Chapter 158

Jasper’s POV

A couple of days after I punched Lucian, and he quit and ran off with Aria, Cathy invited me out to lunch. Sitting across from me now, in a café that we tended to frequent when we got together, she was looking at me as one might a wounded animal, as if trying to determine if I needed comfort or space.

She should have known I wasn’t in the mood for snapping, or else I would have turned down her invitation. Snappy was what I felt the past couple of days as I wallowed in my own misery.

I wasn’t quite as sad anymore, even if I did feel a measure of loss. There was nothing to be done for it now, I had to let go of my feelings for Aria.

I wondered if I hadn’t punched Lucian, if maybe he wouldn’t have gone after Aria. Yet, even if I’d known that was the catalyst to him finally going after what he wanted for a change, I couldn’t regret it.

My love for Aria made me want to see her happy, and to be happy, she wanted Lucian.

I never hated my cousin, either. Watching him mope around for the past five years while Aria had been gone wasn’t a pleasant experience. I supposed, knowing the two of them were together and making things work wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

If Aria wasn’t going to be with me, then Lucian was a good enough second option. Though she was missing out, certainly.

“I’m fine,” I told Cathy.

“If you need to talk…” she replied.

“We all made our choices,” I said. “What’s there to talk about?”

“Aria and Lucian made their choices. You didn’t have much choice.”

“Nah. I’m the one who knocked some sense into Lucian, remember? I could have let them all be miserable.”

“Instead you let yourself be miserable.”

“I had to let her go. You’ve been hinting at me for years that it wouldn’t end well between Aria and me, but I needed to have her reject me to feel it for myself.”

Of course, I was mourning the what-could-have-been’s, the fantasies that I had been quietly building up over my mind for the past five years, no matter how many times Cathy tried to caution me against them.

Ever, I thought once I could prove myself a capable and reliable provider to Aria, then she would want to pick me. Maybe I always knew that wouldn’t be enough. Ever, maybe this had been wishful thinking.

I had never felt what I felt for Aria with anyone ever in my life before. She made me want to strive to be better, to give up my playboy ways and commit to actual love with a single partner.

Even now, even rejected, I still longed for a relationship like that. I needed time to get my head on straight, but after that, if I could find the right person…

“You should get rejected more often, if it makes you this sensible,” Cathy said with a smile and a mischievous glint in her eye. “If ever you need another jolt, just ask me out. I’d be happy to reject you as many times as you need.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, with a playful lilt. “But I wouldn’t want you to feel too guilty, rejecting me so much…”

“I’ll suffer through it,” she laughed. “Anything for you.”

Those five years Aria had been gone, Cathy and I had gotten closer. We both missed Aria and had fallen into a habit of hanging out together. Over time, I’d come to be quite fond of her company. I’d even started to feel that we were more friends than her just tolerating me… or vice versa.

She’d been sick lately, and I’d been worried. It was a relief to see her now, sitting across from me, framed by a golden sunbeam coming in through the window, so full of life and humor.

She was beautiful. Why had I never noticed before?

Why was I noticing now?

Quickly, I looked down at the menu. It was far too soon for a new romance, not if I wanted to find one for real. I wasn’t about to play around with Cathy’s heart, when she had come to be such a friend.

And I didn’t want to play with anyone’s heart anymore.

Maybe… in time… when my own heart had healed… I could look at Cathy in a new way.

For now, however…

“Do you want to split a parfait?” I asked her.

“Try and stop me,” she replied, with a smile just for me.

Sheila’s POV

Sheila saw the news on the one of the televisions in the break room at her factory job.

Lucian had stepped down as Alpha.

What an absolute embarrassment that man turned out to be. Bad enough that he betrayed her, that he exiled her when all she had done was try to be the best Luna an Alpha could want.

If that Aria bitch hadn’t gotten in the way so many times, Sheila was certain Lucian had been ready to propose to her at any time.

That Lucian had so easily sacrificed his Alpha position… Gods, he wasn’t worthy of the time and energy Sheila had wasted in pursuing him.

Now, exiled, she had to accept any work she could. For a while she had wandered from pack to pack, searching for anyone who would take her in. She had no idea what the hang up was. Couldn’t they see how beautiful and talented and smart she was? Did they feel no compassion for her circumstances?

When she was finally accepted for a position, it was only for a job that she was far above. They should be kissing the ground she walked on that she even accepting something as menial as factory work.

Yet everyone around here was constantly pushing her.

Work harder, Sheila.

Pay attention to what you are doing, Sheila.

“Stop slacking, Sheila,” her manager snapped from the doorway to the break room. “You already took your break for today.”

“This news couldn’t be ignored,” Sheila said, gesturing to the television. “Alpha Lucian stepped down.”

“So?” the manager said. “That’s not even this pack.”

“I almost married him,” Sheila said. “He was desperate for me. He would have done anything I wanted. What a slap in the face this is, to see how far he’s fallen in my absence. Why, if he’d married me, I would have made sure he stayed Alpha!”

“Isn’t he the one who exiled you?” the manager asked in the same gruff tone she had scolded Sheila with.

“Because he was coerced, by that little bitch, his ex-wife.”

“Dr. Aria? Didn’t she develop all those life-saving medicines?”

Sheila was cursed. She had to be, for the manager to know so much about Aria, like she was the one who was important. Sheila was the important one, damn it! Yes, she never developed life-saving medicines or whatever, but she was worth more than that stick in the mud Aria.

Sheila was more beautiful too!

Life was so unfair.

“Quit distracting me,” the manager said, shaking herself. She pointed at me. “You get your butt back to work right now, or you are fired.”

Sheila, as loathe as she was to go back to work, couldn’t afford to lose this job.

With a huff, she got off her chair and walked back to the belly of the factory.

As soon as she walked into the room, everyone glared at her.

She wasn’t appreciated here, hated by everyone.

Well, she hated them too.

“Back to work, Sheila!”