Chap 11: Reality Check

Chris didn't mean to, but he had started to resent Adele. He got nightmares wherein he imagined himself in his dad's place and Adele in his mom's, reliving the same agony and pain his dad had to go through. Chris stayed away from Adele to avoid getting angry at her and do something he would regret later. 

Liam usually did nothing to go against Chris, so even though he wanted to clarify the situation with Adele, he couldn't. When he recalled the past incidents, he realized he couldn't risk Chris's safety for his own benefits.

Now that their pups will be born soon, he should be happy instead of sulking about his mate. He, too, decided to stay away from Adele to avoid giving in to his mate instincts.

Chris and Liam were always together, and the pack members noticed them ignoring their mate. This led to various speculations. Some said Chris and Liam fought with Adele, whereas a few said they just used her to have a pup, and now that she was pregnant, they got what they wanted from her. Some even went to the extent of teasing Chris and Liam to get married as they would be fathers soon. Chris seemed pleased with the idea, but Liam thought it was not the right time now. 

Soon, Adele started to notice a few changes in the pack. Her mates had got distant. When she tried to spend some time with Chris or Liam, they avoided her by saying they were busy. Initially, Adele thought maybe they were actually occupied, but later on, she realized that appeared to be the case only for her but not for anyone else.

Whenever Adele came across the pack members, she met with different reactions from each. Some looked at her with pity, whereas few sneered at her. 

One fine morning, Adele was shocked beyond belief when she heard a few pack members discussing Chris and Liam's marriage. Before she could clearly process what she had heard, there were so many questions running through her mind. Are Chris and Liam in a relationship? Even if they were together, they could have discussed it with her. Then she realized it was wrong to jump to conclusions only by hearing few rumors and not even knowing the actual truth.

Adele asked those pack members what they were talking about, but they just avoided the topic stating various reasons. 

Except for Maria, Adele had no one at the pack whom she could talk to and clear her doubts, so she asked her about the rumors. Though Maria knew about Chris and Liam's relationship, she didn't believe they would marry so soon, while Adele was still pregnant and the pups were yet to be born. 

Maria didn't want Adele to get upset, so she brushed off the rumors saying, "It's nonsense, don't believe whatever the pack members say."

Adele was still not convinced. " But why would such a thought come to their mind in the first place? There is no smoke without fire.

Maria cursed those stupid pack members in her mind for blatantly talking about such things in Adele's presence. Adele was a clever woman who would not get convinced by silly excuses. Maria thought hard but could not find anything to say and avoided looking at Adele. 

Looking at Maria's hesitation, Adele asked, " Is there something I don't know, Maria? Are Chris and Liam in a relationship?"

Maria was dumbstruck. After a few seconds of silence,she recovered from her shock and stuttered, "N-no, it's nothing like that. Y-You are overthinking."

" If you don't have anything to say, then I will directly ask Chris and Liam" saying this Adele got up and left to go to Chris's office.

Maria tried to stop her, but she was lost for words. She just hoped Chris and Liam would handle the situation properly and consider not hurting Adele's feelings.

While on her way to Chris's office, Adele thought about the expression she saw on Maria's face when she asked about Chris and Liam's relationship. It clearly showed on her face that the answer to Adele's question was affirmative. She knew Maria was like a mother figure to Chris, and she obviously knew everything about him. Now she was nearly certain the rumors were true, but still, she needed to speak to them. Even if it is true, she still thought it might work out as she shared them as a mate.

Adele entered the alpha's office and saw both of her mates Alpha Chris and Beta Liam, sitting beside each other, holding hands. Both looked at her with a blank expression.

"So the rumors are true?" Adele asked.

"What rumors?" Chris asked back.

"I heard rumors around the pack that you two are getting married. Is it true?"

Chris smiled and looked lovingly at Liam, then he looked back at Adele and said, " Yes, we have waited for it for a long time, and finally, we are planning to get married soon."

Adele's doubts were now confirmed, and she didn't know whether she was happy or sad. She asked her wolf Alexa in her mind, " What do you think about this?"

Alexa replies, " I don't have any problem with them getting married as both of them are my fated soul mates, but what about us?"

Adele nods and asks Chris, "Then what about us?"

"What us?" Chris asked unconcernedly.

"You two are my fated mates. I am even pregnant with your pups now. Don't you think we should also get married?"

Chris scoffed. "Why should we marry you when we don't even love you"? 

Liam was just sitting there as if uninterested in the whole thing.

Those words were like a blow to Adele and Alexa's hearts. They knew their mate's behavior seemed weird from the past few days. They were hurt that both of her mates didn't want her.

