Chapter 5 5

DIANA'S POV

"Are you done or... It is okay, I have all the time in the world. You can go for another run, I will wait."Ramon said quirking his lips.

Allow me to explain what happened. When he approached me to talk about something, I ran.

Why?

Well, because that was the only thing I could think of at that time. Perhaps, in retrospect, I shouldn't have done that but I was not thinking straight at that time. When I finally understood what I had done, I decided to go back. Having decided that I was preparing myself to go back and face him when the man himself saved me the effort.

I heard something snap behind me. My head turned so fast, I bet it would have rolled off my shoulders had I been a normal human. Just a bit exaggerated.

Ramon stood in front of me with a smug smile and asked, "Are you done or... It's okay, I have all the time in the world. You can go for another run, I will wait."

I was more intrigued by the fact that he reached there so fast. For a minute there, I had totally forgotten about his beta gene.

"Umm... I.. uh..just so you know... uh.. normal." I was trying hard to form a coherent sentence.

What was with the stammering? Why couldn't I think of a proper full sentence to answer him?

He raised one of his eyebrows, "Oh! So you are telling me, breaking into a sprint in the middle of the school hallway is the new normal for you. Wow! I mean you were always annoying, but this is just.."

That stupid man was holding back his laughter and I was grinding my teeth.

"Aaww, our mate is funny," Amber added to my misery.

Really, like really? Hence proven, my wolf was stupid. He was standing there: insulting me and all she could come up with was, This.

Deciding to deal with her later, I focused my attention on the jerk standing in front of me. Mate or not, I could see that some things would never change. This was the equation we shared before he left. Breathing in the same space was enough for us to start a fight. This meant now I would have to fight both the enemy bond and the mate bond with him: because clearly, the enemy bond was still intact.

"And you zoned out, AGAIN!"He smirked.

I swear I was seconds away from breaking his head but no, we had things to discuss and I didn't think it would sit well with Amber if our mate walked around headless. So, for once I decided to be the sensible person of the lot.

I crossed my arms and said, "Stop with your crap and tell me what you wanted to talk about," Sensible enough, see.

All his playfulness was gone the moment I opened my mouth. He sighed and started coming towards me but then as if recalling something, stopped there. That was a good move from Ramon: It was getting difficult for me to hold on to my anger and not give in to the attraction between us and reducing the space between us would not be of any help. I guess he was equally affected.

He seemed to be in deep thought, "Well, I wanted to talk about us." He said as he pointed his hands from his to my side.

"Us?" I said as I tried acting as ignorant about the topic as possible while following the direction his hands were taking. I had no idea what I wanted to prove with that lame statement slash question, but it was the first response that came to my mind. Trust me, I was not always like this, it was just a 'today' thing. My brain cells seemed to have gone on a vacation with the whole mate surprise thing thrown its way.

This made him irritated again. "Don't play games, Bridge."There he went with my last name, as always when angry.

"Then be clear, Parker."

We stood there glaring at each other and it continued for... I don't know, wasn't exactly keeping the count. Finally, after what seemed like ages, he turned his eyes away. Rubbing his forehead, Ramon looked into my eyes and spoke very calmly:

"Can we have a civilized conversation, Diana?"

To be honest, he had me when my name rolled off his tongue so smoothly. It evoked so many different feelings in my body at the same time, that I did not know how to react. I sat on the ground and lowered my head to calm my heart. It is wrong, I reprimanded myself.

"It is not. Why don't you understand? This is what fate has chosen for us."

Don't listen to Amber, I told my mind again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ramon also sitting on the ground, keeping a safe distance between us.

"You are my mate, Diana."The way he said it, my heart swelled with happiness and pride. I raised my head to look at him.

"I know."

"And you also know that I am committed to your best friend. I love Sandra a lot, living without her is something that I cannot even dream about," He paused.

This should not have hurt, this was not normal. I knew everything about their relationship and I was also in a relationship with Adam. Then what was this twinge of pain?

It is just the wolf part of me reacting to your mate's words, the rational part of my mind tried consoling me. I just hoped it was true.

Ramon continued, "And from what I have heard from the boys and seen.." again a pause, "Adam is your..."

"He's my boyfriend. We have been in a relationship for a few months now."

"That is," he cleared his throat. "uh...g...good.. that is good. So, this leaves us with only one option."

"We'll have to reject each other."I completed.

He shut his eyes on hearing that word. It hurt me too, to say that to my mate's face but I reminded myself how important it was. Amber was baring her teeth at me, I knew she was extremely angry and above all hurt. This was her one chance with our mate and I was depriving her of that but there were too many relationships at stake and this was the best for everyone.

"Yes, we'll have to reject each other." Ramon agreed.

We sat there in silence.

"So, do we lie re... reject the mate bond now?" I thought it would be better to get this done and over with at the earliest chance so as to avoid further complications.

He shook his head negatively and said: "No, It's a bit of a complex procedure for alphas and betas. I have read this rule made to ensure less or no rejections by the leaders. I am not sure about the whole thing but there are only specific days when we can reject our mates,"

"Okay. So, you..."

He cut me off, "Yeah, I'll check it out but we can't let the elders of the pack know. Not even my dad, they will throw me out of the pack," He had a funny expression on his face as if imagining the things our beta would do to him.

I chuckled. His head snapped in my direction and then slowly, he smiled.

I looked on as he stood up from his place and started dusting the twigs and dry leaves of his jeans. Still smiling, Ramon extended his hand for me to hold and get up. I thought about it and then ended up taking his hand. A wave of current passed from our joined hands to my heart and from the sharp intake of his breath, I was sure he felt that too. Trying to avoid that feeling, I jumped up and removed my hand from his.

"So, uh... I'll let you know as soon as I gather the information on the rejection procedure."

"That's cool, Ramon. I will see you around then."

He started to leave, "Yeah."

"And Diana?" I turned "It's good to see you after two years." He gave me a full-blown smile looking more handsome if that was even possible.

Was that for real? Wow! I thought things would be different for us from that day onwards. With the whole change in our dynamic, we could be normal towards each other but maybe I said it too soon.

"My wolf, Devon, is possessive about his mate. So, try and stay away from Adam when you are in front of us," He ordered and with that, he left.

My mouth was still hung open from what I just heard. Did he just- how dare he order me like that?

Some things will never change.