Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

- Cleo -

"How much longer?" Ares' long sigh only adds to my irritation. He was meant to be helping me, not moaning at me...which is all he has done since following me outside.

"Why, got somewhere to be?" I pause, panting out as I try to catch my breath. "Yes, I want to swim."

"Ares, you are the future alpha of the Red Thorn pack. You need to train."

"I train plenty, and this isn't me training...this is me being a punch bag. If you have issues with your mate use your voice, not your fists." He was right, but I wasn't ready to hear that just yet. I wasn't at the stage where I was thinking rationally again.

"Are you telling a pregnant woman what to do?"

"No, I'm telling my sister not to stew over miscommunication..."

"Miscommunication?"

"Whatever has got you in this foul mood, talk about it. Don't stew on it, that's what Mum does..."

"I'm not Mum." I growl out at him.

"Precisely, you aren't Mum."

I let my brother's words sink in, yes Mum would let herself get so uptight about things that her wolf would take over.

But this is different, not only am I in control of my wolf...she's so drained still that there is no possibility that she would take over and push me out.

"Just talk to him, tell him." He removes the boxing mits off his hands, dropping them to the ground at my feet before placing a kiss upon my cheek.

"He's just proven how much he loves you, just tell him what is troubling you. A problem shared and all." He whips his head to the side where Jace has been standing the entire time watching me box train with Ares.

With a deep inhale of air I let my shoulders relax, rolling my neck out to remove any remaining tension my body, just as Jace moves towards me...his eyes that of a hunter.noveldrama

"Feel better?"

"A little." I grunt out, removing the boxing gloves and picking up the pads off the ground, heading back towards the training hut.

Kaia had invested a lot of money into the training

practices of the Clear Waters pack, including a new training centre build years ago, but the old wooden

hut still housed the equipment.

The equipment that didn't need to be kept under lock and key anyway.

One thing they didn't train with was weapons, something I'm sure Josie will start to implement as her first act as the new alpha.

He follows me all the way to the training hut, an amused smirk across his lips... one that does

nothing to maintain the calmer state of mind I had been in whilst training. I could feel his amusement through the bond, if anything he was just making me more agitated.

"I don't need a chaperone." I chide out as I hanging the boxing mitts back up.

"I know what you need." My senses overload as he takes a long stride closer to

me.

"Oh yeah, and what's that."

I gasp out as he spins me, his hands gripping on to my hips as he back steps me deeper into the hut, kicking the door shut behind him.

Any morning sunlight disappears the moment the door is closed, only small beams of light traveling in through gaps in the wooden panels, which aids

towards not being plunged in complete darkness.

"You need reminding of who exactly

you belong to." He purrs out as his lips move to my neck. He was fast, sucking on my mate mark, leaving my body quivering with desire.

"Belong?" I push him back, he wasn't having me that easily.

"Do you not belong to me?" He quirks an eyebrow at me.

"No, not today."

"Making me work for it today are you?"

"When I wake up in bed alone..."

"I was watching the borders all night, Ezra wasn't up for it, and I didn't want to ask

Mum to do it. Trust me, if I had made it to bed last night..."

My resolve was softening, I had just assumed he had given someone else his attention all night. This is stupid, I was his...why was I acting like a jealous female. "You've not slept?"

"Jaxon and came back, found Callie alone downstairs..." I cut him off with an aggressive roar, my wolf feeling strong enough and feisty enough to tell him to watch himself.

"Is this what this is about... Callie?" He withdraws his face slightly, looking directly into my eyes. Making me feel like I am the one in the wrong, that I'm being

unreasonable.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things I am, but for all I knew they were planing on spending a life together only a few days ago.

"Jace, don't do that. Don't make me sound like a bitch. I'm not being a bitch. But you must see it

from my point of view. You were fated mates with a female, preparing to make her your Luna..."

"Yes but Callie and I have never, ever...been that way."

"Yeah right."

"I assure you, Callie and I have never been together. We are purely platonic, I thought you would have picked that up through the mate bond."

"I..." I let my mind cast back to when I marked Jace, flashes of some of his memories come back to me. But they are mainly of his family, of me...not of Callie.