Joel

I slowly drifted back into consciousness, feeling a bright light burning my closed eyelids.

I moaned. Why did I always forget to shut my curtains?

I made a move to roll over, then realised that I couldn't.

My arm was stuck under something warm.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times while they adjusted to the light.

I was not prepared for what I saw.

"FUCK!!!"

My shout made Casper's eyes fly open and I watched the exact second his eyes told me he'd just seen what I had.

My arm was pinned under Casper's face.

And my sleeve had rolled up in the night.

And although Casper probably couldn't tell yet, I could feel that I was also no longer wearing my glove.

"SHIT," he yelled, jumping out of the bed, like it was on fire.

We both stared at my uncovered arm and hand.

"What the fuck Joel! Where's your glove? And why was your pissing arm under my head!"

My heart was pounding. It felt like I'd just been woken up by having a bucket of ice cold water dumped over my head.

"I don't know," I mumbled out, still staring at my arm like it might give me the answer.

"What do you mean, you don't know? Do you know what you've just done? You've ruined everything?!"

I finally looked up at him, and could tell he was freaking out. He was pacing again, and his shaking hands kept running through his hair.

"Hang on, this isn't my fault!" I argued, "your head was on my arm, so clearly my arm was there first."

"Oh my god! I swear you act like a child sometimes! Do you even hear yourself?!"

I winced a little at his words, and looked down. I could tell there was no point in arguing with him.

"What the fuck are we going to do now?! I don't want this. I never asked for this. Why were we so stupid? What on earth possessed me to let you sleep here?"

A sudden thought hit me.

"Casper?"

"Shit....Emily! What am I going to tell her?"

"Casper?!" I said a little louder.

"And it's the fucking wedding today. Today!! It's not like I can back out now..."

"CASPER!!!"

He finally shut up and turned to face me. "What?!"

"Um, do you feel any different?" I said cautiously.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confusion on his face.

"Come here I said, and I moved across the bed towards him, reaching towards him with my hand.

Casper scurried backwards out of my reach. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Come on, it's not like we haven't touched already," I said, and got off the bed to walk over to him.

"Get the fuck away from me!" he yelled, scooting round me and jumping over the bed.

I sighed, but knew I had to do this.

"Fine, I won't touch you, but just hear me out."

Casper stopped by the door and turned back to look at me.

I walked slowly over to him, looking down at the floor, then at the last second I leapt forward and grabbed onto him, rubbing my hand all over his face.

He managed to get a grip of me, and sent me hurling back across the room.

"What the hell??!!" he yelled.

I sat up, rubbing my side from where I landed on one of my discarded shoes.

"Did you feel anything?" I asked.

I watched as the expression of anger slowly changed to one of confusion.

"No, did you?" he eventually asked.

"No, see?" I said walking over to him and taking his hand in mine.

He stared down at our connected hands, then looked back to me.

"So we're not mates?"

"Evidently not," I replied.

What I was expecting was to see relief in Casper's eyes, but instead I watched as they went from hurt and sadness, back to anger again.

He looked me in the eyes, "Did you plan this all along?"

"What?" I asked, not sure what he was getting at.

"You knew didn't you. All that stuff you told me about thinking we were mates, was all bullshit wasn't it."

I didn't like the look in his eyes. He was really angry, and it was starting to scare me a little.

I unconsciously started backing away from him, his hand slipping out of mine.

"No, no, I - I didn't make any of it up," I stammered out.

"I can't believe I was so stupid!" he said, hitting himself over the head. "Why did I even believe you. I mean look at you? There is no way I would ever be mated to someone like you."

That stung, and I found myself backing out of his bedroom.

"You're nothing. A nobody. And a guy!! I can't believe you had me fooled like that. What was the point? Were you trying to sabotage the wedding?"

"There was no point!" I said firmly, but with a hint of pleading in my tone. "I swear to you Casper, that I really did think we were mates."

"DON'T EVER CALL ME CASPER AGAIN!" he yelled at me.

I stared at him, wide eyed, caught like a deer in the headlights.

"And don't look up while I'm talking to you," he said, raising his arm like he was going to cuff me round the head.

I quickly lowered my gaze, preparing for the pain. But it never came.

"Just get out of my room!" he yelled.

My head snapped up again as I started to panic.

"Hang on, I need my clothes," I said, desperately wanting this to be over, and to be as far away from here as possible.

Casper strode back into his bedroom and came out with a handful of my clothes. He threw them at me, and I watched them fall in a heap on the floor.

"NOW GET OUT!"

I quickly gathered them up and hurried toward his door.

I stopped. "What about these?" I said, gesturing to his clothes that I was still wearing.

"I don't know! Keep them, bin them, I don't care," he said in frustration.

"Right," I said, grabbing my shoes off the floor and stepping out of the door.

"Oh and Joel," he called, making me poke my head back in the room, "whether you get that job or not, I want you gone by the time I'm back off my honeymoon. I don't want to have to see you ever again. Got it?"

I felt something inside me break, but I wasn't going to let him see that.

"Got it," I said with no emotion, then left and shut the door behind me.

I couldn't really think straight. I felt kind of numb, like I was in shock.

I quickly began to get changed back into my clothes.

It must have been early but I could hear noises in the manor, so people must have been up already. I pulled my watch out of my pocket and checked the time. 7:30. Shit! I thought he was supposed to be setting his alarm for 6:00!

I changed as quickly as possible, then bolted along the corridor towards the stairs, tucking my shirt in and fastening my belt as I ran.

I kept my head down, and ran all the way home. I might have been seen, but nobody called my name, so hopefully I had gotten away with it.

Once I got home, I quickly changed into something more comfortable, then headed back out. I jogged over to the edge of the forest, then changed into my wolf and ran.

I ran and I ran and I ran.

All the tension and anger being pushed into my muscles as I drove harder and faster.

I only stopped when I reached the edge of our territory.

I turned back into my human form and sat down on the grass beneath a big oak tree.

The only sound around me was the sound of the birds chirping in the trees.

I took a deep breath and finally allowed my thoughts and feelings to wash over me. I felt my chest constrict as a crushing weight seemed to settle on me and I felt a lump in my throat as I fought back the tears.

I had lost him.

It didn't even bother me that we weren't mates. I'd never really wanted to find my mate. I wanted to fall in love the human way. By choice. And I wanted to be chosen by someone who wanted me, not someone who was stuck with me.

I wanted Casper.

I had fallen in love with Casper.

But he would never fall in love with me.