Bab 16: How Come He Doesn't Want Me?

[TODAY]

[GRANT]

"Maybe I did something wrong. Maybe that's why it was so easy for him to reject me. Maybe…I—"Grant said to himself.

Nothing had been the same since the day he met and lost Alanor, and if he had known the man would break his heart, he could have stayed away. Then again, how was he supposed to stay away from what was meant for him?

How was he supposed to hold back, when the moment Alanor had walked in as Gideon of Greroth, with Criselda, he already knew that the man was his mate? Of course, Grant had seen Alanor flirt with Delbert, but he knew that there was nothing between them.

Delbert already had a mate, and they were expecting a child. It was just impossible that he would have two mates.

Grant had been watching the witch protege go crazy at the sight of Edison, the feared lycan king, as if they had been acquaintances. No one had said anything, except watch in shock, and that was when Grant had realized that his mate was not a regular wolf.

No witch had that much power, and the scent that was driving both of them crazy, it couldn't be feigned. Of course, he had his speculations about the protege.

However, what he hadn't realized was that it would be so easy for Alanor to break his heart, just like the beast had warned the midlands against harming children.

He shouldn't have expected much, but if anyone were mated to the big bad beast of the midlands, they would be in the same state too.

"Don't beat yourself up, child," his grandma, Aurora, had assured him for the hundredth time in the past few weeks. Aurora knew how much hurt her grandson was going through because of the rejection, but even she couldn't interfere.

When Grant had come to cry to him about the beast, Aurora was in shock. She wanted to tell her grandson to reject the beast, but then, when she heard that the beast had rejected Grant, she was unsure of how to react.

The bond that she had wanted to sever was already severed and her family was hurting. She couldn't say a word to the royals, nor could she be able to talk about it openly.

She was bound by the promise to keep her grandson safe and if anyone knew that Grant Hindley was mated to the beast of the midlands, they would never look at him the same.

They would hate him, and Aurora didn't want that for her child.

"Is something wrong with me, Grandma?" Grant asked.

The warrior had been sulking since Alanor had left. He had been heartbroken and was hurting so badly.

The worst part of this all, was that he was the lead royal warrior, which also translated to being the second most responsible person for the kingdom, after the king of Acrod.

If the hierarchies could have been initiated, then it was safe to say that Grant was the beta of Acrod, while Delbert, was his assistant.

"Nothing is wrong with you child—"

"Then why did he reject me? Why did he leave me on the first day we met? Was it because I was so direct with him? Was it because I noticed him before anyone could? Was it my mistake accepting my mate?" Grant said and once again, Aurora was left with the task to comfort her grandson.

She had tried her best in the past few weeks, but nothing ever made him happy. Nothing could ever bring his smile back, because he had found happiness in one second, and lost it in the next.

"Grant—"

"I—" Grant continued whining but Aurora cut him short.

"Greroth."

"What?"

"Go to Greroth," Aurora said and her grandson looked at her like she was mental. Maybe this old wolf was truly old because what part of rejection has not been clear to her? Maybe she thought this was a fairy story or a bedtime story, but this was real.

This was the life Grant had to get used to while he hoped that his heart would heal. But would he ever heal from his first and only rejection?

Would he ever heal from the fact that he had been unwanted by that which was meant for him?

"He will hate me, grandma. He will despise me for putting him in a position where he will have to choose. And I just can't have that. I'm okay with being away, I just wish he would have given us a chance to be better, to learn more about each other," Grant said and truly Aurora didn't recognize her grandson.

Anyone who knew Grant knew he was strong-headed and could take care of himself. Of course, there was no doubt about that, but the matters of the heart would always break even the strongest of them all.

No matter how much training anyone had, when it came to emotions, they all had a soft spot, and Grant had his too.

"You have to try—"

"He rejected my code nana, he made me a promise and didn't even bother to keep it, so why should I be convinced he feels the same?" Grant said to Aurora.

"Because if he wanted to forget about you, if he truly wanted to stay away from you, he wouldn't have planted flowers along the path between Greroth and Acrod. Do you realize how long that road is?

"Do you realize how dry it has always been over the years? And yet for some reason, your rejection of a mate, managed to make them flourish. He managed to give life to the dead.

"And he's also the beast of the midlands, the man who murders on behalf of children. Don't sit there and tell me he doesn't care—" Aurora said.

"But Grandma—"

"No buts child. You have to make a choice too. Your mate is sacrificing everything to keep you safe. I'm not siding with him, but I understand him. I understand the resistance he has to maintain.

"I don't know why he decided to be a beast, or why he does what he does, but I'm sure he has a good reason. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to come back and say goodbye.

"No one who doesn't care, says goodbye to their people. No one. I'm not on his side, but I understand the sacrifices he made. And you have to survive this, my child, otherwise, your mate will have sacrificed for nothing.

"Away from being the mate of the beast, you're also a warrior in Acrod, and your people need you too—" Aurora insisted. She knew he was hurting, but this wasn't going to take them anywhere.

The more Grant wallowed, the more their people were at risk, because the warrior was compromised and Aurora knew Grant would beat himself up if anything happened to the people of Acrod.

She wasn't just trying to save Grant, no.

She was trying to ensure that her grandson wouldn't have a million regrets in the future, especially now that Alanor had made it clear that goodbyes were the best option for them both.

"It still hurts though," Grant insisted as he plopped on the floor. He didn't know what to do.

He had so many worries and was wondering whether Alanor was feeling the same. If the man had planted flowers, then maybe, he was thinking about Grant. But then, with his love for children, what were the odds that Alanor Wynter had done that for the kids?

"It will hurt, but time heals, and maybe by the time you heal, everything will be sorted out, and your mate will seek you out. Until then, listen to him.

"For the sake of Acrod," Aurora said, as she picked her fruit basket and walked out the door to go to the market square, while her grandson was thinking about the man he somehow knew he would never have.

"I miss him, Nana, so much," Grant cried as he watched the blank space that his nana had left him.

His heart was still calling for Alanor desperately, even though he had been rejected more than once.

'What do I do without him?' Grant asked defeated as he stared at his nana. He was tired of pretending and honestly, he wasn't sure if he would survive the rejection, especially with the annual mating ball of the Midlands barely days away.

"You have to be strong, kid. The mating ball is in three days and you have to show up for the people of Acrod."