisions, I knew my own limits. So I stayed in the parking lot, my car on, wasting gas, for an hour and a half. My fingers wrapped around the rink I had safely secured on a chain on my neck. Whenever something bad happened, they went straight there, trying to comfort myself. There were kind memories attached to the ring.

My head was pounding by the time I pulled out of the parking lot. I was tired from crying so much, so I decided it was probably time for me to go home. I hadn’t checked my phone, but by the time I did I saw that I had missed many calls from both Maddie and Sara.

Guilt fluttered in my stomach, making me feel even worse. Some part of me yearned to talk to them, but another wanted to be alone. So, I went home, and crawled into my bed. My parents were gone, as was my brother, so for a few short hours, I was alone to break down by myself.

My brother came home hours later, before my parents. Since we’re wolves, we have sharp senses, so he easily heard my cries, even though he was downstairs.

He called for me, and within a few seconds he was outside my door. Within a few seconds of his worried calls, he pounded his hand on the door, wanting it to be opened. It made me cry more, but not because he had done it in the first place, I knew he was just scared I was doing something bad, but because I knew I would have to tell him.

I allowed him to bang on my door for a few seconds, before I finally stood to stop him. Walking to my door, I pulled it open, taking a step back so I could see him better. He was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down.

When his eyes met mine, which were probably red and puffy, his face suddenly became soft, and he put his hands down slowly.

“Ruby…” He whispered, a look of both confusion, and sorrow coming over his features. I knew he didn’t know what had happened, but I also knew that he’s never seen me like this. I never cry, not like this. Not even on my worst days.

I was silent for a second, letting him fully take me in. Suddenly, he rushed forward, his arms going around me tightly.

Zach, as annoying as he is, always knew how to help me. He let me cry into his band t-shirt, even though I knew in the back of my mind he loved that shirt. He said nothing about it, though, only pulling me closer as my cries became more pronounced.

I was so tired of crying. That sounds stupid, doesn’t it? But when you cry for hours, you get so tired that you feel as though you simply can’t cry any more. When your nose becomes raw and your head aches, and you know nothing you do can fix it. It’s the worst feeling.

We sat there for twenty minutes, him trying to console me while I wept. By the end of it there were no more tears, and we were just sitting in silence. Once he knew I was done with crying, he pulled away, holding my hands in his.

“What happened Ruby?” He asked, his grip tightening. Zach wasn’t a protective person. Not even over Maddie, who was his mate. But in this instance, I knew Zach could feel that it wasn’t something, but someone that had hurt me. An even with his non-protective personality, he was suddenly very protective.

My hands moved to my face to try and wipe away some stray wetness from my cheeks. My face was hot, and the wispy of my hair stuck to my face.

“Do you remember when you found out that your mate was Maddie, and you were so happy?” I started off. My voice was hoarse and scratchy from the strain of constant crying.

Zach got the hint, and his brows immediately furrowed. “Ruby, did you find your mate?”

“Why did the moon goddess pair me with someone who doesn’t want me!” I cried, my hands going to cradle my face.

I wasn’t an overly confident person, but I liked to believe I was a likeable person. I had friends, I was average looking, and I could always make someone smile. There was never a moment where I disliked myself, or put myself on a low stool. Yet, the way I felt now, certainly was going towards that.

It felt so wrong of me to pick apart myself, trying to find anything that could be considered undesirable about myself. But there had to be something he didn’t like. At least, that’s all I could assume.

“Your mate rejected you?” Zach asked me slowly, processing it. He was having trouble accepting that his well-loved little sister was completely denied from the one thing in a werewolves existence that that they yearned for the most. I didn’t say anything, keeping my face in my hands. My silence seemed to confirm it for him.

Anger radiated off of him, but he tried to keep it concealed as he pulled me towards him, hugging me tightly. We sat like that for another few minutes, before I heard the garage door go up, signaling that my dad was home.

“Ruby, who was it?” Zach questioned. My lips moved to a frown as I thought about Connell. There was no way I was going to be able to Zach, knowing that if he did find out he would most certainly over react.

I just shook my head, hoping he wouldn’t prod it any further. Luckily, he didn’t, and he just sighed, kissing me on my head before standing.

