Chapter 19 - Mates Are A Pain In The Ass.

"And voila you're done"

I look into the mirror next to me and smile, Emilys really got a way with making someone look good with a flick of a brush whether it be a hairbrush or a make-up brush.

After the funeral, I looked like a car wreck and Emily being her usual self said that I can't be walking around my own grandparents funeral looking like a hobo that has been on a four day bender so she brought me up to her room so that I could clean myself up and fix my hair and make-up which now looks immaculate thanks to Em.

"Thanks Em, you're a diamond"

"You're welcome, babe....are you ok?"

Emily asks whilst packing all of her make-up and make-up brushes away.

"Am I ok?....well, I feel like a vase that has been broken and glued back together numerous times and each time it's been repaired it's even more vulnerable than the last time"

f**k, I sound like a weak little girl.

"Not to mention the fact that I broke down worse than a One Direction fan when they found out they were breaking up and everyone is probably laughing at me now"

"Nobody's laughing at you Nat and as for the breaking down part, I wouldn't expect anything less from a woman who is grieving the loss of not just one but two of her grandparents"

I smile sadly and look down.

"Besides, if anyone down there is laughing at you then they won't be laughing at you for long not with myself, Angelo, Brody, alpha James and dare I say it alpha Freddy down there ready to protect you"

I scrunch my face up in confusion as I look at Emily.

"Alpha who?"

"Alpha Freddy, you know Freddy Kreuger"

I chuckle at Emily's nickname for my mate/brother, I guess we've got a lot more in common than I thought, I think I've called my demented mate/brother Freddy Kreuger on more than one occasion but I never knew that my beloved best friend was also calling him it as well.

"The only difference between Cole and the real Freddy is that one is covered in scars instead of tattoos and even though it pains me to say it, your mate is even better looking than the dream demon"

"Ex-mate, Emily"

Emily pulls a face as she continues to fix her hair but what we didn't know until we heard a throat clearing is that someone had been listening to us, I look over at the door and I had to suppress a smile and a chuckle when I saw Angelo glaring daggers at Emily whilst the girl herself looked like a scared little kitten.

"I'm just gonna go and erm....yer, I'm gonna go"

I jump down from the counter and briskly walk out of the room.

The chuckle I was holding in didn't waste any time in leaving my mouth as soon as Angelo shut the bedroom door.

"What's got you laughing, beautiful?"

I roll my eyes when I see a smirking Cole leaning against the wall.

"Urgh!!, piss off, Cole"

"That's not nice is it, babe"

"Neither is your face or your personality, Cole but I've still gotta put up with it, the least you can do is put up with a few nasty comments from me"

I walk past him and head downstairs hoping to put as much distance between us as possible but we all know the chances of that happening is the same as me getting a date with Ian Somerhalder, slim to f*****g none.

"Oh come on Nat, you know you don't mean that"

He says whilst grabbing hold of my elbow and stopping me in my tracks, I turn to face him with a scowl on my face which was only made worse when I saw his annoying ass smirk.

"I know you think I'm the most handsome man you've ever met, babe, don't deny it"

He goes to touch my cheek but I slap his hand away whilst yanking my arm out of his other hand.

"Same old Cole aren't you?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Cole narrows his eyes at me looking confused.

I chuckle at him as I look him up and down.

"You've always been cocky and conceited Cole, this probably explains why you're such a manwhore, I mean any man who can talk so proud about himself can also charm his way into any sluts knickers"

I try to walk away again but Cole once again grabbed my arm and when I turned to face him, I swear I saw panic and worry in his eyes.

"Nattie please I swear, I've changed, I'm not like that anymore"

I laughed at his words.

"Oh please Cole, you don't have to lie to me"

"I'm not, I promise"

"YES, YOU ARE!!, I know you are because I felt it....every..single..time you f****d your basket case whore Aubrey or any other slapper that would drop her dirty knickers for you, I felt it...what do you think drove me to start sleeping with Brody?"

Cole closes his eyes tightly as if my words were causing an unbearable pain deep within him but that's not possible, the devil doesn't feel pain he only feeds off it.