"We have just recently met. We should spend time together and get to know each other. As we are mates, I am sure we will come to love each other," whispered Adele.

"We will never love you. We didn't even want a mate in the first place," says Chris angrily.

"Then why did you accept me and get me here to your pack? You could have rejected me the moment we met".

"We needed you to give us heirs. You know we can have pups only from fated mates. We got you here to give birth to our pups and raise them. That is the only thing you are meant to do. Do not expect anything more".

Adele was so shocked by these words that she didn't know how to react. She couldn't believe she was being tricked and betrayed by both of her mates. Were all the things she had heard about soulmates loving each other unconditionally false? The tears she was so desperately trying to control started flowing out of her eyes. Alexa's situation was even worse; she felt a severe pain of rejection in her heart, and in her case, it had a double impact as it was rejection from two mates.

" Don't you feel any connection between us? We are mates; for God's sake, we even made love. " Adele asked desperately. She felt so pathetic to be begging in front of her mates.

" I don't feel any connection with you and never will. And what we did was not making love; that was we fucking you so that you could get pregnant with our pups." Chris said casually as if it didn't matter to him at all. 

The indifference shown by both Chris and Liam towards Adele was enough proof for her that they didn't care for her, but she still wanted to hold on to some sort of hope that this mate bond would work.

Trying to make another attempt, Adele asked Liam, " Why are you not saying anything, Liam? Even we are mates; don't you have anything to say?

Liam just looked at Adele and said, " I am not saying anything because I don't feel you are important enough for me to waste my time on."

Adele was shattered after hearing those words. Forget being a mate; they didn't even consider her as a person. The hurt and pain were slowly turning to anger. She had never been so humiliated in her entire life. She left her loving family and pack and came to this pack to be with her mates, but what did she get in return? Pain, hurt, and betrayal. Her mates didn't want her; the pack members never spared her a glance; it was as if she didn't exist for them. She had enough now. If they don't want her, then she doesn't need them either. She fiercely wipes her tears and says, " Ok, Fine. If you don't want this mate bond, then there is no point in me being here. I don't want to stay in this pathetic pack. I am leaving."

Chris stands up and says, " You can't leave now; you are carrying our pups."

Adele replies angrily, " My pups don't need ungrateful fathers like you. I can take care of them without you".

On hearing those words Chris and Liam both let out a fierce growl, and Chris spats, " How dare you to disrespect us like that?"

"You do not deserve any respect from me. I don't know why the moon goddess cursed me by pairing me with mates like you, but I certainly do not want to continue with this bond. As you didn't reject me for your own selfish reasons, I will do it. I Adele Green reject...

As soon as Adele said those words, Alexa, who was silent this whole time, suddenly interrupted, " Stop it, Adele, we cannot reject our mates.

Adele replied with frustration, " Can't you see Alexa? They don't want us". 

Alexa was crying in pain and said, " I know it, I know our mates don't want us, but it is not so simple for us wolves. We need our mates to survive. Mate bonds are the most sacred bonds which the moon goddess herself has fated, and we can't just let it go. We have to give them another chance. I know as time passes, they will surely accept us."

Adele says, " I am not sure about this, Alexa; it seems like only we care about this bond, not our mates nor their wolves. Why are their wolves not stopping them? Being with them will only cause us more heartache. Do you think we can tolerate it anymore?"

" We are not so weak to be broken so easily. We are of Alpha blood, and we cannot accept defeat so easily. And until you are with me, I can face anything. Please, I request you to give this mate bond a chance. They are our mates, and I don't want to give up on them so easily. Don't you want our pups to have a complete family?"

As Adele thought about her pups, she knew she couldn't be so selfish as to take them away from their fathers without even giving them a chance. She was utterly defeated and slumped down on the floor and started crying. She was in so much pain and felt so helpless that she couldn't do anything to get rid of this pain. She missed her family and her old pack. She felt so lonely and broken.

Chris, who had been observing Adele very keenly, saw Adele's pupils continuously changing from green to gold and knew she was talking to her wolf. He was about to stop Adele from rejecting them but was happy to know her wolf didn't allow her to do so. He just smirked and said, " Your wolf understands the situation better than you do, Adele. It would be good for you if you just listen to her".

Alexa was so angry on hearing those words from Chris. Their pain did not matter to him at all; instead, he was mocking them. She took control and changed to her snow-white wolf. She wanted to attack him, but she knew she can’t attack her mate. She just gave a heartbroken howl of pain and jumped out of the window and ran towards the forest.

Next chapter