Mate. My wolf whimpered.

Yeah, and what a mate he is, I thought sourly as I made my way over to my desk. Luckily I wasn't too close to him, though that didn't mean I wasn't aware of every movement he made and every whisper he shared with the people around him.

"I can't believe you two are mates." A girl who sat close - too close for my wolf's liking- to Adan chirped. My heart stopped beating. Where they talking about me?

I tilted my head so I could see them through the brown curtain of hair I had used as a wall. "I know!" Another girl - Harmony - whispered. "I never thought Jake would be my mate." At her words my heart started to beat again. Jake was one of Adan's best friends.

My eyes instinctively fell on Adan as he leaned back into his chair as if he didn't have a care in the world. He rested one hand on the back of the girl's chair and the other on the desk, a pen twirling between his fingers. I even noticed how his right leg slightly bounced up and down. "He a lucky guy, Har." Adan said with nothing but honesty in his voice. "You make a great couple."

For a second I found myself wishing that I was Harmony. Not because her mate loved her, though I wouldn't exactly turn that down, but because of the way Adan spoke to her. Anyone could tell by his voice that he cared for her, that he was close to her. I wished he would speak to me like that. "What about you Adan?" The girl to his right asked.

"What about me?"

"Do you have a mate?" Before this morning I would have caught my breath in the hope he would say yes, but all I did was wait for the pain that was sure to shoot through my heart any second.

I saw his body tense for a second and his head quickly glance in my direction. "No."

My hand instinctively clasped over my heart as I grabbed hold of my shirt. Taking deep breaths I hoped the pain would fade so no one would notice. My body wanted to push the pain out with tears, but I refused. I wouldn't cry over him, not here anyway.

Again I caught his eyes flicker over to me, but I ignored him. Sitting with my hands clenched together on the desk I evened out my breathing as the pain in my heart slowly started to ease. I knew he was still watching me and he knew what his words had done to me, but I stayed strong, despite my wolf pacing back and forth inside me. Her pain wasn't going anywhere.

Does it hurt? Asked the voice in my head. I knew it was Adan. I nodded once, not looking at him, but hoping that by admitting my pain, he would stop. Good.

I involuntarily gasped as stabbing pain shot through me again. My hands had paled; I held the edges of the desk that tight.

Did you honestly think I would say yes? He sniggered. Why would I want you? Look at you. You're ugly and disgusting. You're weak, pathetic and a waste of time. As if you could be Luna of a pack. You'd bring nothing but shame to me and my pack.

Is it possible to feel your heart bleed? Because that's what I felt, as if my heart had just been ripped open and left to run dry. The walls of the class suddenly began to close in on me. I stood from the chair leaving it to clatter against the floor as it fell back. "Is there something wrong Miss Berry?" Mr Forden asked.

The next thing that happened was something you can only imagine when it happens to you. When your heart starts to beat faster and faster until the little red and black spots appear in front of your eyes. I could feel my legs give out underneath me, but I couldn't do anything to stop them. Hearing Mr Forden calling my name faded as the blackness took over.

* * *

The white light that pushed its way into my vision every time I opened my eyes hurt like hell. I kept blinking hoping that would take it away - it didn't. Was I dead? Oh my God, had that jerk kill me? Going through the ways, as well as the probability that Adan could have actually killed me, I could hear the faint whisper of my name being called.

"She's awake Nurse Anderson." Was that Dera or Emma, I didn't know. What I did know was that I had a head that hurt like a mother and a throat that burned as if I had ran my tongue along the Sahara Desert.

It wasn't the best feeling I've woken up with.

"Ah, so she is. Miss Winston run along and inform Principle Erickson that Miss Berry will have to go home straight away, and if her parents cannot pick her up I will be giving you a pass to take her, okay?" Our school nurse said as she fluffed the pillow underneath my head. I was surprised she managed to do it; the pillow had barely one feather in it.

Once Dera was out of the office, I opened my eyes and took in the familiar setting of our nurse's office. Yeah, unfortunately for me I wasn't the best with co-ordination so I was one of Nurse Anderson's regulars. "Miss Berry, how is your head? You had a pretty nasty fall in class." She said giving me a small smile

I sat up despite the drop in my stomach. "It hurts, but my eyes are open so that's a good start." I said. Nurse Anderson gave a small shake of her head and chuckled.