"I chose to lose my virginity and have sex with Brody because of you Cole....because I felt the pain of you having sex with somebody else and I couldn't take it anymore, I wanted you to feel what I feel....Brody tried to change my mind telling me I should wait for you or a second chance mate or somebody else who is more worthy...somebody who I wouldn't regret giving it too but I wanted him because unlike you...he actually cares about me, other than Angelo...Brody is the only guy who showed me any real love and affection, he's the perfect guy....my only regret is that he's not my mate"

"Don't say that Nat, ok....just don't"

He grabs my face with both of his hands which were shaking like a leaf, I would've felt bad for him if he wasn't...you know...him.

"Mates are handmade for each other personally by the moon goddess herself, Nat which means that WE are meant to be together, not you and Brody, not me and Aubrey, just us, Cole and Natalia"

Wow, look who finally clicked on.

I looked up into his tear filled eyes which were filled with so much hope and love, I was inches away from crumbling but I managed to stop myself, I pulled his hands away from my face and stepped back a few steps.

"You're right Cole, mates are meant to be together, we're each other's halves, we can't survive without each other, we're supposed to love, honour and respect each other from the moment we smell each other's scents and feel the shocks and tingles on our skins for the very first time....but instead, you rejected me, you broke me, you beat me up, you....you continuously slept with women after women..."

"I didn't..."

"Yes you did, I felt it"

"DID YOU? DID YOU REALLY?....think about it Nat, did you really feel the pain of me mating with another?"

"Yes, I even witnessed it Cole"

Tears were filling my eyes as I felt my whole body fill with anger and confusion, why was he denying his past deeds? I'd respect him a whole lot more if he just admitted to them instead of lying about them.

"But I didn't Nat...I'll admit that before you left...I did have sex with numerous women because I couldn't stand the fact that the moon goddess had paired me up with my own sister....I felt dirty and disgusted with myself so I continued to sleep with Aubrey and other girls to forget you....but then you left and I was devastated and broken"

"Sure you were"

"I was Nat, I mean I am, I even stopped sleeping with women because I was so consumed with finding you and running my pack"

"STOP LYING, COLE!!"

"I'M NOT LYING, THINK ABOUT IT NAT AND I MEAN REALLY THINK ABOUT IT....after you left...did you really feel me having sex with other women?"

I thought about what he said and I hate to admit it but he's right, other than the night I slept with Brody for the first time, I never felt the pain of him mating with others.

"You did one time...the night I lost my virginity, I..I..I felt you, in fact, I passed out from it"

"Yer, I did that for revenge"

Cole sighs and I look at him confused.

"Revenge?"

He nods his head.

"I felt the pain of you with another man, it wasn't as strong because...you weren't actually having sex but...you must've been doing something that was leading to it because I felt the pain, the pain only one feels when their soulmate is with another"

He looks at me and I tried not to be affected by the pain in his eyes but it's hard, the damn mate bond is affecting me even though it's torn into so many shreds that it's practically hanging on by a thread.

"I wasn't thinking properly and I wanted to hurt you so I...I...I slept with Aubrey, I thought it'd stop you from having sex but it didn't and that night was the single most painful night of my entire existence, in more ways than one"

The hallways went silent as I looked at Cole with shock, tears fell from my eyes as his words hit me hard.

"What the hell is the matter with you? what did I ever do to you for you to hate me so much?"

I walk away but was stopped by Cole, he tried to talk to me again but I was sick and tired of listening to him so I used all of my strength to push him away from me before briskly heading downstairs.

"NATALIA!!.....NATALIA STOP!!"

"Oomf!!"

"I'm sorry...Natalia?"

I look up at the person I bumped into and I quickly backed away when I saw who it was.

"Jason, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I live here, remember"

He says with a slight chuckle.

I kept a cautious eye on him especially when he started to act weird, well, even more weird than Jason Ramsey already is.

"Do you smell that?"

He starts to sniff the air like a dog trying to sniff out a leg of Lamb but then he started to sniff me and to say I was creeped out would be an understatement.

"You smell amazing Natalia, you smell..."

He stops talking as he takes a big sniff of the air around me.

"So god damn good"

He stepped closer to me but was pushed away by Cole.

"Hey man, what the hell are you doing?"

Jason stumbles back a little, he closes his eyes and shakes his head as both myself and Cole look at him confused.

Before everyone turned against me Jason was one of my best friends but then he avoided me like the plague and treated me like dog shit off the bottom of his shoes and now he's sniffing me like a dog in heat, what the hell is going on with him?.

"Jason, are you ok?"

"Yer, I'm fine"

Jason looks at me before apologising and leaving.

"Are you ok, Nat?"

I nod my head.

