Elena's POV

I arrived late at the party, and everyone was in high spirits, chatting, dancing, and celebrating. 

Devon signaled to me to join him and Elijah in the VIP room, which I did without hesitation. When I got into the red lighted up room, with sofas and naked girls parading themselves, I was in shock, when the reality which why Elijah couldn’t come pick me up dashed on me.

She was unimaginably beautiful, she was blonde with blue eyes and a pointed nose, and her name was Judith Smith. I had known that she and Elijah had been talking, but I never guessed it would be deep since I had known Elijah to be the serious-minded kind. I guess he ended up developing a rather profound soft spot for her. I sat down, trying so hard to hide my emotions.

 “Sorry I couldn’t come to get you as scheduled, Elena. Judith made us wait longer than expected, so I couldn’t come over but I promise to make it up to, my treat.” Elijah apologized with the utmost innocence in his voice, but I noticed Judith felt torn by his action, she didn’t say anything but I’ve been known to read expressions better, I suspect she deliberately made him wait.

“You don’t have to make it up to me, Elijah. I am not pissed,” I said to my friend, and he thanked me. Elijah has always been kind-hearted and nice to me but as a friend. It hurt—It hurt so bad, but there was certainly nothing I could do about it. I had a huge crush on him since we were teenagers l, but I guess he never took notice of that.

 He was always all about his career, work, and business. Elijah had a lot of tension, anxiety, and uncertainty growing up, he was always pressured to want to make something out of himself and most of this was because his older brother was careless, reckless, and unreliable, so he felt a strong need to step up and prepare himself to take over from his father as Alpha when the time was right.

 His mother was always equipping and training him, she made sure he was in no position to disappoint his father. She was difficult on him most of the time but it seemed to pay off. He did excellently in his Alpha assessment, and his father accorded him praise for his renowned efforts.

 I wasn’t interested in becoming a combatant until the day Elijah told me about his plans to attend the Alpha training. We were sixteen at the time and I immediately enrolled and desired to finish the first spot so that I could finally take my place beside him as his beta, and Elijah and I would finally have in common.

I hoped that would bring us closer and he would eventually see me. If it weren’t for Elijah, I would have trained as a surgeon instead, but I wanted him so much that I did everything possible to spend as much time as I could with him.

 That was well over four years ago, four years of crushing on someone who didn’t even see me, who didn’t even notice me, four agonizing years of pain and yet he never saw me, even now out of the Training academy and we will soon be appointed to our different duties to serve our Clan yet I was still nothing but a friend while another woman just walked in and is already resting in his arms.

The party continued with Judith cuddled up all around Elijah’s arms. Devon, the toughest and strongest wolf of our set at the Training Academy and Elijah’s beta, asked me to dance, and I obliged, but I had eyes and hearts fixed on only Elijah.

 He had grown into a handsome young man, but his looks and appearance weren’t what drew me to him. He was caring, loving and honest. He was respectful, responsible, very well-cultured, and very selfless. The pack will be in great order with him as Alpha. I knew I had fallen deeply in love with him. Sure he did not know and would never find out about how I felt. I had imagined that maybe when we start running the pack, he will appreciate me and probably even fall for me deeply but not anymore. I wasn’t dumb. If Elijah couldn’t fall in love with me all these years, there was nothing that could make him fall now.

 Except for the goodness of the light decides to grant me this wish. I would keep longing for him. But, at this instance, I just want to be totally over him and erase every feeling, but it seemed to be quite difficult. The heart always knows what it wants, but I was certain it was a dangerous combination.

Sore from dancing, Devon and I retired back to the VIP room, where Judith was trying so hard to get intimate with Elijah, rubbing his body slightly and sticking her tongue into his ears, but he seemed to have the situation under control.

Devon cleared his throat in an attempt to make known his presence, and Judith pulled away, I noticed her tongue go back into her mouth, and it disgusted me. I wondered why Elijah didn’t feel disgusted, all I could see in his eyes was his lustful desire for her. I was pissed at how easily she could sway him. What was it about strong and courageous women than men dreaded?

Now, it seems like a girl had to pretend to be weak, helpless, and clueless about life before she could find a man for herself. If that were the case,

 I would never find a man. “So, what do you intend to be doing in the next two years before our positions are assigned to us?” Devon asked Elijah, and Elijah stared up at me. I knew if I had pale skin, they would have noticed my skin flush, but my face just seemed to be void of expression I wasn’t sure I could hide the happiness in my eyes but thankfully he wasn’t looking at me.

