But it made me sick to my stomach thinking about it, but I pushed it away for now. He was mine for now and that’s all I should care about. I could be selfish and want him for myself for a little while longer.
And maybe by then he would love me so much, he wouldn’t want his real mate anymore. Maybe we could even just stay together despite our real mates.
And even though it seemed crazy, it could happen. If he loved me enough, then maybe he would give up his right to his true mate and stay with me instead.
And I knew that sounded crazy, but maybe it could really happen. He loved me now, didn’t he?
So maybe we really could stay together even though we weren’t true mates. He didn’t have to give up his right for me. The Gods didn’t have the right to say who he was to love.
And as I thought about that, I smiled to myself and then nodded at that idea.
That’s what we were going to do. We were going to stay together and not let the Gods tell us what to do. They didn’t own us or have a say in our lives. And they shouldn’t be able to tell us who to love. It was our decision and no one else’s.
But now he had to know too. I had to tell him too.
“Brandon?” I finally spoke up softly after a few moments of silence when he pulled away from me again.
“Huh?” he said distractedly and then smiled at me happily again.
“I need to tell you something,” I started slowly after a few more seconds of thought.
“What is it?” he asked curiously when he saw the expression on my face.
“I...” I paused again, then just said what I needed to say because he had to know. “You’re not my mate.”
“Not your mate?” he repeated after a second of shock.
“No,” I shook my head and then sighed with a frown. “It’s okay though.”
He frowned too now, then finally sat back with surprise. “Oh...”
“It’s fine,” I said softly again. “I still love you.”
“And I still love you,” he nodded after a second too.
“I know,” I agreed with relief. “So maybe we should just forget about that then.”
“Forget about it?” Brandon repeated again, but this time with confusion.
“We can forget about it if we want to,” I explained seriously. “We don’t have to find our mates if we don’t want to.”
“Oh...” Brandon looked confused for a few seconds, then slowly nodded at me too. “Yeah.”
“So maybe we should do that,” I suggested hopefully.
“Maybe...” he agreed after another few moments of thought. “Maybe we can just stay together instead of finding our mates.”
“Yeah,” I grinned with relief and then hugged him to my side happily. “We can stay together.”
“Good,” Brandon grinned back and then hugged me back.
The next morning was an absolute disaster. I woke up to find that I had missed four calls and a couple of texts from Brandon.
I had been hoping for some more time to gather my thoughts and get a plan together but clearly that wasn’t happening. I was going to have to face him eventually.
He had already cornered me twice and it had ended in disaster both times. If I wanted to avoid the same result happening again then I needed to be prepared.
Brandon Jameson was not a man to be underestimated. He was the alpha male of this city, and he was not afraid to use his powers to get what he wanted.
So I needed to make sure that he didn’t find me today. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but there were some tricks I could use to avoid him.
My first step was to get out of the house before he got the chance to arrive. I checked my phone again and found that he had called me again. I really had no choice but to avoid him for now, and then come up with a solid plan once I got some space.
I snatched up my bag, which I had packed the night before, and rushed out of my house. My plan was to head to the library and spend the whole day studying there.
That would make it really difficult for him to find me, because I was the only one in my class who took notes by hand, and I always kept my phone in silent mode to make sure that I wasn’t disturbed. I wouldn’t be able to hide forever, but it would give me some time to think.
It took me a few minutes to get to campus on foot, and then another few minutes to get inside the library and find a desk for myself. Then I put my headphones on, pulled out my notes and textbooks, and got to work.
I had decided that I was going to avoid Brandon for a few more days at least until I got a plan. My best bet would be to tell him that I needed some space and hope that he gave it to me. Once I got out of this situation I was going to swear off men altogether. They were too much trouble, and I was done with all this drama.
For a moment my thoughts went to what it felt like to have him inside me. The way he had pumped into me as we had do the intimacy, the way his sensitive part had stretched me and filled me up. The way he had made me feel like I was the most beautiful girl in the world.
It hadn’t even been twenty four hours but I was already starting to crave him again. The taste of his lips, the touch of his skin, the sound of his voice. It had all been so perfect, and it made me wish that things were different for us.