"I'm fine...excuse me"

I head outside to the gardens where the wake is being held, I look around and see many things, my parents mingling with the elders who came to pay their respects, alpha Jay and Luna Amy are talking with other alphas and Lunas whilst Brody is by the bar.

I smile upon seeing him, I knew I loved this boy for a reason, I walk over to the bar and wrap one of my arms around Brody's waist.

"Hey babe"

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Oh I'm fine considering I just broke down like some weak little girl after singing like an x-factor reject with strep throat in front of my ex pack"

Brody chuckles as he wraps his arms around me.

"No you didn't, Nat, you've got a beautiful voice"

"Whatever you say"

He leans in and kisses me, it was a very passionate kiss which didn't last long when a very deep growl emanated throughout the grounds.

Myself and Brody looked at each other confused before looking around expecting to see a furious Cole but instead we saw a very angry Jason, what the...

"AAHHHH!!"

"MINE!!"

"NATALIA!!"

Brody tried to help me up but was pushed away by Jason who kept on growling mine, what the hell is going...oh my god, everything makes sense now, Jason is Brody's mate that's why he was sniffing me before, he smelled Brody's scent on me.

"Get away from me, asshole"

Brody comes back over to me and helps me up holding me close to him.

"What the hell? you're choosing this whore over me"

"What did you just call her?"

Brody went to go after Jason but I stopped him.

"Brody don't"

"And why shouldn't I, Nat?"

He looked down at me waiting for me to answer, I looked at both him and Jason before finally looking up at Brody and smiled.

"Take a deep inhale, Brody"

Brody looks at me confused.

"Do it"

He's hesitant at first but does it and when he does, reality hits him like a ton of bricks, he looks at Jason who was happy but Brody looked....mortified, oh goddess no.

"No...NOOOO!!"

Brody screamed before fleeing into the woods, I looked over at Jason whose face had dropped, Cole who was standing next to him was looking at me with anger, I matched his glare before running after Brody.

I ran as fast as I could trying to catch up to my friend, one of the best advantages I've got is that I can run really fast in six inch heels so it didn't take me long to catch up to Brody who had stopped by the lake and was pacing angrily whilst roughly tugging on his hair.

"Brody...Brody, are you ok?"

"No, this can't be happening, my mate can't be a guy, I'm....I'm straight"

"Brody, it's ok, everything is gonna be ok"

I try to touch his arm but he snatched it away.

"NO IT'S NOT!!, I'M NOT GAY, NATALIA!!, I'M NOT, I'M STRAIGHT, I'VE NEVER EVEN BEEN ATTRACTED TO MEN!!"

He looked disgusted at the thought and I felt so sorry for him, Brody isn't a homophobe, he's far from it, I think he's just scared.

"You knew didn't you?"

"What? how the hell would I know who your mate is Brody?"

"Because you said that my mate could be either a woman or a man, you always joked about it"

I chuckle slightly.

"And what? because I made a little joke, you think I knew who your mate would be?"

"Yer, yer I do, actually"

Wow, I look at Brody astonished, I walk up to him until we're only inches apart.

"Do you really believe that, Brody?...do you really believe that I would give you my virginity and continue to have sex with you if I knew that you were mated to a f*****g man, worst of all a guy that I hate?"

Brody looks down at me, his eyes were searching mine as if he was trying to find even a sliver of a lie but he didn't find anything.

Brody slumps his shoulders and sighs before pulling me into a hug.

"I'm sorry Nat, I really am"

"It's ok, Brody, I promise"

He nuzzles his face into my neck which didn't bother me at first but then I felt his hands start to roam my body as he kissed my neck.

"B..Brody, what are you doing?"

"Mmm, nothing"

"Brody stop"

"No"

He pushed me against the nearest tree causing me to groan in pain, he then became more and more aggressive with his touch and his kisses, I tried to push him away and get him to stop but he wouldn't, he just continued to attack me.

"Brody please stop, you don't want to do this"

"Actually, I do"

He pulls away and cups my face.

"I do want this because I have to prove to you that I'm not gay"

"It's ok to be gay Brody, you don't have to afraid because your mate is a man"

Brody looked down and I hoped that he'd finally see sense but when he looked back up at me, I saw nothing but black in his eyes and his gorgeous thick lips that I once loved to kiss had now turned into an evil smirk and the part of me that once felt safe in his presence was now stricken with pure fear.