Chapter 0492

Alexander

I raised an eyebrow at my mate. That was not the response I had anticipated. My eyes drifted to Jasmine, who remained curled up and sobbing. She reminded me of Isabella and her state after her rejection. The difference was, I felt sympathy for my sister. I felt absolutely nothing for this woman.

She had been here only a short time and already became a major annoyance.

I pressed my lips to Athena's forehead. I told her I would return shortly.

"Get up." I muttered to Jasmine.

She didn't move, continuing to whimper in pain. She had brought this upon herself. Zachary would never be happy with her.

"Get up!" I snapped, yanking her upright by her elbow.

"Where are you taking me?"

"There's no place for you here. You get to leave, just like you wanted." I stated.

"Really?"

I nodded and guided her through the hospital. We passed Theodore but he remained silent. He had tried his best, but it simply wasn't going to work out. Keeping her here posed too great a risk. She didn't even glance his way.

She shuffled along at an agonizingly slow pace. I had to repeatedly pull her forward.

"Wait, this isn't the way to the gates." she protested. "The gates are over there." She pointed in the opposite direction.

"We are not going to the gates." I directed her into the forest.

"Why?"

"Too many eyes. And Zachary doesn't want to see you." I murmured.

"Okay. You'll need to point me toward the road once we get there. I'm completely turned around."

I nodded. She was indeed already disoriented. "Levi spoke of Julian?" I asked, wondering if I could extract even a sliver of truth from her.

"Yes. At first I thought they were just fabricated stories. But after a while, I realized they had to be true."

"How?"

"Facts. Small details. They never changed."

"Why did you panic when you saw me?" I questioned.

"Because you match the description Levi painted in my mind. You might look like him, you might not. But from the stories, I know he has eyes exactly like yours. Strange and unusual for a Wolf."

"And you could be lying." I muttered as she maneuvered around a tree stump.

"It's hard sometimes."

"What is?"

"Everything." She frowned, ducking under a low-hanging branch.

"Are you just saying that to gain sympathy? Because that won't work on me."

"My mate just rejected me."

"I was there. I saw and heard everything. What does that have to do with everything being hard?"

She stopped abruptly. Her golden eyes locked onto mine. "Because people never see me for who I truly am."

"Understandable, when you lie to everyone."

She scowled at me. "And you've never lied?"

"I didn't say that, did I? Now keep walking."

"He could have had me. I could have been his perfect mate. But no, I'm not good enough."

"No. No, you couldn't have. You're too much of a liability."

"Excuse me?!"

"Zachary was right. It's impossible to distinguish your lies from the truth. You're all over the place. Unpredictable."

"I am not!"

"Then tell me, who are you running from?"

"I told you."

"You did. Then you admitted it was a lie. That you had never met Julian. So who in Silver Streams are you running from?"

"No one."

"Silver Streams isn't a local pack. They're far north. You traveled a long way before encountering Levi."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious. Plus, I need to know who to alert about your death."

She ripped her arm free. "What?"

"I love my mate. Usually, I would agree with her decisions. But lately, things have become too problematic to let you live."

"You can just let me go. I won't say anything. I promise."

"That's the problem, Jasmine. You might be more believable if you had told the truth from the beginning."

"I mean it." She begged, her voice turning shrill. "I really won't say anything. I won't come back. It will be like this never happened."

She took a step backward, holding her hands up. "Athena said I could go. I heard her."

"Yes, she did say that. But did you not notice her surroundings? She was in a hospital, exhausted. Her thinking wasn't clear. Mine is."

With each step I took toward her, she retreated until her back hit a tree.

"Please!"

She froze as a gunshot echoed. Not even a second passed before I saw the small bullet hole in the center of her forehead. A thin trickle of blood ran down between her eyes. The light faded from them before her body slid down the tree trunk.