Ashes Of A Mate

Chapter4

Scars That Don't Show

When Lexi returned home, she immediately scrambled up to her bedroom and rushed to the front of her mirror.

Her eyes pooled up as she used her index to trace the spot on her face where Alpha Ethan had slashed with the broken mirror and dug his fingers into.

It was clean. There was not even a scar.

If she had not lived it; if she had not experienced the pain of being felt like that by someone she believed herself to be in love with, she would have thought that it was all a dream.

She rapidly hacked off her clothes and stared at her body. There was no burn. No evidence of the fire that filled her vision and engulfed her over and over until there was almost nothing left.

She sighed in relief, or was it annoyance.

It felt bittersweet —the fact that there was no sign at all of the betrayals had faced. To everyone else, it had never happened. It was still waiting for her five years into the future, if she allowed it.

To her, it was merely hours ago.

Exhale, inhale. Her entire life had been unraveled and rebuilt, all in a few hours.

She heaved a heavy sigh and let her tears fall, finally.

Ten years of her life, she had dedicated to a man who did not deserve even the time she was spending to cry over him.

Her mind immediately went back to the man who actually did deserve her time— Alpha Jace.

Her body shivered when she remembered how his strong arms had lifted her from the flames that her own lover set to destroy her.

Alpha Jace had never been one to show much emotion, or to be affected by anything, really, yet he had bared his emotions for her as she lay dying in his arms.

She wondered what happened to him in the life she had left behind. He had also gotten pretty bad burns, but she was sure his wolf was strong enough to heal him.

Would he go after Alpha Ethan and slay him like he had sworn to?

Deep down, she hoped that he would. She could only feel So much relief from punishing Alpha Ethan in this renewed world because even though he planned to, he had not carried out the act yet.

She felt a little relief in knowing that someone was on the other side to avenge her and deal with the version of him who actually murdered her.

Through her reflection, she could not help but recall him saying that he should have arrived sooner. She was puzzled about how he knew that Alpha Ethan planned to burn her alive inside their own cottage in the woods.

Just as she stood bare in front of her mirror thinking about all these things, the door to her room flew open and an extremely familiar figure stormed in.

“Nat.”

Her voice was calm and still, but it was heavily coated with the relief she felt as she said her name.

Nat Grove was Jace's sister. She was also Lexi's best friend in the entire world.

As soon as their eyes met, Lexi imagined how broken Nat would be to realize that she had died at the hands of the very man she had so desperately longed after.

Unable to bear the thought of her best friend sad, alone and confused, she quickly moved to her and embraced her tightly.

Nat stood awkwardly for a couple of seconds before she loosened up and squeezed Lexi back with the same intensity.

Lexi closed her eyes and savoured the familiar and homely scent.

How had she spent her past life pining after one toxic man that she had not stopped to realize the things that really mattered, like her friendship with Nat.

“I was coming up here to ask why you called off your engagement to Alpha Ethan, but I'm guessing it's because you realized you're in love with me instead”, Nat joked as she loosened her hold around her friend.

Lexi chuckled and rolled her eyes at her.

“Yes, of course Nat. Please let me mark you”, she responded, squeezing her face at how cringe she sounded.

Nat snickered and fell on her bed. She had walked in expecting to find Lexi shattered and broken over the end of her engagement to her lover. She was fully equipped to console her, but the both of them knew that nothing made Nat happier than finding out that Lexi was no longer mated to Alpha Ethan.

“Why are you naked?”

Lexi scoffed and raised her eyebrows as the realization dawned on her. That explained why Nat was hesitant to embrace her at first.

“These clothes are itchy”, Lexi responded as she sat down beside Nate on the bed.

They stared at each other in silence for a while.

Lexi had always known that Nat was not the biggest fan of Ethan.Thankfully, she simply could not hate her for it especially since Nat had prioritized her happiness over whatever it was she had against Alpha Ethan.

If only Nat knew how right she was about him the whole time, she would run over to his house and rip his head off herself.

Suddenly, her mind drifted to her saviour again. His face flashed before her mind's eye and she could not help but let out a desperate sigh.

She recalled when he had asked her to be with him, but she was already so engrossed with Alpha Ethan that she rejected him immediately.

She did not think much of it before because of how small her world was, but as she sat there beside his sister, she realized how much that must have hurt.

She had not noticed it before, but he gradually detached himself from her environment, probably to make her rejection easier on himself.

In her mind, she had pushed him to a big brother zone, but he really wanted to protect her and shield her like a lover.

She felt stupid for losing out on a real man because she was chasing a childish fantasy for ten whole years.

“Have you heard anything from Alpha Jace?” She found herself asking after him.