An image of her all over my mate flashed through my head, then those horrible words he said to me burned into my mind and despite the blurriness of my eyes, and the low growl that escaped my throat, I threw my legs over the bed and steadied myself on my feet. "When can I go?"

She briefly looked up at me over her square rimmed glasses before she returned her attention to the paperwork in her hand. "As soon as Miss Winston is back with the slips. I suggest you have plenty of rest and if your head gets any worse you go the hospital straight away, do you understand?" I nodded and smiled. "And no running, Carlie." She said sternly. I thanked her and walked outside to wait for Dera.

His scent hit me before he came into view. The bloody intoxicating smell of spice and wood filled my nose and wrapped itself around my lungs.

"Still alive then?" His silky smooth voice floated through the empty corridor. Guess everyone was in class. How long was I out for?

I was pissed that I couldn't see him. "Obviously." I grunted and turned in the opposite direction to his voice, hoping to escape a run in with him. As I hoisted my bag on to my shoulder he stepped out from behind the lockers. No such luck there then.

Another bite in the ass from Karma.

He stood taller than I did at around 6'1. His muscular body was worth any girls drool and his face could break a thousand hearts. Well I could break your face, I thought to myself.

Now that's not nice is it, nerd? That voice was there again and so was his stupid smug grin he wore that made him look so damn sexy. Urgh! Great start in trying to forget him Carlie.

My eyes widened when I realized he was walking to me. His jaw clenched and his eyes seemed to get a shade darker with each step he took closer to me. Not good! The last thing I need right now is to be pinned to the wall again.

I held out my hand, my palm facing him. "Look, I get it. You rejected me." I felt the tears swell in my eyes and I scolded myself for letting my voice break at those words. "You don't need to keep saying it and believe me I don't need to keep hearing it."

Why was he still getting closer? It was the first time I actually prayed for one the girls who usually hang off his neck to pop out from behind a door or something.

"Are you sure? After you're little performance in class I hardly believe you're over me." He said it with such confidence I wanted to poke his eye out.

Just one.

Wait, a performance? Is that what he really thought that was? Maybe it was my skills as an actress. God I hope Emma doesn't find out, she's a drama nut and has been begging Dera and I to join the drama society all year. She even got Ray to join, though I think he'd follow her off a cliff if she asked him to.

"What are you doing?" That stupid jerk asked.

"I'm standing here." I said, confused. My confidence wavered, not that I had much to begin with.

He was within touching distance, I could feel my body and my wolf was all too aware of that fact. "No, you scrunch your nose up and pout your lips a little, why?"

What? Then realization hit. "Oh, um I do that when I'm thinking. Always have." I shrugged. "Anyway, where was I?" The coldness of the locker hit my back making me jump. What is with me and lockers lately?

That one sided smirk was firmly back on his face. "You were saying how you were fine with the whole me rejecting you issue." He said it with ease, as if it didn't bother him in the slightest, but for a fraction of a second I could have sworn I saw something else. Something more like sadness or even... worry. No that can't be right.

I could feel his breath on my face and it did not help my brain form the words I needed. My breath once again did the disappearing act when his nose brushed against my cheek. "I-I."

I've lost the ability to speak. Again! Jeez there are drugs that aren't as dangerous as this guy.

"You've?" He pressed. This time when his skin touched mine it was his lips brushing against my neck. For the briefest second, the naïve part of me allowed myself to believe he was going to mark me as his. I quickly pushed that idiotic thought away and tried to focus on what I should be saying.

Why is he doing this to me? Why point out everything he hates about me and then speak to me? Isn't rejecting me once enough for him? Now he decides it would be more fun to tease me and show me what I will never have.

With those thoughts, and those thoughts alone in my head I press my palms to his chest and push him away with every ounce of strength I had. For a second he looked shocked and a little disorientated. I could see the lust in his eyes. My wolf howled inside me, using her strength to push me forward and back into his arms, but I wouldn't. Despite what he had done and said, it wasn't Adan she wanted, it was his wolf.

He goes to open his mouth, but before he can say anything else and cause my heart to break even more. I clear my throat, look straight into the pools of blackness that look back at me and say the words I should have said the moment he rejected me.

"I, Carlie Berry accept your rejection, Adan Williams."

I grab my bag from the floor and walk to where Dera is stood with her mouth open, never looking back in his direction.