“Kids, what do you want for dinner?” My fathers booming voice echoed through the house. Zach and I glanced at each other, and with one nod he yelled back down to my dad that we wanted Spaghetti. It was a classic, and our favorite meal.

Zach left my room soon after that, leaving me sitting on my bed. Even though I had slept for hours, it was counter acted by my crying for hours, so I was once again tired. I decided against going to sleep, though, and decided to go downstairs to join my parents.

I put some makeup on to conceal my eyes, and my red nose, before I joined my family. My mom had arrived home soon after my dad, and they were both rushing around the kitchen preparing dinner. They couldn’t make dinner simple, they had to pull all the stops. Not that I’m complaining.

The downstairs was an open floor play, which meant everything was visible as soon as you reached the bottom of the stairs. The kitchen was to the immediate right, and across from that was the dining table. Across from the stairs was the front door, and to the left of the stairs was the family room, and bathroom.

My parents hadn’t yet clued in that I was upset, but my brothers eyes remained glued to me as he set the table. I guess he was waiting for me to start crying once again, as I had done multiple times today. I played with my ring absently as I sat, taking slow, deep breathes.

As I stared off at a wall, I suddenly heard the distant sounds of a mans voice. I could never tell how far away something was, because without meaning to I often used some of my werewolf senses.

Looking towards the window, I saw movement on the street, going towards the right of my house. Standing slowly, I walked towards the window, my curiosity peaking.

I pulled back the white curtains to reveal a sight that made my heart skip a beat, and not necessarily in a good way. There, standing with his arms crossed, was Mr. Wood. He was standing next to a large moving truck, talking to a man with a clipboard. Another man exited the house that they were parked in front of, which happened to be the one right across from mine.

“Mom, is that person moving in next door?” I asked, looking away from the window. My mom stopped her conversation with my father to look at me, and then the window.

She smiled pleasantly, nodding. “Yes, honey, that nice man is moving in next door. He came to say hello yesterday evening when you were out with your friends, but he hadn’t been able to move in until today.”

My world felt like it was crashing down. And yes, I’m being dramatic, but in this instance, I think I’m allowed.

“O- Oh…” I said quietly, looking out the window once more. Mr. Wood took a box from on of the younger movers, who was obviously having trouble. My eyes naturally lowered to his biceps, which seemed to be tight in his button up shirt. It was the same shirt he was wearing this morning, as I could recall.

“Which reminds me Ruby, we’re having dinner with him tomorrow, so you can’t go stay with your friends,” My mom told me, before taking a sip of the steaming red sauce.

“What!” I exclaimed, my eyes going wide. Amazingly, my day could get worse, “What if he’s some kind of serial killer- are you going to let a serial killer into your house?”

My mother rolled her eyes at me, brushing her hands lightly to rid of any dust. “He’s not a serial killer Ruby, and I don’t know why you’re so against this. I know you wanted to visit your friends, but sometimes more important things arise,” My mother tsk’d as she poured the spaghetti into a bowl.

I pouted in her direction. She wasn’t going to change her mind, I knew that much, but that didn’t mean I had to act like I was complying.

Dinner was quick, and soon enough I was back in my room. Figuring out what to do seemed to be an issue, but I wanted to do basically anything to distract from the pain in my chest.

Picking up my phone, I finally decided to look at my friends texts. They were both worried, which meant they were both texting me very kindly and threatening me. Whatever worked in their books, that was all that mattered.

I called them, and within to rings both of them answered. Maddie immediately started talking, while Sara just stayed silent.

“Ruby, why didn’t you say something before you left, we were worried!” Maddie scolded, her motherly voice coming out.

I sat there for a fleeting moment, trying to figure out what to say. I hated lying to my friend, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell them about Connell.

“I suddenly felt really sick, and Mr. Wood saw and told me to go home,” I fibbed, twirling my hair in my fingers as I chose my words.

Silence crossed the speaker, no one speaking for a short few seconds, before Maddie’s voice once again came up. I could tell they didn’t believe me, but both of them knew not to push it any further.

“Okay Ruby, I’ll give you your bad tomorrow when you get to school,” Maddie said slowly.

Before Maddie could say anything else, her mom’s loud voice came over the speaker, calling her downstairs.

She left soon after, leaving me and Sara alone. Sara, who had been silent the entire time, finally decided to say something.

“You know, you can tell us anything… we’ll understand,”

“I know.”