“I have no idea, Devon. Elena, you? Elijah questioned me, I enjoyed how he mentioned my name with extraordinary gentleness. I looked away almost immediately as I shook my head. In all honesty, I had no thought of what I’ll be doing with my two years before I resume my office. I glanced at Devon to return his question to him, and he had this beautiful smile worn on his face.

 “Adventures, I need to go on a lot of adventures because once we resume, we will have no time for any form of adventures, it’ll all be work, assignment, and all. It sounded like an amazing idea and I wondered if I could go with him.

“That is extremely brilliant, Devon,” I said. “Do you mind if I tagged along?” I asked, and Devon examined Elijah’s face as if he needed validation from him before he could finally give me an answer. “If you go along with him, who will be my best buddy and keep me company here? “Elijah asked me and I already answered the question in my head.

Judith of course, the one who you chose over me remember? But if I said that out loud, everyone would know I was just a sad, pained, and Jealous girl and that would put our friendship in jeopardy. I was able to say while gazing at Judith,” I’m sure you have other pals to keep you company.

I said,” better and more interesting company than I can be,” and she grinned, understanding what I was saying. ” You’re correct, Elijah. You won’t need any other company but mine” When she spoke, she again stuck her tongue into his ears.

She yeaned so much to be a Luna. The majority of the girls who admired and adored Elijah were so desperate to be Luna. Not me. Even if Elijah didn’t end up becoming the next Alpha, I would still feel the same way about him. Knowing that I needed some time away from Elijah, I pleaded with Devon,” I want to come with you.” It’s time to stop falling deeper in love with Elijah.

. I’ll never be seen by him and he’ll never love me, I’m accepting this fate right here right now and I’m moving on for good. This trip with Devon might just be a getaway ticket for me to find myself and find my place. I was lost in my head about how I was finally going to move on focus and re-strategize my life when the next thing I heard shot me back. Elijah smiled at me and said,” Maybe I’ll come.” I was dejected because that would defeat the whole idea of going on this adventure.

Spending time with him would not change how he perceived me or cause him to feel anything for me. I’ve already tried that. I simply became his closest friend and now I think I’m absolutely good with that. ” You’ll take me with you?” I nearly rolled my eyes when Judith asked.

The last thing I wanted was to travel with her while she constantly stuck her tongue in Elijah’s ear like a reptile. I’m going to get sick from this lizard. I was most definitely sure of it. If he agrees, I’ll just come up with a reason to cancel the trip if he says yes. “I’ll think about it”. Elijah responded.

Tomorrow morning, let’s go hunting. Elijah proposed. Before deciding, I waited to hear what Judith had to say. I would like to join you. As she spoke, I grinned sarcastically. When Elijah noticed me, he laughed. Elijah scowled as I answered,” I guess the three of you will have to go without me.” ” Come on, Elena, we work well together.

 I and you” I really wished what he said was true, he said. We thought we were a team, but we weren’t, so I simply grinned. You, Devon, and Judith would be a great pair, I’m sure” I spoke without pausing to glance at Judith’s expression.

At this time, it appeared that Elijah’s choice had a lot to do with her hatred of me. I tried so hard to make a decision as we bade each other goodbye and Elijah leaving me with the word, please think about it . Would it be a disaster if I were to go on this haunting with them by morning? I arrived at home, and everyone was fast asleep, so I quickly snuck up to my room.

I was in no mood for any sort of drama whatsoever. Finally, it was morning and, here I was still contemplating on going to the hunt with Elijah and Devon, I hoped that Judith was going to back out and maybe Elijah wouldn’t even say yes. But how could that be? I was so sure she had slept over at Elijah’s house; I mean who wouldn’t want to spend a night on the Alphas bed.

I made my way down the stairs to grab a bite. I hated hunting in my wolf form when I was starving; it made me go wild and act out of control, and I really did not want to look crazy.

To my surprise, my parents were waiting for me in the dining room. They both looked really worried and I began to panic because I was really nervous.

My parents are both doctors, they worked in the medical department, they weren’t supposed to be home, they resume their shift at this hour but something was definitely wrong. “Elena, we need to speak with you?” I zoned out for a moment there, what did they want to talk to me about? Are they getting a divorce? Was I ready to hear whatever it was they had to say?