Chapter 3: Alpha Sienna

Raine's POV

I arrived at the packing lot, feeling the light breakfast of toast I had this morning threaten to reappear. He was my mate, and I was sure of it.

Then why did he seem so certain about Davina? She even rejected him, but he insisted.

I lifted my face and looked up at the sky, forcing myself to take deep breaths. He's just a man. He might be my mate, but he's still just a man. And when did I ever lose myself over men?

"Lorraine!" Mom's icy voice sliced through my melancholy.

As if the night could not get any worse.

"What's that stunt you pulled in there?" Her face was red from anger. "Why did you stand up before he got to your table? That man was interested in you, but you ruined it because you can't help but act so desperate."

I stared at her. I ran out here because I was publicly embarrassed and hurt, but she didn't care. She didn't even notice at all.

"I've told you to always let the men come to you and..."

"I have a headache, and you're not helping me." I cut her off for the first time in years, my voice scratchy from the tears I was holding back.

Mom's head tilted, almost like she couldn't believe what I said. "Lorraine?"

"I came here to be alone. I need to process my thoughts. And you're disrupting my peace."

She took a step back, hands to her chest like I'd actually hit her there.

"You're being disrespectful."

"And you're being inconsiderate." It must be the alcohol I took earlier. Nothing about the mortifying way in which my mate crushed my heart to dust.

"I will let your father know."

Of course. She would say that.

"Mom?" I straightened, just so I could stare down at her. "I don't care."

She blanched for a second, I might have been a ghost. "What?"

"I'm tired. I don't care anymore."

She scoffed, and my heart tightened because I knew what was coming. "Are you sure you want to go this way, Lorraine? After all I'm protecting you from?"

I swallowed. "You're not protecting me. You're blackmailing me."

"Either way, nobody knows about it because I didn't tell anyone even though what you did was horrible. You might want to change your tone when you speak to me next time."

My throat worked as the cold bit at my skin. She knew my darkest secret. She had been there when I... did something I didn't even like to admit to myself. That was why she could control me. That was why I would always do her biddings even though I was twenty three and old enough to move out and be on my own.

"Hey!" I turned away from my mother, keeping the sick feelings at bay as Alpha Sienna approached. She sounded concerned. "I saw you walk out, so I decided to check on you."

My mother's face brightened up at once as she turned to Sienna. "Alpha Sienna. So good to see you."

She acknowledged my mom with a polite nod of her head, which didn't seem enough for her.

"Are you a friend of my daughter's?"

"Yes. We met one time when I visited Alpha Lucien's pack." Sienna said flatly. That was a lie. We were meeting for the first time. "Can I have a moment with your daughter please?"

Mom smiled. "Sure. Take all the time you want." She then walked off more happily than she came.

If my guess was right, she wanted me to impress Sienna, not caring about the possibility that none of us might be into women. Yeah, she was desperate like that.

Why do I belong to such family for goodness' sake?!

"How're you holding up?" Sienna asked, and my stomach sank even lower when I remembered what Alpha Desmond did.

I shrugged. "I'm surviving."

"I can see that."

Against my will, the tears began to roll out. I hated them. I hardly ever let my tears fall, especially in front of people. But I just couldn't hold back now.

"Oh no, don't cry, Sweet pea." She handed me a handkerchief, which I appreciated. "He's just a man. We don't cry over men. Didn't you see his hairline? It's already receding to the middle of his head."

That made a laugh slip out, even though it was a lie. There was nothing wrong with his hairline at all, but I would pretend. It made me feel better.

"Do you know Desmond personally?" I asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

She nodded. "We've been friends for as long as I can remember. I share a boundary with him and Lucien and some other ass I can't bother about."

"Has he always been... this way?"

"You mean an asshole?"

I chuckled. "Yeah."

"Truthfully, no. His behaviour came as a shock. He's flirted with Davina before, but it was nothing serious. He just wanted to piss Lucien off. But today... He seemed very off, I don't know."

A part of me—the optimistic part that had refused to die—wondered if what happened was not his fault somehow. But then, reality kicked in, and I pushed that thought far far away. I would not make excuses for his behaviour. He humiliated me, and that's all that was worth remembering.

"You're going to make him pay."

I shook my head. "I'm not interested." The prospect might have been exciting when I was still a teenager. But I had better things to think of right now than ways to make a man suffer just so I could justify my desire to have him.

Sienna stared at me for a while. "Hope you know Davina didn't do anything wrong and your fight is with Desmond?"

I gulped down the lump in my throat. "I know."

But it didn't make it hurt any less when I think about her. I was in their pack for a while as Lucien's fiancee. We were supposed to get married, only for him and Davina to end up as fated mates. They acted like they didn't want anything to do with each other when they were madly in love, and I was caught in the cross fire.

I'd put that behind me. But now, it hurts so bad seeing my own mate choosing her over me again.

I was always the after thought. Nobody's first choice. So yes, as much as I hated myself for it, I held some grievances against Davina.